Page 115 of The Price of Scandal

Easton looked wary. “Mr. Price made the appointment last week.”

Mr. Price was a dead man.

“Oh, good,” Jane muttered from the couch. “I remembered to charge my stun gun last night.”

“Why is she here?” I asked.

Easton shifted his weight on his feet. “She’s here to do a three-day, in-depth interview. The story will run on the front page of the website next week. All-access.”

In-depth. All-access.I hated all of the words echoing in my head.

There was a brisk knock, and the three of us watched in horror as the door swung open.

“Ms. Stanton, I have three days with you, and I’d like to make the most of my time. May I come in?” She was already in. The dreaded journalist looked less like the grungy paparazzi I expected and more like a disapproving boarding school mistress.

Her pantsuit was prim. Her high-necked blouse buttoned to the base of her throat. She had dark skin and cool, appraising eyes that appeared to have already made several unfavorable assessments about me.

I rose, gritting my teeth. I would rather face a mob of people openly hating me than be followed and judged by a professed-to-be neutral stranger. At least with the mob, I knew where I stood.

“Ms…”

“Geiser. Lona Geiser.” She crossed to my desk and held out her hand.

Geiser. Of course it was. Geiser like the spewing of the personal details of my life she was about to do. She’d made up her mind already, and I didn’t have the time to be shadowed.

We shook hands. My hair slipped over my eye, and I brushed it back. Badass hair. I had a badass haircut because I was a badass. The words flitted through my brain like a fork of lightning.I was a badass.

“Lona,” I said, choosing her first name. “I’m Emily, and I’m unprepared for your visit.”

“I don’t require preparation. Just full access to you,” she said blandly. “I’d appreciate it if I could have a copy of your schedule for the next three days. I’ve left my bags with your front desk. Mr. Price assured me that someone would take them to the guest suite he made available for me in Bluewater.”

She was staying in Bluewater? In the only place I was safe from the prying eyes of journalists and the public? A shot with Jane’s stun gun was too good for Derek. Yes. I was going to torture him before murdering him.

“Of course,” I said with a small, strained smile. “Easton. I need to take care of something. Will you show Lona the offices and make arrangements for her bags?”Keep her occupied.I telegraphed the message.

“I’d be happy to. Right this way, Ms. Geiser. How do you take your coffee?” Easton turned up the charm to nine million.

Lona raised a questioning eyebrow at me over her shoulder before Easton firmly shut the door. I snatched my purse from the console table. “Let’s go pay Mr. Price a visit,” I growled.

“Maybe we should just call him?” Jane suggested. She hated paying for dry cleaning to get blood stains out of her clothing.

“What I have to say is best said in person.”

“Oh, boy,” she muttered under her breath.

37

Emily

“VETO!” I stormed into Derek’s office, the watchful eyes of his entire team on me.

One of the pajama pants-wearing employees was so startled he fell out of his chair.

Derek eyed me from across his desk, the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder. “I’ll have to call you back. Something’s just come up.” He hung up the phone and smiled. “Can I help you, Emily?”

“Can you help me? You can stand up so I can kick you in the balls. A three-day, all-access pass interview? Without telling me? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that this would be an excellent way to use the media to show how brilliant and competent you are. Of course, that was before you karate-chopped your way into my office.”