Page 16 of An Enchanted Spring

Ireland

She rolled her eyes. Informative business card.

She flipped it over and read the phone number he’d scrawled, surprised it was a local one. Then again, Aidan MacWilliam was a surprising man. There was much more to him than he let on. A person didn’t become as successful as he was simply by being handsome.

Actually, she knew that to be patently false. She knew ofquite a few people who were successful because of their looks, but none of them matched her almost-client’s intellect and business savvy.

She pursed her lips, then grabbed her phone and dialed the number.

“Good morning, Ms. Perkins.”

In spite of herself, she smiled. “How did you know it was me?”

“No one in New York has this number. Have you changed your mind?”

“Perhaps,” she replied briskly, trying to infuse her voice with professionalism. Instead, it came out kind of breathy and panicky.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern lacing the words. “Would you care to meet for breakfast instead?”

She glanced at the clock—8:30 a.m. Oops.

“No, thanks, I already ate. I apologize about the time. How about ten? That will give me enough time to speak with Mr. Price.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”

She hung up, feeling slightly better, but not by much.My day couldn’t possibly get any worse, she assured herself.

Emma’s wordscame back to haunt her not an hour later as she stared, horrified, at yet another computer screen. She couldn’t blink and her stomach was in knots.

And she wasn’t on her bank website anymore.

“Emma—snap out of it,” Josh said briskly. He was perched on her desk, rubbing his temples. “We need to fix this. We need some time to come up with a plan.”

“We don’t have time,” Emma managed to choke out, trying desperately to tamp down the rising tide of panic. “I…I didn’t…I mean, why would I?”

The incriminating pictures she had shredded just yesterday were now splashed across every online entertainment news site.

And her name was attached to them.

“I know you didn’t release these photos, but…” Josh read the headlines from the screen. “Kincaid gets Kinky with a Convict.” He scrolled down. “Cheater, Cheater, Kincaid’s a Beater.”

“Oh my God,” Emma groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Josh continued to read. “The man in the pictures, identified as Benjamin MacDermott, was allegedly engaged to Kincaid’s publicist, Emmaline Perkins of Price Publicity—”

“Please stop,” Emma moaned, the feeling of nausea intensifying.

“Perkins—my office—now!” Mr. Price barked as he strode by her cubicle. She looked up at Josh in misery. Even Heinous Heidi kept her mouth shut as Emma passed her desk.

Emma and Josh followed him into the office, and she managed not to flinch when he slammed the door behind them. She met Josh’s eyes and was grateful for the support—although even he couldn’t get her out of this mess.

“Let’s review the facts,” Mr. Price said, his voice steady (which, Emma noticed, was in distinct opposition to the color of his face). “Your fiancé—”

“Ex-fiancé,” Emma blurted out.

He gave her a withering look. “—was caught with Jenny Kincaid. She has affairs all the time—her husband doesn’t give a rat’s ass, so no divorce necessary. However, the reason why we were hired was to keep evidence of these affairs out of sight. Ms. Perkins, you realize that Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid have a movie coming out…a movie where they fall in love and live happily ever after?”

“Yes,” she replied miserably. She knew where this was going.

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