Page 34 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Sterling bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt not to react.
Jake knew.
He knew she was Sterling Denver and he wasn’t pleased at all. It sounded like he was very angry. While Sterling had anticipated a reaction like that when he found out, she didn’t think he’d threaten her like that. Probably he’d call her boss and try to have her reassigned to another department. He might even want to get her fired. Unless he bribed Grange with a lot of money, it wouldn’t happen. Even then, Grange was ornery enough that he’d probably enjoy Jake’s anger and just goad him back, keeping Sterling firmly as the tabloid’s feature writer.
Sterling reflected that she’d never felt bad about her job before. Even when she exaggerated, she’d never outright lied in any of her articles. She’d been doing everything she could to promote her career, just like all the writers in her field were doing. However, she had made the Ramesly family one of her favorite targets and Jake obviously didn’t approve.
She didn’t need his approval, Sterling told herself firmly. She didn’t need him to like her. Just because they’d spent a few days together, getting to know one another, didn’t mean that they were friends for life. He was just someone she was writing about.
Sterling told herself those lies and a few others.
“Here’s Doc Luce now,” Terrywittle introduced a little old man who carried a bag with him. He looked to be a hundred years old but was competent in his tasks. Soon enough it was determined that Sterling should stay off her knee and it should be examined more fully at the clinic when it opened tomorrow. Doc Luce felt that it was nothing more than a difficult sprain with bruising but would feel more reassured in his diagnosis once Sterling had visited the clinic.
With a room at a local bed and breakfast secured for the night, some donated clothes and a cord to restore power to her phone, Sterling felt almost normal after carefully maneuvering in a hot shower. Elevating her leg on a pillow while reclining on the bed, Sterling looked at Dubious’ website. Considering the remote location of the town, she was surprised at the download speed of the internet.
Eligible Bachelor and Stunning Tabloid Writer Still Missing! Exclusive photos of love shack in a winter wonderland. Did the plane really crash or is Jake Ramesly simply hiding away from his troubles with rumored girlfriend Sterling Denver? Is this how the famed reporter was able to build her career on the reputation of the Ramesly family?
Sterling snapped her mouth shut and dialed her boss Ray Grange. It took three tries on the smashed screen but the call went through.
“Ray Grange, Dubious.”
“Why don’t you just call the tabloid devious instead?” Sterling hissed. “Seriously Grange? Who did you let write that article? Fabre? He’s awful.”
“Who is this?” Grange demanded.
“Jake Ramesly’s rumored girlfriend and your ‘Stunning Tabloid Writer’,” she said sarcastically. “Using people for your own ends much?”
“Hey, it sold copies,” Grange defended his actions. “You were nowhere to be found and you didn’t email in any articles. I had to print something.”
“No wonder Jake Ramesly left like he did,” Sterling blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling. “You should expect a call from him, if he hasn’t already vented his displeasure to you.”
“Haven’t heard from him,” Grange said. “I need more Ramesly material so you’d better get writing. What did the two of you talk about the whole time out there. Make it suggestive. Readers want to know if he got in your pants.”
Sterling nearly choked. “Nothing happened!”
“Who cares? It’s your word against his,” Grange retorted snidely. “Everyone is speculating anyways so give them what they want.”
“They’re only speculating because of that article you put in the paper!” Sterling growled. “Jake Ramesly is a gentleman.”
“He’s a complete bore but the public wants to know what he’s like. We have to make him either loathsome or likeable. The readers love a good romance gone wrong,” Grange warmed to his subject. “We’ll say it was a whirlwind romance, like Stockholm syndrome. Two people desperate to survive but uncertain they would. I doubt he had condoms so we can claim uncertainty about a pregnancy. It would help if we could get pictures of you outside a doctor’s clinic in a few weeks. Or buying one of those tests from the pharmacy.”
“You’re absolutely despicable!” Sterling gasped. “I’m not going to drag Jake through a pretend pregnancy alarm just for the sake of Dubious’ readership numbers.”
“If you want to keep your job, I’d rethink that,” Grange replied. “It hurts you nothing and is worth a pretty bonus.”
“I’m low on battery, I can’t hear what you just said,” Sterling yelled into the phone before hanging up. She laid back and contemplated her life.
She would have to figure out a way to smoothly maneuver Grange from this sort of article. Maybe if she got the lawyers from the ground floor involved, they could convince Grange that it was too much risk for a lawsuit. If not, she’d have to dangle something juicer for him to follow. The trouble was, she wasn’t certain if she had enough information to make that happen. Her contact at Ramesly Pharma hadn’t gotten back to her yet.
She might not be able to convince Grange not to run articles using her as a foil against Jake Ramesly. Sterling needed her job. If it came down to it, she knew she would probably have to pose for the pictures unless she found a job at another tabloid. She’d had an offer recently but it didn’t pay as much as Dubious did.
Jake would hate her even more than he did now if she did do what Grange wanted. Professionally, she shouldn’t have been bothered by the thought. Personally, she was depressed by it.
When had Jake become so important to her?
Sterling tried not to think about it during a nearly sleepless night.
Jake tried not to think about Sara Hawkins, aka Sterling Denver during a nearly sleepless night. How stupid he felt for offering her a job, for thinking about asking her for her phone number, for kissing her.
