Page 26 of Bound By Her Shocking Secret

‘But right now they think that we’re a couple.’

‘Yes. And to that end I propose we take the heat out of the story by appearing in public together as soon as possible.’

She was suspicious again. ‘What do you meanas soon as possible?’

‘This evening.’

The colour faded from Mia’s face. ‘This evening?’ Her voice was a squeak. He remembered how reluctant she’d been to appear with him in public before—in his world—and how he’d found it refreshing after being with women who had maximised their relationship with him to improve their own social profile.

But Mia had never wanted that kind of exposure. In spite of the fact that she would have got a lot out of it professionally to be seen on his arm. At the time he hadn’t looked too deeply into her reasons for why that might be, but now... Now he cursed his lack of foresight.

It hadn’t mattered before, because they’d broken up and no one had been much the wiser, but this was very different.

‘We should talk before we appear together,’ he said.

‘About what?’

‘About why you were always so averse to being seen with me in public. If you have any skeletons in your closet you need to tell me now, Mia, because theywillfind them.’

‘If you have any skeletons...’

Mia felt claustrophobic. She needed air. She instinctively moved towards the windows and opened them, stepping out onto the small balcony outside.

Within seconds she heard shouting from the square below and looked down to see people—mostly men, as far as she could make out—with cameras in their hands, tilting them up towards where she stood.

She hadn’t even fully grasped who they were or what they were doing until two big hands went to her waist, pulling her back inside. Daniel closed the window again and faced her. Mia felt a little shaky, but she feared it was more from the imprint of his hands on her than the photographers.

‘Those were—’

‘The same paparazzi. They’ve followed you here.’

Mia felt hot. Constricted. Daniel held out a hand. ‘Here, give me your jacket. I’ll get you some water.’

Mia shrugged off her jacket and handed it over. Daniel went to the drinks cabinet and Mia checked on Lexi, trying to gather her wits as she did so. Lexi was still out for the count. It wouldn’t make for a pretty night later, but right now Mia was willing to bend the rules.

It was all hitting home—just how much their lives had changed and were going to change further. On some level she’d known this, but she’d been blocking it out. Like a coward. She had never expected Daniel to say that they were a couple again, though.

And yet she couldn’t deny that the logic behind it did make sense. She’d seen how some other more high-profile models had been sucked into the maelstrom of various scandals, and she’d always thanked her lucky stars she wasn’t at that level of fame.

But now shewasthe one in the headlines, and Daniel was obviously realising that she was a potential liability.

‘Mia—’

‘I wasn’t—’

They spoke at the same time. Mia accepted the glass of water Daniel offered, took a breath and said, ‘I wasn’t averse to being seen with you because I was afraid of press attention. I have nothing to hide...not really. Beyond growing up with a single parent in a trailer park in the shabbier end of Monterey, California.’

‘You never spoke of your father. Is he around?’

They hadn’t spoken of him because Mia had been deliberately keeping Daniel at arm’s length last time. But now she knew she had no choice. And if she had a skeleton this was it. Mia put the glass down on a nearby table.

‘The truth is that I don’t know who he is.’

Daniel frowned. ‘How is that possible?’

‘I know that might be hard to understand, when you come from a world where you can date your ancestors back to the dawn of time.’ Mia’s voice was tinged with bitterness.

Daniel’s eyes flashed pewter and his jaw clenched.

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