He grabbed her around her waist, hiking the oxford shirt up around her thighs. Laughing, she reached for him with one hand—and then a flash went off in front of her eyes. They weren’t alone.
“What the hell?” Logan reacted first and shoved her behind him, blocking her from view. Considering her state of undress, she appreciated his chivalry, but the picture had been taken and his gesture came too late.
“Mr. Montgomery, I’m here to meet you and your supporters as you announce your candidacy for mayor of Hampshire.” The female reporter glanced at her watch. “I thought the press conference was set for ten, but…”
“Press conference?” Catherine asked, stepping out from behind the shield of Logan’s body.
“Yes. Judge Montgomery said it was at ten, though I may be mistaken.”
“Would it matter?” Logan muttered. “You just got your scoop.”
Catherine yanked down on the hem of Logan’s shirt. It barely covered her thighs and she’d never felt so vulnerable and exposed.
“You said this press conference was planned?” Even as she asked the question, her heart turned ice cold.
“For the past week,” the reporter said. “And you are…?”
“Find out on your own,” Logan said, then turned to Catherine. “Let’s go inside. We need to talk.”
She would have swallowed but her mouth was dry. “I’m not sure there’s anything to say,” she told him.
“Can we discuss this in private?” He gestured toward the eager reporter and her camera-toting sidekick.
Without glancing in their direction, she walked ahead of him and headed for the safety of the house. No sooner had he closed the door behind them than he grabbed for her hand. “Cat…”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Touch you or explain?”
She turned to face him.
Perhaps he read her emotions on her face because he’d schooled his own expression into an unreadable mask. “I take it the answer is both.” Pain and betrayal flashed in his eyes because she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to set things right.
“I’m not sure an explanation would make any difference,” she said. He’d never know the answer hurt her as much as it obviously hurt him. And her heart, which had been as warm as the sunshine, was now frozen solid.
This type of life wasn’t something she understood nor did she think she could get used to being in the public eye. Hounded by the press. Caught in varying states of undress and embarrassment.
“Well, tough, because you’re going to listen. After all that’s passed between us you owe me that.”
She nodded. “I’m listening.”
“The way I see things, the judge orchestrated a meeting here because he knew I wouldn’t show up at his designated spot. Since he knows nothing about you—us—I don’t see this as anything more than a very bad coincidence.”
Logan’s worst nightmare, actually, but Catherine didn’t seem as if she’d be receptive to his feelings at the moment. Not when her own were so obviously hurt and raw. He felt for her, but he also had a heart, and by ignoring his attempt to explain, she was trampling on it.
She sighed and tugged on the bottom of her shirt. He couldn’t begin to imagine her humiliation. Because of him. Hell, he’d dig into his trust fund if money would prevent that picture from being published. But it wouldn’t. Good press was worth more to the vultures out there than cold, hard cash.
“I can see your father’s manipulation in all this and I’m sorry he’s still trying to control you.” Pain still danced in her eyes along with what looked like resignation. “But I’m not sure I can stick around and be fodder for the media.” She glanced down at her bare legs, and he remembered her shirt hiked over her panties at the time the photo was taken. He shuddered at her humiliation.
“Cat…”
“I also think I see your grandmother’s hand. She locked us in a closet and she sent me things calculated to make me fall in l… to make me fall for you.”
He raised an eyebrow at her near slip. Now that was something he wanted to pursue further. So was his grandmother’s possible role. The fact that Emma had suggested this very scenario wasn’t lost on Logan.
But he wasn’t willing to give up on Emma yet. “I admit she had her own agenda. I even mentioned it to you the other day. But setting you up was never part of her plan.”
For all her faults, the older woman had a huge heart and she obviously cared for Catherine. Logan had no choice but to take a leap of faith and believe in Emma’s integrity. Otherwise, every good thing about his childhood and his life had been based on yet another illusion.
Catherine wrapped her arms around her waist. “Whether it’s Emma or your father who called out the press, it doesn’t matter. I just want out of here before this becomes a media circus.”
He muttered a curse, unsure what her feelings were behind the wall she’d erected. He didn’t have time to find out because she was right. He had to get her out of here and fast.
A glance out the window revealed a black sedan pulling into the graveled, unpaved space in front of his house. As usual, the older man’s appearance was timely as well as unwelcome. Logan rubbed his hand over his eyes and groaned.
He hoped this glance at his reality gave the judge a much-needed eye-opener. He’d certainly gotten one. For all his talk of being his own man, he was still having his strings pulled like a damned marionette.
But it would stop. Today.
Anger and frustration pulsed through him, as strong as the desire he’d been feeling minutes earlier. The last thing he wanted to do was give Catherine a way out of his life. But he owed it to her. If he wanted any shot of winning back the heart he’d worked so hard to reach, he had to let her go now.
He grabbed the keys to his truck he’d left hanging on a hook in the front hall. “I’m
