Confidential: Expecting! by Jackie Braun Read Free Book Online Page A

temptation she’d posed then, he couldn’t muster any regret now.
    At home he prowled his penthouse, which offered stunning views of the lake from the living room’s large windows and a generously proportioned patio. Where once he’d welcomed the high-rise’s solitude and privacy, it just seemed lonely now. He poured himself a drink and headed outside.
    Part of him had hoped that whatever magic spell Mallory had cast on him would wear off with that kiss. It hadn’t and the other half of him was damned relieved. Despite all of his uncertainty, one thing was clear: tonight wasn’t the end of it.
     

    The phone on the bedside table rang before eight the following morning. Logan grabbed for it, muttering a sleepy hello even as he folded the other arm over his eyes to block the light coming from the window.
    “You didn’t call last night,” the woman on the other end of the line accused without the courtesy of a greeting.
    “Sorry.” Squinting, he levered up on one elbow, more amused than irritated. “Am I grounded?”
    His agent dismissed the teasing question with an audible huff. “What happened with Mallory Stevens? I want to know everything.”
    That statement cut deeply into amusement’s lead over irritation. “I don’t believe in kissing and telling.”
    Logan regretted the words instantly.
    “Dear God!” Nina exclaimed. “Please tell me nothing happened between the two of you.”
    “Nothing happened,” he repeated in monotone.
    “This isn’t funny, Logan.”
    “No, it’s not.” But Nina failed to detect the edge in his voice.
    “You can’t trust her,” she went on. “Reporters like her are sharks. They get one whiff of blood in the water and they go on the attack.”
    “That’s rather dramatic,” he drawled. “Besides, I thought you said Mallory was a pit bull? Sharks and dogs are two different species, you know.”
    “Logan—”
    He sat up fully and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Look, Nina, as touching as I find your concern, my personal life is just that…personal.”
    “I guarantee you that Mallory doesn’t see it the same way. If she finds out something about you that can help sell newspapers, she’s going to use it. And unless it’s out and out false and maliciously published, we won’t be able to do a damned thing about it because you’re a public figure.”
    His agent was right, of course. As a celebrity, he was fair game. If Mallory sniffed out a story, she would write it. What did it say about him that he didn’t care? Besides, he rationalized, what did he have to hide?
    So he told his agent, “There’s no need to worry. She’s curious about the syndication deal. She’s not the only reporter who is.”
    Maybe he would give her an exclusive when the terms of the contract had been hammered out.
    “In the meantime,” he continued, “there’s nothing Mallory Stevens is going to discover about me personally that’s exciting enough to grace the front page of her newspaper or any other. As much as I hate to admit it, Nina, my life is pretty damned pedestrian.”
    “Are you sure about that?”
    “I’m positive.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    N OTHING.
    After scouring the clip files that was exactly what Mallory had found. She’d even returned to the newspaper morgue late Saturday for wedding announcements through the end of that calendar year. Again she came up empty-handed. Even if Logan and Felicia’s planned fall wedding had wound up delayed for several months—and why would that happen?—no record of it appeared in the Herald.
    Record or no record, something told Mallory she was on the right track. She decided to press on. Monday morning, between writing advances for a couple of alternative-art exhibits, she searched the state’s vital records for a certificate of marriage. Nada. If the couple had married, they had not done so in the state of Illinois.
    On a hunch, Mallory checked the records for Felicia’s name alone. Bingo!
    She could have saved herself