least. Instead, he employed the best caterer in town for his parties.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Juliet’s glass gestured to take in the garden, the caterer’s people, even the graceful lines of the antebellum house. “Cyrus is lucky it didn’t rain tonight. He wouldn’t want this horde tramping on his Oriental carpets and puttin’ their glasses down on his piecrust table.”
“The air’s heavy enough for a storm.” Amanda quelled an inward shudder at the thought, never having managed to quite conquer a childish fear of thunderstorms. “I’m sure he’d be welcoming if we had to go inside.” She glanced around, nodding to people she knew. “Where is he?”
Juliet lifted a perfectly plucked brow. “Our esteemed publisher? Or our hunky new managing editor?”
“Hunky?” She kept her voice level with an effort. She certainly didn’t want to raise suspicions in Juliet’s fertile imagination. “Really, Juliet, if you use that kind of language in your column, folks will think your beat is gossip, not society.”
“This is just between you and me, darlin’.” The society editor’s smile held only a trace of malice. “You should know how attractive the man is, as much time as you’ve been spending with him. Tell me, what’s really behind that gruff exterior?”
The memory of Ross’s kiss flooded through her, and her cheeks heated. She could only hope the light was dim enough to hide it.
“Ah, I see I’ve hit a nerve.” Juliet sounded as satisfied as a cat in the cream pitcher.
She should have known the woman could see in the dark, again like a cat. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her voice was pitched higher than she wanted. “There’s absolutely nothing between me and Ross Lockhart.”
She turned, hoping to make a graceful exit from the conversation, and found Ross standing behind her. Juliet’s soft laughter faded as the society editor walked away.
If there was a graceful way out of this situation, Amanda couldn’t see it. “I’m sorry.”
The words didn’t seem to penetrate the stony mask that was Ross’s face. Not much like the way he’d looked when he’d kissed her, was it?
“People are talking.” He said the words as if they tasted bad.
“Just Juliet,” she said quickly. “She’s always imagining relationships that aren’t there.”
Except that something was there between them. One kiss didn’t make a relationship, but it meant something, if only that he was attracted. As for her feelings—well, she wasn’t going to explore that right now.
“It has to stop.” That icy glare would make anyone quake.
A tiny flame of anger spurted up. She wasn’t the one who’d initiated that kiss, after all. “Stopping gossip isn’t in my job description.”
One thing—she wouldn’t have to worry about avoiding him. He’d never come near her after this. A quick retreat seemed in order, but before she could implement that, Cyrus swept down on them.
“Just the people I wanted to see.” He put his arm around Amanda’s shoulders, effectively cutting off her flight. “Now, I don’t want to spend the evening talking business, but I do want to hear what the latest is on that troublesome landlord.”
Amanda blinked. She hadn’t realized Cyrus knew anything about that, given the reluctance with which Ross was pursuing the story.
“We’ve finished a lot of the background research.” Ross shifted into editor mode in an instant. “Jason Hardy owns several buildings in the area of C.J.’s apartment building, most of them in a questionable state. It looks as if he puts in barely enough repairs to keep on the right side of the housing inspectors, but he’s skirting the line. I think we could make a case that he ought to be looked at more thoroughly.”
“Maybe it’s time we interviewed the man. Let him know the press is interested,” Cyrus said.
The concerns C.J.’s grandmother had voiced echoed in Amanda’s mind. “If you do that, he’s going to think that C.J. is
“Nice, isn’t it?” Juliet’s glass gestured to take in the garden, the caterer’s people, even the graceful lines of the antebellum house. “Cyrus is lucky it didn’t rain tonight. He wouldn’t want this horde tramping on his Oriental carpets and puttin’ their glasses down on his piecrust table.”
“The air’s heavy enough for a storm.” Amanda quelled an inward shudder at the thought, never having managed to quite conquer a childish fear of thunderstorms. “I’m sure he’d be welcoming if we had to go inside.” She glanced around, nodding to people she knew. “Where is he?”
Juliet lifted a perfectly plucked brow. “Our esteemed publisher? Or our hunky new managing editor?”
“Hunky?” She kept her voice level with an effort. She certainly didn’t want to raise suspicions in Juliet’s fertile imagination. “Really, Juliet, if you use that kind of language in your column, folks will think your beat is gossip, not society.”
“This is just between you and me, darlin’.” The society editor’s smile held only a trace of malice. “You should know how attractive the man is, as much time as you’ve been spending with him. Tell me, what’s really behind that gruff exterior?”
The memory of Ross’s kiss flooded through her, and her cheeks heated. She could only hope the light was dim enough to hide it.
“Ah, I see I’ve hit a nerve.” Juliet sounded as satisfied as a cat in the cream pitcher.
She should have known the woman could see in the dark, again like a cat. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her voice was pitched higher than she wanted. “There’s absolutely nothing between me and Ross Lockhart.”
She turned, hoping to make a graceful exit from the conversation, and found Ross standing behind her. Juliet’s soft laughter faded as the society editor walked away.
If there was a graceful way out of this situation, Amanda couldn’t see it. “I’m sorry.”
The words didn’t seem to penetrate the stony mask that was Ross’s face. Not much like the way he’d looked when he’d kissed her, was it?
“People are talking.” He said the words as if they tasted bad.
“Just Juliet,” she said quickly. “She’s always imagining relationships that aren’t there.”
Except that something was there between them. One kiss didn’t make a relationship, but it meant something, if only that he was attracted. As for her feelings—well, she wasn’t going to explore that right now.
“It has to stop.” That icy glare would make anyone quake.
A tiny flame of anger spurted up. She wasn’t the one who’d initiated that kiss, after all. “Stopping gossip isn’t in my job description.”
One thing—she wouldn’t have to worry about avoiding him. He’d never come near her after this. A quick retreat seemed in order, but before she could implement that, Cyrus swept down on them.
“Just the people I wanted to see.” He put his arm around Amanda’s shoulders, effectively cutting off her flight. “Now, I don’t want to spend the evening talking business, but I do want to hear what the latest is on that troublesome landlord.”
Amanda blinked. She hadn’t realized Cyrus knew anything about that, given the reluctance with which Ross was pursuing the story.
“We’ve finished a lot of the background research.” Ross shifted into editor mode in an instant. “Jason Hardy owns several buildings in the area of C.J.’s apartment building, most of them in a questionable state. It looks as if he puts in barely enough repairs to keep on the right side of the housing inspectors, but he’s skirting the line. I think we could make a case that he ought to be looked at more thoroughly.”
“Maybe it’s time we interviewed the man. Let him know the press is interested,” Cyrus said.
The concerns C.J.’s grandmother had voiced echoed in Amanda’s mind. “If you do that, he’s going to think that C.J. is
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