* * *
Despite Mrs. Wheaton's prediction, Lila spent most of the day waiting. Tension was mounting inside her, every second that she waited for Alex to appear and explain himself. Morning had become afternoon before the rooming house door opened and she heard the voices from her seat in the small sitting room.
She made her way into the entry hall, standing in the shadows across from the reception desk. Alex stood there, talking to Mrs. Wheaton.
"If you're agreeable, the sitting room should suit my purposes nicely, with the light coming in from the west."
"It's yers, young man," she replied with a smile, a wrinkled hand coming up to pat him on his cheek.
Alex smiled, then stuck his head outside the front door. He came back inside and rubbed a hand against Mrs. Wheaton's back. "It shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours."
"Take as long as you want. I'll put dinner on so it'll be ready when ya'll are done."
As Mrs. Wheaton headed off toward her kitchen, the front door opened to let in a group of guys, some carrying heavy equipment.
"This way," Alex said, moving toward where Lila was standing.
She cringed backwards, suddenly embarrassed to be caught watching him. She'd intended to confront him immediately, to tell him that she wouldn't be manipulated anymore and to insist he rebook her flight right away. Instead she'd been thinking about how handsome he looked in his plaid shirt and faded jeans. Like an angel fallen to earth, disguising himself among mortal folk. Now she was trapped.
He caught sight of her and froze. "Through there," he said, motioning his companions past them and down the hall to the sitting room.
Then he grabbed her hand, jolting her with the now familiar electricity that sparked whenever he touched her. "Come with me," he said. His voice was low, his expression serious. "I want you to see this."
He propelled them forward, and the movement freed Lila to speak again. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice high, angry. "Why did you tell the guys not to take me back to Atlanta today? What are you--"
"Later," he said, cutting her off, causing her anger to flare into fury. He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward down the narrow hallway so she had no choice but to enter the sitting room.
The men gathered there were unpacking equipment, long cords, a couple high-powered lights. What was going on?
"Sit there," Alex said, pointing at a chair in the corner. Then he turned away, ignoring her while he talked to a tall man in an expensive suit.
Lila sat down in a huff, thinking about immediately standing back up again. Who was he to order her around? She wasn't on his payroll anymore.
Then Alex looked back at her over his shoulder and gave her a smile. A small smile, but his eyes were warm. She crossed her ankles and then her arms, deciding to find out what was so damned important that he'd kept her here an additional day.
The furniture around them was rearranged so that two chairs sat in the cleared space. Alex took the seat in front of the stone fireplace and sat patiently while one of the men placed something on his shirt.
A microphone. They were adjusting the small mic, testing its levels. Then Lila realized that a camera was being positioned right behind the second chair, which faced Alex's chair on a slight angle. Another camera was set up across from the first and aimed on the seat that was now being taken by the suited man.
A journalist. Lila felt a sudden sense of panic. Alex was about to give an interview. One that was being filmed by not one, but two cameras. Of all the reasons she'd considered for his delaying her departure, this hadn't been one of them.
"Let's have quiet," the journalist said after the final checks were made. Lila held her breath in the shadows while Alex was lit up like the sun. And then it began.
"This is Steve Gossett, and I'm sitting here with Alex Drake, multi-millionaire entrepreneur and a man recently embroiled in scandal. He's welcomed us to his hometown and has revealed some interesting things about his upbringing."
The tone of the journalist's voice changed, sounding less like a newscaster and more like an intimate friend. Well done, Lila thought.
"Mr. Drake, you've built an empire and amassed a pile of money in the process. And yet you came from a town of less than three hundred people in rural Tennessee. Tell us about that journey."
Alex gave his trademark devilish grin. "I wanted to see how I'd do in the world outside of Trouble Hollow. Pretty well, I think."
Gossett laughed politely, and then Alex's expression became serious. "My family was very poor, and it was a struggle growing up. I did what I could to help the family, but we still had very little."
"Is it true that you'd hunt small animals to bring in meat for the table?"
Alex smiled and rubbed a hand over his chin. "They weren't all so small. I brought down my share of deer. But yeah, we'd eat just about anything. Rabbit. Raccoon. Squirrel. Whatever I could hit with my bow."
"How do you go from eating squirrel to dining at the most expensive and exclusive restaurants in the world?"
"You work hard, build an empire, and amass a pile of money, as you said."
Lila watched the delicate dance Alex was putting forth. From glib comment to solemn revelation, he was slowly peeling back the layers for the viewing audience.
"Seriously, it was hard work. I studied hard and managed a full scholarship to an Ivy League school. I worked nights, went to school during the day, and used every spare minute to start building my businesses. When I graduated college, I took the seed money I'd made and invested it, found more capital, bought a couple businesses, improved them, sold them, invested the profits, and kept moving forward. It was long hours and hard work."
Lila was impressed. Nothing had ever been handed to Alex Drake, and she felt a wave of guilt at her own preconceptions of him. He'd once been in the same position as her, putting everything on the line for a dream.
Only his had come true. Hers had crashed and burned.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you about recent events, more specifically, your relationship with Alana Morgan. She gave an interview a few days ago in which she stated that you two had delayed your wedding plans while you went into treatment for sexual addiction. Can you tell us about that?"
Alex frowned. "I'm aware of Miss Morgan's interview, but I had no prior notice that she was giving one. I broke off my engagement to Alana Morgan almost a month ago, and have had limited contact with her since. The wedding isn't delayed. It's never going to happen."
Lila's stomach did a summersault. He wasn't engaged to Alana, hadn't been for weeks. She wondered suddenly what had prompted their breakup, and what role she'd played in it.
"And her statement that you were in rehab for sex addiction?"
Alex stared at the journalist, his jaw tightening. "Untrue. I'm not a sex addict."
"This leads me to raise the question of the alleged sex tape. Websites had posted a picture of you with a woman who was not Miss Morgan, and rumors surfaced that the picture had been taken from a video with you and a Ms. Li--"
"My lawyers have convinced the websites to take the pictures down, and no sex tape is going to be leaked. The whole situation was unfortunate. I wasn't happy in my relationship with Alana, but I didn't break it off with her when I met someone else and I should have. That was wrong of me, and I admit that now and hope that the people I've hurt can forgive me."
"Of course." Steve Gossett seemed to know that he'd stumbled upon a sensitive topic, but at the same time he realized that this was what his audience really wanted to know. "You said you met someone else. Is that the person allegedly featured in the video?"
Alex grimaced. "That's a delicate subject, and in this one aspect of my life I'd like to maintain a little privacy. I don't feel right talking about her without her permission."
Lila blushed furiously, her heart in her throat. Now would Gossett take the hint?
Not yet, it seemed. "And are you currently in a relationship with this person?"
One side of Alex's mouth quirked up. "I'm tryin' to be."
Lila missed the next portion of the interview, her mind roiling with the implication of his words, and of the interview itself. She tuned back in when Gossett asked the same question that was rolling around in her brain.
"Why did you want to give this interview today?"
"I wanted to set the record straight. I could have gone to my publicist, had him issue a press release, but I wanted the world to hear it from me. And it was more than that."
Alex ran a hand through his dark hair. "It's so easy to forget our roots, to forget where we came from and to lose sight of what's really important in life. Success and money are their own rewards, but they can't outweigh family. Friends. Or love."
Love. The word caused Lila to stifle a gasp. She felt uncomfortable, wished the interview was over, wished they were alone together so she could ask him some questions of her own. Even though she wanted to give in to her reckless urge to demand answers from him immediately, to share her own impetuous emotions, she sat silent. Waiting.