Harlequin Desire: August 2022 Box Set 1 of 2 by Nadine Gonzalez

Author:Nadine Gonzalez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Lark, look this way!” the voice of a reporter outside Routt County Courthouse called to her as she strode toward the municipal building on the first day of the court challenge.

A small throng of camera operators hovered behind a few on-the-spot media members. Lark kept her feet moving, remembering Gibson’s advice. Reporters couldn’t hassle her or impede her. She didn’t have to talk to them.

She had the control—not them.

Still, she felt glad to be entering the court with her sisters. Jessamyn and Fleur were two steps behind her. Her mother had wanted to attend the session, but a long day of travel had left Jennifer Barclay under the weather. Privately, Lark worried the stress of facing their father in a courtroom again had taken a toll of its own on their mom. They’d left her to rest in a spare room at Crooked Elm.

“Lark, are you hoping Gibson returns to Los Angeles this coming season?” A petite woman asked, taking two steps to Lark’s long stride in order to keep pace with her on the left side. The awkward gait made the woman’s microphone bob up and down around Lark’s chin. “Is it true he’s testifying here today to support you?”

On her right, a man’s voice added to the noise. “Lark, have you spoken to any of the female athletes who’ve come out in strong support of your campaign to re-center media attention on women?”

Is that what she’d been doing? Campaigning?

It took all her effort not to snipe back that her campaign must not have been very successful since journalists like him still followed around the former wife of a major athlete rather than an actual athlete. But today wasn’t about her battle with the superficial entertainment media types. Since her rant on camera, she’d been disciplined about blocking as many news sources as possible that might speculate on her relationship with Gibson in hurtful ways.

Eyes forward. No comment.

While a part of her regretted not figuring that out in time to help her marriage, another part of her knew that Gibson’s extended absences were more to blame than the media. The press interference just added fuel to the fire. And how was it she ended up thinking about Gibson so often lately? She still couldn’t believe they’d parted ways two nights ago without touching. She’d been on edge ever since.

Beside her, Fleur’s voice pulled her from her musing at the same time as the distinctive rumble of a helicopter’s rotor sounded overhead. “You okay?”

The aircraft must be flying close by, the sound growing louder still.

“Perfect,” she lied, needing it to be true. “Ready to show the court what a liar our father is and secure Gran’s legacy.”

They were halfway up the stairs into the building when raised voices from the parking area made Lark turn to see what was happening.

At first, she couldn’t quite make sense of it.

The reporters—mostly a ragtag collection of freelancers trying to invent a story to sell, although there’d been one local network affiliate—were swarming in the opposite direction of the courthouse.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.