Silver Sparks by Starr Ambrose

and just live up to it. That was my brilliant choice. Not the brightest move, but I was pretty headstrong when I was a teenager, and kind of made my own rules.”
    He choked back a laugh. “What a surprise.”
    She allowed a tiny smile. “Maybe I still do. But I don’t sleep with every guy I go out with. Anymore,” she added with an embarrassed look. “Unfortunately, what you do at sixteen or seventeen isn’t forgotten just because you’re thirty-two and you’ve become a responsible member of the community.”
    His age. He would have thought she was in her mid-twenties. Maybe that fiery spirit made her seem younger. “So to everyone else, you’re still one of those wild Larkin girls?”
    “Yeah, except the term they use isn’t that polite.”
    “How did Rafe find out?”
    “I don’t know. I like hanging out at the resorts because I meet people who aren’t from here. They don’t judge me by my name, and don’t hit on me because they think I’m easy. Up there, the past never happened. It’s like getting a fresh start.”
    He knew all about that need from his own childhood. “You fit in.”
    She gave him a surprised look, but didn’t question him. “That’s right. But when he threw the past in my face the other night, I kind of lost it.”
    “It’s your trigger.”
    She sighed. “I guess it is.”
    Cal didn’t want to upset her further, but she might as well be prepared. “You should know that those reporters are going to be asking around about you. They’ll use your past in their stories, if they haven’t already.”
    She winced. “I know. I should probably warn Zoe.”
    “You think she’ll be okay with them starting up those rumors again?”
    “Of course not, but she won’t run and hide from it. She’s a fighter.” She set her jaw and thrust it forward. “We both are.”
    “And what about Sophie?”
    Maggie narrowed her eyes. “What about her? This has nothing to do with Sophie. She’s not even here, she’s in grad school at CU—Boulder, just finishing up her semester. The tabloids don’t know she exists.”
    “Right. And how long do you think that will last?”
    He hated to be the cause of the sudden, stunned look of fear in her eyes. She licked her lips nervously and said, “You think they’ll find out?”
    He’d have given anything to reassure her, but it wouldn’t be the truth and would only hurt her more in the long run, so he pinned her with a hard look. “Maggie, I think they’ll find out the name of the first boy you slept with and ask him how good you were. I think they’ll find out what other celebrities you’ve been seen with this past year. I think they’ll track down your first-grade teacher. Hell, they’ll find out the name of your dog and do an interview with his veterinarian.” He took a deep breath and blew it out in a disgusted sigh. “Yeah, I think they’ll find Sophie.”
    She finally dropped into the chair at her desk. “Shit.”
    He gave her enough time to imagine the repercussions, then pushed again. “Does that mean you want to back off and do it Rafe’s way?”
    “No, I . . .” She shook her head, her hair partially shielding her confused expression. “I don’t know.”
    “Then prepare for things to get worse.”
    She looked up. “Worse how?”
    “Exaggerations, even outright lies, about your past. Suggestions that you’re mentally unstable. Maybe more hints about run-ins with the law. The De Lucas will see that it gets to the press.”
    She rallied at that. “But that’s ridiculous! My run-in with the law amounts to one speeding ticket when I was nineteen. They can’t make anything of that.”
    “You’d be surprised. All they need to say is, ‘confidential sources report’ or ‘a friend of the family revealed,’ and add anything they want.”
    As the magnitude of it registered, she paled. He watched her closely, determined to convince her to go along with Rafe’s cover story and avoid the virtual bloodshed sure to