Sandra Hyatt - Revealed: His Secret Child

T his time shed gone too far.

Max Preston looked from the newspaper spread before him to the glittering sea beyond the window and made up his mind. This time he wasnt going to give her the opportunity to ignore his calls. To ignore him.

His chair scraped across the parquet flooring of the Beach and Tennis Clubs breakfast restaurant as he stood from his table. Leaving a tip for his waitress and his just delivered omelet untouched, he took one last sip of his coffee and left.

So much for the first Saturday off hed had in months.

He hadnt known he was going to fill his morning. He did now.

A search on his phone as he strode to his car turned up her address. Tossing the parochial, two-bit rag she worked forthe proverbial thorn in his sideonto the passenger seat, he slid into his seat and eased the Maserati out of the clubs parking lot.

The first time hed seen Gillian Mitchells picture and byline in the Seaside Gazette and realized that she was here in Vista del Mar, hed felt an unexpected surge of pleasure and triumph, like when he found something he didnt realize hed lost and was missing. A hundred-dollar bill in his coat pocketbut better.

It only took the seconds hed needed to read her first biting paragraph for those feelings to vaporize.

Since that moment, hed been trying to view her presence here and her articles with purely professional detachment.

Clearly, she wasnt doing the same. Her attacks on Cameron Enterprises and, in particular, Maxs boss, Rafe Cameron, might, to the uninformed reader, appear objective, but they were personal and directed at Max. He was sure of it.

On the seat beside him, her opinion piece lay face-up. At the first set of lights he flipped the paper over so that he didnt have to see the one-sided article that constituted her opinion.

A call came through on his cell. Max speaking, he said into his earpiece.

Have you seen it? Rafe wasted no words.

Im dealing with it. As head of PR for Cameron Enterprises it was Maxs job to smooth the waters, to make sure the people of Vista Del Mar saw Rafes takeover of Worth Industriesa microchip manufacturer and one of the towns biggest employersin the best possible light.

And Gillian, it seemed, was doing everything in her power to achieve the opposite result.

Is it libel? Rafe asked.

Its close. Im on my way to see her now. Ill let her know how seriously were taking this. That our lawyers will be examining this piece as well as every word shes written to date, and every word she will write in the future on anything related to this subject.

Good. Rafe rang off.

At one time, Max had nothing but the highest respect for Gillians doggedness. But when she started making his boss the repeated target of her campaign, that doggedness looked a lot more like intransigence and plain old sour grapes.

Because she and Max had history.

But the way he remembered it, it had been good history. And it had ended cleanly. Six months into their relationship, when shed casually dropped the words children and marriage into a conversation, hed known he had to end it. It was only fair. He didnt do marriage and kids, they hadnt been in his plans. Still werent. And till that moment he hadnt thought theyd been in hers.

So hed broken it off with her. On the spot. It was the only honest thing to do. And hed thought shed taken it well. There had been no drama. Shed calmly agreed with him that they clearly had different needs from a relationship, and walked away without so much as a backward glance.