Coming to a halt, she set down her purse and laptop case, buying herself time for a deep breath. She would use the exit stairs as a makeshift podium since she was obviously conducting a press conference. Exactly what she hadn’t wanted. Not with her nerves shot and the dark circles under her eyes.
Reflex had her fixing a smile on her face. She straightened and scanned the crowd.
“Lily, any comment on Emmelina’s wedding?”
“Will you confirm the rumor Worldwide Weddings Unlimited contracted the former president’s daughter?”
“Are you in town to hide from what’s being written on the All About Angel blog?”
Mention of the All About Angel blog had Lily searching their faces to see who was rude enough to bring up such nonsense. A tabloid reporter, no doubt.
When more press rushed across the tarmac—including a cameraman—she didn’t get a chance to identify any one individual.
Who had leaked her arrival? She hadn’t realized the area had so many media outlets. This was Pleasant Valley, for goodness’ sake. When she’d grown up here, the place had been nothing but villages orbiting towns defined by how long a drive it was to civilization.
Five minutes into the Valley.
Fifteen minutes into Poughkeepsie.
A half hour to the mall.
Two hours to the city—Manhattan and definite civilization.
“No comment on Emmelina’s wedding.” She projected her voice and the reporters quieted. “And, yes, I’m pleased to announce that Worldwide Weddings Unlimited is contracted for Kate Cochran’s event. That’s breaking news since we went to contract right before I left the Manhattan office an hour ago. And do you really think I’d hide from an anonymous blogger who can’t be troubled to sign his or her name to erroneous posts?”
Posts that appeared to have no purpose other than casting doubt on Lily’s reputation? She hadn’t expected legitimate media to give credence to such nonsense. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, my friends, but I’ve come to town for a family wedding.”
“Haven’t heard anything about a family wedding on the wire services. Are you attending or planning the event?”
She spotted the reporter who had asked the question. Poughkeepsie Journal. She’d answer. “Both actually. Can’t have a wedding planner in the family without asking for input. Not if there’s to be peace at the event, anyway.”
Laughter erupted from the crowd and camera shutters clicked wildly.
“Will you comment on the All About Angel blog, Lily Susan?”
Lily Susan.
The only people on the planet who used her first and middle names together were family, so her gaze automatically zeroed in… Her breath caught as she saw the familiar man standing half a head above the crowd. Not family. And how had she missed him? Despite the two dozen people huddled around him, suddenly, he was all she could see.
Max Downey.
The same glossy dark hair. The same chiseled face. The same fast smile.
Had the inquiry come from anyone else, Lily would have offered a quip these reporters could milk in print for all they were worth. But Max owned the Mid-Hudson Herald, a legitimate media corporation, even if his questions hadn’t sounded like it—not when he was asking about the All About Angel blog.
From him the question took her so off guard she could barely think let alone quip, with her heart pounding too hard. Their gazes met across the distance…?.
All these years and his piercing green eyes still tied her tongue in a knot.
But Lily wasn’t the same young girl who had nursed a crush on her big brother’s best friend. Max’s flashing dimples and deep voice could no longer take possession of her reactions and make her blush like a teenager.
Especially when he asked such idiotic questions.
“Last I heard you owned the Herald, Mr. Downey. Don’t you have professionals on staff who know the difference between relevant and irrelevant questions?”
More laughter. More clicking cameras. The video was rolling, too.
Max cocked his head to the side and glanced at her with an expression that was amusement and arrogance rolled into one. “Yes to both questions.”
“Both?” She arched a quizzical eyebrow.
“Yes, I have professionals on staff and, yes, I have a relevant question.” Wealth and privilege radiated from him, in his matter-of-fact tone and his confident manner. There was no mistaking that he was a man used to getting what he wanted.
Lily knew it was coming before he even opened his mouth. It shouldn’t have taken her so long to make the connection because this man shouldn’t still have the ability to rob her of her faculties. She wasn’t thirteen anymore. Suddenly she remembered the inquiry that had arrived by fax to her office yesterday.
“Lily Susan, will you confirm that Worldwide Weddings Unlimited intends to contract Lieutenant Colonel Girard’s wedding before he begins his campaign for governor?”
Sure enough…
From Lily’s vantage she saw every head swivel toward Max. There were gasps and lots of scrambling for hand-held recorders to capture the breaking political news.
Lily wondered if there were laws against airing a live murder because she intended to kill Max as soon as she could get her hands on him. The only thing saving him was the press leaping all over his political announcement.
“Downey, what do you know about the candidate?”
“What’s the candidate’s political affiliation?”
“What makes the candidate think he stands a chance in the gubernatorial election against the incumbent?”
The balance shifted and this became Max’s press conference. Not as impromptu as hers, because the man clearly had an agenda, but Lily was impressed as much by the reporters’ ability to switch gears as she was by Max’s self-possession.
“Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Girard is my late wife’s brother,” Max explained. “His second tour in Afghanistan ends next May, and he’ll be retiring from military service. After he comes home, he hopes to continue serving his country as governor of this fine State of New York.”
“Who’s the candidate marrying?”
“Second Lieutenant Jamilyn Carmichael. She’s serving in Iraq. Hence, the need for the Wedding Angel to plan the ceremony. They have leave around the holidays and want an event at my family estate that will launch him into the public.”
The family estate. Overlook.
Just the thought tugged at Lily’s heartstrings. Every wedding she’d ever fantasized about as a girl had been set on the gorgeous grounds of the estate overlooking the Hudson River.
“Are you using your business connection to the Wedding Angel to get her to coordinate the wedding?”
Abusing that connection, more accurately.
But this reporter knew local history, at least, when it was obvious many didn’t. Heads swiveled around to Lily as if this was the first they’d heard about a Worldwide-Weddings-Unlimited and Downey-family connection, both personal and professional.
Lily wrested control of the conversation again.
“I expect the bride and groom will want peace at their event since they’ve both been living on the front lines.”
“The Wedding Angel can provide peace. She’s the best in the business,” Max said softly, but his voice carried.