Jennifer Snow – Her Holiday Fling (страница 2)

Hayley readjusted the slipping magazines as she entered her office building. “Apparently they were going for an accurate portrayal, not a sugarcoated version.”

“Well, I hope you’re going to call the magazine and complain.”

Her friend should know it didn’t exactly work that way. Owner of a high-fashion bridal gown store, Terri-Lynn had to deal with reviews on a regular basis. Once things were printed, they couldn’t be changed—for better or for worse. “I don’t think that’s going to fix things—the magazine is already out. Besides, this may be my fault.”

“How? Did you tell the interviewer that you eat men for breakfast and cut their balls off for sport?”

She may as well have.

When the prestigious women’s magazine had asked her to be a part of their Women On Top series, she’d been flattered. Their interest had been the ego boost she’d needed after her breakup with James, a dentist she’d been dating since moving home from New York City. After only ten months, James had proposed and she’d ended the relationship.

Unfortunately, in her hurt and disappointment with James for having ruined a good thing with his untimely proposal, she’d been a little too eager to answer Annette Miller’s questions about love, marriage and divorce—without a filter.

Entering the elevator and hitting the button, she said, “I didn’t exactly hold back on my views of men and marriage...” And all that crap.

“Okay, maybe you said some of this stuff, but there’s no way you said...” She heard her friend flip the pages of the magazine and bit her lip while she waited. “Ah, here it is. ‘Men are easily replaced—hell, save yourself the headache and buy one half your age with your divorce settlement.’”

Had it been those exact words?

“Hayley! Tell me you did not say that.”

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out. “I may have said something to that effect, but I’m pretty sure it was ‘off the record.’”

“Nothing is ever ‘off the record.’ Didn’t you read the release form for the interview?”

“Look, I wasn’t exactly in a great place. James and I had just broken up and I was still getting over it.”

“You broke it off with him.”

Hayley lowered her voice. “Only because he proposed.” Hayley Hanna Healey? Seriously? Not in a million. Hayley Hanna, period. Always.

“That’s right—he was such a terrible man wanting to marry you and all.”

Her friend didn’t get it. “He knew how I felt about marriage. I was very clear about my feelings going into the relationship.” She took comfort knowing she was always honest right from the beginning. “Anyway, can we get back to this latest disaster? What am I going to do about this article?”

“Unfortunately, it sounds like the only thing you can do is relax and wait for it to blow over,” Terri-Lynn said.

“I think you’re right. And I mean, who really reads these articles anyway? I’m at the office. I’ll call you later, okay?” Hayley tossed her phone into her purse and straightened her suit jacket as she entered the offices of Marshall and Thompson Family Law. She pushed her anxiety over the article aside. A silly feature in a local magazine, that was all it was. She doubted a copy would even find its way into the mostly male law firm, except of course for the ones under her arm that were headed directly to the shredding machine used for confidential documents.

As she passed the main reception, she spotted the cover on the secretary’s desk.

Shit. Okay, don’t panic yet. It was just a single copy. She’d ask to see it and add it to the others heading for destruction. “Hi, Megan. Beautiful morning.”

The young paralegal secretary held up the magazine. “Obviously you haven’t read this.”

Lie or fess up? Tough call. “I saw it this morning. It’s completely ridiculous,” she said, hoping her attempt at sounding nonchalant was working.

Megan skimmed the article. “So you didn’t say ‘Men deserve the harsh settlements they receive when they can’t keep their dot dot dot in their pants?’”

Okay, now that quote had been changed completely. What she’d actually said was men deserved the harsh settlements they received if they couldn’t keep their dot dot dot in their pants. If... The if made a big difference. “Of course not...not exactly, anyway.” She paused. “Do you know if anyone else has seen this?”

Megan nodded. “Everyone has a copy. A courier delivered them from the magazine’s office this morning and the new intern, Laura, made sure to distribute them right away.”

Damn those new, eager-to-please interns.

She needed to get those magazines back. Starting with the most important copy. “Is Marvin here yet?”

“Mr. Marshall arrived about three minutes before you.”

Six-inch, not-yet-broken-in Manolos, a slightly too tight pencil skirt and adult asthma made her half sprint nearly impossible, but this was one of those career-pivotal moments, worth a broken ankle or asthma attack. He couldn’t have read it yet... Oh, please, God, don’t let him have read it yet.

Drawing a ragged breath a moment later, she stopped short in her boss’s open doorway.

He was reading it.

She could come back later...or not.

“Come in, Hayley,” he said as she turned to escape.

She leaned around the door frame while staying in the safety of the hallway. “Oh, good morning, Marvin. You looked busy, so I didn’t want to...”

“Please tell me all of this was taken out of context, misquoted... Anything that we can use to sue for defamation of character.”

Hayley took a deep breath and tucked a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear as she entered his office. “I’m sure some of it was.”

“How much of it?” He extended the magazine toward her.

She wanted to decline and say no, thanks, I’ve already read it. But the joke stuck in her throat. Taking the magazine, she scanned the article for anything that looked like an error. “Um...” There had to be a misprint somewhere. Of course there was the if-versus-when wording mix-up...but probably not useful to point out that one.

“Hayley...”

“Just give me a second.” She flipped the page. “Aha, this, right here. The part about prenuptial agreements being an early admission to failure in the marriage—that was totally off the record.” Even though it was true. Hayley didn’t believe in everlasting love, but if she could twist her mind around the fact that other people found themselves utterly and completely head over heels for someone else—enough to vow a lifetime together—why would the idea of a prenup even enter their minds? “So, we’re good, then?” she asked, forcing a smile.

Marvin stood and closed his office door.

Damn. “Marvin... Mr. Marshall...”

“Shh.”

She clamped her lips tightly together.

“Was the interview recorded?” He leaned his palms on the top of his oak desk and studied her, his hopeful expression fading by the second as she stalled.

“No?” Her shoulders sagged. “Yes, it was. Look, I’m really sorry. I did say some of those...”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, all of those things. Maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Do explain.” Marvin sat in his plush leather chair and waited.

“Well, the fact of the matter is, we are divorce attorneys. Clients want us to be ruthless...man haters—” she said the word carefully “—to a degree. At least the women clients.”

He closed his eyes, then, opening them, he spoke slowly. “Hayley, when you first came back from New York, I had my apprehensions about hiring you—despite your success record in court and your Harvard education. Do you remember why that was?”

She did. “You thought I had an edge.” It had been the first time she’d ever interviewed at a law firm where her perceived edge was a strike against her.

“Exactly. And what did you promise me?”

“That I could tone it down a notch.”

“I believe we’d agreed on a whole lot of notches.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry, Mr. Marshall. I promise this will not happen again. Next time I’m interviewed, I will avoid the tough questions and stick to the standard answers in our press kits.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “How about just staying away from the media altogether?”

She pointed at her boss. “Even better idea.” She wasn’t exactly in a hurry to humiliate herself further with a repeat of articles like this one anyway.

“In the meantime, I think we need to do some damage control.”

“I can release a statement or something. Maybe talk about my charity and pro bono cases...”

His face was stone cold. “What did I just say?”

“Staying away from the media—got it.” She sat on her hands and willed herself not to speak in the long silence that followed. She shifted in the seat and crossed one leg over the other. Sitting back, she switched legs.

Finally he spoke. “You have a boyfriend? Fiancé...right?”