Page 41 of Miss Christmas

“You’ll be fine—it’s just for a minute while I get you past the people outside the door.”

She looked up at him with those knockout violet eyes, but it wasn’t their gorgeous color that did him in this time, it was the trust he saw in them.

He held her close, her face plastered against his shirt, and ducked as he pushed through the door to the crowd now waiting on the other side. The Broadway director stood front and center, arms folded and flashing a grin. Will did his best to shield Scarlet from the camera, but there was no way for them to escape the confines of the hallway without her being seen. He hugged her to him, keeping her close to his chest, hoping they wouldn’t recognize her, and tried to whisk her past the amused, surprised, and titillated group.

“And what do we have here, Will? A not-so-secret tryst? Is that one of the contestants?” The producer wouldn’t be denied. He blocked their path.

“I think you’re right,” the deputy mayor grinned. “I do believe you just escaped the men’s room with Scarlet Jones.”

“It’s not like that,” Will said. Since it was a bald-faced lie and Will was no actor, no one believed him. Scarlet straightened.

“Don’t worry, Will. I do believe these men are jealous.” She said, giving each of them a confident, shameless smile.

“You would be right, young lady,” the producer said.

“Don’t worry, we won’t press for details,” the deputy mayor said.

“I want the details,” a man with a camera said. “What were you two doing in the men’s room with the door locked?”

It was the one thing Will couldn’t save Scarlet from. Herself. She turned to the cameraman and gave him the kind of smile he was looking for. The one with trouble and shameless guilt written all over it. The flash of his camera went off. And Will knew that would be the photo flashed on social media before the night was over. And printed in the society page the very next day.

He’d have hell to pay. It was the one thing Margo—and the rest of the family, also known as the company brass—wanted to avoid. His grandma would be mortified. The men’s room. He was such a dick.

“Now if you all don’t mind, I have a dinner to attend.” She walked tall and he still held her, but she wasn’t hiding. That wasn’t her nature. He’d known it wasn’t in her nature to hide from controversy. He’d known it was the kind of thing he avoided. In essence, within the first hour of them confirming that they had a relationship, it all went to hell.

None of that explained the smile on his face and in his heart as he escorted her back to her table.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” he said in her ear, taking in her cherry blossom scent. “Let me take that back. I can believe it.” He sighed and pulled out her chair.

“I wish you could sit with me,” she said. “Then I wouldn’t feel so naked. You’re not worried, are you? About the photo?”

He shook his head and lied through his smile.

“Damn. We’re in big trouble, aren’t we?” she said.

“Not you. I’ll deal with it.”

“That’s what she said just before the bed broke.”

Will laughed, kissed her on the cheek, and went back to his table to do his best pretending that nothing ever happened, like he didn’t just have wild passionate sex with the woman of his dreams. In the men’s room. Not even the prospect of being exposed to all of New York could dampen his joy.

* * *

At the end of the dinner, Scarlet needed to do something. With each passing video and remark about what paragons the contestants all were, she felt the trouble brewing underneath, felt the stares of those men with their presumptions. Oh, they were fine with Will and her fooling around in the men’s room. They were far from scandalized by it—more like amused.

That wasn’t the issue. The problem was that they knew she was with him. And he was a Regal, had been a judge, and he clearly favored her. They would assume she was with Will to influence him. To win the pageant. And so would anyone and everyone who might see that picture of her and him with a likely lurid caption.

Not if she had anything to say about it. Which she did. She would put an end to her guilty conscience and any speculation before it started. She refused to be guilty of sleeping her way to success. She could maintain that much independence.

The minute the dinner ended, she stood and headed straight for Margo Regal. This was Margo’s pageant and she needed to speak with her first. Waiting until Will was nowhere in sight, Scarlet went to Margo, who stood with her husband and a few of the contestants.

“Can I speak with you? In private? It’s important.”

“Absolutely.” Margo turned to the others. “Excuse me. I need a few minutes with Scarlet.” She took Scarlet’s hand and led her to the ladies’ room. Of course. Scarlet almost laughed aloud when Margo locked the door behind them. How many times could she escape to a locked bathroom with a Regal in one night?

“You wanted to talk to me about the . . . men’s room tryst?” Margo said, a twinkle in her eye.

“Will told you.”