Free Flash and Fire by Marie Ferrarella Page A

to her right before airtime.
    Amanda knew she ran the risk of losing the news item if she talked to Grimsley first. They both knew he held a grudge against her, and he wasn’t a forgiving man. More than likely, Grimsley would give the story to someone else to follow up on and then release.
    Or he’d decide to turn it into a closing feature, possibly even an expose. None of those alternatives would be fair to Whitney. Complying with what he had asked of her was the least she could do for him.
    The situation was going to be hard enough for Whitney to deal with as it was. The news release would generate waves, horrible waves that couldn’t be escaped. It would open a Pandora’s box for Whitney that could never be shut again. People remembered scandals long after they forgot the good a person did. There would be an investigation. Perhaps a trial and even a prison sentence.
    Amanda shivered.
    The public would be quick to cast stones. There was nothing the people loved as much as a hero—unless it was a scapegoat.
    And Whitney would be their newest candidate, until someone else came along.
    Reading Whitney’s statement, she’d had to blink back tears.
    Amanda had no idea how long she worked. She’d fallen asleep at her desk, her fingers resting on the computer keyboard, her head nodding. A neighbor’s dog, barking at what she presumed was probably a cat dashing across someone’s yard, had woken her. She’d dragged herself to her feet and managed to stumble off to bed.
    And now dawn had arrived, a great deal faster than she was happy about.
    She took a deep breath, then slowly opened her eyes. Thick shafts of light sliced their way through the drawn light blue blinds.
    It was morning.
    Today she had to make Whitney’s announcement. An oppressively heavy blanket of despair wrapped itself around her, trapping the very air in her lungs.
    Wishing for the merciful oblivion of sleep, Amanda closed her eyes again. It didn’t do any good. She knew that even if she were able to fall asleep again, there would be no escaping this. Whitney had made it plain that the announcement had to be made as soon as possible, before his blackmailer leaked the story to the press.
    And she was the one who had to do it.
    Amanda kicked her sheet back, angry at the world, and sat up. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was almost seven. Christopher was usually up by now. Why hadn’t he come barreling into her room the way he usu ally did, ready to bounce on her bed and on her stomach?
    Thinking back, she vaguely recalled hearing noises outside her door just before the buzzer had slashed sleep aside. Now that she thought of it, that had probably been Christopher trying to get into her room. Carla must have dragged him away. The woman definitely had her virtues.
    Amanda forced herself out of bed and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirrored wardrobe door. Her hair was wild, her face pale and puffy. She had looked better in her life. A lot better. And a lot more human.
    For some perverse reason, she thought of Pierce. Maybe she should let him see her like this. One look and he would certainly back off, she thought with a smile.
    In a careless movement, she ran her hands slowly over the swell of her hips and wondered, just for a fleeting moment, what it would be like to make love with him.
    Hot. Passionate. And fast. So fast that the breath would undoubtedly be knocked out of her.
    Well, it was something that she didn’t intend to find out about. She’d wondered about bungee jumping too, but there would be no leaping off cliffs in her future. Making love to Pierce, she thought, would probably have the same effect.
    What was he doing in her head at this hour of the morning, for God’s sake? She had work to do.
    Amanda dragged her hand through her tangled hair, pushing it out of her eyes. What she needed, she decided, was a good run to clear her head.
    She reached into the far recesses of her closet and pulled out a pair of faded denim