Free Tempting Faith (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Crystal Hubbard Page B

hide the seams well enough.”
    “Really? Enlighten me.”
    She leaned back, inadvertently giving Zander an inviting view of her décolletage. “Olivia has a knack for finding talent for her son to represent. Her boys aren’t just easy on the eyes. Most of them can actually act, too. She collects stars the way other people stumble upon good luck pennies, only she makes her stars what they become.”
    “She’s a good publicist,” Zander said. “You make it sound like it’s a crime.”
    “If my research is at all accurate—and it is—here’s what happened,” Faith went on. “You left West Virginia for whatever reason and came out West. Olivia Baxter saw you at some point. I can’t begin to guess where, but the when is a bit easier. You had surgery to correct your nose and at least one procedure to straighten your chompers. Then there was the removal of the scar from your face, but the coaching probably took the most time. Dialects, foreign languages, deportment, etiquette and acting. Have I missed any?”
    “No,” he said, grudgingly impressed. “Do continue.”
    “Once you were remodeled, buffed and polished, Brent sent you out, and you were cast in Burn as part of a ten-million dollar deal. It’s been skyward and onward since. If Reunion performs as well as forecasted at the box office, chances are pretty good that you’ll become the newest member of the twenty-million-a-movie club. Not bad for the bad boy of Raleigh County. From mountain boy to superstar in…five years?”
    He tapped the table with his knuckle. “Just about to the day. You’re a good researcher, Faith.”
    “I’m surprised that Brent has gone along with this deceit. As agents go, he’s pretty decent. He’s got a great reputation for genuinely caring about his clients and for having a conscience. I think Olivia relied on that to give substance to the crap she’s been peddling about you.”
    “Before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight,” he said sternly. “Brent is my best friend. He’s my only friend. It was never my intention to deceive…to misdirect anyone in any way.”
    “Then let me tell the truth about who you are. It’s going to come out anyway.”
    “Are you threatening me?
    “I’m warning you.” She sat forward, reaching for his hand, but then withdrawing her own quickly. “I’ve been assigned to write a story on Zander Baron. It would make the cover if…if I wrote it in full. It would be my biggest cover story, and given the public interest in you, it would garner a great deal of publicity. For both of us.”
    The waitress returned and set Zander’s meal before him, but he no longer had any taste for what little taste the omelet had. “Do you really hate me that much?”
    She winced. Her nostrils twitched, another telltale sign that tears were close. “This is the nature of the business, Alex,” she said softly.
    He shoved his plate aside. “Don’t call me that.”
    “That’s your name.”
    “Not anymore. It’s all legal. I can even show you a driver’s license to prove it.”
    “I know,” Faith said. “It was issued in Cheyenne, Wyoming, five years ago.”
    “How long have you been planning this grand exposé?” he asked.
    “That first close-up in Burn… ” She shook her head and smiled wistfully. “I felt like I was having a heart attack. I knew it was you. I asked my editor to let me cover your Reunion press conference. I wanted to see you.”
    “I’ve wanted to see you too, Faith. You have to believe that. My memories of you were the only things that kept me going at times when—”
    “Zander Baron has no memories of me,” Faith cut in, her tone jagged. “Don’t you dare pretend that you’re the same person I knew back home.”
    “Home,” he repeated with a bitter laugh. “Home to you was hell for me, and you know it.”
    “Is that why you ran?” Her voice broke. “Is that why you left me?”
    He rested his elbows on the table and covered his face with his