Page 44 of A Reclusive Heart

“I don’t want to put it off and I really don’t want to wait until their next interview to find out that they’d been lying to me again,” Jamie explained, not sure that she could handle anything else right now.

“Okay, I’ll go with you,” he said, taking her by surprise.

“Thank you,” Jamie said softly as she stared down at the water, wondering what was going to happen when this was all over.

If he wanted to see where this was going that was fine with her and if he didn’t...

She was going to need a hell of a lot more chocolate and Coke to get over him.

“You really didn’t haveto come,” Jamie said again as he pulled into the long driveway of a large, white two-story house with an attached three-car garage. One look at the well-kept home, manicured lawn, and upscale neighborhood let him know that their childhoods had been worlds apart. Why that bothered him, he didn’t know.

“I wasn’t about to let you face them alone,” Nick said as he stepped out of the car. When the words rushed out of his mouth this morning, no one had been more surprised than him, but once he thought about it, he realized that she was going to needhim. More importantly, he realized that he’d go crazy waiting for her, terrified out of his fucking mind that they did something else to hurt her again to focus on anything else right now. He needed to keep her safe, Nick decided as he walked around the car to open Jamie’s door. That’s when he noticed the cameras.

Paparazzi.

Fucking perfect, Nick thought as he took Jamie’s hand and walked her to the door. She’d barely finished pressing the doorbell when the door was practically ripped open and an older woman in her fifties with dark brown hair, a tad too much makeup, and designer clothes grabbed Jamie and pulled her into her arms.

Nick looked back in time to see dozens of cameras go off while several more men and women ran to the sidewalk to join in the feeding frenzy. When he turned around, he noted that the woman was still holding Jamie even though Jamie had gone stiff in her arms. He also noted the smug smile on the woman’s face as she watched the paparazzi go nuts.

Having had enough drama for one day, thanks to this woman, Nick smoothly pulled Jamie away and waited for her to invite them in. With a fake smile, she did just that. As soon as the door was closed behind them, the smile was gone and a look of utter disdain took over her features as she gestured for them to follow her.

He gave Jamie’s hand a small squeeze as they followed her through the foyer to a room with double doors. When the doors opened, he spotted an older man with graying red hair sitting on a small sofa, sipping a glass of what appeared to be whiskey as he spoke with a younger man and woman, who was obviously this woman’s daughter judging by her coloring and the pinched expression when she spotted Jamie. When her eyes shifted to him, they widened in surprise before they turned calculating.

The woman was beautiful, classically so with a look and it wasn’t too difficult to see that she’d been pampered every day of her life. Remembering how his little recluse used to look, it also wasn’t that difficult to figure out that Jamie hadn’t been given the same treatment and the reason behind it. Her mother wanted her real daughter to have all the attention and she’d made damn sure that Jamie had been neglected.

He looked at the man by her side just in time to see his eyes light up when he spotted Jamie and Nick didn’t appreciate the way the man ran his eyes over his little recluse. The smile he sent Jamie’s way also didn’t please him.

“Jamie,” he said, getting to his feet and walking over to greet her, “you look great.” When he pulled Jamie into a hug, Nick barely stopped himself from shoving the asshole aside and telling him to keep his hands to himself. Something in his expression must have given away his thoughts because when he looked at Nick, he noticeably blanched and stepped away from Jamie.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said, reaching over to shake Nick’s hand. “I’m David, Caitlyn’s husband.”

“Nick, Jamie’s boyfriend,” Nick said before he realized what he was saying, but once it was out, he decided that he rather liked it, especially if it let this asshole know that Jamie was his.

David noticeably started as he looked between them as though he couldn’t quite believe it. The looks the other women were sending their way pretty much said it all. They didn’t think very highly of Jamie. The fact that her father and sister didn’t greet Jamie also said it all.

Nick took Jamie’s hand in his and entwined their fingers. It was then that he realized that she was trembling and that her hand was ice-cold. Without waiting for an invitation, he walked Jamie over to the loveseat across from her sister and sat down, pulling Jamie against his side. He put his arm around her as hetried his best to give her the support that she needed, but he wasn’t sure what to do.

This was the first time he’d ever tried to be there for a woman and he didn’t want to mess this up. Jamie needed him and normally that would have scared the hell out of him, but he had to admit that he liked knowing that he could keep her safe.

“I suppose you’re here because of the story,” her father said instead of acknowledging his youngest daughter.

“Yes,” Jamie said firmly. “As much as I would like to know why you leaked the story to the press instead of talking to me about it, I’m more interested in my mother.”

He noticed the older woman didn’t protest when she referred to another woman as her mother. Then again, it was more than obvious that Jamie was just a means to get attention at the moment. He didn’t need to be psychic to know that it had been her stepmother’s idea to leak the story. She probably felt the attention was owed to her for raising her husband’s unwanted bastard.

“We really don’t know much about her,” Jamie’s father said, taking a sip of his drink before he reached into his jacket and pulled out an aged envelope and handed it to Jamie. “She left when she was only a few months pregnant with you. Then, when you were four, she left you on our doorstep with a copy of your birth certificate.”

“She didn’t leave a reason why she left me?” Jamie asked, sounding hurt.

“I’m afraid that’s all we know,” her father said, sighing heavily.

“Henry, you should tell her,” Mrs. Harris said, earning a glare from her husband.

“Tell me what?” Jamie asked, shifting nervously in her seat.

“Barbara,” Henry said tightly in warning.

“She has a right to know,” Barbara said, carefully smoothing her hands down her skirt as she turned her attention to Jamie. “I’m afraid when we searched for her, we discovered that she’d passed away.”

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