A wave of despair washed over her as she faced reality. She’d been here for less than ten hours and already her cover was blown. It was bad for her and bad for Milly. In her head she’d imagined having a week or maybe two to recover a little and decide on what she was going to do before needing to leave the sanctuary of Milly’s home. Instead she hadn’t managed a day. She was going to have to leave right away. But go where?

Joel turned off the water.

She expected him to leave but he didn’t. He dried his hands carefully and then looked directly at her.

“I’m not much good at subterfuge and games, so I’m not going to pretend I don’t know who you are. I scared you, and I’m sorry for that because I’m guessing in your position you have to be pretty careful around people you don’t know.”

And equally careful around the people she did know, which was worse in some ways. In her experience the people who could hurt you the most were the ones who were closest to you because they knew all your vulnerabilities.

She held his gaze. “People aren’t always what they seem.”

He nodded. “I’m sure that’s true, particularly for someone in your position. I’m guessing that you don’t want anyone to know you’re here, otherwise Milly would have mentioned it. So I just want to say that you don’t have to worry about me. I shouldn’t have just walked in, but I did, and I can’t change that. But no one is going to hear about you from me.”

She was sure he believed that, and she wanted to believe him too, but she also knew from experience that all it would take was a few pints in the local pub for him to start trying to impress his friends. You’ll never guess who I met.

He was still watching her, his gaze steady. “You don’t believe me, so I’ll say it again. No one is going to hear about you from me.”

She was startled by how easily he’d read her, and now she was wondering what he was thinking, really.

Had he seen the latest stories about her? Of course he had. And he probably believed every word, because far too many people thought that what they read in the press and online was fact. It shamed her to think what he might have seen. The assumptions he would have made about her.

He gave her a brief nod and walked to the door, but instead of leaving he paused.