“How is she?”

He looked up and stared at Holly, who’d approached without him noticing. “A little better. I’m taking her out for brunch at the country club, just the two of us.”

“Good idea.” Holly looked over her shoulder and leaned closer. “I’ve got news.”

From above, he heard footsteps. Sabrina was walking down the stairs.

Holly glanced up, then whispered to him, “Tell you later,” and hurried away.

When Sabrina reached him, her handbag slung over her shoulder and a cardigan draped over her arm, he greeted her with a smile. The last few days had taken their toll on her, and what they both needed was to spend time with each other on their own.

He took her hand. “I know a great place where we can relax a little.”

Though she nodded and smiled, she’d clearly forced the smile for his sake. It broke his heart a little right there. Her father had accused her of terrible things, and he knew that it wouldn’t be something she would be able to put behind her very easily. But Daniel would do everything in his power to make her father apologize to her and beg her to be allowed to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.

In the car, Sabrina barely spoke, and he didn’t press her. He knew her well enough that when she was hurt, she retreated into herself. She wasn’t the kind of person to show everybody that she was hurt. She simply withdrew into her shell, just like she did now. Trying to force her to come back out when she wasn’t ready to talk would be of no use. So he merely put his right hand over hers and held it while they were driving along the highway with the top of his convertible down.

When he pulled the car to a stop in front of the Maidstone Country Club and pulled into an empty parking spot, he let go of her hand.

“They serve a wonderful brunch here.”

Sabrina gave him a grateful smile. “It’s beautiful.”

Daniel escorted her into the club house, through the elaborate entrance hall, and steered her toward the dining room, where a man wearing a beige summer suit stood at a podium, greeting the guests.

“Mr. Sinclair, so nice to see you,” the man greeted him with a tight smile. It appeared the Maitre d’ had read the article in the New York Times. He hadn’t thought of how widely read the New York Times was among the residents of the Hamptons.

“Good morning, Eric,” Daniel said evenly. “Two for brunch please. Maybe—”

“—somewhere quiet in the garden?” Eric suggested.

It appeared that the Maitre d’ wanted to seat Daniel as far away as possible from the other respectable guests. Had Daniel not been with Sabrina, he would have taken exception to the man’s presumption and insisted on being seated in the middle of the dining room, but in Sabrina’s current vulnerable state, he wanted as little attention as possible. At least at the club where his entire family were members, nobody would dare make a scene. It was the reason he’d brought Sabrina here rather than taking her to one of the popular restaurants in Montauk or East Hampton, where they would possibly not receive such courtesy.

When Eric seated them in a quiet area in the garden, away from the main dining room, and immediately sent the waiter to them to take their drinks order, Daniel finally breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel Sabrina doing the same.

“Thank you. I just needed to get away from it all.” She looked at him and smiled, but her eyes were clouded with a sadness that made his gut clench.

“I hate to see you like this.” He took her hand and pressed a kiss onto its back. “Tell me what I can do.”

She looked into the distance where several men were playing tennis. “I wish there were something you could do. But there isn’t. It’s all a mess.”

“It will all work out in the end. Trust me.”

“It won’t change what my father thinks of me.”

“It will, once they’ve retracted the story and issued an apology.”

She whirled her head to him. “Even if they retract the story, because you’re threatening to sue them, people will still think it’s true.”

“They won’t if we can give the newspaper a story that will expose their previous story as a totally fabricated lie.”

Sabrina dropped her lids. “It’ll be too late. The wedding is in four days.”

“Please, trust me—”

“Daniel,” a male voice suddenly came from behind him.

He whirled his head around and saw Brian Caldwell stopping next to his and Sabrina’s table. He was surprised to see his business associate here.