She beamed at him.
“Pretty as a picture,” Kyle Amesbury agreed, as if Joe’s comeback hadn’t meant a thing to him. Maybe it hadn’t. But then he stood, his jaw locked. “Excuse me, Joe, will you? There are some people I have to see.”
He was really angry. Joe wondered if he had just blown his financing.
“Asshole!” Allona whispered when he was gone. She moved closer to Joe. “Weird asshole at that! He wants both Doug and me to have dinner at his place.”
“Just dinner,” Doug said.
“Watch out for him,” Jinx warned. Startled, Joe looked at her. “He has no right to egg you on, Mr. Penny. You’re too decent to everyone.”
Decent? When she said that, he suddenly felt like a dirty old man.
“I wish I were that decent, Jinxy.” He touched her cheek, smiled, and left them. Jay had his hands on her shoulders. Was there something going on there? Jay liked to play the field. Jinx was an innocent in Hollywood. Maybe Jay was just playing big brother.
Joe swept a martini glass from the tray of a passing waiter and moved on.
Around three, the crowd started to die down. By then he’d had more than one very good vodka martini. He’d had …
He knew he’d lost count of his drinks when he realized that he was in the hot tub. A couple of young hopefuls—one blond, one brunette—were with him. Their clothing lay in a disheveled heap. He’d managed to neatly fold his own. Strange that he could drink enough to peel it all off and still fold it so neatly. He had a martini in his hand. He didn’t remember getting that martini either. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Yeah, he could dimly recall laughing, flirting, crawling in. The hot tub was in a little enclave just outside one of the guest rooms. It had been the blonde’s idea. She had started asking him what they were doing on the set now that Jane Dunne was gone. She was subtle. She had suggested the hot tub rather than asking outright for a job. The brunette had supplied the martini he now had. So this was the “casting hot tub,” he thought wryly. So much for hopefuls being lured to the couch.
The blonde was across from him. He felt her toe sliding along his inner thigh. She had talented toes, he thought as she moved them higher. Still, he’d been seduced before. He eyed her over the martini glass and smiled. “What was your name?”
She pouted. “Glenda. Glenda Richie.”
She moved across the tub. Positioning herself before him, she took the glass from him and set it aside, then maneuvered him so that she was in front, the brunette was in back. Her fingers took over for her toes. Her lips were close to his. “You can’t let that show fall apart. Jennifer Connolly is out of it, and no Jane Dunne.”
“Jennifer is coming back,” he said huskily. The brunette was moving too. Interesting. How many friends would help seduce a guy for the other’s benefit? He wondered what their work might have been before they’d come to Hollywood.
“But Jane is gone, and … well, you know, of course, that Serena McCormack did a screen test for Eddie.”
Serena? His Serena, his star? And she hadn’t told him?
He was about to go dead limp in the blonde’s hands. He had to get out of this situation quickly. His head was suddenly pounding.
And he had just defended her right to do as she pleased!
He slid from between the two women quickly and determinedly. His future reputation was at stake. As he moved, their well-endowed chests fit together like bricks in a wall.
“Joe!” the blonde cried, upset.
“Sorry, girls, we don’t cast the show this way. You’ll have to call your agents, and they’ll get hold of our casting director. Good night, now. Besides, what’s the matter with you girls? We’re into the twenty-first century here. Use some sense. You’re supposed to be practicing safe sex. Go buy some condoms!”
He grabbed his clothing and dressed quickly in the room. The thought of Serena made him sick with fury. And though he suddenly felt stone-cold sober, he knew he’d had more than a little to drink that night. That made it all the worse.
Overkill. Maybe the whole thing was ridiculous.
Liam closed his eyes, thinking about the days—and nights—gone past. So he was making a lot of money. He was still sleeping in his car.
But the A-frame falling today had shaken him. Again, Serena had been too close.
He glanced at his watch. Four A.M. Ricardo Carillo, twenty-five, good motorcycle cop with a new wife and baby, was due to show soon. Black-and-white patrol cars had steadfastly watched her neighborhood since Jane’s death; now Liam wanted more. He trusted Ricardo, and Ricardo wasn’t working for the department when he spelled Liam, he was working for Liam. Hell, they’d paid him enough to bring in his own help, and Ricardo needed the money.
He eased back in his seat again, wishing he was sleeping on her sofa.
No. The sofa was too close to the bedroom. He was too smart to go that route again.
No, he wasn’t. Smart had nothing to do with it.
He groaned aloud and looked at his watch. He was an asshole, that’s all there was to it. He ought to be out in the wilderness with Sharon.
He shook his head, looked at his watch again. Rick was due any minute.
He frowned, seeing lights coming around the corner. A car just passing by? He straightened in his seat, instantly alert.
The driver must not have noticed Liam’s car discreetly parked at the corner of the yard. He pulled his BMW right up behind him and exited his car hurriedly. He didn’t, however, head for the front door; he started around the back.
Toward Serena’s bedroom?
Serena wasn’t sure why she awoke; there was a noise. When she had finally fallen asleep, she had slept deeply, and coming out of it left her feeling alarmed and confused.
Oh, God, there was someone out there, someone thrashing through the leaves. She leaped up in a panic. The fear that had first risen within her when the ladder had fallen swelled to a full-blown panic. Yes, someone was after her, someone was outside.
Liam was out there, Liam was out there! she told herself.
But the rustling was coming closer and closer …
She flattened herself against the wall, her heart pounding a ferocious beat.
Liam was out of his car in a flash, racing after the man. He’d headed exactly where Liam had thought; directly toward Serena’s bedroom window.
He never reached it.
Liam tackled him about ten feet from the window. The fellow let out a howl like a wounded buffalo, fighting at first, shouting, cursing, but then going still when Liam rose and rolled him over.
Joe Penny.
“What the hell are you doing, Joe?” Liam demanded gruffly. He was surprised at the way his heart was pounding. Joe Penny? Why the hell would he want to hurt Serena?
“Liam! Dammit, let me up.”
He’d been drinking.
“What the hell are you doing here, Joe?”
“I have to see her! I’d like to throttle her,” Joe moaned.
Liam should have had some sympathy. He’d been feeling that way himself. “Why?” he demanded.
“She’ll understand.”
“You have to see her at four in the morning?” Liam demanded curtly.
“I don’t know what time it is,” Joe said. He touched his dirt-stained face. “You bruised me!” he added in horror.
Joe was usually so impeccable and calm. Liam studied him. He had been drinking, yes. But he wasn’t that loaded. He really was angry with Serena. How angry? Enough to want to kill? Was it possible that the man who had hired him was out to injure his own star?
“I have to see Serena.”
“Why didn’t you knock at her door?” Liam asked harshly.
“She’d have to wake up if I pounded at the window,” Joe said.
The lights flashed on in Serena’s bedroom. A second later, she came out the patio doors, racing across the lawn to them. She was wearing some kind of a silk nightgown. It hugged her every curve. Her hair was wild and mussed, her eyes were wi
de and bright. No makeup. He liked her that way, though she’d never know it. She was raw and exciting when she was a tousled mess, and he felt his tension increasing a dozenfold.
“What are you doing, running out here like that?” he yelled at her.
Outraged, she came to a standstill, shoulders squared, tall, straight—and bathed in the glow of the patio lights. She might as well have been naked, the way the illumination backlit the silk.
“I heard the shouting—”
“Which means you should have stayed the hell inside!” he told her.
“It’s Joe!” she said indignantly.
Liam stepped back. “You were expecting him?”
“No, of course not, but if you’ll excuse me, he is a friend,” she told him.
She started for Joe, still prone on the ground. But Joe chose that moment to find the strength to stumble to his feet. Then he let out a cry of fury; Liam thought he was lunging for her. Once again instinct leaped to the fore, and he charged Joe. Serena stepped back just in time.
“Hey, I only stumbled,” Joe cried. Then he fell face forward at Serena’s feet, Liam on top of him. But Joe managed to catch the hem of the nightgown and Serena went down as well with a gasp of surprise, caught off balance.
“I’m going to throttle you!” Joe raged.
Serena scrambled away on her haunches, staring at Joe in amazement.
“Liam, now you’re breaking my leg. Let me at her. You must want to kill her, too.”
Serena shook her head with real confusion, eyes wide. She was pale, shaken, and not afraid at all, but amazed and disturbed.
“Joe, what is the matter with you?” she asked softly.
“You’re screwing us all,” Joe raged.
Liam, one knee wedged in Joe’s back, stared at Serena and arched a brow. The look she gave him in return was truly scathing.
“Joe, I swear to God, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Eddie Wok!” Joe spit out.
“You’re screwing Eddie Wok?” Liam couldn’t help but ask politely, feeling like ice.
She stood with tremendous dignity. “You should both go dunk yourselves in the pool, gentlemen!” she said coolly.
“Serena!” Joe cried.
“Joe, calm down, and I’ll talk to you,” she said.
“Are you calm?” Liam asked.
Below him, Joe nodded. “Yeah, I’m calm. I need a Tylenol. A drink.”
“You surely don’t need a drink,” Serena said firmly. “I’ll make coffee.”
“Why don’t you put some clothes on, and we’ll all talk?” Liam said.
“You’re not a part of this conversation,” she said smoothly.
“I’m making myself a part of this conversation,” he told her. She must have known that he would absolutely not back off on this one. She didn’t respond. She turned and headed toward the house.
Joe had managed to get to his feet by then.
“Now there, she does walk in beauty,” he murmured. “Nice as—backside,” he amended, seeing Liam’s face.
“Joe—” Liam began. The name sounded like a growl.
“Sorry. But she works for me, you know. You work for me too.”
Liam gave him a shove on the back. “That’s right. And I’m working, and you’re going to get your money’s worth. Get on in there. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Why not?” Joe said. “You know, I was in a hot tub with two buxom beauties … and now here I am, at her doorstep,” he said with self-disgust.
“Get in. And explain why.”
Serena had donned a velvet robe. It didn’t seem to help Liam’s restless irritation much. There was a wide satin lapel to the robe, and it created a great V. She had already started the coffee, and was standing in the kitchen when he entered with a sheepish Joe.
She didn’t even seem to notice Liam. She glared at Joe with real fury. “What in God’s name is going on with you?”
“You!” He waggled a finger at her.
“What?” she demanded.
He said two words. “Eddie Wok.”
She shook her head. “I take it you went to Eddie’s party?”
“Yes.”
“And Eddie told you about the screen test.”
“You didn’t. And you’re under contract.”
“My contract is up for renegotiation in five months, Joe.”
“So! You were about to walk, without a word, without a warning—”
“No, Joe. I never intended to walk. Eddie asked me if I’d just test for the role, no obligation. I haven’t been offered anything. And Eddie is an old friend.”
“Eddie owes you! He’ll give you the role.”
“If Eddie did make me an offer, I would consider it, yes, Joe. But I never intended to walk. I would have asked for a leave. They won’t start filming until Jennifer is back, anyway. I’d never have left the show in a bind.”
Joe seemed somewhat mollified, but he was still staring at her with narrowed eyes. He pointed his finger at her angrily again. “You’re supposed to be my friend, too. We’re a family. And you didn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t say anything to anyone,” Serena insisted. “Joe, it was my business. I didn’t make any commitments. I didn’t do anything illegal or unethical. I went and did a screen test. I don’t even know now if the role is something that I want. Would you please calm down about it? And sit—right there at the table. I don’t trust you standing with a coffee cup right now.”
Joe sat, still staring at her as if she had sent an arrow straight into his heart.
The coffee had perked. Serena poured him a cup and set it before him. “Joe, please, drink that.”
“I told you, I’m not plastered.”
“It will be good for you anyway.”
He picked up the cup and sipped the coffee. He waved a hand in her direction.
“Joe, I didn’t set out to do anything to anyone, or upset you! You and Andy have always said that you want your actors to take on extra projects. It gives the show more exposure.”
“The show has plenty of exposure now,” Joe said and then shook his head. He swallowed more coffee. “I’m going to have a long talk with Andy about this, you know,” he told her.
“Well, of course, talk to Andy. I didn’t mean to make it a deep dark secret,” Serena said with a sigh.
Liam had stood at the back of the room, watching the exchange. Joe was still staring at Serena as if she had slid a knife into his back. Serena was merely impatient. He thought she had forgotten that he was there, but then her eyes met his.
“Joe, I know you’re not loaded, but you were drinking at that party, and you are upset. Liam, I think you should drive him home.”
“There will be a cop outside in a few minutes. He’ll take him home.”
“A cop?” Joe said with a growl. “Cops, cops! They’re crawling all over us! They dissected our set, and they haven’t found out a damned thing. They’re worthless!”
“I beg to differ,” Liam told him.
“Yes, you would. I hired you—at great cost!—and I’m the one you’re tackling to the ground.”
“You hired me to guard Serena. You were a threat to her.”
“There’s the point. I’ve hired you. I can fire you,” Joe said sternly.
“Go ahead, fire me.”
Joe stared at him. “You know damned well I’m not going to fire you. I’m praying that you will find out what’s going on before I start tearing my hair out.”
“Joe, don’t do that,” Serena said, amused. “You paid a lot for that great transplant. You don’t want to mess with it.”
He glared at her. “I can fire you, too.”
She shrugged, still smiling slightly.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’d have job offers all over the place. I just wish that you had talked to me.”
“Joe, honestly, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I was out of line, the way I came over here. But after everything that
’s been going on … and then hearing this …”
“It’s all right, Joe.”
“Try knocking at the front door next time,” Liam suggested.
He left Joe and Serena in the kitchen and strode to the front door, having heard the arrival of Ricardo’s car. Out the window he saw Ricardo was approaching the house.
“Everything all right?” Ricardo asked when the door opened and he saw Liam. “I saw the lights and your car—”
“Yeah. I’m going to stay on here. I need you to run a man home.”
Ricardo arched a brow. “He isn’t going to puke on me or anything, is he? Not that I wouldn’t do anything for you, Liam, but I’ve got the new car—”
“This guy got mad, upset, and had a few drinks. He’s not going to throw up.”
“Who is it?” Ricardo asked.
“A man named Joe Penny.”
“Joe Penny, producer of Valentine Valley?” Ricardo inquired.
“Yep. Get him on home, if you will. Take his car—the BMW there—then call a buddy on patrol to pick you up at his place.”
“Great!” Ricardo agreed. “That’s a good-looking car.”
Liam opened the door wider, and Ricardo walked on in. Liam followed him into the kitchen. Serena had taken the chair next to Joe’s. Her head was close to his. She had been whispering to him vehemently.
She started when she saw Ricardo, then stood quickly, and offered her hand. “Hi. I know you from somewhere—”
“Grainger House, a while back, Miss McCormack. I was working for Conar Markham.”
“Yes, of course. Would you like some coffee?”
“No, thanks. Come on, Mr. Penny,” he said to Joe. “I’m going to get you home.”
“Serena—” Joe began, pointing at her.
“Joe, if you wag that finger at me again, I’m going to break it off,” Serena told him firmly.
Joe turned, winking at Liam. “She’s a tough one, isn’t she?” He looked at her again. “Good night, Serena. You know I do love you. You just wounded me. To the quick.”