Masquerade (16 page)

Natalie leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes with a huff. “You’ve never lived, Mrs. Hancock.”

“My life is fine,” Clarissa said, realizing how ridiculous the words were as she said them.

How was her life fine? She was a divorced temporary nanny. On the other hand, most women would have killed to be in Natalie Granger’s shoes—or in this instance, in her sandals and little white bikini.

Clarissa had
always done her best to make the right choices. How had she managed to get so far off course? How had she ended up here?

Natalie watched her smugly. “Your life could be better than fine. I hope one day you find someone so wonderful you won’t care about breaking the rules.” Natalie
’s eyes fixed on Landon’s with pointed meaning. Even from where Clarissa sat, she could tell Natalie had offered Landon up a challenge. She was sure Landon would have no trouble convincing Clarissa to break the rules. And Landon, his eyes still on Natalie, gave her an easy smile.

A smile that meant what?

Natalie laughed slightly, stretched again, and settled back into her chair.

It would have been poetic justice if lightning had suddenly come from the sky and singed Natalie and her bikini, but lightning never struck when you wanted it to. Natalie would probably always be
gorgeous, rich, and singe-free. She’d simply go through life amassing fans and collecting Oscars.

Perhaps because Slade was tired of tromping through the kiddy pool, or perhaps because he figured there was safety in numbers, he picked up Bella and carried her toward the group. Elaina watched them go, then headed quickly back to the slide.

Clarissa recognized the look on her daughter’s face. She didn’t want to leave the pool and didn’t want to be close enough to her mother to hear, in case Clarissa called for her to come.

Slade grabbed a towel from his chair and, still holding Bella, wrapped it around her shoulders and back.

“Bella has a stomachache,” he announced.

Clarissa sat up in her chair, perhaps a bit too eagerly. “Do you want me to take her back to the hotel?”

“No,” Slade said, and to his credit he actually sounded like he was debating the idea. “I’ll hold her for a while and see if she feels better. I think I just played too rough.” He leaned his lounge chair back to a 45-degree angle, sat down, and cradled Bella in his arms.

Clarissa leaned toward Slade
so she could see Bella’s face. “Bella was very good this morning. We’ll have to go to the beach soon.”

Bella returned Clarissa’s gaze. “I don’t want to go to the beach.”

It figured. “We’ll find something you do want to do then.”

Slade bent down and
gave the top of Bella’s head a kiss. “How’s your stomach feeling now?”

She pushed one arm from underneath the towel and laid it on her father. “I feel good, but not
gooder enough for you to leave me.”

Slade couldn’t have scripted a better line to keep Bella at his side, and as Clarissa thought about it, she wondered if Slade had scripted the line.

But if Slade wanted to be with Bella so he wouldn’t have to be alone with Natalie, was Clarissa supposed to stick around, or did Slade want her to leave? Clarissa wished Slade would give her some hint.

For the next hour
, Clarissa watched Elaina swim, splash, and plunge down the slide, sometimes going quickly, other times holding onto the side of the slide so she sat stopped, suspended above the water. Clarissa also listened while the others discussed reading lines, doing retakes, and wearing makeup in humid locations.

Natalie seemed intent on keeping the conversation on subjects Clarissa had no knowledge of. If one of the two men ever made a comment to Clarissa, Natalie quickly found a way to steal the
attention back.

Bella stayed with the adults, and her stomach must have felt better, because she took fishy crackers from Clarissa’s bag, climbed back on her father’s chair, and ate the entire school. Then she fell asleep in the crook of Slade’s arm.

Finally Natalie allowed the conversation to drift from talking shop, and she discussed her next party. She eyed Slade with Landon-like subtlety and said, “Have you decided on a costume for our masquerade?”

“I haven’t even thought about it yet.”

Natalie’s eyes lingered on Slade’s physique. “You’d make a great Tarzan.”

Slade shook his head. “I should go as Shakespeare
. Then maybe I could convince people I’m a writer.”

Landon
turned to Clarissa. “What are you going as?”

“A nanny. I’ll have to baby
sit.” For a moment Clarissa wished Slade would contradict her statement. He didn’t, though.

Landon
tilted his chin down, staring over at Slade in a silent appeal. “Come on. Let Clarissa go. You’re working her to death.”

“Of course,” Natalie added. “Just look at her, she’s withering away under the strain of her workload.”

“It’s all right,” Clarissa told Landon quickly. “I’m here to work.”

Slade grinned over at
Landon. “He doesn’t understand. Work is a foreign concept to Landon.”

Landon
looked down at his watch. “Actually it’s not.” He smiled at Clarissa, then the others. “I had better get going. I’ve still got some lines to work on before rehearsal.”

Clarissa waited until
Landon had returned to the hotel and then motioned to Elaina to come out of the pool. As the little girl trotted up to her, Clarissa said, “I think you’ve had enough sun for the day.” She held open a towel, wrapped it around Elaina’s dripping body. “I’m going to take Elaina inside,” she told Slade. “Do you want me to take Bella too?”

“No.”
He said the word too quickly, then recovered his casual manner. He ran a hand over Bella’s curls. “If we move her, she’ll wake up, and she probably needs the extra sleep, what with her stomachache and all.”

Uh-huh.

Clarissa smiled as she took Elaina’s hand and stood up. Natalie might have fame, fortune, and a figure that looked stunning in a white bikini, but she didn’t have Slade. All her conniving and flirting wasn’t going to change that.

And somehow, while Clarissa walked back up to her room, she felt better about the afternoon.

Chapter 19

Slade stayed at the pool talking with Natalie for another hour, carefully measuring the minutes to give AJ enough time to read his screenplay. He draped his towel carefully over Bella so she wouldn’t burn and kept the conversation focused on Natalie. As long as she kept talking about herself, she wouldn’t bring up subjects he wanted to avoid: specifically he and she together in any way beyond sitting here by the pool.

It was easy to contain the conversation. He kept asking Natalie about her projects, and she happily ate away the time. She complained about her agent, the director of her last movie, and the media coverage of her career.

“Someday I’ll get a role where I’m not just another pretty face. You know, a role with meat to it.” She pulled her legs up on the lounge chair and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her knees. “That’s the problem with being beautiful. No one takes you seriously.”

Poor thing. He could tell by the way she preened and postured how her beauty troubled her.

“You’ll find something,” he said.

He glanced
at the clock on his phone. Surely AJ had had enough time by now to not only read the screenplay but to assign parts. Slade sat forward in his chair. “I ought to take Bella inside. Should we go check in with AJ?”

She picked up her skirt and towel from the side of her chair and stretched her arms. “Sure. We can drop Bella off at your nanny’s room first.”

He walked slowly back to the hotel, carrying Bella against his shoulder. He tried not to jostle her too much. Natalie walked beside him, wrapping her skirt back around her waist as she went.

“Do I look tanner?” she asked.

Slade glanced at her. “Sure.”

She eyed him over, coyly. “I don’t know how you can tell. You haven’t looked at me all day.”

Slade didn’t respond to her statement. They’d reached the hotel, and he opened the door for Natalie. They walked without speaking across the lobby to the elevator. As Slade pushed the button Natalie said, “Your nanny seems quite dedicated.”

“I think so.” He could feel Natalie’s gaze on him as he watched for the elevator doors.

“She’s a little stuffy, though.”

“She’s responsible,” he said.

“And her fashion sense is appalling.”

“Her fashion sense is normal. Not everyone lives on Rodeo Drive, you know.”

“But she is quite pretty.”

Although he knew it was pointless, Slade pushed the lighted elevator button again. “You don’t suppose this is broken, do you?”

“I noticed you didn’t disagree with me about that last statement,” Natalie said.

“What? About Clarissa being pretty? It would be pointless to disagree with the obvious.”

The elevator door opened, and Slade stepped inside and pushed the button for the eighth floor. Natalie followed him in and leaned against the elevator wall. “Your tastes have changed since I knew you.”

“A lot about me has changed since you knew me.”

As the elevator rose, Bella stirred, slightly lifting her head and then putting it back down on Slade’s shoulder. Natalie watched Bella for a moment, then moved from the elevator wall and walked around Slade. At first he didn’t know why she was circling him, then he saw her check Bella’s face.

“She’s still asleep,” Natalie said.

“She was playing hard.”

“Just like her father.” Natalie
came around to face him. “He’s been playing hard to get all day.”

“Natalie—” he began.

“I know what you must think of me, I mean, being here with AJ and talking to you like this. The truth is things haven’t gone well between AJ and me for awhile. I just haven’t gotten around to breaking it off with him. I haven’t had a reason to until now.” She tilted her head and looked up at Slade, her lips slightly parted. “Seeing you again—Slade, you’re one of the few men I’ve ever really cared about, and here you are with me again.” She put her hand on his arm and ran caressing fingers up it. “That can’t be coincidence. Don’t you believe in fate?” She leaned closer to him.

Slade
sighed and kept his voice low. “Natalie, you’re as beautiful and as persistent as ever. But it would never work out between us.”

She didn’t move away from him.
“Why not?”

Because he wanted someone he could respect—a woman he could trust. Because of a dozen other reasons, all of which he couldn’t tell her without the risk of being slapped before they reached the
eighth floor. “I’m seeing someone right now.”

“Oh.” She dropped her hand from his arm. Her voice suddenly sounded tight and crisp. “And to think I just heard on Entertainment Tonight that you are a confirmed bachelor.”

“You know how accurate those shows are.” He cleared his throat nervously. “Her name is Kim, and she’s flying in from England to see me on Wednesday.”

“England. How lovely.” Natalie drew her lips into something that was half smile and half scowl. “Such a warm, passionate people, the English.” The elevator door opened and they stepped out and headed down the hall. “Is she an actress?”

“No, actually, she’s a botanist,” and then because Natalie was staring at him in disbelief, he added, “She’s finishing up her PhD in botany at the University of Sheffield.”

“A
PhD in botany?” Natalie repeated. “You can’t be serious.”

He wasn’t. “I am.
” He hoped Kim would understand when he told her of these new developments in their relationship.

Natalie’s voice was all sharp edges. “Well, it’s become suddenly clear to me why no one knows you’re dating her. I’d hide something like that
too.”

They’d reached Clarissa’s room, and Slade knocked lightly on the door. “Kim’s a lovely person,” he said. “And
I’m not hiding her. In fact, I’m bringing her to your costume party.”

Natalie blinked coolly.
“I can hardly wait to meet her. She can put on a lab coat and come as herself.”

Clarissa answered the door. She’d changed into a
sundress and put on just enough makeup to emphasize her large eyes. Her hair had been brushed into soft blonde waves that lay on her shoulders. She looked both wholesome and beautiful.

“Are you ready for me to take Bella?” Clarissa’s eyes, though not as blue as Natalie’s, were brighter, clearer. And suddenly it struck him exactly how alike and yet how contrasted the two women with him were. It was as if someone had created Clarissa purely to make a point—not all beautiful women were like Natalie.

“Bella is asleep.” As soon as Slade said the words, he felt his daughter’s arms tighten around his neck. He walked over and tried to lay her down on the couch, but she wouldn’t let go of his neck.

“I want to stay with you,” she mumbled into his shirt.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he told her.

She didn’t let go of his neck, and
then wailed, “Noooo!”

Clarissa came and helped peel Bella’s arms off him, repeating, “It’s all right, Bella, we’ll order some lunch, and then you’ll feel better.”

At last Clarissa was able to drag the little girl from her father’s arms. “She’ll be fine in a minute,” Clarissa told Slade over the wailing. “Just go.”

Slade hesitated, then turned and went with Natalie. The wailing was still audible, though faint, all the way down the hall.

Slade would have liked to change out of his swimming things before he talked to AJ. He didn’t suggest it to Natalie. It was better to limit his time with her as much as possible.

As they came to the room, Nata
lie put her hand on Slade’s arm. “You’re just walking me back to AJ’s room, and while you’re here we decided to see if he’s read the script.”

“Right,” Slade said, wondering why she felt the need to give him an alibi. After all, he was
just walking her to the room to find out if AJ had read the script.

Natalie
took out a key card and opened the door. AJ stood in the front room, his cell phone still pressed to one ear, looking exactly how Slade had seen him hours before. Natalie walked past Slade into the room and plopped down on the couch without saying anything. Slade stood in the doorway, watching AJ continue to nod and mutter things into the phone.

At last
AJ said into the phone, “Hold on a minute.” He shook his head at Slade. “I’m sorry. I haven’t had a chance to get to your story. The production people messed up the props, and now I have a crate full of fake diamond necklaces somewhere in California, and nothing here.” He lifted a hand in frustration. “I’ve spent half the morning trying to track down the necklaces, and then when I told the writer to just cut the necklaces from the script, he got all defensive and brought up every grievance he’s had during his entire career. He told me he wants to renegotiate his contract. I spent the last half of the morning trying to convince our lawyer to kill him.”

AJ
shook his head again, looked at the phone, and muttered, “Writers. They’re worse than actors, and that’s saying something.”

Well, yes, especially if you were both a writer and an actor. Slade decided not to bring up this point. “It’s fine. I understand how crazy things can get in this business.”

“I’ll find some time to go over it, though. Monday at the latest—maybe Tuesday. I’ll give you a call as soon as I’ve had a chance to go through it.”

“Great,” Slade said. “I’ll talk with you then.”

He turned around and walked back to his room, only realizing when he was halfway down the hallway that he’d forgotten to say good-bye to Natalie. But then, perhaps that was for the best.

He continued around the corner, and as he approached Clarissa’s room
, he was glad to note that he couldn’t hear Bella wailing anymore. He knocked on the door, and after a moment Elaina, not Clarissa, answered the door. He didn’t have to ask where everyone else was. He could see Bella standing sullenly on the couch. Clarissa kneeled on the floor next to her picking up chunks of a broken lamp.

“Bella,” he said sternly, “you didn’t.”

Bella turned, looked at her father, and then let out a forlorn and desolate sob which made her entire body shake.

Despite his chastisement
, Slade walked over to the couch and picked her up to comfort her. She buried her face into his shoulder and continued to cry as though her heart was bleeding from deep wounds.

Clarissa dumped lamp parts into a nearby waste basket. “It was an accident,” she said. “While I
ordered lunch, Bella was jumping up and down, making sure I didn’t forget anything.” Clarissa dropped the last of the pieces of glass into the waste basket and then surveyed the floor. “I suppose we should have the maid service come up and vacuum up the little pieces. You did say you were tipping them well, didn’t you?”

Slade ignored Clarissa and rubbed Bella’s back. “I’m sorry I snapped at you, sweetheart.”

She mumbled something unintelligible into his neck.

“I’ll be with you for the rest of the day
,” he told his daughter. “After lunch we’ll take a drive. Okay?”

Bella
nodded, her tears ceasing. “And Elaina’s coming too?”

“Of course,” Slade said. “It wouldn’t be any fun if Clarissa and Elaina didn’t come along.” He looked over at Clarissa
and realized he meant it. Spending time with Bella would be more fun with Clarissa around.

Clarissa understood about parenting.

It was just one more area in which she was the opposite of Natalie.

* * *

After lunch, Slade, Clarissa, and the two girls drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center in
Laie. As they wandered through the exhibits and watched the performances, Slade was impressed by the way Clarissa balanced enjoying the shows with watching the children. Even though he was there, she kept an eye on Bella, making sure she never wandered too far away, and every once in a while said things such as, “Yes, that man is very talented, but you’ll never climb a tree with a knife in your mouth to retrieve coconuts, will you, Bella?”

And Bella, for the most part, was well-behaved. Aside from a couple of incidents where she ran close to the water to “see if there were fish in there,” she alternated between being carried by Slade and holding Clarissa’s hand. She also enjoyed being a tour guide for Elaina.

“The reason they wear grass skirts,” she told her friend in a serious voice, “is because pants don’t grow here.”

It was a relaxing outing, made
even better by the fact that no one came up to Slade to ask for his autograph or chat with him about any and every movie he’d done. It might have been the sunglasses and baseball cap that hid his identity—or, more likely—because he was hauling two preschoolers around. He looked like a family man, a tourist dad, and people didn’t equate those with movie stars.

Once this idea came into his mind, it wouldn’t leave. Throughout the day he kept glancing at Clarissa. People probably thought she was his wife. It was the natural conclusion. She was walking close beside him and holding his daughter’s hand. As they
strolled around the grounds talking, it almost felt as though she was his wife, like it would have been perfectly natural for him to reach over and put his arm around her shoulder and natural that she would turn and smile back at him, happy he’d done it.