Southern Star: Destiny Romance (17 page)

Five minutes later, he emerged from the shower with a towel around his waist to find her looping slender drops through her ears in front of the dressing-room mirror. She smiled at his reflection as he came up behind her. The smooth, bare expanse of her neck was irresistible, and he placed a lingering kiss there. When he came up for air, her eyes were closed, her expression satisfied. He looked at the earrings. Each had a large topaz surrounded by small stones that shot silver fire. Diamonds, unquestionably.

She turned and held out a wide, intricately wrought band studded with the same stones and asked him to fix it around her upper left arm. ‘Remind me to return these to the hotel safe when we get back. They’re worth nearly a million US, and it’s a requirement of the insurance.’

He kept his expression neutral, but his stomach dropped a little at the mention of the gems’ worth. Baubles, she called them, but for many they’d represent an entire lifetime’s earnings. He took his shopping bags into her bedroom to change, aware of her presence at the open doorway. When he had his shoes and pants on and had buttoned up the snowy-white dress shirt, she glided across the room to fix his cufflinks and tie as though she’d been doing it all her life.

‘Jacket,’ she murmured, pulling it from the tissue paper and stroking the fine wool before helping him into it. She circled him, looking at the finished effect. ‘You brush up well,’ she said, ‘with a little help from Giorgio.’

‘Hmm.’ Mac frowned, tugging at the noose around his neck. He loathed the bloody things.

The phone rang and Blaze answered it. ‘Ready to face the music?’ she asked a moment later. ‘The driver is here.’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’

Blaze scooped up a small beaded evening bag on the way out, and they made their way to the lift in silence. They had it to themselves, and Mac was aware of the nervous electricity surrounding her as they descended. She looked, for the first time since he’d known her, like the celebrity who adorned all those glossy magazine covers.

‘It’s only a movie,’ he said into the silence.

‘During the making of which I supposedly got it on with half the crew.’ She pursed her lips. ‘The press won’t miss the opportunity to throw some nasties at me, so don’t get upset, okay?’

He raised his eyebrows.

She sighed. ‘Especially don’t get upset with your fists. It just gives the media more ammunition.’

‘So what do you do?’

‘Laugh as if I couldn’t care less. Act bored as if it’s old news. Tell them I hope they enjoy the movie. Boring, but you get to keep the high moral ground and you don’t get to be the headline the following day.’

‘Okay.’ Mac nodded. ‘But if anyone really pisses me off, he better beware of dark alleys.’ He thought of something. ‘What about the bastard behind all the crap in the media? He worked on the movie, right? Will he be here?’

Blaze frowned and her hand tightened a little in his. ‘The production company didn’t invite him, but I suppose there’s a chance he’ll show up as someone’s guest.’

‘If you see him, be sure to point him out,’ Mac said.

She smiled a little sadly. ‘I’d rather you believed me than avenged me.’

The lift came to a halt in reception, and Mac jabbed a finger on the ‘doors close’ button. He didn’t want any interruptions until they’d finished speaking.

Her eyes searched his and he said, ‘I do believe you! I always have. The day I rode over to Sweet Springs to warn you about Pete Woodall, I could see you’d been crying about the media reports. I knew then it wasn’t true.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me? I just wanted somebody to be on my side – you especially – and all you said that night we had dinner was something about it being my business!’

‘Well, it was. Christ!’ He let go of her hand to tug again at the loathsome necktie. ‘And I thought if I said I thought it was a pack of lies, it might sound . . . self-serving, as though I’d say anything that might influence your decision to go to bed with me. But I should have told you before now. I’m sorry.’

She released a sigh. ‘I’m glad I know. It’ll make it easier to deal with whatever gets flung our way tonight. People will want to know who you are and what our relationship is.’

‘None of their bloody business!’ he growled, releasing the door, which swished open to reveal a crowd of people waiting for the lift.

She smiled, looking more relaxed, and that was good enough for him.

They got out of the lift and it felt as if a million inquisitive eyes immediately turned in their direction as they crossed the foyer.

Mac put a protective hand on her back and leant close as she told him, ‘I think you’ll like the movie. It’s kind of a crime caper with a darkly humorous edge. I think it’ll do well.’

‘Do we get popcorn?’ Mac asked. ‘I haven’t eaten anything since the plane.’

‘You’ll do a little better than popcorn. They’ll be canapés before the screening. And there’s a late dinner for cast and crew after at a restaurant called Fig & Olive, if you want to go. I can make our excuses if not, and we can get room service back at the hotel.’

She smiled at the driver who came to attention next to a sleek black limo. ‘Hi, Bill.’

‘Ms Blaze. Sir.’ He tipped his cap and held the door open.

The drive was smooth and short, until the last stretch when they joined a stream of limos waiting their turn to pull up in front of the red carpet.

Mac eyed the crowd of photographers and fans kept behind a cord, and wondered if this was the same place that someone had taken a pot shot at Blaze all those weeks ago. If it was, Blaze showed no sign of nerves.

As Bill came to a halt outside, a woman in a smart dark suit opened their door.

‘Ms Gillespie, I’m Sandra. I just wanted to reassure you that we have security here in force, but if you’d like to keep it short and sweet on the carpet, it’s probably a good idea. Jaxon is already inside.’

She held the door open as they thanked the chauffeur and slid out. Blaze put her hand in Mac’s and gave him her superstar smile.

‘Welcome to Hollywood.’

It was, Blaze thought, like returning to a place of fond but faint memories from long ago, which was strange as she’d been away only a few weeks.

Putting the thought of the bloody end to the last public event she’d attended out of her mind, she adopted her usual steady pace down the carpet, moving from one side to another to shake hands and pose for the odd photo. Mac, though, seemed in a hurry, urging her forward when he felt she was lingering overlong, and standing guard at her back whenever she paused.

If there were any off questions thrown their way, she didn’t hear them, and apart from the haste, Mac was on his best behaviour. When they entered the marble foyer, the sea of glittering people turned almost as one to stare, including a couple of particularly hungry-eyed women, and Blaze had the rare experience of being put in the shade by her escort.

She was about to dig her nails into his hand in annoyance when a familiar figure rushed them. Mac reacted swiftly, attempting to shove her behind him as Jaxon barrelled up to them with the energy of a small hurricane. Arms stretched wide, he beamed at them both.

‘Haven’t you two made an entrance?’ He twitched an eyebrow at Blaze. ‘Where
did
you find him? Do tell.’ He looped an arm through each of theirs and dragged them over to a waiter, who placed elegantly narrow glasses into their hands.

Blaze tried not to smile as Mac disentangled himself from Jaxon’s grip. ‘Macauley Black, meet Jaxon, my agent. Mac’s a little protective of his personal space,’ she told Jax. ‘He had an encounter with Rolf and Rudy today.’

‘Oh, your poor darling man. They are a trial, those two. Geniuses, but they go too far. Still,’ his eyes roved up and down. ‘I can quite see why they were so taken. Those dark-as-sin eyes and that jaw. My lord! Hollywood has been waiting decades for a real man to take over from Clint.’ He shuddered a little, as though in ecstasy. ‘Blaze,’ he said, ‘how can I thank you for bringing me a specimen like this? I won’t have him signing with anyone else.’

‘Sorry, Jax, he’s not an actor.’ Blaze enjoyed watching Mac squirm. ‘Mac runs a cattle station in Queensland.’

‘Australian cows commute?’

Mac’s brows beetled over his eyes. ‘A station is a ranch. Ten thousand head of prime beef cattle.’

Jax looked him over again with regret. ‘Prime beef, indeed. But if it’s not to be, it’s not to be. Now, Blaze, the previews for
Bad & Co.
have gone exceptionally well, as you know, with the script and your comic timing being singled out for particular praise. For once, my love, you are getting attention for all the right reasons. I wouldn’t say the press has tired of that ridiculous story since the article in
Inside Hollywood
, but they are feeling a little more sympathy.’

‘That sounds most out of character.’ Blaze laughed.

‘And fortunately Lindsay has slipped up again, which has diverted attention.’

‘That’s more like it,’ she murmured.

‘You will be particularly pleased to know that – drum roll, please – the producers of
Siren
are here. I’ll introduce you to them after the screening, and then we have a meeting on Wednesday with Saul Laker, the director. He’s just dying to meet his leading lady.’

‘I got Lindsay Lohan but what’s
Siren
?’ Mac asked. He stopped a passing waiter and exchanged his untouched champagne for a beer.

‘Only the movie that’s going to turn Blaze Gillespie into the most sought-after actress in Hollywood,’ Jax boasted before Blaze could stop him. ‘Filming starts in April.’

Mac gave her one of the raking stares. ‘You’re not coming home,’ he said, his voice flat.

‘Whoops.’ Jax looked from one to the other. ‘I’ll leave you two lovebirds to sort things out while I go take my foot out of my mouth.’ As he hurried off, he gave them one long look. ‘Brad and Angie, eat your hearts out.’

‘I have a job,’ Blaze said mildly as the human tide swept them towards the open doors to the auditorium for the start of the movie.

‘What about Sweet Springs?’

‘Sweet Springs is my home.’ Funny, she hadn’t quite accepted that until now, but there it was. She had a place to call home. Maybe being away clarified things you didn’t even realise needed clarifying. But Mac didn’t look in the least mollified. ‘And as it happens, I am going home after the meetings Jax has arranged, but next month I’ll have to leave again to shoot
Siren
. I’ll be away around two months.’

He scowled, but their conversation was cut short by Sandra, who escorted them to their seats in the theatre. Mac’s hand was warm against her back and his possessiveness gave Blaze more of a thrill than seeing her name appear fourth in the credits. She’d had bigger roles than this, but in her opinion this was more important. It was that rare beast in the film industry: a well-written female character and one that was already bringing her attention.

She was conscious of Mac beside her throughout the movie, wondering what he thought, what he was feeling. He stiffened at a brief sexual interlude between her character and one of the male leads. When Blaze took his hand in hers, he resisted momentarily before letting her have her way. Twenty minutes in, he began to relax and enjoy it. He even laughed at one of her best lines, and the laugh was taken up by the rest of the auditorium. It was going to be all right.

Blaze had seen the daily rushes, of course, and a very rough cut in a small studio a few months ago, but this was the first time she’d viewed the finished film. And coming at it relatively fresh, she had a new appreciation for the smart dialogue, the dark humour and the cleverly plotted tale of three con artists on the run from the law.

Contrary to many movie actors, Blaze didn’t mind watching herself on the big screen. In fact, she liked to use the experience for a professional critique. Once, when she gave a little intake of breath at a line she thought might have been improved with a slightly different emphasis, she was aware of Mac’s eyes turning to hers in the dark.

‘What?’ His whisper against her ear sent goose bumps racing up her neck.

She shook her head. ‘Just a miss-step.’ She would file it away and take care not to make the same mistake again.

After the screening finished to an enthusiastic ovation, Mac kept to his word and stayed by her side for the rest of the evening, even in the face of some speculative stares, blunt questions about his status and enquiries as to his outfitter.

‘Who bloody cares where I got my tux?’ he muttered edgily after half an hour of gladhanding. ‘Bloody stickybeaks.’

‘Take it as a compliment,’ Blaze murmured and paused for a brief conversation with Saul Laker when Jax brought him over. She tried to ensure a handshake, hug, air kiss or brief word for the majority of groups at the premiere, which was difficult with Mac’s glare and defensive body language warding off those who came too close, especially the men.

‘Down boy,’ she told him after a near-altercation with Steve Mansfield, the co-star with whom she’d scorched the screen.

‘I didn’t like the way he looked at you. Or touched you.’

Blaze was about to tell him to get used to it – she had – when she spotted Rick Beatty across the room. He was staring at her and Mac, and when he saw she’d noticed he smiled insolently and licked his lips – an action that spoke louder than words. From the way Mac’s hand tightened on hers she could tell he’d seen it, too.

‘Who’s that?’

Blaze opened her mouth to tell him. Somewhere deep inside she would enjoy seeing Mac defend her honour – and Rick Beatty get mashed to a pulp. But she’d moved on. It was time to let it go.

‘No one,’ she replied, turning her back on Beatty.

Mac continued to scowl and she could tell he’d had enough of being sized up and down – and so had she, to tell the truth. It had been fun, but suddenly she wanted out. The afternoon’s crying jag and anticipating how her new movie would be received had evidently caught up with her.

Catching Jaxon in a brief moment alone, she made her apologies for missing the dinner, and promised she’d be available for a meeting with the producers of
Siren
the day after next.