Tarzan & Janine (6 page)

She laughed silkily. “I’m not taking you away from anything, am I?” She glanced at Janine who was still surrounded by reporters.

“Janine? She’s...hired help.” He cringed inwardly at using Barbara’s own words and for the next words he would say. “She’s nothing more than arm candy, really. Now, you’re what I call a real woman.”

Touching a hand to her hair, she practically glowed. “Do you really think so?”

“But of course,” he said smoothly. “Now, what brought you all the way over here? I thought our deal was off.”

With a pretty moue of her lips, she replied, “I came to apologize for my behavior the other day, and to see if you’re still interested in purchasing my old fleet.”

“I don’t know, Barbara. After more consideration, I’m not sure I can move that many pink cars,” Tanner hedged. He couldn’t believe he’d actually said that. Here was his chance to redeem the deal and he was telling Barbara he wasn’t interested. Had he lost his mind?

Her finger trailed down the front of his shirt. “Ah, come on, Tanner honey. Tell me how I can sweeten the deal.” Her tongue snaked out, traveling around bright red-painted lips.

Tanner widened his stance. Somewhere between the raging mechanical bull and Spunky’s high-jinks, the tables had turned. He wasn’t the supplicant here. “I’m not sure I can give you the price we originally agreed on…before you had me thrown out of the hotel the other day.”

“Then, let’s talk, darling.” She’d moved in so close she was practically draped across his chest. Brushing her lips across his earlobe, she purred, “What’s the right price?”

Adrenaline winged through his system. This was it. This was the chance he’d been waiting for to redeem himself in his father’s eyes, to take charge of his standing in the used car business, and to prove he wasn’t a complete failure when dealing with women. Excitement tinged with caution drove him to stand taller and hope he wasn’t being a complete idiot as he answered the woman’s question. “Twenty thousand less than the original deal.” As the words left his mouth, he glanced across the lot to where his father stood. For a full five seconds, Tanner held his breath, waiting for Barbara’s response, certain he’d blown his second chance.

“Oh, honey, you’ve...got a deal,” She backed away far enough to offer her hand to seal the deal.

Tanner let the trapped air out of his lungs, producing a wash of relief so profound his knees weakened.

Barbara brushed her hands together. “Well, now that that’s done…” BS-Squared’s fingers curled around his arm, her nails biting into him. “Do you mind if I have a word with Janine while I’m here?”

“No, of course I don’t mind. She’s a free agent.” Tanner’s bullshit meter jerked into the red by Barbara’s sudden change of subject and demeanor. “May I ask why?”

Barbara let go of Tanner’s arm, a smile curling her blood-red lips. “I want to offer her a job.”

Tanner’s stomach completed a full gainer and he blurted out, “I’m sorry, but she’s working for me through the summer.”

The beauty maven’s professionally arched brows rose. “Do you have a contract?”

“Well, it’s under revision...” Revision, hell. Tanner hadn’t even considered a contract. He’d never hired an actress before Janine. What kind of contract did actresses need?

Barbara’s fingernail scraped across Tanner’s shoulder in a long, slow slide. Her lips puffed out all sultry-like, reminding Tanner of when he’d been inside her hotel suite being sized up as the next meat course on her table. “I feel badly about firing her last weekend, and I want to make it up to her.”

Tanner stepped away from the woman, his eyes narrowing. “She’s not interested.”

“Why don’t we let her decide?” Barbara insisted.

“I promise you, Janine is not interested.” Tanner held back his anger and panic. Janine was turning out to be a gold mine, and he didn’t want anyone else staking a claim on her...talents.

“I’m not interested in what?” The object of his panic walked up behind him with the monkey in her arms.

“In coming back to work for me,” Barbara announced, a sweet-as-sugar smile on her lips.

“Oh, I’m not interested, am I?” Janine’s voice dipped dangerously low.

Tanner recognized the first signs of the thundercloud building in Janine’s eyes. “I thought after the way you were treated last weekend I could safely say you weren’t interested in working for Mrs. Stockton again.”

“And you think I like working with a nasty monkey any better?” She glanced down at the animal wrapped around her arm. “No offense, Spunky.”

“I can guarantee we never use monkeys in any advertising for Barbara Stockton Beauty Secrets,” Barbara interjected.

“But Janine,” Tanner cajoled, “...the monkey’s not so bad. He made the commercial last night.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Tanner wished he could take them back, but knew they’d come with her footprints.

“So the monkey was the commercial, was he?” Gathering the little leash, she peeled the monkey from her arm and handed him to Tanner. “Here, you like him so much—you hold him.” To the monkey, she said, “Sorry, Spunky. It’s been fun.”

“Now Janine, be reasonable.”

Spunky obviously didn’t like the change either, because he scrambled from Tanner’s arms to his shoulders and knocked away his cowboy hat. Giving an ear-piercing scream, the little monkey bounced on his back legs while keeping a death grip in Tanner’s hair.

Pain attacked his skull with each of Spunky’s bounces. Desperate, Tanner reached out his empty hand. “Honey, you know I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Take back the monkey, please. He likes you better.”

“No way. He was your idea—you deal with him.” The blonde turned to Barbara. “What kind of terms are you offering me?”

“Janine, you can’t be serious.” Tanner hurried to her side, while the monkey pounded the top of his head like a bongo drum. “Hey, cut that out, Spunky. Tommy, where the hell are you?”

Ignoring his predicament, Janine continued her conversation with Barbara. “I’d want double the salary with a signed contract and a specified appearance schedule.”

“You’ve got it,” Barbara agreed immediately.

“Janine…” Tanner stepped between the two women, hoping to stop the handshake that would seal the deal.

The sudden movement startled Spunky, and he leapt onto Barbara’s head, then across to a light pole behind the startled woman.

“Oh no, Spunky!” Janine yelled, the handshake forgotten as she rushed to pole. “The handler said not to let him go. He’s almost impossible to catch.”

Tanner glanced up at the monkey scaling the light pole, silently thanking the critter for his perfect timing. “That’s okay, he’ll come down sooner or later.”

“You don’t understand. If he gets up into the electrical lines, he’ll be killed.” Janine glanced up the pole at the monkey, then back to Tanner, her big, blue, beautiful eyes, clouded with worry. “Please, get him down, Tanner.”

Tanner’s chest tightened. How could he walk away from such a heartfelt plea? Afraid her next step would be to turn on the waterworks, Tanner heaved a sigh and looked up the pole at the delighted monkey.

The creature had climbed up to perch on the banner strung from the pole to the top of the showroom building, advertising the “Monkey Off Your Back” sale. The irony did not escape the media, and they rushed outside to film the little monkey’s antics.

Scotty walked up behind Tanner. “You weren’t supposed to let go of the monkey,” he said, his tone dry.

“I know that, damn it. Get maintenance on the radio and have them bring me a ladder, ASAP.”

Scott clicked the button on his walkie-talkie. A maintenance truck arrived in minutes with the requested ladder.

Reassuring himself that everything was going to be all right, Tanner reminded himself the monkey wouldn’t be up there if not for his negligence. The least he could do was go get the little guy before he got injured. It didn’t hurt a bit that reporters kept clicking cameras all around as well. This whole new fiasco was yet another opportunity to get more airtime.

When the maintenance man set the ladder in place, Tanner made the climb himself. He figured the effort wouldn’t be much to snag the monkey as long as the ladder was tall enough—which it was...just. Standing on the top rung, his arm hugging the round pole, he grabbed for the monkey.

Spunky moved a little farther out on the banner.

“Come here, Spunky,” he said, doing his utmost to keep his irritation with the miniature primate out of his voice. “I have a nice banana waiting for you at the bottom if you’ll just come here.”

Spunky moved out a little more and eyed the far end of the banner.

If he wanted to grab the monkey, Tanner knew it was now or never. Failure was not an option with Janine, his dad, and the entire state of Texas watching. He had to go for the monkey.

Making a jabbing stretch, Tanner grabbed for the monkey, but Spunky was quicker and skittered away across the top of the banner. Tanner in mid-reach, his fingers clawing the air, felt the ladder listing to the right. Letting out a startled yelp, he grabbed for the banner and hung tight as the ladder rocked once, then fell crashing to the ground.

Just as he was congratulating himself on his luck that the banner was strong enough to hold his weight, the monkey swung out to join him.

“You sorry little...”

A renting sound ripped through the air, announcing the demise of the banner and the loss of Tanner’s precarious perch. The end attached to the light pole tore free, carrying Tanner in a mad swing toward the showroom steps. Tanner yelled long and loud as he swung through the air toward certain pain. Putting out his feet, he managed to break his crash, absorbing the force of the fall with bent knees.

Tanner heard an excited shriek and stared upwards just as the monkey slid down the ruined banner and landed in his arms.

“Sweet Jesus! Did you see that Beans?” Joe’s voice rose above the stunned silence.

One person in the crowd clapped, another joined him, then another, until the applause grew louder, joined by cheers from the people gathering around the showroom steps.

Three feet away, Janine stood tall in her jungle outfit, one hand planted on a hip, a grin stretched across her face. Raising her voice enough to carry over the noise from the crowd, she shouted, “Way to go, Tarzan.”

Chapter Four

“It’s practically ungodly to have auditions this early in the morning, don’t you think, Janine?”

Smiling though nervous, Janine shook her head at her friend, Kelly Shannon. “Nine o’clock for most normal people is halfway through the morning.”

They stood in line outside the theater in downtown Austin, awaiting their turn to audition for the latest Hal Miller play. Janine scanned through the sheets of script that had just been handed down the line, trying to get a feel for the characters and the general mood of the story line.

Tryouts hadn’t begun yet, but the line kept growing, the closer it got to nine o’clock. Her stomach gurgled loudly. Maybe she should have skipped breakfast. The last thing she needed was to lose her breakfast before an audience. She smoothed a sweaty palm down the side of her skirt and breathed deep breaths to calm herself.

“Oh my God! It’s you,” cried one of the latecomers, glancing down at the newspaper she held. “Aren’t you Janine Davis?”

Heat burned Janine’s cheeks as the other woman gushed. “Yes, I’m Janine Davis. But how did you know that?”

“Girlfriend, you’re practically a celebrity.” The stranger slid a section of the newspaper under Janine’s nose, jabbing a finger at the photograph on the first page. “You’re Janine of the Tarzan and Janine phenom.”

I’m a phenom?
Her back stiffened. Janine scanned the picture, butterflies turning cartwheels in her belly. On the front page of the section of paper the woman held up was a picture of Janine in her skimpy jungle outfit, reaching up for Spunky the Monkey as Tanner held onto the banner in mid-swing. The caption read, “Tarzan and Janine Swing Into Action.” And it was the entertainment section.
What a freaking nightmare!

“Oh, my God! Janine, this is wonderful!” Kelly snatched the paper from the woman to scan the photograph and headline. “Think of all the promo you can get with this. It could be the launch of your career, the break you’ve been waiting for. This is utterly fab!”

Hesitant to get all excited about a photograph depicting a disaster the size of the Titanic, or maybe one of its dinghies, Janine couldn’t help but smile at Kelly’s enthusiasm. “I guess the publicity couldn’t hurt anything, huh?” Her smile waned. “You don’t think it’ll hurt my chances of getting this part, do you?”

“Hurt your chances?” Kelly’s smile stretched wide. “The director won’t forget your face even if a hundred girls try out. You’ve got this audition nailed.”

Janine’s brow wrinkled, her many rejections making her hesitant to actually hope. “You really think so?”

“All you have to do is get the lines right, and you’re home free.”

Janine’s fading smile twisted into a grimace. “All I have to do is get the lines right,” she muttered, breaking out in a sweat at the thought. “Kelly, let me read these through one more time, please.”

Kelly gave her shoulder a hug. “You’ll have them memorized by the time they open this door.”