Kristi Gold - Hotel Marchand 04

by Damage Control

  With that, Ella sent them a wave and a smile, and the couple disappeared up the staircase and out of sight.

  Renee stared at Pete for a few moments before she said, “What now?”

  He loosened his bow tie. “Looks like it’s just you and me sharing that limo back to New Orleans.”

  To quote what had been one of her father’s favorite sayings, she’d be motier foux—half crazy—if she agreed to get into an otherwise unoccupied vehicle with a man whose sexuality was so toxic, he should be registered with Hazmat. But then, where Pete was concerned, she’d often lost sight of her sanity. And what choice did she have? Walk the twenty or so miles back into the city? Try to hail a cab in this tiny town that could barely be designated as a bend in the road? Not hardly.

  Renee smoothed a hand down her winter-weight green suit, firmed up her resolve to resist him and motioned toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  “WHERE TO NOW?” the concierge asked as he opened the limo door.

  “Back to the hotel,” Pete answered for Renee, earning him a cutting glare from his date for the evening. At least that’s how he saw this—as a date—even if she didn’t. “We can have that drink we discussed earlier,” he added, expecting a protest but surprisingly receiving none. Instead, she slid inside the limo without saying a word. So far, so good.

  Before Pete could climb in behind Renee, Luc asked, “Are the bride and groom on their way out?”

  “They’re staying here tonight before they return to the hotel.”

  “Is there something wrong with their accommodations?”

  Pete didn’t like the guy’s defensive tone one bit. “They decided to honeymoon in a place where they don’t have a four-year-old hanging out in the next room.”

  Luc mulled that over a moment. “Makes sense. You said they’ll be back tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I need to make sure the car’s available to pick them up.”

  “I’m sure they’ll call you when they need to be picked up.” Pete wasn’t exactly buying his story. Luc Carter seemed just a little too concerned, maybe even a little too slick.

  Once in the limo, Pete took the seat across from Renee, opting to give her some space for the time being. She hadn’t worn anything that remotely resembled the dress he’d reminded her of that afternoon. In fact, her outfit would be considered conservative—a green, long-sleeved tailored suit that came below her knees and practically buttoned up to the neck. Not that her modest attire discouraged his libido, even if that had been her plan.

  After fifteen minutes of silence, Pete’s tolerance began to wane, so he moved beside her and pushed the button that raised the partition separating the driver from the passengers.

  Renee sent him a sidelong glance. “What are you up to?”

  He knew exactly what she was thinking—that he wanted to put a few moves on her. That wasn’t exactly his plan, although the thought had crossed his mind. “I wanted to have a private conversation with you about your concierge.”

  “What about him?”

  Pete pulled off his tie, stuffed it in the inside jacket pocket and released the top button on the nooselike collar. “I could be wrong, but my instincts tell me you should keep a close eye on him.”

  Renee leaned her head back and sighed. “You’re imagining things.”

  “Maybe so.” But he honestly didn’t think so. Something wasn’t quite right about the guy.

  For the sake of keeping the mood light, and keeping her in his company for a few more hours, Pete decided to change the subject. “I still can’t believe Evan actually went through with it. For years he’s been committed to bachelorhood.” Something Evan had once had in common with Pete.

  “That’s what love does to people.” She lifted her head and smiled. “It was a beautiful wedding. I’m honored to have been a part of it.”

  “Now let’s just hope it lasts.”

  “Any reason to believe it won’t?”

  “You and I both know what it’s like in the business. Crazy hours, moving from town to town. Too many temptations.”

  “Is that what happened with your marriage?”

  Pete was amazed that she’d mentioned his marriage after she’d been so determined to avoid the topic before. “I guess you could say that. Cara did a movie in Malaysia and fell for some guy who was an extra. I told her she should have at least gone after the leading man.”

  “You don’t sound that upset over it.”

  That’s because he hadn’t been, then or now. “Cara and I had a fast courtship, and not a hell of a lot in common aside from the industry. We weren’t together more than a few weeks in the two years we were married.”

  “Well, if you don’t get married, then you don’t have to worry about getting divorced.”

  “Now who’s being cynical?”

  She shrugged. “I only know that my parents had a solid marriage, and I haven’t seen that kind of relationship too often in my experience.”

  “You sound like you’ve given up.”

  “Let’s just say that at my age, most men are looking for younger women. And it’s hard to find someone you can trust.”

  That trust thing was no doubt directed at him. “Not all men are looking for a younger woman.”

  She tipped her head back again and focused on the line of muted blue lights overhead. “Come on, Pete. You’ve been known to date your share of starlets.”

  He couldn’t deny that, although he wished he could. “Most of the women I work with happen to be younger, and yeah, I’ve been involved with a few. But they eventually move on, and that’s okay.”

  She shot him a look that was less than friendly. “Then you’re saying they’re nothing more than a diversion?”

  Damn. If he kept digging himself a deeper hole, he’d never be able to climb out. “I’m saying I get lonely, Renee. Everyone does now and then.”

  She sighed. “I’ve never been so lonely that I’ve settled for casual sex for the sake of sex.”

  He wondered if that meant she hadn’t considered their lovemaking casual, but then neither had he. “Believe it or not, it’s been a long time since I’ve been involved with anyone.” Only a couple of times since he’d been with her, and as she’d said, only for the sake of sex, something he wasn’t necessarily proud of. And something he definitely wouldn’t confess.

  Time for another topic, before he said something else to completely alienate her. “Should we have the drink in the hotel bar, or do you have another place in mind?”

  She stared straight ahead. “I don’t remember agreeing to a drink.”

  “But you didn’t nix the idea, either.”

  She managed a small smile. “True.”

  He draped his arm over the back of the seat and checked his watch. “It’s only eight-thirty. We still have a couple of hours left before I need to pick up Adam.”

  “We could pick him up now, but he’s probably having a good time with Daisy Rose. So I guess we could have a drink.”

  “Good, because I could use some adult company.” Namely hers. He toyed with a lock of her hair, twining it around his finger. “We can have one drink and go from there. If you want to leave early, then I won’t argue with you.”

  “Okay.” She pointed at him. “But only one drink.”

  A small victory, and hopefully only the first of many tonight. “We could go to my suite, where we could talk.”

  “I don’t think that’s wise.”

  Pete wasn’t surprised by her reaction, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He traced a line with his fingertip up her neck and along her jaw. “Why not?”

  She released a slow breath and closed her eyes. “We both know that you and me in close quarters with a bed nearby leads to disaster.”

  Just the mention of the word “bed” prompted several recollections, and physical reactions, that Pete couldn’t ignore. “I don’t remember it being a disaster at all. I do remember it was wild, and hot. You were hot.”

  He wrap
ped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “You still remember, too. You remember how we almost didn’t make it out of that damn elevator.” He brushed a kiss over her cheek. “You remember how we’d barely made it inside your apartment before our clothes went flying.” He pressed another kiss at the corner of her mouth. “And I don’t have to tell you what happened after that, because you were definitely there, right where I wanted you, before we even hit the bed.”

  Renee’s eyes snapped open, as if she’d jolted herself out of the memories. “I also remember the morning after, and the way you disappeared after that. I can’t forget that I never heard a word from you until you suddenly showed up at the hotel.”

  Pete sat back and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. In order for her to learn to trust him, he had to make a few revelations. He didn’t want to disclose all the details, but he would tell her enough and hope that she’d finally understand why he’d left the project behind. Why he’d left her behind.

  He shifted toward her and took her hand, thankful she didn’t pull away. At least not yet. “Okay, if you want to know what really happened, then I’m going to tell you.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  RENEE BRACED for the confession, worried that she might not like what she was about to hear. Worried that he might tell her there had been another woman in his life, that he had deceived her from the beginning. She considered stopping him before he continued, but the uncertainty was much worse than knowing the truth. She likened it to watching a suspenseful scene in a movie—you might not want to see what happened next, yet you couldn’t quite turn away.

  She surrendered to the inevitable, despite the consequences. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

  Only the low hum of the car’s engine disrupted the stark silence. For a moment Renee thought Pete had reconsidered, until he turned his gaze to her, revealing a distinct look of pain. “A few hours after I left your place, I got a frantic phone call from my sister, so I flew to Phoenix, where she was living at the time. As it turned out, she needed my help, and she had no one else but me. Our mother died five years before Adam was born, our dad when I was fifteen and Trish was nine. Adam was a little over a year old, so I helped her take care of him until she got everything together again. And that lasted until a year ago.”

  Renee had sensed his reasons had been personal, but she hadn’t seriously considered they had to do with Adam. Yet that made perfect sense. Still, she had questions. “You weren’t able to move her to L.A. or hire someone to help with Adam’s care?”

  He tugged at his collar. “She still wasn’t over Sean’s death and more upheaval was the last thing she needed right then. It was a complicated situation, Renee.”

  Renee felt as though some particulars were missing, details that he’d glossed over. Yet she didn’t want to push him because she understood the need for privacy, and the lack thereof when confronted with a very public life. She also recognized that he truly didn’t owe her any more information than he’d already given her, even if it had come too late. “Why didn’t you tell me all this three years ago?”

  “Like I’ve said, because of the legal issues. I couldn’t say anything to anyone at the studio, particularly not you.”

  That stung almost as badly as not hearing from him after their night together. “Did you think I was going to broadcast it to the studio? Or maybe you thought I was so heartless that I wouldn’t understand.”

  “It was business, Renee. You said that yourself.”

  “I know, but you could have called after the business was settled. I deserved that much.”

  He released a rough sigh. “You’re right, but I was in a bad place in my life back then, trying to balance work and supporting Trish and Adam. I couldn’t have maintained a personal relationship with anyone, even if that’s what I’d wanted.”

  Had he really wanted a serious relationship with her? She was too afraid to believe. Too jaded to hope. Still too hurt to forgive him, at least not yet. “But you went to work on another film a year after you broke the contract.”

  “Yeah, I did. You’d already replaced me by then and I needed to keep working. We both know that it doesn’t take long to be forgotten in this business.”

  She knew that all too well. She doubted anyone would remember her, even though she’d only been gone from the Hollywood scene for less than a year. But Pete had a stellar track record lined with industry honors too numerous to mention. “You should have asked the executive producers for a temporary leave. I would have stood behind you.”

  “I considered that, but I couldn’t give you or the powers that be a definite time frame. And investors get nervous when schedules are changed.”

  Most of what Pete had told her made sense, but the thought that he hadn’t felt he could trust her still hurt. “I take it your sister is doing okay now.”

  “Yeah, thank God. She’s happy and settled.” He looked at her with a sincerity she’d never before witnessed. “Even though it was tough going, I wouldn’t take back the time I spent with Adam.”

  Although she still had much to consider, Renee understood why Pete had severed his ties with her, or at least why he hadn’t been able to finish the movie. And she had to admit that her respect for him had risen after learning he’d taken on the task of caring for his nephew. But was it enough to forgive and forget?

  She didn’t want the evening to end yet, if only so she could learn more. Be with him again, if only for a while, and that probably made her a fool. He would be gone from her life in a matter of days, maybe for good, and if she wasn’t careful, he’d walk away with all of her heart this time. But only if she let him that close again, and that was something she couldn’t afford to do.

  “We’re almost there,” Luc said over the intercom, startling Renee. “Do you want me to pull around back?”

  Renee considered the usual Saturday night mania in the hotel bar, and decided that wouldn’t be conducive to conversation. But she didn’t dare take Pete up on his offer to have the drink in his room.

  After formulating another plan, she pressed the intercom button. “Mr. Traynor and I would like to have a nightcap, Luc. Could you suggest a club off the beaten path?”

  “Ms. Carlyle’s singing tonight at the hotel. Are you sure you don’t want to hear her?”

  “Holly Carlyle’s a part-time singer,” Renee explained to Pete. “She’s very popular.”

  “I take it she draws a crowd,” he said.

  “A very large crowd.”

  Pete shook his head. “I’d rather avoid a crowd tonight.”

  There would be safety in numbers, Renee thought, but she, too, would prefer quiet. She pressed the button again and told Luc, “We’d rather find someplace a bit less crowded.”

  After a brief silence, Luc answered, “I know a place off Canal Street. It usually caters to locals, so you won’t find much of a crowd there. They have a good jazz quartet.”

  “That sounds fine, Luc. Take us there.”

  THE CLUB WAS ONLY slightly larger than the Hotel Marchand’s lobby, dark and hazy and filled with the soft sounds of jazz. Several tables lined the walls, containing mostly couples who had opted to escape the Quarter’s chaos in exchange for a slower tempo. The sultry ambience exemplified yet another of the city’s many facets.

  Pete clasped her arm and guided her to a table in the corner farthest away from the door and the small dance floor. He pulled out her chair then took his own across from her. As she focused on a man and woman nearby, their heads bent together, sharing an occasional kiss, she recalled this was how it had all begun with her and Pete, intimate meetings in out-of-the way places. At first they’d maintained a professional relationship, until he’d asked her to dinner one night. After that, they’d found excuses to meet, only the two of them. Talk of the movie had turned to conversations about their goals, their habits, their drive to be the best in their field. The line between professional and personnel had begun to blur little by little with their growing intimacy. And that had been
the beginning of the end of their control, and the beginning of the end of them, period.

  “Renee?”

  She forced herself out of the recollections, unaware that he’d been speaking to her. “I’m sorry. I guess I was daydreaming.”

  He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it on the chair next to him. “I noticed. What were you thinking about?”

  She couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t let on that her memories were clouded with him. Otherwise, he might believe she wanted a repeat performance. She didn’t want that. Or did she? “I was thinking I didn’t have dinner. Are you hungry?”

  “I could probably have something to eat.” He nodded toward a blackboard menu hanging on the opposite wall. “Says there they have the best cheeseburgers in town.”

  Renee shrugged. “A cheeseburger sounds fine. I can worry about my cholesterol tomorrow.”

  A friendly waitress with a winning smile arrived at the table and took their order. Renee opted to drink a soda to keep her wits about her, while Pete requested a beer. When the meal arrived, they slipped into easy conversation, mainly about Adam. To Renee, Pete sounded every bit like the proud papa, and she found that remarkable. She never would have viewed him as the paternal sort. But then, she’d only scratched the surface of the man behind the director, believing she’d known him well, recognizing now she still had a lot to learn, realizing she probably wouldn’t have the chance for much more discovery.

  When she smiled, he frowned. “What’s so funny?”

  She pushed aside the red plastic basket containing the remains of her burger and fries. “I’m just having a difficult time imagining you changing Adam’s diapers and feeding him strained peas.”

  “It took me a while to get all that down, but I don’t think he suffered too much damage.” He laughed. “Trish wasn’t too thrilled that his first words were ‘cut’ and ‘roll ’em.’”

  “I imagine she would have preferred he’d said ‘mama’ first.”

  Renee noted another flash of sadness in his eyes, but he quickly covered it with a smile. “You know what I want to do now?”