She named a number that made his eyes widen, but he didn’t flinch.
“I can raise it.”
“You? But how could an accountant——?”
He laughed. “Is that what you think I am? Hell, baby, I’m a stockbroker. My specialty is researching investments for rich people and then convincing them to make them.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “I see.”
“And before that, I was an arbitrageur. Do you know what that is?”
Eve shook her head and swiped the tip of her tongue over her dry lips. Everything was happening too fast. She felt the way she had the first time she’d gone skiing, out of control yet almost giddy with excitement.
“It’s a guy who plays high-risk games with other people’s money. If he’s right, everybody makes a fortune. If he’s wrong…”
This time, she laughed out loud. “It sounds a lot like making movies.”
“Well?” His eyes met hers. “Is it a deal?”
Her heart was racing like a trapped bird’s; she wanted to say yes, but how could she? She would be working with a man who despised her, who thought she’d been his father’s playmate.
“I’ll give you a contract that lasts until we finish making Hollywood Wedding. Now, answer me, Eve. Is it a go?”
The tip of her tongue swept across her lips again. She saw his eyes follow the simple gesture and she took a breath.
“I’d like to say yes, but——”
“But? What do you want, Eve? A percentage of profits? Well, why not? You’ll work all the harder for a piece of the action.”
“I just—I just don’t see how we can work together as long as you think that I’m a woman who…”
She cried out as Zach swept her into his arms. His mouth dropped to hers in a kiss that was nothing but fierce masculine domination, and she struggled against it even as she felt the swift, answering rush of heat in her blood.
She whispered his name against his lips and instantly his kiss changed to something filled with a sweet passion that was her undoing.
Her arms rose and wound around his neck. He fell back against the wall, still holding her, his mouth hot over hers, his teeth and tongue branding her with his desire. His hand rose, cupped the fullness of her breast, and she moaned into his mouth.
The world dipped under her feet. When it settled again, Zach was holding her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes.
“It isn’t an act,” he said, his voice rough. “I thought it was, but hell, it isn’t. You want me, Eve, and there’s no point pretending I don’t want you.” He caught her wrist when she tried to turn away. “And that’s my ace, baby. You won’t be able to play your games with me. I’ve got your number, and I won’t let you forget it.”
Horror and despair made her throat tighten. “What kind of man are you?”
Zach laughed low in his throat. “The kind you wish had never driven into the middle of that movie set,” he said as he let go of her. “Now, get yourself dressed. We’re going out.”
“No! That’s not part of our deal.”
“This is business, Eve. They’re giving a going-away party for your pal Brubeck. I figure you can introduce me.” He shot back his cuff and looked at his watch. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
“No. I’ll—I’ll meet you there.”
He laughed. “And let you cut off some other poor bastard on the freeway? No, thanks, not so long as Triad’s paying your insurance.”
She knew immediately. “You?” she whispered, remembering the man in the Porsche.
“Me.” His smile tilted. “It must be fate, Evie, keeps bringing us together.” He reached out and brought her to him for one swift, hard kiss. Before she had time to react, he turned and strolled from the kitchen. Eve flew after him.
“Zach!”
He turned, his hand on the doorknob.
“Zach,” she repeated. Her face was pale but she stood straight and tall. “I won’t sleep with you.”
He looked at her for a long minute, and then he smiled, opened the door and stepped outside.
“It’s polite to wait until you’re asked,” he said, and the door swung shut.
Eve stared at it while the silence settled around her. Then she rushed forward, wrenched open the door and slammed it hard enough to rattle the frame.
With a toss of her head, she turned and marched into her bedroom.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE house stood on a hilltop, looking out over the Pacific. It was low and angular, a brilliantly lighted beacon against the dark night sky.
Zach chuckled as he turned into the driveway. “It looks like a spaceship, ready for takeoff.”
“A cedar and glass spaceship,” Eve said, smiling. Behind the house, hundreds of tiny white lights glowed in the trees, shimmering and shifting on the wind’s breath. “But it’s handsome, isn’t it?”
Zach drove past the cars parked along the driveway.
“And cozy,” he said with a wry smile as he pulled in between a Lamborghini and a Rolls. “Just the right setting for a casual poolside barbecue.”
Eve laughed as she undid her seat belt. “I probably should have warned you that out here, casual only means you can leave off the tux.”
“Yeah.” Zach stepped from the Porsche, came around to her side of the car and opened the door. “Well, I took old Bob at his word. They’re going to have to take me as I am.”
She looked at him as she stepped from the car. He was wearing softly faded, snug-fitting Levi’s, leather moccasins and a cream-colored shirt. His collar was open, exposing his throat; his sleeves were rolled back to show hard, muscular forearms. The light from the lampposts set along the driveway touched his brown hair with gold and amber, and there was a faint, tantalizing scent about him, a combination of soap and lemon and clean, sexy male.
Eve felt a sudden tightness just behind her breastbone. She had been at a dozen parties like this one; she knew that the crowd would be studded with stars and wannabees. And yet Zach would be the man every female eye would seek out, the man other men would envy. He would turn heads by entering a room, not just because of his ruggedly masculine good looks but because of what emanated from him, that aura of arrogance and power she found so infuriating.
It was an aura other women might be foolish enough to find intriguing, but not she. She would never—she could never…
“Well?”
Eve blinked. Her gaze shot to Zach’s. He was watching her through eyes that were dark and unreadable. A little smile crooked at the corner of his mouth, and suddenly she thought of how it had felt when his mouth crushed down on hers, when his body had pressed, hot and hard, against hers…
“Now that you’ve taken the time to look me over, will I do?”
She fought for breath as the fist squeezed her heart again. It took all her strength to smile brightly and lift her shoulders in an unconcerned shrug.
“Of course,” she said briskly. “Besides, by midnight the place will be so crowded people will be standing on top of each other. Nobody’ll be able to see what anybody’s wearing.”
A car horn beeped behind them. Zach glanced over his shoulder, put his arm lightly around Eve’s waist and drew her out of the path of a Mercedes.
“In that case,” he said, smiling at her, “I’m glad I got a look at you before midnight. You look lovely tonight, Eve.”
The compliment had been automatic, the kind of thing a man said to a woman on an evening out, but Zach regretted it as soon as he’d offered it. This wasn’t an evening out, it was a business arrangement, plain and simple. And Eve was a woman who probably collected praise from men the way some people collected stamps.
And yet, he thought as he looked at her, what he’d told her was true. She did look lovely. More than lovely. She was wearing a blue dress that turned her eyes the color of violets and her hair a shade of gold that was so pure it dazzled his eyes. His gaze fell to her mouth, pale and pink and soft, and he thought of how it would feel beneath his, of h
ow it would be to take her in his arms right now.
“I mean,” he said, hurrying the words, gathering them around him to cloak the direction his thoughts had been taking, “I had no idea what people wear for a night out in Tinseltown.”
Eve smiled as they reached the steps that led to the front door.
“Everything,” she said, “and anything. From the sublime to the ridiculous, and back again. Sometimes, the password seems to be, the more outrageous, the bet——”
Above them, the door flew open. A couple came racing out of the house, laughing, and tripped down the steps arm in arm.
The woman, blazing with diamonds, looked as if she’d been poured into her skintight leather bustier, matching short shorts and black fishnet stockings. There were laced granny boots on her feet, the heels as high and slim as stilettos.
The man was every bit as exotic-looking as his companion. Gold and silver hoops bristled in his ears. Chartreuse silk jeans were tucked into his lizard-skin combat boots, and his fuchsia jacket was only a shade or two brighter than his spiked hair.
“You’re late,” the woman said gaily, “at least half a dozen glasses of Dom Perignon behind the rest of the crowd.”
Zach laughed and drew Eve out of their path. “We’ll do our best to catch up.”
Eve grinned wickedly as the duo sped past them.
“See what I mean?” she whispered. “In this town, anything goes!”
Laughing, they stepped through the door.
Zach’s first thought was that they’d blundered into a mirrored anthill.
“My God,” he said, “there must be a couple of hundred people packed inside this room.”
Eve frowned, shook her head and leaned closer.
“I can’t hear you.”
Of course, she couldn’t. The music was blasting away, the beat so loud that Zach could feel it vibrating through the floor. He drew her closer to his side.
“I said,” he shouted, “I’ve never seen so many people in one place in my life, except maybe on a subway train at rush hour.”
Eve laughed and said something, but it was Zach who shook his head this time. She rose on tiptoe and put her lips close to his ear. Her breath was warm, and he felt a ripple of electricity dance along his skin as she spoke.
“It’ll be better once we get out on the terrace,” she told him. “It’s never as crowded outside as it is inside.”
He drew back and gave her a puzzled smile. “I thought this was supposed to be a barbecue.”
“Sure. But it’s still early.” Eve grinned. “It takes a while before people are desperate enough to trade the air-conditioning for the mosquitoes.”
A white-coated waiter edged through the crowd toward them, paused and said something. Zach couldn’t hear a word but the tray the waiter held out, filled with flutes of champagne and rounds of caviar-heaped toast, spoke volumes.
“Eve?”
She nodded, and he took two glasses of champagne and handed her one. He reached for the caviar, too, but she put her hand lightly on his arm and shook her head.
“I never eat the stuff.”
She was smiling at him, her eyes as blue as a tropical sea, and Zach felt his throat constrict.
“I couldn’t hear you,” he said, lying straight through his teeth, but it was worth it. Eve leaned towards him, stood on her toes again and brought her lips to his ear.
She said something about knowing it was silly but not being able to get past the thought that caviar was just a fancy name for fish eggs. Zach laughed, because he was supposed to, but all he could concentrate on was the feel of her breath against his skin and the scent of her rising to his nostrils, a sweet fragrance that was composed of equal parts spring flowers and luscious woman.
She drew back, laughing, and after a second he laughed, too, because he figured that was what he was supposed to do, and he wondered how in hell he was going to go on standing here like this, packed in so tightly against this woman that he could feel the press of her breasts against him, without losing his mind.
“…do you think so far?”
He cleared his throat. The music had dipped to a level with only slightly fewer decibels than the SST on takeoff and conversation had suddenly become possible.
“Sorry,” he said, “I missed that.”
“I said, what do you think of a simple poolside barbecue, Hollywood style?”
Zach smiled. “Well, I haven’t seen the pool.”
“Trust me. There’s a pool. And it’s Olympic-size.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“No. But I’ve been out here long enough to know how the rich and famous live. Their houses are spectacular, their pools can float the QEII, and the parties they throw would make Nero jealous.”
What would make Nero jealous, Zach thought, was Eve. In this room filled with beautiful women who made their fortunes by being beautiful, she was the only one any man worth the name would notice.
And they had noticed. He could see the glances that kept coming her way, the interested assessments being made by all those masculine eyes…
“Eve!”
A man was pushing through the crowd toward them. He was tall, with the rangy good looks of an Eastwood or a Connery.
“Dex,” Eve said in surprise, and then the man gathered her in his arms and kissed her.
Zach felt his entire body tense with fury. He watched as Eve’s head fell back, as her hands flattened against the man’s chest. Was that how she’d looked when she’d kissed him? Zach’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the man. You son of a bitch, he thought, I’ll kill you if you don’t let go of her.
“Dex,” Eve said again. She had stepped back, still in the circle of the man’s arms. Her face was flushed.
Look at her, Zach thought, hell, look at her.
“You look gorgeous as always, Eve. But where have you been keeping yourself?”
“Dex.” She looked at Zach. “I’d like you to meet Zachary Landon. Zach is——”
“Eve’s employer,” Zach said. “Her boss. The one who makes the decisions at Triad now.”
Eve’s face went blank. “Yes,” she said, “that’s right. Zach’s come out here to run things.”
“Is that so?” Dex smiled politely. “Well, welcome to Hollywood, old man.” He chucked Eve under the chin. “You’re fortunate, having Eve to show you around.”
“Yes.” Zach’s lips drew back from his teeth. “Yes, I’m sure I am.”
“Yeah,” Dex said absently. He looked over Zach’s shoulder, smiled and waved his hand in the air. “There’s Steven,” he said. “I want to talk to him about his next film. Give me a call, Eve, will you?”
“Yes,” she said politely. “I will.” He bent to kiss her and she turned her head so that his mouth brushed her cheek. “Take care, Dex.” As soon as he was gone, she looked at Zach. “What was that all about?”
He could feel the stiffness of the smile that curved across his lips.
“I’m impressed,” he said. “You’ve got some high-visibility scalps hanging from your belt.”
Eve’s face whitened. “Maybe you’d like to clarify that remark.”
Zach shrugged. He could feel his hand tightening around his champagne glass.
“I’m just impressed by the variety of friends you have, Eve, that’s all.”
“Just remember something, Zach. It wasn’t my idea to come here tonight, it was yours, just as it was your idea to ask me to come back to work at Triad.”
He took a deep breath. What was the matter with him? She was right. And anyway, her relationships with men were her own business. She could sleep with every actor in Hollywood, for all he gave a damn.
“Okay. I was out of line.”
“I may work for you, Zach,” she said, her voice taut, “but I don’t have to take your insults.”
“Look, I apologized. Now, let’s forget about it, Okay?”
The music suddenly swelled, the beat of drums and guitars drowning out everything, a
nd Eve took refuge in the noise.
She knew what she ought to tell Zach to do with his lukewarm apology.
It was insane, to do anything less.
She knew him for what he was, an egotistical, too-handsome, too-rich-for-his-own-good rat. He’d made up his mind about her before he’d even met her. As far as he was concerned, she was a tramp who’d traded her favors for a career and could never be trusted not to go on trading them for whatever else she might want.
Eve took a shuddering breath. That his touch could excite her, that his kisses could turn her to flame, only made the situation worse. It was like discovering some awful weakness within herself, one that was as fascinating as it was frightening.
But it would be even worse to walk away from Triad now, with the prize so near at hand. She had spent her life trying to prove herself, and now here it was, the chance to show all the Zach Landons of this world who she really was and what she could accomplish…
A roar of laughter rose over the music. Startled, Eve looked up.
“What’s happening?” she said.
Zach put his arm around her waist as the surge of the crowd pressed them closer together.
“I don’t know. I can’t——” He stood on his toes and began to laugh. “I don’t believe it.”
“Don’t believe what?”
“There’s a chimpanzee wearing tails and a top hat in the next room. It looks as if he’s handing out party favors.”
“Believe it,” Eve said with a weary smile. “The first party I went to out here, a seal jumped into the pool and played water polo with the guests.”
Zach drew her more closely into the circle of his arm. “Will you look at that? Somebody left us an empty corner.” He grinned as he tucked Eve safely against him. “There must be all of two square inches here, and it’s all ours.”
Two inches wasn’t much of an exaggeration, she thought. She was standing so close to Zach she could hardly tell where his body began and hers ended.
No. Her breath caught. That wasn’t true. It was easy to tell. He was hard where she was soft, big where she was small. His hand lay lightly on her waist but she could feel the power of it, and the heat…
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