“Kelly, I don’t think it would hurt to make the kind of announcement I suggested.”
“You may be right. Can you give me a little time to think it out? Please? Couldn’t we just have today as…as a great day with friends?” she asked wistfully.
He remained stiff as a board for a minute, then he eased. And she did run to him, touch him, feel the heat and inhale the salt scent of his skin.
He lowered his head, nuzzling her forehead. “I’m just not sure how much time you dare take to think this all out,” he warned.
“Today. A day on the water, in the sun. One perfect day to enjoy—and forget everything else.”
Kelly stood at the helm with Doug, watching as they approached the island. The sun was just setting. The colors that touched the horizon were fantastic, brilliant shades that suddenly shot across the world, paled and appeared again. There were a few clouds in the sky and they took on the colors of the dipping orb in the western sky. The breeze was light, perfect. For a few minutes, Kelly forgot any hint of danger. She was completely mesmerized by the sky, the sensual touch of the salty air and the man who stood with his arms around her as they rode the waves. This was pure bliss. This was something she could do forever. She could die happy here.
CHAPTER 21
The little resort isle was absolutely beautiful. There was plenty of room for a sailboat such as Dane’s to dock, and the owner, Harry Sullivan, was there to greet them.
Harry was a tall, slim man with sun-bleached hair, a ready smile and a slightly haggard look. Doug had never met Harry before, but both his brother and Dane knew the man fairly well. Harry greeted them both first as one of the dockhands helped Doug secure the vessel. By the time Doug jumped from the boat to the dock, hellos and greetings had gone around. He shook Harry’s hand. The man was looking very pleased, but a little skeptical regarding Sam.
“We are pet friendly,” he murmured, “but he’s a big dog. Bigger than we usually get.”
“He’s not that big!” Kelly said. “And he’s a very good dog.”
“Yes, yes, of course. And he’s yours, so I’m sure he’ll be fine! Miss Trent, it was an honor knowing you were coming to begin with, and now—having you here for some private time—I am really thrilled. I haven’t said a word to anyone. We’ve cleared the schedule and haven’t taken any bookings, and with plenty of room to spare, the place is all yours.”
“Wow!” Shannon murmured, elbowing Quinn. “Why didn’t we stay?”
“Because you said the studio was too busy,” he reminded her.
“Why do I do things like that to myself?” she murmured.
“Well, you can at least come up and see the main house, right?” Harry asked them.
“Of course you can. Right?” Kelly said to Shannon.
Harry talked about the construction of the place, and how a channel in Miami had been dredged, with the fill being bought and brought here. “The pool is around back. You can swim right up to the bar. Never understood myself how folks could need a pool when we have one of the prettiest little spits of beach you’d ever want to see! Aren’t that many beaches down here, really. Our beach, like everywhere else, has been…enhanced!” he said cheerfully.
Kelly turned, grinned at Doug and continued following Harry. Sam, like a model dog, stayed at her heels. Just inside the entrance was a huge fountain surrounded by more foliage. The fall of the water was apparently calculated to a T. Along the concrete rim, there was ample seating.
“I think they’re having you folks dance there,” Harry informed them.
“Good to know,” Doug said.
Harry stopped, indicating areas. “To the left, there’s the check-in desk. To the right, the main restaurant. Behind it, the spa area. Normally we offer just anything your heart could desire by way of mud baths, massages, facials, you name it. Mr. Logan didn’t want a bunch of personnel on the island, though, so those folks are already on leave. Upstairs there are shops, a little coffee spot and a midday grill. Want to keep exploring here or would you rather see the rooms?”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the rooms,” Kelly told him. “The sand is setting in!”
“Seeing the rooms sounds good to me,” Doug agreed.
“We’ve got cooks on. I’ll see that something is sent to Miss Trent’s room. She has the largest suite, of course,” he murmured, reddening slightly as he looked at Doug.
“Of course,” he agreed complacently.
“The kitchen is fully stocked,” Harry explained. “So once we’re there, you can order off the menu.”
“We should just take off,” Shannon murmured.
“Please,” Harry told her, glancing at Quinn. “Come on, Quinn, get her to stay for dinner, at least.”
“Sure, we’ll stay. All right?” He looked at Dane and Kelsey, who agreed.
The rooms were out by a trail in back. They could also be accessed from the dock by following the paths around the little hill to the summit. The guest rooms were charming, imitating a Hawaiian style. There were three wings—one to the right, one directly behind the main building and one to the left. Harry headed straight for the building to the right and to the door at the seaside edge. “You’re gonna love it!” he assured Kelly.
“I know I will,” she told him.
There was truly nothing not to love. Her “suite” was larger than his house, Doug thought, marveling at the size and decor. He looked at his brother. Quinn had never fully described the place. Quinn just shrugged.
“Bedroom is upstairs. It’s like a little town house,” Harry informed them.
“The place can’t be entered with a master key if the guest is inside?” Doug asked, cutting him short since he was going to go on again about the wonders of the place. He didn’t need to; they were evident.
Harry frowned. “No,” he said. “You have your sliding glass doors to the porch and the balcony off the bedroom, but there are old-fashioned rods that slip in to secure them at night. And the front door has a lock, a dead bolt and a chain.”
“Are you happy?” Kelly murmured to him.
“Yeah, I think so,” he returned.
They went up to see the bedroom. The bed was a huge, canopied affair—extremely inviting. And the bath offered a nice whirlpool, double sinks and gilded fixtures.
“I’ll set you all up on the porch for dinner,” Harry said happily, pleased that they were impressed with the room. “Grab a menu and dial room service. They’ll be waiting!” Then he left them.
“Wow! I love this!” Shannon said, picking up the resort book with the room service menu. “This place definitely works for me. Quinn, why haven’t we ever come out here?”
“Because you seldom want to spare any time, my love,” he reminded her.
“I’ll spare some,” she promised. “Great menu!”
“Mind if we guys pick something out first?” Doug asked her. “Then we can go back and make sure we have all of our stuff off the boat.”
“Absolutely,” Shannon said, handing over the menu. “You hurry, then we can take our time.”
Doug, Quinn and Dane picked out their entrées, left Kelly to order and headed back to collect the rest of the things from the sailboat. Sam ran back and forth, not sure whether to follow Doug or stay with Kelly. “No, you’re fine here, boy,” Doug told him. “Stay with Kelly. Watch Kelly.” But as Sam obediently trotted back to his mistress’s side, Doug noticed Kelly watching him oddly. He tried a smile. “Rare, please. Remember, I like my steak rare.”
“You’re in danger of mad cow, you know.”
“Well, like you said, we have to live, right?” And with that, the three men headed for the boat.
Dinner was definitely enjoyable. They ate out on the porch where they could savor the ocean breezes and the subtle hint of the surrounding flowers. And Kelly felt that she definitely needed to take more time for just such occasions in the future. Except that…what if there was no future? For a moment she suddenly felt a seizure of the fear that the others had been experie
ncing for her. And beyond that, what if she found herself alone in it?
The chill that seized her when she actually admitted she might be in real danger remained, despite the fact that she and Doug were leaning back together in the lounge and the others were all chatting about something. He was with her now. Wasn’t that what mattered most?
Suddenly he eased her up. “Sure.”
Sure what? She hadn’t been paying attention.
“Quinn, Dane and I are going to walk around a bit. Then we’ll see them off,” Doug explained.
“Oh. Sure.”
“Be back in a few minutes,” he said, staring at her meaningfully.
Shannon sighed. “They want us to go in and lock the door,” she explained.
“Even here?” she said.
Doug shrugged. “Never hurts,” he told her. And since she’d so recently felt such a chill regarding the possibility of her own demise, she decided not to argue the matter.
They went in. Kelly was startled when Kelsey Whitelaw handed her a piece of paper. It was one of the white, lace-edged place mats, and on it Kelsey had sketched a drawing of her and Doug on the lounge. As she stared at it, she suddenly found it hard to swallow. Kelsey was an excellent artist. She didn’t just capture the substance and form of her subjects, she created real emotion in a simple sketch. The drawing was beautiful—to Kelly, at least. Her eyes were wistful as she looked out at the sea and leaned against Doug. His arm was around her, a protective quality in his hold. And there was something both tender and tormented in his eyes. The drawing was of people, separate and together, an element of a deep bond between them in the quick work of art done with a cheap hotel pen and a simple place mat.
Kelly looked from the drawing to the artist, suddenly afraid that anyone seeing the picture would know just how deeply she cared. And yet, she knew she’d never part with it.
“It’s…lovely,” she murmured. “Thank you. You’re damn good!”
“Well, thank you,” Kelsey told her.
“She’s wonderful!” Shannon said, and Kelly found herself smiling. Shannon was a wonderful friend, ready to fiercely applaud and promote those around her.
“I like what I do, thank you,” Kelsey said. “And Shannon, thank you very much.”
Shannon laughed. “You should see the painting she did for me, from one of the competitions. I’ve never looked better.”
“You’re a great subject,” Kelsey said. “Hey, Sam’s at the door. That must mean the guys are back.”
After the goodbyes were said, Doug and Kelly found themselves alone. He went around immediately, securing the doors. Kelly watched, leaning against the kitchen counter. She had slipped the drawing into a drawer, afraid for him to see it.
When he finished with the locks, he stopped at last, looking at her. He was still in his cutoffs, and his shoulders were even more bronzed after the day in the sun. His chest rippled. He was a man who could wear a suit exceptionally well, but he could wear nothing at all with even greater appeal.
“So…” he said.
“So?”
“Have you thought—”
“Yes, I’ve thought a lot. And I don’t want to think anymore tonight.” She lifted a hand before he could speak. “Please, I promise we’ll really talk in the morning. But tonight…” She allowed a wistful smile to curl her lips. “Let’s just enjoy this paradise.”
“Hmm?” he queried. “Just what did you have in mind?”
She sighed with exasperation, then smiled again. “Well, I was thinking about a whirlpool bath large enough to accommodate two quite comfortably. There’s a great minibar, fully stocked with champagne. Bubbles in the whirlpool. Your body. Mine. That really terrific bed.”
He moved toward her. “Lots of steam, bubbles…naked, writhing bodies?”
“Does the concept draw the least interest?”
He was silent a moment, then a light of amusement and something more came into his eyes.
“O’Casey?” she murmured.
He stepped past her, then paused, turning back to whisper in her ear, his breath a seductive touch of heat, his voice husky. “Beat you there,” he said, and with a spurt, rushed toward the stairs.
She burst into a run, coming after him, halfway knocking him down on the steps. Without a word, he swept her up and they continued up the stairs together, laughing…and then breathless.
In the morning, Kelly called Mel and they talked a long time. He agreed that, even if she didn’t mean it, it might be a good thing to announce that she was doing the video and then leaving the vicious character of Marla Valentine behind.
“My only concern is that this will give them every excuse to sever the contract,” Mel told her worriedly.
She winced, biting into her lower lip. She didn’t think that she’d ever been so afraid in her entire life.
“I can look for something different, Mel,” she told him. “You’re a good agent, and I’m staying in the public eye with this video.”
He sighed. “Let me think,” he told her.
She discussed the conversation with O’Casey. “He’s worried.”
“You won’t be working on Valentine Valley if you’re dead,” he said bluntly. “You won’t have to worry about the character being killed off.”
“Let him get back to me, please?” she asked.
He agreed, but she knew he’d been on the phone to Quinn and that Quinn had been into the police station with Jake Dilessio. As of yet, the police in Palm Beach hadn’t been able to hunt down the car involved in the hit-and-run. She knew, as well, that Doug had talked to his brother for some time because he had paced back and forth out on the porch with his cell phone, claiming that the reception was better out there.
Once he hung up, though, he allowed the day to be everything that it might have been. They had a resort to themselves and they used it, going from the pool to the ocean, along the trails and back to the room.
By five, Mel had gotten back to her. “I talked to Joe Penny and he went nuts. But your tango teacher is right. You can’t work if you become the victim of a wacko.”
“Right. Thanks, Mel.”
“If I put out some feelers, I know there will be some good stuff out there for you,” he promised. She just wished he sounded a little more sincere and a little less forcefully cheerful.
Doug had told her that he had a friend at one of the local network stations. And if she gave them an “exclusive,” the news would be picked up nationally. Mel thought it was a good idea, as long as their current location wasn’t given away, nor mentioned as the site where the video would be filmed.
That afternoon Doug’s friend arrived, compliments of Harry Sullivan, who went to Marathon to pick up the man himself. The man had the improbable name of Afton Clark, and he was a tall, striking African-American with one of the deepest, richest voices she had ever heard. He interviewed her against the backdrop of the water but far enough from the hotel so that the location couldn’t be gleaned from the tape. Sam was seated by her feet for the interview, like a perfect gentleman.
Afton’s questions were friendly, as if they were doing something for one of the entertainment channels. She was pleased when they finished, which she wasn’t always after an interview. She had liked the man very much. When he had left, Doug told her dryly that Afton had been in the academy with him, but he’d left the force after being interviewed himself at the scene of a crime, then approached by the station.
“It’s his voice,” Doug told her.
“Great voice, yes. And he’s very attractive. Well, the die is cast,” she said.
“So it is,” Doug said. “Scared?”
“Yes.”
“I swear to you, it was the right thing to do.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see, won’t we? But I don’t want to think about it anymore. Now I want to go out on the Jet Skis.”
Doug grinned slowly. “I’m sure Harry will allow us the pleasure,” he told her. “But…”
“But what?” she demand
ed.
“The tango,” he reminded her. “Tango practice.”
“Oh! Right!”
They used the entryway for practice, and she was amazed to discover that it had actually become fun. Tremendous effort had turned to knowledge, and the comfort of knowing more about what she was doing gave her a certain freedom.
After two hours’ rehearsing, they hit the water. They left Sam sleeping in the room. Then, as the sun began to set, they shot along the waves together. Kelly found it incredibly exhilarating. She couldn’t remember when she had laughed so much.
They dined on room service out on the porch once again, with O’Casey swearing that they wouldn’t talk about anything related to the danger she might be in. The night was magically romantic, the absolute stuff of dreams. Champagne and grapes in bed, the coolness of the sheets, the heat of his body.
There was only one flaw. Late that night she awoke and realized that he wasn’t with her. Then she heard the undertone of his voice and knew that he was out on the balcony—on the phone again. He never really forgot that he had designated himself her bodyguard.
CHAPTER 22
Doug had never imagined that the crew would be so large. Besides Jerry Tritan, there were two assistant directors, Herb Essen, Jane and the other three dancers, an assistant to Herb, three production assistants, makeup personnel, costumers and gofers, cameramen, soundmen and lighting technicians. Then there were the boys in the band—Lance Morton, Hal Winter, Aaron Kiley and Ron Peterson. Mel arrived with Marc Logan and Ally Bassett.
The day began with a meeting that included the full cast and crew. Though Jerry Tritan did the speaking, explaining his vision for the shoot, Marc Logan was there looking on the whole while. Ally Bassett watched everything with a sharp eye, and though she was quiet, Doug knew that if she thought anything wasn’t working right for Kelly, she’d be speaking up.
Killing Kelly Page 23