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“I’ll call next week and we’ll work out the details.” Dana stepped aside and let others offer their good wishes.
She glanced at Max and found his narrowed eyes focused on her. What was he thinking? From his forbidding expression she’d bet he wasn’t remotely interested in following in his brother’s footsteps to the altar.
All she had to do was find a way to change his mind, because there was nothing she’d like more than to marry Max on the grounds of Hudson Manor and begin her own fairy-tale romance.
Seven
“How did you know?” Max asked Dev after dinner when the men had retired to the patio for cigars and left the women inside to yap about the sixtieth anniversary gala.
“Know what?”
Max divided his attention between the women on the opposite side of the French doors and the far end of the patio where his father and uncle looked to be having another tense discussion. Jack was with them, running interference, Max would guess. “How did you know Valerie was the one?”
Dev puffed on his cigar. He exhaled long and slow as if the answer might be found in the smoke slowly dissipating in the air above their heads. “You’re not expecting something sappy and romantic, are you?”
From his brother the cynic, who seemed to believe women were put on this earth only to procreate and provide entertainment? No.
“I just want an answer. Why Valerie? Why now?”
“I’m thirty-five. It’s time to settle down. Valerie’s well connected. Her father’s a newspaper mogul and that could work in Hudson Pictures’s favor when we need publicity in the future. She and I suit each other, and she won’t give me a lot of backchat.”
Like Karen had. His brother didn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. Max’s wife had been quite opinionated. That she hadn’t been a suck up or a pushover was one of the things Max had liked and respected about her. But she’d had a tendency to get in people’s faces when crossed. Sometimes that had caused friction.
Dana was a hell of a lot more diplomatic.
He nixed the thought. There was no comparing the women and no reason to, especially now when the anniversary of Karen’s death was just around the corner.
His gaze wandered to the woman in question on the other side of the closed glass doors. Her dress tonight had nearly knocked him to his knees. She’d gone from conservative, figure-concealing clothing to the kind that accentuated every curve of her luscious figure.
The wrap top of her black dress cupped her breasts and showed just enough soft skin to make him want to bury his face between the smooth globes and slip his hands beneath the short hem to see if she wore panties.
But he was stronger than that. No woman would make him weak with wanting again. He kept his head these days. No more getting swept away by passion. Reason ruled.
He forced his attention back to his brother and practical matters. “If you’d made a spectacle of the wedding instead of secretly sneaking off, it would have been great PR for Honor. Romance While Filming the Romance, or some similar headline. The press would have eaten it up. You know you wasted that opportunity.”
Dev shrugged. “I know. But Valerie is an only child.You know what kind of production a traditional wedding would have turned into. Months of planning, too many trivial, irritating decisions…You know the drill. You did it.”
Max knew. Karen had been an only child, too. Their wedding had taken a year to plan, and there had been times when the process had spiraled so crazily out of control he’d wanted to say to hell with it and elope. By the time they’d walked down the aisle he’d been relieved to have it over with and not to have to make any more decisions about stupid stuff like the color of the napkins and the like.
“Besides,” Dev continued, “I didn’t want to deal with the paparazzi, and we don’t have time right now for all the cloak-and-dagger theatrics necessary to pull off a Hollywood wedding. Tents, helicopters, security.”
“Amen to that.”
“I preferred to close the deal as quickly as possible.”
“That’s it? Convenience? You weren’t swept away by passion?”
Dev exhaled a smoky plume. “You do remember who you’re talking to, don’t you?”
Funny, he’d expected more from his big brother. But he shouldn’t have. “Do you love her?”
“Like love worked so well for you.” And then Dev winced. “I’m sorry. That was a low blow.”
Love had worked for him. For a while. “Forget it. Did you at least get a prenup, so she won’t take us to the cleaners?”
“What? You think I’m stupid?”
“No. I’m just looking out for our assets.”
“While you’re covering Hudson assets, what have you found out about Dana and Doug Lewis?”
“Nothing yet. I’m working on it.”
“Any progress?”
He wasn’t about to share his strategy. “Some.”
“Let me know what you discover.”
“As soon as I know it myself.” And that meant he needed to turn up the heat and steam some information out of Dana.
And the desire to do so had nothing to do with how hot she looked tonight in that low-cut dress and those killer high heels.
Nothing whatsoever.
But damn, she looked amazing.
Good thing his hunger for her was temporary and could be turned off as soon as Honor hit the screen.
Otherwise, he’d be in trouble.
“The wedding announcement was a surprise,” Dana said from beside Max in the darkened car on the way home from the dinner party.
Max kept his eyes on the winding road. “Yes.”
“Did you know? Did Dev mention his plans at lunch?”
“No.”
He heard her sigh and then the rustle of her dress as she shifted on the seat. Her scent and each sound she made seemed amplified in the quiet confines of the dark car. But the lack of light also kept him from checking out her legs the way he had on the way over to Hudson Manor. He was damned lucky he hadn’t run them off the road.
How had he never noticed she had great legs before tonight?
“Does he realize what an amazing PR opportunity he missed? We could have had free airtime on every network and in a substantial number of magazines and web pages.”
That’s what he liked about Dana. Not only did she think like him, she reacted with logic rather than emotion. Karen had tended to go the opposite—He choked off that thought. He had to stop comparing the women. He’d promised Karen forever. The most he could offer Dana was for now, and then only because she might have the information he needed.
“He knew and he chose not to exercise that option.”
“We could still use it to create a buzz. It could be our slant on making Honor stand out from Willow’s film in case we can’t find out what theirs is about.”
She had a point—one too good to ignore. “I’ll ask Dev to talk to PR. What do you know about Willow’s film?”
He caught her sideways glance in the glare of an oncoming car’s headlights. “You could have asked me that the other night instead of accusing me of sharing information.”
She didn’t miss a beat at his abrupt change of subject. She never did. It was as if she could follow the convoluted twists of his mind. No one else had ever done that. And she was right. He could have asked, but wondering if she’d betrayed him combined with seeing her kiss Lewis had crushed any tact Max might have had.
“I apologize. I should have asked.”
“Doug said Willow’s film is a romance. He didn’t work on the project directly and hasn’t read the script, but from what he’s heard, there are quite a few similarities to Honor. I’m working on—” She stopped abruptly and turned to stare out the dark passenger window.
“You’re working on what?”
“Nothing,” she replied too hastily. “If I find out more, I’ll let you know.”
Dana was lying or holding something back. He wanted to know what and why. “When will you see Lewis again?”
Moments ticked past where the only sound was the car’s tires on the road. “I’m not sure. He’s on recce.”
“But you plan to see him when he returns.” He liked the idea even less now than he had before.
“Yes, Max. I’m going to see him. And you’re going to have to trust that I won’t share Hudson Pictures’s secrets. If you can’t trust me, then you need to fire me.”
Trust her.
He’d trusted her for five years. Why was doing so now suddenly so difficult? Because Hudson Pictures very likely had a leak, and all indicators pointed to Dana as the most likely source. She had the info, the opportunity and the connections.
But did she have the motive?
If so, he hadn’t yet figured out what it was. But until he knew for sure, he couldn’t afford to give her anything that could be used against them.
The stroke of Max’s hand down the length of her hair as they entered his darkened house just before midnight pleasantly surprised Dana.
But when he grasped a handful at her nape and pulled her to a halt he shocked her. Her breath caught. “Max?”
She heard the deadbolt click and then Max slowly reeled her backward, tugging just hard enough to make her nape prickle, but not enough to inflict pain. She never would have thought such caveman antics to be sexy, but the way her body instantly responded proved her wrong. Her skin tingled and her breath and pulse quickened.
He didn’t stop until her back pressed against the length of his front. His chest and thighs were warm, hard and strong as she leaned into him. His breath steamed her cheek a second before his jaw, rough with evening beard, took its place. “Take off your clothes.”
A lightning bolt of hunger made her gasp. “Here? Why?”
“We’re going to take a moonlight swim.”
Not a bad idea, but—“M-my suit is—”
“You won’t need it.” His free hand skimmed from her hip, over her waist to cup her breast. His thumb found her nipple and circled. Her flesh hardened beneath his caress. “Have you ever been skinny-dipping?”
She could barely think with the tangle of desire forming in her belly. “Um…no. What about your neighbors?”
“We won’t turn on the lights.” He released her hair and cupped her other breast with his hand. The dual massage melted her resistance, her arguments, and her ability to form sentences. He gave her a gentle shove into the center of the foyer. “Strip for me, Dana.”
Moonlight streamed through the high windows, angling down on the floor, onto her, like a soundstage key light. Max remained in the shadows.
“Have you ever stripped for a man?” he asked when she hesitated.
Her heart pounded a path up her throat. “No. Not…um like this.”
“Start with that sexy black dress. Take it off.”
Adrenaline hit her with a dizzying rush. Her spinning head had nothing to do with the wine she’d drunk with dinner and everything to do with the words he’d just uttered. But nervousness dried her mouth. Her purse slipped from her fingers and landed at her feet.
She bent to pick it up.
“Leave it, and get naked for me.”
But she just wasn’t ready to do as he asked. “You first.”
She heard him chuckle, low and sexy. She’d never heard that sound from him before and she liked it. She liked the way it rippled over her skin and made her quiver.
He stepped forward just enough to cast his body into the murky light, but kept his face in the dark. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it toward a settee. Next he worked the knot of his tie loose, and then yanked it free with a quick whip of sound.
“Shall I keep going?”
She’d had no idea Max had a naughty side, but that teasing tone was definitely the looking-for-trouble variety. She dampened her lips and nodded. “Please.”
He unfastened his cufflinks and dropped them on the credenza. His watch followed. The clunk of metal hitting wood echoed in the high-ceiling space. He unbuttoned his shirt from the top down, revealing a widening wedge of his tanned chest with each passing second. He peeled off the shirt and tossed it on top of his jacket.
His hands settled on his leather belt, but stilled and then dropped to his sides. “Your turn.”
She ripped her gaze away from the rippled definition of his muscles. Why would a man who looked like this work behind the camera instead of in front of it? She had no clue. The women of America would certainly appreciate the view she currently had.
“I—I—” She didn’t know what to say. Feeling both excited and completely out of her element, she reached behind her back for the zipper. The tab slid down a few inches and then snagged. She tried to reverse it, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck.”
“Turn around.” He stepped into the light, giving her a glimpse of the hunger stamped on his face. His desire sent a thrill through her. Her legs trembled as she turned.
His hands cupped her shoulders, stroked down to her wrists and then back up. Her insides went all shivery—the way they always did when he touched her.
He brushed her hair forward over her shoulder. His warm breath on her nape was her only warning before his teeth lightly grazed her skin. A shudder quaked through her. His fingers manipulated the stuck zipper, his short nails scraping her spine as he worked. She had no idea how he could see with the lack of light. And then the tab rasped down. Cool air swept her back seconds before his palms, hot and strong, slipped beneath the fabric to grasp her waist. He held her in place while he strung a necklace of kisses along her shoulders and beneath her ear.
“Turn around and drop the dress,” he ordered huskily in her ear.
Her entire body flushed with heat. On unsteady legs she pivoted only to discover Max had moved back into the shadows. But the glimpse of desire she’d seen earlier gave her the courage to be bolder than she’d normally be. She folded her arms at her waist and dipped her left shoulder. That side of the dress slid down to her elbow. She heard him inhale and repeated the action on the right side leaving her bare from the waist up except for her sheer black lace push-up bra. Only her crossed arms kept the dress up.
She straightened her shoulders and then slowly lowered her arms. The dress floated to the floor, leaving her in the bra, matching lace bikini panties and black heels.
His breath whistled out and he stepped forward into the light, but abruptly stopped. His nostrils flared and his hungry eyes burned over her, filling her with a sense of empowerment.
She lifted her hand and eased down one bra strap and then the other. Max watched through unblinking eyes. She opened the front clasp and peeled back the cups of her bra. His Adam’s apple bobbed. She shrugged and her bra fell to the floor behind her.
