скачать книгу бесплатно
“My sister says you’re going to teach at her school next term. What do you teach?”
“Uh...that’s boring. Tell me about yourself,” she countered. “You’re a filmmaker.”
He frowned. “How did you know that?”
“I’ve seen your films,” she said.
Dex sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. Though he knew he had fans, he rarely met them, except when he was accepting some kind of award.
“I was sorry to hear about your partner,” Marlie added. “That must have been such a dark time for you.”
Until that moment, he’d put the nightmare out of his head. But now he realized that would never be completely possible. “It was,” he said. “But I’m trying to focus on other things now.”
“That’s a good philosophy,” she said with an encouraging smile. “What’s your next project?”
If only she knew, he thought to himself. Screw filmmaking; his mind was occupied with plans for a full-on seduction. “I’m considering my options,” he said.
“I have an option for you,” Marlie said.
Unless it had to do with tearing her clothes off and having at it right here in the pub, Dex really wasn’t interested. But he had the luxury to take things slow. “I don’t want to talk about work,” he countered. “Let’s talk about what you’re doing tomorrow. The term doesn’t start until after the New Year. Are you going back to the States for Christmas? What about your family? Don’t they celebrate together?”
“They do. But I’m usually working and can’t get away and I—”
“You work over Christmas in the States?” he asked. “You don’t have a school holiday?”
She looked at him, her eyes wide, then cleared her throat. “I’m not a teacher,” she said. “And I’m not interested in renting your cottage, although is a very nice place.”
Dex stared at her for a long moment, taking in the look of confusion—no, desperation—on her pretty face. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“My name is Marlena Jenner and I’m working on a documentary film about Aileen Quinn. I’ve been trying to track you down through your agent, and when he wasn’t getting any response, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Your sister, Claire, said—”
“Marlena. Right. You’re the not the teacher.” Dex quickly stood. She’d been playing him. He bit back a curse. He’d told both his agent and his sister that he wasn’t even going to think about work for at least another year. He needed a damn break, and he didn’t appreciate that his sister had sent this woman to try to change his mind.
“You know, I’m really not interested,” he said.
“But you haven’t heard about the project yet,” Marlie said, following him to the door. “I’m sure once you—”
He spun around to face her, his anger bubbling over. “Listen to me,” he said. “I’m not interested.” He shook his head, then walked back to the bar and tossed enough money on the polished surface to cover their drinks.
What the hell was happening to him? He could usually read people better than this. He should have seen that she had some ulterior motive. But the moment he set eyes on her, all he could think about was getting her into bed. Not that that feeling wasn’t still with him. But no-strings sex didn’t work unless they were both interested in the same outcome—pure lust and mutual sexual satisfaction. She was just playing along until she could pitch him her idea.
He strode outside, Marlie hard on his heels. “Wait,” she said. “Just give me a chance to explain.”
He yanked the passenger door open. “Get in. I’ll take you back.”
“No,” Marlie said.
Dex gasped. Was she really going to draw a line? He couldn’t exactly leave her standing in the middle of the road. It was at least a fifteen-minute walk in the cold, windy night to get back to her car. And he wasn’t the type of guy who’d leave a woman stranded.
Dex slammed the door. “All right. If you want to pitch your project, go ahead. Right now.”
Jaysus, she was beautiful. Her color was high and her green eyes bright. And her hair whipped around her face in windblown strands. He wanted to reach out and grab her, twist his fingers through the thick mass of waves and pull her into a very long kiss.
She shifted nervously, then stared down at her toes. “I left my laptop in my car. The pitch is better with visuals. I have a whole presentation made up.”
With a low chuckle, he pulled the door open again. “Let’s go, then.”
Reluctantly, she got inside. When he joined her, she turned in her seat and faced him. “I didn’t mean to mislead you. I just thought if you got to know me, you might trust me a little more.”
“Oh, sure. Lying is always the best way to get a bloke to trust you.”
“Can we just start over?” Marlie asked. She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Marlena Jenner. I’m a producer at Back Bay Productions in Boston. I’d like to talk to you about making a documentary about the Irish author Aileen Quinn.” When he didn’t reciprocate, she wiggled her fingers. “Come on. It goes both ways.”
Dex laughed and took her hand. “Really? And what did I do to mislead you?” She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, yanking her fingers away. Dex gave her a dubious look. “What?”
“You wanted to kiss me,” she said, tipping her chin up defiantly.
“I did not.” God, was he that transparent? Usually he was much more discreet about his desires. “Where did you get that idea?”
“I can just tell,” she said.
“Oh, really. How? From your vast knowledge about men? Irish men, in particular?”
She sat back in the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t know anything about me,” she said.
“And you know next to nothing about me,” he countered.
“I know what you want.”
“Prove it.”
What happened next happened so quickly that Dex wasn’t able to stop it. In one quick movement, she leaned over, grabbed his face between her hands and kissed him. At first, he wasn’t sure what to do, but then he took advantage of the invitation and slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her closer.
Her lips parted slightly and he slipped his tongue into the sweet warmth of her mouth. When a tiny sigh slipped from her throat, Dex took it as another invitation and dragged her body on top of his until he could run his hands over her backside. His pulse pounded, the warmth of desire pumping through his body.
The kiss ended as quickly as it began when Marlie drew back and looked at him with a wide-eyed gaze. “I—I think I’ve made my point.” She scrambled over to her side of the SUV and quickly fastened her seat belt. “We can go now,” she murmured.
“Bloody hell, you must really want me to do this project.”
“I do,” she said. “It’s imperative.”
“Imperative?”
“Yes, no one else could do it like you could.” She drew a sharp breath. “I mean the documentary,” she quickly added. “Not the kiss.” Marlie cleared her throat. “But the kiss was good, too.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you meant.” He started the truck, his heart slamming in his chest. He’d never reacted so strongly to a simple kiss.
“Just so you know, that’s not usually part of my pitch. Nothing is going quite the way I intended.”
“Will there be more kissing involved, or is it all business from here on out?”
“Would kissing you make you more inclined to take the job?” she asked.
“Probably not,” he replied.
“Then I suppose that’s the last time I’m going to kiss you.”
“Good,” he said, throwing the truck into gear and pulling out onto the road.
Though Marlie Jenner would provide the perfect distraction from all the pain he’d experienced in the past eight months, he wasn’t about to use her just to satisfy his own lust. He wasn’t ready to work again, and nothing she offered him, even a few enjoyable kisses, was going to change his mind. Once he got her back to the cottage, he’d send her on her way.
2
MARLIE USED THE ride back from the pub to silently go over her pitch in her head. She’d have just one chance to convince him, and she had to make sure she got it right.
Dex pulled the SUV onto the small parking pad next to the cottage and turned off the lights, then the ignition.
“I’ll just go get my computer,” she murmured, reaching for the door.
But he placed a hand on her arm, stopping her. “Wait,” he said.
Her gaze drifted down to the spot where his fingers rested. A warm flush crept up her cheeks and she had to tell herself to breathe. “What is it?”
“I have to be honest with you. As much as I enjoyed that kiss we shared, nothing you say is going to convince me to do your project. So I don’t need to see your presentation. But if you’d like to come inside and get to know each other a little better over a drink, I’d be interested in that.”
Marlie stared at him, her mouth agape. “I— How dare—? No! No, I’m not interested in coming inside and having a drink.” She opened the car door and stepped out, then slammed the door.
Dex jumped out after her. “I just thought since you did kiss me and you seemed to enjoy it that...”
Marlie shook her head, then turned to walk away. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to go inside with him and see exactly where a few drinks might lead. But that would be supremely unprofessional. Plus, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
She spun back around. “You’re missing out on a really great project. You have a chance to do something important for a wonderful Irish writer. And don’t think I don’t know you could do this project blindfolded with one hand tied behind your back.”
Dex smiled. “That would be a bit dodgy,” he said.
Marlie cursed beneath her breath, then strode toward her car, fighting back the tears that threatened. She’d blown it. And yet, as she got inside her car, she couldn’t put her finger on where she’d gone wrong. Somewhere between the pub and the cottage, he’d changed his mind. Before that, everything had been going so well.
Or had it? Maybe he’d never had any intention of listening to her pitch. Maybe all he really wanted was a quick roll in the hay. She grabbed the keys from her jacket pocket and started the car. “I never should have kissed him,” Marlie muttered.
She’d never been an impulsive person, especially when it came to men. There was just something about Dex that rendered her completely irrational.
Throwing the car into gear, she steered the Fiat back onto the road, roaring past Dex as she headed toward the lights of the village.
As she drove through the dark, she refocused, scrambling to come up with an alternate plan. But Marlie was faced with the realization that she’d put all her eggs in the Dex basket. Though she had a list of other options, other cameramen who might be interested in the project, she hadn’t made contact with any of them. She’d never expected to waste two full weeks chasing after Dex Kennedy, and filming was due to start in mere days.
Rain began to hit the windshield and she turned on the wipers. When she reached the small village, Marlie pulled the car over and grabbed the map, trying to figure out the fastest way back to Killarney. Yet the thought of walking away from Dex and everything he had to offer was causing her to doubt her actions. She’d come this far. Was she really ready to give up so easily?
“No,” Marlie muttered. He hadn’t even given her a chance. She cursed softly. At least not a chance to talk about her project.
So just how far was she willing to go to convince Dex to do her film? She’d never compromised herself for the sake of professional advancement. Yet now that the film of her career was about to slip through her fingers, she had to take drastic action, and she wasn’t going to give up. Not until she’d exhausted every last option with Dex. Every last option, except sex. That, she decided, was her line.
Marlie made a quick U-turn and headed back toward the little cottage. When she reached the building, she pulled up near the stone wall and turned off the ignition.
The house was dark and she wondered if he’d left already. But the SUV was still parked in its spot. It was early, not even 8:00 p.m. Had he gone to bed? If she waited here, she could catch him in the morning, maybe in a better mood. Or she could bang on the door and demand that he hear her out.
Marlie grabbed her laptop and got out of the car. Nothing had ever come easily to her. Why would Dex Kennedy be any different? Somehow, she would put aside her ridiculous attraction to him and keep her wits about her. And she’d convince him that this film was the most important thing in her life—and his.
When she reached the door, Marlie drew a deep breath. “He’s just a guy. Just an ordinary guy. He’s not that good-looking. Or charming.” She rapped on the door, her heart pounding. After a second knock, Marlie realized he wasn’t planning to answer.
“I know you’re in there. I’m not going away until you give me a chance to pitch my project.”
Marlie put her ear up against the door. But she heard nothing inside. “I’m not going to give up. You can talk to me now, or you can talk to me later.”
She reached for the doorknob. Holding her breath, she slowly turned it, surprised when the door opened. The last thing she needed was to be accused of breaking and entering. But since the door was unlocked, she couldn’t be accused of breaking in, and if she stayed on the front step, she wouldn’t be entering.
“Hello?” The interior was dark, the only light coming from the remains of a fire in the hearth. “Dex? Are you here?”
If he was going to be this stubborn, then maybe she’d need to be a bit more aggressive. Besides, he wouldn’t call the police, would he? “I’m not breaking and entering, I just have a few more things I want to say.”
She switched on a lamp and then walked slowly through the cottage. But Dex was nowhere to be found. Maybe he’d gone out for a walk.
It was cold and rainy outside. He’d have to come home sooner or later. She’d wait in the car until she saw the lights come on, and then she’d knock again.
Marlie walked back out to her car and crawled inside, pulling her jacket around her to ward off the chill. He couldn’t stay out that long in weather like this...unless a friend had picked him up and they’d gone out. She groaned. He could be gone until the pubs closed.
Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. “Hello?”
“Miss Jenner, this is Ian Stephens.”
Marlie suppressed another groan. What else was going to go wrong? With her luck, Aileen Quinn was probably having second thoughts, too. “Hello. How are you?”
“I’m fine. I hope I’m not ringing too late, but I wanted to let you know that I got all of Miss Quinn’s photos on a disk. You can pick them up tomorrow or I can drop them at your hotel.”
“If you could drop them off, that would be great,” Marlie said. “I’m a little busy with other matters.”
“And Miss Quinn has asked if we could move the first interview forward one day. She had a conflict come up. And I think she’s excited to get started.”
“Yes,” Marlie said. “That would be fine. So we’ll be there Friday instead of Saturday.”
“That will do. Have a pleasant evening and I’ll see you soon.”
Marlie hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket. She leaned back and closed her eyes. She had to make this work. She’d already told her bosses at Back Bay she could get Dex Kennedy to sign on to the project, and they’d already begun making plans based on her overly optimistic claim.
How could she go back to them and tell them she’d failed? They’d lose all faith in her. They already had their doubts. There was only one choice—she’d have to convince him, no matter what it took.
* * *
THE DAMP WIND stung his cheeks and Dex shoved his hands farther into his pockets. He was chilled to the bone but he didn’t feel the cold. All he wanted was the numbness that it brought.
