Her eyes were troubled as they met his. “I'm sorry I hurt you. You're a good man and I wish there was some way I could—”
“Don't bother.” He cut her off. “You got shot by Cupid's arrow, didn't you? I can understand what happened. I just thought you had better taste.”
Her eyes flashed fire. “Don't you say anything against Sean!”
“Larissa.” Sean's voice was a soft command. They both turned to see him standing in the doorway to the bedroom. He wore a blue dressing gown and his eyes narrowed as he stared at Ian.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Ian crossed the room. “I want you to tell me what happened between you and Fiona.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Surely you remember Fiona? Unless you've fucked so many women you can't even remember one from the other.”
“Ian.” Larissa's voice held a warning.
Sean turned to her. “Larissa, can you give us a moment?”
She nodded and walked into the bedroom. Ian didn't miss the loving look which passed between them before she closed the door.
Sean crossed his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the door frame. “What business is it of yours what happened between Fiona and me?”
Ian's jaw tightened. “Just tell me what happened.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know.”
Because it's not fair you had her first.
Ian knew he was behaving unreasonably, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.
“I was under the impression you cared about Larissa,” Sean said slowly. “So why are you asking about this?”
“It matters to me. I met Fiona last night and there was a connection between us.” He lowered his gaze because the pain in his soul was too intense to bear.
“Why don't you just get some rest. You look like you need it.”
Ian frowned. “Are you going to tell me or not?”
Sean sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“How many times did you fuck her?”
“Four.”
A red haze clouded Ian's vision. Fiona and that guy rolling around on the bed. His mouth on her beautiful breasts.
“Tell me what you did with her.”
“I don't think that's any of your business.”
Ian couldn't hide the contempt in his voice. “You think you're hot shit, don't you?”
“I think it's time you left. Why don't you sleep this off because you're the one who looks like shit.”
“Oh yeah? Do you know what you look like? A God damned pretty boy.”
A dangerous glint came into Sean's eyes.
Ian continued, “Where I come from, we beat the crap out of arrogant bastards like you who think they can have any woman they want.”
“Don't let my appearance fool you. Where I come from, we don't take shit off punks like you.”
“Is that so?”
Ian stepped forward and took a swing at Sean's face.
Sean stepped to the side and then punched Ian in the mouth. The force of the blow sent Ian sprawling across the sofa.
Sean's eyes narrowed as he stared at Ian's prostrate body. “I think we're finished here, don't you?”
Ian's gaze was murderous. “Just stay the fuck away from me and Fiona.”
“It'll be my pleasure to stay away from you, but I work with her. I hope I'm not going to have to fight you every time she's assigned to fly with me.”
“Just don't touch her again.” Ian lay still as the anger drained from his body, leaving him tired and miserable. Dejection filled the void left by his waning fury.
Then he remembered the kiss.
“I need to ask you something,” he said quietly.
Sean raised an eyebrow. “I'm listening.”
“I have to know. It's very important to me.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Did Fiona kiss you?”
Sean considered the question for a moment. “No. She had this rule about not letting anyone kiss her.”
“She kissed me.”
“Then why are you even here? Why aren't you with her?”
Ian stared at him for a long moment. Then he began to laugh.
Sean looked at him in confusion. “What's so funny?”
“I can't believe I got good advice from you of all people.”
Sean grinned. “No charge.”
Ian touched his mouth and then looked down at the blood on his fingers. “I don't suppose you have any aspirin.”
* * * *
Ian ran down the hallway to Fiona's room. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He pounded harder.
“Fiona, it's me,” he called out.
Still no answer.
“Fiona, please answer the door.”
He heard no sounds coming from inside the room.
Where was she?
He pounded his fist on the wood and raised his voice. “Fiona, open the God damned door. Please!”
A man stepped out into the hallway and looked at Ian with sleepy eyes. “What's all the racket about?”
“Sorry,” Ian apologized. “I was just trying to get my woman to answer the door.”
The man chuckled. “Good luck with that, but can you keep it down a bit? It's eight o'clock in the morning.”
“I'll try. Sorry.”
Where was she?
He continued to knock on her door. After several minutes, he gave up and walked slowly back to the elevator.
Chapter 20
“What we need here is damage control,” said Dina St. Claire, the publicist for the film Primal Urge. “At the very least, we need a way to spin this into a positive thing.”
She handed Ian a copy of the tabloid newspaper The National Intruder. He scanned the front page which featured a picture of himself standing bare chested in an elevator. In the grainy black and white photo, Larissa knelt at his feet with her lips on his midsection.
“Haven't these people got anything better to print?” Ian looked away from the photo, turning his attention to the view from the limousine as it sped them toward Heathrow Airport. He wore dark glasses, but the light still hurt his eyes. His mouth was swollen and he looked the worse for wear.
Dina sighed as she studied him. “There's also the matter of your appearance. You look like you've been brawling all night. There's no way out of this press conference, so be prepared to answer questions about that as well.”
“Are you sure we can't get on the plane and just avoid the press?” Larissa folded the newspaper and handed it back to Dina. “I don't feel like discussing my personal life, and I'm sure Ian feels the same way.”
“Amen to that,” he said.
“You have no choice.” Dina shook her head. “This press conference has been scheduled for weeks, and you need to do your part to promote the film. The producers have also scheduled a press junket when you reach New York.”
“I hate press junkets,” said Ian. “Answering the same questions over and over again. Trying to make your answers fresh when you can't think of anything new to say.”
Larissa laughed. “That's about the size of it.”
He turned to her. “I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor since you met what's-his-name.” “Don't start with me this morning.” Larissa softened her words by giving him a smile. Ian was glad their friendship had survived the turmoil of the previous evening.
He hoped Fiona would still be working Flight 75 that afternoon. He had returned to her room three times, but she had never returned to it. Finally, it was time to get dressed and accompany Larissa and the publicist to the limo. He knew it was going to be a very long day, but at least he had the bottle of aspirin which Sean had given him. The bastard was making it harder and harder to keep hating him.
“Tell me what you think of this.” Dina's voice was persuasive. “We could spin this story until it appears a passionate romance developed between you two during the filming.”
Larissa shook
her head. “I don't think so.”
Dina held up her hand. “Please hear me out. This business is built on illusion. This is just one more illusion, one more misdirection. Look at it like an acting job.”
“Why do we even need to address this photo?” asked Ian. “We're both single so who cares what we did?”
“It won't go away,” she said. “Your fans and the press will be clammering for answers so you've got to say something about it. The idea of an on-set romance might sell some tickets. Then in a few weeks you can break up. It's done every day of the week.”
“But I'm in love with someone else,” Larissa protested. “And I'm not going to stop seeing him.”
“That goes for me too,” said Ian.
“Guys, please work with me,” Dina's voice pleaded as she looked at them. “Don't make my job any harder than it already is.”
“I'm all for saying it was a mistake,” said Larissa. “A spur-of-the-moment thing because we were both drunk, and the movie was finally completed.”
“But—”
“That's final. I'm not going to say we're having a relationship, and I'm not going to stop seeing Sean.”
Ian nodded. “I'm with Larissa on this.”
Dina sighed. “Why in the world did I get into this business in the first place?”
She looked at Ian's handsome face and smiled. “Ah, now I remember.”
* * * *
“Is there a relationship between the two of you?” the reporter yelled the question from the back of the room.
Ian, Larissa, and Dina sat in the crowded conference room at Heathrow Airport.
“Ian and I are just good friends,” said Larissa. “We'll always be friends.”
“What does that mean?” asked another reporter in the front row. “We've all seen the pictures in the tabloids.”
“That was an isolated incident,” said Ian. “We were celebrating the end of filming and I guess we were both a bit tipsy.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh and the reporters laughed with him.
“Can you give us more details about what happened between you?” said another reporter.
“If you've seen the pictures, as I'm sure you have, then you know what happened,” said Larissa. “Not much of anything at all.”
“I think we've exhausted this topic,” said Ian. “Perhaps we could discuss our new movie. It really is a fantastic film, the latest work of a gifted director.”
He looked out at the crowd and saw Fiona standing at the back of the room. She wore her flight attendant uniform, and her mouth was set in a frown as she stared at him.
He leapt to his feet. “Would you please excuse me?”
Larissa looked at him in surprise. There were murmurs of confusion from the congregated throng as he hurried across the room.
“Are there any other questions about the film?” Dina's voice broke into the growing swell of voices. “I'm sure Larissa and the director, Jonathan Tavares, will be happy to answer them for you.”
“I believe this is my finest work,” said Jonathan. “The chemistry between the lead actors is intense, as I'm sure you'll agree when you see the film.”
“We can see the chemistry for ourselves,” yelled a reporter. “We've all seen the elevator pictures.”
The room erupted into laughter.
Ian hurried to Fiona's side. She displayed no emotion as she stared at him. He wished she'd slap his face or scream at him because her lack of emotion troubled him.
He touched her shoulder. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
She nodded and they walked out into the terminal.
“What happened to you this morning?” he said quickly. “I went back to your room three times.”
“Hello Heathcliff,” she said, “or should I call you Mr. Renard?”
“Fiona, please—”
“To answer your question, I woke up early and went for a walk. Then I popped into a store to pick up the daily newspaper. Imagine my surprise when I saw your picture on the front of The National Intruder. Now I know why you looked so familiar. You're much handsomer in person.”
“Can we talk about this?”
She shook her head. “There's nothing to talk about. I had a good time last night, but now I need to get on the plane.”
She turned and walked away from him.
“Fiona, please listen to me.”
She turned back and her eyes glittered with anger.
“Let me explain,” he begged.
I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, and I don't even understand why.
“Look, it's over now,” she said, “but thanks for a good fuck.”
“Please let me explain.”
“What's to explain? Just answer one question. Were you slumming last night? After the famous Larissa Christie, you decided to climb down into the gutter and sleep with me?”
“No, you don't understand.”
“Or was it the other way around? Did you screw Larissa after me because I wasn't good enough for you? I'm sure her feet aren't deformed, are they?”
“Stop it. Please let me explain.”
“Too late.” Her voice was cold and her eyes hard.
He knew there was no way to reach her while she was in this mood.
“Fiona, please don't give up on me,” he pleaded.
“There's nothing to give up on. I rely only on myself, so no one has the power to hurt me.”
Ian saw the sheen of tears in her lovely eyes. “Fiona, I love—”
“Goodbye, Heathcliff.”
Chapter 21
Captain Merrick sat behind the controls of the 767 next to his co-pilot Lloyd Carstairs. The plane had taken off from Heathrow a few moments before and they were now cruising at 40,000 feet. The flight was on schedule and headed for the east coast of the United States.
Sean thought about Larissa's lovely face and counted the hours until he could hold her in his arms again. She had a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, and he couldn't wait until they were lying next to each other on a luxurious, comfortable bed. He inhaled sharply as he imagined her gorgeous body pinned under his. He craved her more than any woman he'd ever known, and she was like a fever in his blood. When they made love, he worried he might bruise her delicate skin because his ardor was so intense. But Larissa wouldn't let him hold back. She wanted every passionate embrace and every hard thrust he had to offer.
Sean forced himself to concentrate on the instrument panel in front of him because a massive erection at this particular time wouldn't be a good idea.
“Looks clear all the way to NYC,” Lloyd's voice broke into his thoughts. The co-pilot appeared a little green around the gills.
“Something the matter, Lloyd? You don't look well.”
“My favorite restaurant let me down, and I think I've got a touch of the food poisoning which put Marie out of commission.” He touched his stomach. “She and I ordered the same thing, but she got much sicker than I did.”
“Are you sure it isn't a stomach virus? The front desk clerk told me something was going around.”
“Could be,” said Lloyd, “but I started getting sick right after dinner.”
“How's Marie?”
“Out of the hospital and doing much better.”
“That's good to hear.”
“Yeah,” said Lloyd. “She's a nice person.”
Sean grinned. “Too bad we couldn't get a table at the Ivory Room last night because I'm sure their food wouldn't have made anyone sick.”
Suddenly, he was back in that magical moment when he'd first seen Larissa's face across the crowded restaurant.
“And too bad you left after dinner and didn't go dancing with us,” said Lloyd. “Elissa was so disappointed she was a total drag all evening. Still, I managed to give her a shoulder to cry on if you know what I mean.”
Sean laughed. “Did you now?”
“Oh yeah. But I gotta tell you, it didn't do much for my self-confidence when she screamed out your name while we were hav
ing sex.”
Sean's eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Serious as a heart attack.”
“Sorry about that.”
Lloyd shrugged. “It wasn't that good anyway, even without the added distraction.”
Sean chuckled.
“On a more positive note, did you see the replacement they sent for Marie? Her name's Fiona Quinn, and she's a real hottie. I had her during a layover in Acapulco, and I swear I couldn't walk for a week afterwards. I wonder if she's up for a repeat performance with me.”
“Shit,” Sean said under his breath. He hoped Ian wouldn't make trouble when he found out Fiona was working this flight with him. Hopefully, the crazy bastard had calmed down since their scuffle in Larissa's suite.
“Yeah, we fucked like two rabbits in heat,” continued Lloyd. “And her tits—”
Sean frowned. “Don't talk about her like that, okay?”
Lloyd looked at him in surprise. “Do you have a thing for Fiona?”
“No, but she's a friend of mine.”
“Oh. Sorry man.”
* * * *
“Did you see that flight attendant giving you the evil eye?” Dina whispered to Larissa as they finished their dinner.
“I noticed,” Larissa said quietly. “Maybe she doesn't like my films.”
“Oh well, can't please everyone.”
Larissa looked down the aisle to where Ian sat two rows in front of her. She was surprised to see his hand resting on the arm of the flight attendant who had just glared at her. Her attention piqued, Larissa listened unashamedly to their conversation.
“Fiona, talk to me,” Ian pleaded.
“Please get your hand off me, sir.”
“Let me explain.”
“Why don't you go back to your glamorous movie star?” she hissed softly. “I'm sure she's more to your taste.”
“I want you. I thought maybe you felt the same way about me. Was I mistaken?”
“Get your hands off me,” she repeated. “If you don't, I'll be forced to report you to Captain Merrick.”
Ian removed his hand as he scowled at her. “Captain Merrick? If I never hear that name again, it'll be too soon.”
Hostages of Love (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 10
