by Janet Dailey
Instead of protesting, LaRaine smiled. "Tell Ginny I'll see her later, will you?"
"Of course," Jim nodded.
Brandy stared to step forward, but at the same moment Bryce took hold of her wrist and partially extended her hand toward Jim.
"I give her back to your care, Jim," Bryce drawled.
As he released her wrist, he exerted just enough pressure to tip the glass in her hand. Brandy gasped at the sudden shock of ice-cold liquid spilling down her front. Blinking in surprise, she stared at the purpling wetness staining the front of her lime-green dress.
"Bryce, you fool!" LaRaine cried angrily, taking a handkerchief Jim had removed from his pocket. "How could you be so clumsy!"
Marie took the nearly empty glass from Brandy's hand while LaRaine dabbed uselessly at the spreading stain on her front. Brandy found the actress's concern for her appearance hard to believe, yet LaRaine was actually trying to help.
"I certainly didn't do it on purpose!" Bryce protested vigorously.
"Why don't you think once before pulling some childish stunt like that?" LaRaine snapped, grimacing as she looked at the futility of her efforts. "It's going to leave a horrid spot when it dries. Maybe we could rinse it out with some cold water." She turned to Jim. "Your trailer is the closest. Is it all right with you if we use it?"
"Here's the key." He took it from his pocket and handed it to LaRaine.
"Can I help?" Marie offered as LaRaine started to lead a bewildered Brandy away.
"No, Brandy and I can manage," the actress refused with a dismissing smile.
A travel trailer parked along the side of the backlot was their destination. LaRaine inserted the key in the lock and opened the door, holding it for Brandy to precede her inside.
"There's a bedroom in the rear," the brunette instructed. "You can slip your dress off there while I run some cold water in the sink."
Brandy started down the narrow hallway, suddenly wondering if she had misjudged LaRaine all this time. She had been so blinded by jealously that she hadn't wanted to see that the stunningly beautiful woman could be kind and thoughtful.
"LaRaine, I don't know how to . . . to thank you," Brandy faltered in her confusion. "I mean, your helping me and all."
"It's nothing." The water tap was turned on in the sink.
Unzipping her dress, Brandy pulled it over her head. There was fortunately only a small stain on her undergarments. LaRaine stepped into the narrow hall.
"Hand me your dress." She held out her hand, taking the dress when Brandy gave it. "By the way," LaRaine added over her shoulder, "in the closet on your right, one of my robes is hanging on the hook."
Opening the door, Brandy saw the scarlet satin robe and the few clean shirts and slacks belonging to Jim. A bitter taste coated her tongue. The veil of pretense fell away, and Brandy knew exactly why LaRaine had been so kind. Now she even had doubts if the accident had been genuine or planned.
The whole object had been for Brandy to discover LaRaine's robe in Jim's trailer. It wasn't hidden away, but relatively out in the open. With that scarlet red color, Jim must have seen it was there; he must have accepted it as natural. Which meant that he and LaRaine were lovers. LaRaine wanted Brandy convinced of that beyond any lingering doubt.
Something died inside her. Mechanically Brandy slipped on the scarlet robe, and the coolly silky material slid over her bare skin. As she tied the sash, Brandy saw LaRaine framed in the hallway, arms crossed in front of her, a feline look on her face.
"Aren't you going to ask about the robe?" LaRaine purred.
Brandy jerked the knot of the sash tight, tossing her head back proudly. "Is that what you want?"
"I though you might wonder about finding it here," the brunette shrugged.
"Why should I?" Brandy returned, walking determinedly past the woman to the sinkful of water and her stained dress lying beside it. "I've always guessed you wanted Jim."
"I mean to have him," LaRaine declared.
"I think you phrased that wrong." Brandy picked up her dress, trembling hands squeezing the excess water out of the sponge before she tried to rinse away the stain. "Shouldn't you have said I love him?"
"Naturally I do. We make a perfect couple, in many ways."
Bryce's comment earlier that evening gave Brandy a fresh insight into that remark. "What you mean is that Jim's talent and reputation would carry you a long way up the ladder, isn't it?" she accused coldly. Maybe Jim never had been and never would be hers, but she didn't intend to let the calculating actress walk all over her without scoring a few blows. "I happen to love Jim Corbett the man. Who do you love—the celebrity James Corbett?"
"What a quaint turn of phrase!" LaRaine laughed, a harsh, unfriendly sound. "Fortunately the two are intertwined. When you get one, you automatically have the other. And he's mine."
"If that's the case, then why are you so worried about me?" Brandy challenged.
"You remind me of my cousin." Venom dripped from LaRaine's voice. "She pretended to be all sweetness and innocence, too, but the first chance she had, she proved how devious she could be. I'm not going to give you the chance to spoil things."
"It's a pity he doesn't see you for what you are," Brandy declared with open disgust. "Maybe he had. Maybe that's why he's been taking me out."
"We quarreled. He only asked you out to make me jealous," LaRaine jeered. "Only a few minutes ago he was telling me that he was sorry he had asked you to come here tonight. He decided he would plead tiredness and take you home early. If you want to save yourself some embarrassment, you'll take my advice and leave now. You can use the accident to your dress as an excuse."
Stubbornly Brandy kept dabbing away at the stain with the sponge. "You'd like me to do that, wouldn't you?"
"You stupid little chit!"
"That's enough, LaRaine." The door had opened silently and Jim stepped inside, his broad-shouldered frame filling the small trailer.
LaRaine recovered from her astonishment more swiftly than Brandy, laughing brightly and walking toward him. She didn't appear unnerved by the harshness of his expression as Brandy was.
"Jim," she spoke his name in a delighted voice, "Brandy and I were just—"
"I know what you were just doing," he interrupted coldly. "I was listening outside."
That statement caused the stunning brunette to falter. She glanced angrily at Brandy as if she blamed her. "I suppose you're going to take that conniving little witch's side against me," she cried, with venom and bitterness in her voice.
"You've made a grave mistake, LaRaine," was his even reply, "you've begun to believe what you read in the gossip columns."
"But you and I—" she protested.
"There never has been a "you and I" except in your publicity agent's imagination. You came to me saying that you needed some newspaper exposure to help your career, and I agreed to take part in the publicity. That's all there ever was between us," Jim stated, and Brandy wanted to cry with relief. "Now, I suggest that you get out of my trailer before I throw you out."
Her ego wounded, LaRaine seethed in silent outrage an instant longer, then with a contemptuous toss of her raven hair, she stalked past him to the door, slamming it as she walked out.
For the first time, Jim turned to Brandy. The hard mouth crooked at the corners as he ran a quick eye over the scarlet robe she was wearing.
"That isn't your color," he observed dryly.
Unconsciously, one hand moved to the satiny front. "It was hanging in the closet," Brandy swallowed, her heart hammering in her ears with joy.
"LaRaine wore it to protect one of her costumes today. I remembered she'd left it here when she stopped at lunch to give me the new script rewrites. If I remembered it, I knew she had," Jim explained, "and I guessed what she would let you think."
"I'm afraid I believed it." There wasn't that much distance between them in the small trailer, but he closed it with unbearable slowness.
He took the sponge from her hand and tossed it
in the sink. "Would you care to repeat the statement you made earlier?"
"Which one?" Her breath was stolen by the smoldering light in his dark eyes.
His gaze burned over her face in possession. "The one about loving someone."
Brandy swayed closer, her hands warmly clasped between his. "I—I'm in love with you, Jim." The catch in her funny little voice said she couldn't help herself.
"In that case, you won't object if I tell you we're getting married in August." A slow, lazy smile softened his hard features.
Brandy caught back the little sob of supreme happiness. "That's so long to wait"
"I want to be very sure, darling." His fingers reached out to gently caress the outline of her cheek. "I want you to be as certain of your love for me as I am of mine for you."
Tears shimmered turquoise bright. "I am."
The dark head bent toward hers, the masculine mouth murmuring against the softness of her lips. "I love you."
Surrendering to the possession of his kiss, Brandy wound her arms around his neck, returning his love with unrestrained joy. The Sonora sundown blazed through the trailer windows, flaming over their embrace.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1978 by Janet Dailey
Cover design by Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN 978-1-4976-1822-0
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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