“Would you believe me if I told you, ‘I’ve grown accustomed to your face?’” He sang the last. Alex had a nice singing voice.
“No.” She laughed to hide her chaotic emotions. “With a talent like that, you could perform on Broadway.”
“Wrong side of the country. I’d rather spend the rest of the day with you.”
“And?” she prompted him.
His mouth curved upward. “You know me well, don’t you? Actually, I’d like your opinion about something. What do you say? It would be doing me a great favor.”
She found herself staring at him. “Considering that I ran into you, you’ve put me in a position where I can hardly afford to turn you down.”
His eyes flickered in satisfaction. “Good. I’ll meet you at the dealership.”
This time Reese looked before backing out. Only now did she notice that Brad had disappeared a long time ago. By the time she reached the gate of the studio parking lot, Alex was right behind her.
She knew why he was doing this. He was the sort of man who didn’t forget a kindness. Her aunt had taken a special liking to Alex. In the early days, she’d invited him to the condo where she could teach him some of the acting tricks of the trade. The fact that he was a quick study artist was a testament to his natural acting prowess.
Reese had looked on with great interest and pleasure, occasionally being pressed to act a part to help Lilian put over a point. Now that she had passed away, he felt it incumbent to be Reese’s friend on this day of transition from actress to ordinary mortal waiting for school to start.
It was his way of paying Lilian back for those hours of friendship and instruction that had bonded the two of them. But some time during that period, Reese had also grown attached to the charismatic man who’d treated her as he might treat a sister.
He showed her the greatest respect. It was a tribute to his professionalism that he was careful how he handled their love scenes. Off the set, he never touched her or made comments that could be misconstrued.
Except for scenes shot on location at the beach in Laguna, he’d never gone anywhere with her after the taping of a scene was over.
No question about it. Alex had always been the complete gentleman. Only today at the party had he acted out of character and kissed her in front of everyone. Nobody thought anything of it.
But Reese still hadn’t recovered. Was it any wonder she’d backed straight into him?
CHAPTER FIVE
T HE five-mile drive took a good twenty minutes in the lunch-hour traffic. When Reese pulled into the bay of the dealership, Alex stopped his truck short of the overhead door to wait for her.
The guy in charge came over to get her paperwork done. During the litany of questions, he kept glancing at her.
“You’re Carly!”
She nodded. “I’m surprised you recognized me without my makeup.”
“I’d notice you anywhere, any time. We have a TV in the office. Most weekdays we watch the soaps. Laguna Nights is the favorite around here.”
“The producer will be happy to hear it.”
“You’re even better looking in person.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you be willing to come inside and sign a couple of autographs for the guys? I’d consider it a personal favor.” The male interest in his eyes almost blinded her.
“Sorry,” sounded a deep, familiar voice with the fake Italian accent that sounded authentic. “She has other plans for the rest of the day.”
Alex had joined them. Without hesitation he opened the door and helped her out. “We’re in a hurry. You know how it is.” He kissed her unsuspecting lips in proprietorial fashion.
“You’re Fabio!” The other man sounded dazed. He wasn’t the only one in that condition.
“That’s right. She’ll call you later to find out when she can expect her car to be repaired. Let’s go.”
Alex put his arm around her shoulders and ushered her to his truck. “I couldn’t resist,” he confessed as he helped her into the passenger side. “If that guy’s eyes had gotten any bigger, they would have fallen out.”
The picture he’d painted made Reese chuckle. “Except that he was even more excited to discover your identity. You’re as famous as any movie star with top billing.”
“Don’t kid yourself. He was getting ready to make his big move on you. I bet it happens to you all the time,” he said as he got in his side and backed the truck around.
“Not as often as you think. From what I hear, you’re the one who has the most trouble in that department.”
“Where we’re going, neither of us will have to worry about our privacy being invaded.”
“I didn’t know we could go to the moon.”
A smile hovered at the corner of his sensuous mouth. “The destination I have in mind isn’t quite that far away.”
“If you mean the rental car place, the closest one is about three blocks from here.”
“I’ll take you there later. For now let’s just relax and enjoy this unexpected sunny day.”
His suggestion sounded heavenly.
She fastened her seat belt. If she was dreaming, then so be it. “What did you do during the holidays?”
Alex made a U-turn out of the lot and headed for the street bordering the dealership. “I had a lot of unfinished projects around here.” He flicked her a glance. “What did you do?”
“I spent it with a friend in La Jolla.”
“Cammy?” he asked once they’d merged with the traffic.
He had an amazing memory. Cammy was Reese’s childhood friend. They’d grown up together on the same street in La Jolla. Now she was married and had a baby.
“Yes. We drove around looking for a rental home for me near the university.”
“Did you find one?”
She nodded. “I’ve decided to let someone lease my aunt’s condo. It will pay my rent and feed me so I won’t have to work while I’m going to school full-time.”
“What are you planning to do for the next week until classes start?”
Brad had asked her the same question. “Volunteer at the hospital.”
“That’s a noble way to pass your time.”
“Aunt Lilian was the one who got me interested. She did it for years.”
“Your aunt was a remarkable woman. So are you.”
“Thank you.” His compliments were making her nervous. “Look, Alex-I know you’re trying to pay my aunt back by looking out for me today, but it really isn’t necessary. I’ll be twenty-four on my next birthday and am a big girl now.”
“I’ve noticed,” he inserted in a tone that sent a wild shiver of excitement through her body. “I waited a whole year for the kind of kiss you gave me at the party.”
Her breath caught. “That was for fun.”
“It felt like a lot more than that to me, and I ought to know better than any man…unless you’ve been seeing someone behind my back.”
“What do you mean behind your back?”
“Exactly what I said. Who’s the man in your life who has opened you up and made you give more freely of yourself? I thought I knew everything about you.”
She blinked. “There isn’t another man.”
“The guy at the dealership would never believe it.”
“I don’t care what he believes.” She eyed Alex covertly. “I could ask you the same question. Who’s your secret woman?”
“If you really want to know, I’ll tell you about her later. How’s that?”
“Is it serious between you two?” She could have shot herself for asking the question, but it was out now and she couldn’t take it back.
“Very.”
She clutched her hands together and stared blindly through the side window, away from him. “I see. Is she an actress, too?”
“No.”
They’d come to the Pacific Coast Highway. He turned right and joined the stream of traffic headed north. Suddenly the mood between them had darkened. With every m
ile, her agony increased.
Agreeing to spend the rest of the day with him was the worst mistake of her life.
“Alex, I-”
“Don’t worry,” he cut her off. “We don’t have a long drive. I promise to feed you.”
“I ate at the party.”
“One mouthful. I watched.”
She took a ragged breath, not knowing what to say. His behavior was so different than usual. Always before he’d treated her like a cherished sister. But ever since she’d backed into his truck, it felt as if everything had changed. In some indefinable way, he’d changed.
The next sign came into view. Malibu lay just around the curve in the highway.
Like many Hollywood stars, Clark Robison, the actor who played Carlo on the show, lived there with his wife and family. One evening soon after Reese had gotten the part of Carly, he’d invited the cast to a party at his fabulous house in Topanga Canyon.
Reese could still remember standing on his deck, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in such a paradise with the man you loved. At that point in time, Alex hadn’t arrived on the scene yet.
What an irony that, almost two years later, she discovered herself sitting next to the man of her dreams at the very moment the truck passed the turn-off for Clark’s home.
She studied the landscape. Amazingly, the chaparral-type vegetation that had gone up in flames from the terrible fires of the recent past had grown back a lot since she’d come to Malibu for the party.
“Here we are,” Alex broke in on her thoughts. He’d turned left at the light and had driven them into the parking area of a one-story building on the ocean side of the highway. There were a dozen workmen moving about. The place was obviously undergoing major renovations.
He read the question in her eyes.
“Once this was an art gallery. As you can see, a lot of it was scorched, and some of the rooms partially destroyed by fire. I bought it for a good price over the holidays.”
This was one of his unfinished projects?
A good price in Malibu was probably three to four million dollars. But her aunt had told her that because three different television networks had wanted to sign up Alex, he’d been offered the kind of a salary to afford the very best, and he’d taken it.
Alex got out of the truck and walked around her side to help her down. Every time he touched her, even if it was just to assist her to the ground as he was doing now, she felt it to the very bones of her body.
“Come inside. One of the rooms has been drywalled so I can use it to work.”
“Are you a famous artist I should know about? Or maybe an art dealer who’s planning a new opening?”
He stared at her through veiled eyes. “Neither one.” He extended his hand. “Hold on to me while we make our way through-it’s a maze of building materials at the moment.”
Reese was glad for his support. With almost every step she needed to be careful as he guided her past the weathered-looking stones a workman was fitting into place in front of the building. Two men worked in harmony tiling the roof.
With Alex’s help, she reached some wooden steps leading into the shell of a rectangular room with a stone fireplace at one end. The bank of windows facing the ocean was covered by plastic so you couldn’t see the view. Another group of workmen were putting in dark wooden beams across the ceiling. They nodded to Alex.
“Watch your step,” he cautioned Reese as they stepped down another makeshift wooden staircase at the opposite end of the room. It led into a smaller room with a patio table and a couple of lawn chairs. Plastic sheeting prevented her from looking out at the ocean.
Alex seated her. “Take a look through this. I’ll be right back.”
Intrigued, she opened the looseleaf binder he pushed in front of her. It was full of photographs mounted beneath transparent overlays. The yellowish color on the edges of the pictures told her they’d been taken a long time ago.
Though she’d never been to Greece, the charming, centuries-old country house hidden by greenery couldn’t be located anywhere else. Many exterior and interior angles revealed the detail of beamed ceilings and stone walls with niches containing icons.
She loved the ancient stone fireplace and indoor tile trim running the length of the heavy beams that curved with age.
In the front of the off-white villa was a delightful patio and fountain inlaid with stone. The whole place was smothered with overgrown vines and trees.
By the time she’d looked at the last set of photos, which included a much younger Alex and his grandparents, she marveled to realize he was recreating that same villa here in Malibu, the kind that looked several hundred years old.
He came up behind her and put a can of cola on the table next to her. “What do you think?”
Her heart gave a strong kick. “When this is finished, you will have captured the enchantment of your grandparents’ home. I absolutely adore it. How long do you think it will be before you and the woman you love can live here?”
She’d decided to come right out with it so he wouldn’t think she was getting any romantic ideas about him.
He sat down opposite her and began drinking from his can. She watched his throat work, enjoying the sight of him relaxed and seemingly content. She studied his long, powerful legs stretched out in front of him. His fingers were long and lean, too. Everything about him was beautiful. Too beautiful.
After he put his empty can on the table, she felt his penetrating gaze. “We won’t be living here.”
His comment set her straight with a vengeance. “I don’t understand.”
“This is going to be a Greek restaurant.”
“Restaurant?”
“That’s right. I’ll do the cooking. She’ll help me run the place.”
“You cook?”
“I do.” He pulled the looseleaf binder toward him and pointed to one of the pictures. “You see that patio with all the tables?”
“Yes?”
“My grandparents enlarged their house and ran a taverna there for many years.”
“You never told me that before.”
“I thought I did. I learned to cook in my grandmother’s kitchen.”
“Well, I remember you saying something about that, but I had no idea you meant she turned it into a business.”
He nodded. “She taught me how to make everything according to her exact specifications. It was a sad day when she passed away. My grandfather stopped wanting to live. He died within the year.”
She lowered her head for a moment. “How hard that must have been for you.”
“You would know,” he murmured. “The place was so full of memories, and so empty, I couldn’t stay there alone. So I put it in the hands of a Realtor to rent, and I left for New York on a worker’s visa.”
“I can relate to wanting to leave.” No wonder Alex was being so solicitous of her today. His ties to his grandparents were as great as hers to Lilian. She loved him that much more for being sensitive to her needs.
No man she’d ever met could measure up to Alex. Reese was shattered by his admission that he was deeply in love with someone else.
“There are plenty of Greek restaurants in New York in need of a good cook,” he continued to explain, unaware of her agony. “I had all the work I wanted while I continued to study English and begin the arduous process of becoming a citizen.”
How come he’d waited all these months before confiding this kind of personal information to her? When she thought of the many talks they’d had…
“What brought you to Los Angeles?” Even though she knew there was this important woman in his life, Reese couldn’t prevent herself from asking more questions. As long as he was giving her the opportunity, she had this incurable need to learn everything and anything about him.
CHAPTER SIX
B ENEATH his dark brows, Alex’s black gaze trapped Reese’s. “You fell into acting because of a fluke. So did I.”
“How did it happen?”
&nb
sp; “I worked under a famous Greek chef at the Athena Plaza in downtown Manhattan. Someone suggested he do a pilot for a television show. He needed an assistant and asked me to help. It meant more money for me, which I badly needed to support myself.”
“That’s how you got on TV? A cooking show? Fabio Andretti?” She couldn’t believe it.
His smile reached his eyes. “Not Fabio. The upshot is, the pilot did well, but the weekly series didn’t. My boss didn’t have the personality of a Chef Emeril, who’s been a great success on American television.”
“I love his show!”
“You and everyone else who changed channels to watch him instead of my boss. But it was my lucky day because a Hollywood soap producer happened to catch a few of the episodes, and he contacted someone at the network doing our show. I was asked to fly out to LA to read for a part.”
“I’d call that destiny,” she whispered in a shaky voice.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I do now. You’re absolutely right. It was destiny.”
She had an idea he wasn’t talking about his career alone. “Then this woman you love isn’t from Greece?”
“Who told you she was?”
“No one. But you know how people gossip. I heard you were committed to someone, so I just assumed as much.”
He leveled his all-encompassing gaze on her. “If that were the case, I would never have left Greece in the first place. As it was, I needed a total change of scene. New York seemed the right destination for me.
“When the offer came, I jumped at the chance to see another part of the country and make a decent salary. But the producer of the network in New York warned me not to do anything until I’d found myself the right agent.”
“Nobody in the performing arts should make a move without one.”
Alex nodded. “He gave me a name. That favor turned out to be critical for me. This agent wouldn’t let me sign any contracts until I’d auditioned for as many soaps as I could. He wanted me to hold out for the top salary.
“Naturally the money was important, but I also realized that if I was asked to play a part I couldn’t abide, then it wouldn’t have mattered how much I was offered.”
Here Comes The Bride Page 4
