“What’s complicated?” he asked. “You’ve lost sight of the main priority. If we’re tripping you up and affecting the picture, you cut the cord. You know how it goes. It’s business 101.”
Her blue eyes met his. “That’s if it was business. I can’t cut the cord, Micheil. It’s more than business, now. And you know it.”
Garrett could hear his own heartbeat, matching Kate’s. That made it very easy for him to fill the silence. “I’ve loved only one woman in my life, before and she was human. I made a pendant for her just like the one I made for you.”
“What happened to her pendant?” Kate asked, her voice almost a whisper. Her eyes were very large and her heartbeat had accelerated.
“It was destroyed in the same fire she died in. Mary was burned at the stake as a witch, in Bristol, May 1654, for daring to speak of the things she knew to be the truth.”
“Vampires,” Kate whispered, her face white.
Garrett nodded. “She was in love and she confided in her mother and sister. Her sister told their priest. Mary died before sunset on the second day after her arrest, after a short trial. Roman and I were in London. Neither of us could ride back fast enough, although we killed two horses under us and I took Roman’s mount for the last five miles. The smell…” He couldn’t go on.
Kate’s arms wrapped around him and held tight and it was then he realized that he had closed his eyes. He had been reliving the awful last mile into Bristol, when the tang of low tide salt had mixed with the gut churning smell of burnt human flesh in the evening air, telling him that he was too late to save Mary from one of the most horrendous deaths it was possible to put a human through. He had not been there for her. And it was his fault this had happened to her.
“Micheil, let it go,” Kate whispered.
He shuddered and clung to her.
“You’re not alone, anymore,” she added.
No, he wasn’t. In the last year he had stumbled into a circle of friends that had profoundly influenced his life, to the point where he now stood with his arms about a human woman and could speak aloud the terrible truth about that day in May.
Peace settled over him.
He loosened his arms enough to draw his head back to look at her. He touched his lips to hers. “I would give anything to be able to say the words that go with the pendant, Kate. But I can’t. It’s complicated, like you say. Roman—”
Her breath caught.
Garrett shook his head. “I honestly don’t know how to resolve this. But I know that hurting someone to get what I want isn’t a solution, either.”
The door to the trailer flung open, giving them no chance to separate. Winter leapt inside, skipping both steps. She saw Kate and merely looked relieved. “Good,” she said flatly. She grabbed Kate’s wrist and shoved her into the armchair and pushed her iPad into her hand and turned it on. She grabbed Garrett’s wrist and pulled him over to the desk and turned on the desktop CPU under the desk. “You’ll have to wait until I pull up the URL,” she said. “Or I can give you the highlights verbally.”
“Oh, fuck,” Kate sighed.
Garrett raised his brow. “Verbal headlines. I’ll scan the pad after Kate is done.”
“The paparazzi were outside Kate’s place last night. Long, long telephoto lens. They got all three of you in the shot. You’ve got no shirt, Kate is kissing you goodbye, and Roman is watching it all from the front door and it looks like he’s part of it. There are other photos, from the desert shoot. You and Roman talking together. Very intimate looking stuff. And Roman and Kate in Kate’s trailer. And Kate and you on the set. They’re the worst. They’re very definitely sexual.” Winter licked her lips. “You know what they’re saying?”
“Ménage,” Kate said, her voice stiff.
“Who are saying?” Garrett demanded. “Can we buy them off?”
“Not every major outlet,” Kate replied. “And they’re all saying it.” She handed the pad to Garrett and got to her feet. “Time to talk to Mary-Ann’s people. See what can be done.” She sighed, digging her cellphone out of her pocket. “Another day of filming off to a late start.” She spun to face Garrett. “Roman could walk right into a wall of media out there if he arrives late.”
Garrett held up his hand. “I’ll warn him.”
“Thanks.” She strode out of the trailer, jumped down the steps much the same way that Winter had skipped up them and was gone. The door slowly closed behind her.
“Roman?” Winter queried, with a raised brow.
Garrett grimaced. “Well, you didn’t tell her, then.”
Winter looked genuinely shocked. “Someone told her? Kate confronted you?”
“You could describe it that way.” Garrett hefted the iPad. “I’m wondering if these are connected.”
Winter shook her head. “Whoever told her was trying to drive a wedge between you. The media thing is feeding off you being together. The last thing the media want is you to separate.”
Garrett nodded. “Good analysis. That narrows the list down to the handful of people who knew we were involved…before this morning, anyway.” He turned on the iPad. “How bad is it?”
Winter grimaced. “Depends.”
“On what?”
“The truth and if you don’t mind it being shouted around the globe.” She turned away. “I’ll let you read it in private.”
“No, stay.” He sank down onto the sofa. “You’d better whistle up everyone else. Nial will have read my email by now and Patrick will be in make-up, so Nial will be here as soon as Patrick settles in his chair.”
He started reading. Winter had bookmarked and left open a dozen tabbed and starred items from different news sites. They all started with the same basic set of photos taken last night at Kate’s house. The guy who had taken the set must have spent the night selling it to the newswire for a small fortune, for everyone had bought it. Everyone had a slightly different spin on the same general theory –– Kathrine Lindenstream was openly involved with two men at the same time, apparently with their cooperation and collusion.
Depending on the supporting file photos the publication had to hand and the degree of sensationalism the publication was comfortable with, they took the theory a step further. Were Adrian Xerus and Calum Garrett closing the loop on the ménage? Were they also intimate with each other? Several had grainy night exposure photos of Roman and him standing and talking on the dessert location. True, they were standing closer together than usual and their expressions were tense and could be described as emotional. But they could hardly be called intimate.
Winter had already braced him for the photos of him and Kate, so it wasn’t the shock it might have been. Someone had taken photos of them having sex the first time on the set that night. Probably, they had more graphic photos they couldn’t publish, but the ones that had been released were explicit enough. Kate in just her bra and jeans. Garrett with his shirt and jeans open and Kate’s hands inside his jeans. There was no mistaking what they were doing, or the powerful lust in their expressions.
He sighed and flipped back to the photos of Kate and Roman and studied them – not the voyeur shots through the trailer windows, but the more public ones of Kate and Roman together, Roman’s arm was draped casually over her shoulder and while it had been a candid shot, he had looked surprisingly happy.
Happiness was a factor that had been long missing from Roman’s life.
Garrett tossed the iPad onto the seat beside him, guilt churning in his gut.
Winter picked it up. “Sorry,” she said. “The media can be bastards with your private life.”
He shook his head. “I got used to being dissected by the media a long time ago.”
“But Roman isn’t.”
Garrett shook his head in agreement. Fear had taken his voice.
Winter flipped through the tabs quickly, scanning them. “Roman is particularly sensitive about revealing himself to humans. Being exposed like this may test him in ways the average human doesn’t have to co
nsider.” She looked up at Garrett. “You’re afraid he’ll hate you for this.”
Garrett pulled out his cellphone. “Let’s find out.” His voice was hoarse.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kate leaned across the boardroom table. “Excuse me. I’m just a producer/director of multi-million dollar budget movies that gross billions of dollars world-wide each year.”
Every head along each side of the table turned to look at her. They were some of the most beautiful people in Los Angeles. Publicity people were all stunning to look at. Tanned, smiling and immaculately groomed.
The boardroom framed them perfectly. The table was polished steel and mirrors, reflecting their beauty back at them. The walls were glass and the carpet was light grey. The windows ran from floor to ceiling and across the entire length of the elongated boardroom, giving a staggering view of the downtown L.A. area. Kate could even see a thin blue line of Pacific ocean from here, too.
It was impressive and it should by god be impressive, because she was paying these people a staggering amount per hour to solve her problems. They had better pay attention to her when she spoke.
She tapped the immaculate table top. “I don’t speak boardroom,” she lied. “So lemme just back-up for a moment and re-interpret for myself and anyone else who didn’t catch that ball as it zipped on by just then. I’m paying you guys over a thousand dollars an hour, collectively, to come up with a way to deal with this current PR mess I am facing thanks to the paparazzi parked outside my house, my studio and as far as I know, my personal entry to hell, just to get shots of my so called sinful sex life, instead of the movie I’m making…”
Mary-Ann, who was the company’s personal representative on Kate’s set, cleared her throat and re-crossed her legs. She had chosen a seat a politically neutral halfway between Kate and the company’s directors at the other end.
“Your best call on what to do about it – if I didn’t miss that ball, because it was going pretty fast between all you PR pretties down there – your very best idea…” Kate held her temples with her fingers. “Your best call is to do nothing?”
One of the directors stood up. “Kate. May I call you Kate?” The woman was very short and somewhat overweight. In fact, Kate would have a hard time calling her pretty at all, although she had lovely eyes. A soft grey, and they had laugh lines at the corners. The woman walked up the length of the table.
“Sure. Everyone calls me Kate,” Kate told her.
The woman pulled out the chair next to Kate and sat in it. “You probably missed my name the first go round. I’m Suzette.”
“You’re the director of…?”
“Issues Management.” Suzette smiled and her eyes crinkled with good cheer. Her whole face lit up. “I specialize in pulling people like you out of the sort of crap you just landed in.”
Kate pursed her lips. “But you’re suggesting doing nothing,” she said flatly.
Suzette looked down along the table. “Could we clear the room, please? Mary-Ann, stay. Everyone else, go find something useful to do. Thank you for your input, everyone. Julie, shut the door, thank you.”
Everyone got up, and filed out of the room. Mary-Ann moved around to the chair on Kate’s right, on the other side of the table from Suzette, her back to the window.
The glass door shut with a soft muffling sound. The room was empty and suddenly much bigger.
Suzette smiled at Kate again. “Doing nothing is a bad descriptor. I’ll be kicking the ass of the analyst who used it in front of you. Although the general principal is a sound one.” She put her hands flat on the table. “I happen to know you like plain speaking, Kate. So do I. Let me speak plainly.”
Kate sat back. “Fire away.”
“Fact is, you’re sleeping with two men at the same time. Maybe not in the same bed at the same minute, but you’re conducting concurrent affairs and the press have the pictures to prove it. There is no amount of covering up that will cover that up and no publicity firm in the world would attempt it if they’ve got the sense of a cat.”
Kate cleared her throat. “Go on. I do hope you’ve got more than that.”
Suzette smiled. “They’re both really hot men.”
Mary-Ann laughed, then covered her mouth with her hand.
Kate tilted her head, to look at Suzette with a raised brow.
“I mean it, Kate. I don’t know much about Adrian Xerus, but he heats up any page his image is on. That brooding look of his is just deadly. Add in the ink, the earring, and those muscles and every woman in the world already hates your guts.”
Kate glanced at Mary-Ann. She was grinning.
“Stop that,” Kate said.
“I’m sorry, but she’s right,” Mary-Ann said. She looked at Suzette. “And you should see him in the flesh. He’s tall and that brooding look is for real. He has a way of tilting his chin down and looking from under his brow. Makes you all gooey.”
Suzette raised her brow in silent query at Mary-Anne.
Mary-Anne shut up.
“Then there’s Calum Garrett. He’s a different class of sexy altogether. He’s world class money, wildly successful, has his own empire sexy. Plus he’s been utterly unavailable for years – the odd date, the occasional supermodel, nothing close to a passionate affair in over ten years.” Suzette spread her hands across the table again. “Honestly, how on earth did you trip them both up? Can you give me notes? These are two seriously charged men, Kate. And you have them both.”
Kate bit her lip. She wasn’t sure she had either of them. “You’re suggesting I let the press think we’re having a ménage?”
“No, I’m suggesting you let the media have its day. You are sleeping with them both…and that’s not a bad thing. It’s not bad publicity, not for you or the movie. They’re both great guys and we can spin it that way. We’ll find every positive thing about them, and use it.”
“They both protected her when her ex turned up, remember,” Mary-Ann said.
Suzette’s eyes widened. “Yes, that’s perfect. That’s the sort of material we can use to steer this away from the ménage nonsense they’re speculating about.” Suzette threaded her fingers together. “Unless…it is a ménage?”
Kate could feel her entire face flush. It was beyond her control. Even her neck heated. “No,” she said. “No ménage.”
Suzette was watching her carefully. “I’m not judging, Kate. If they’re both in your bed together, let me know now and we can manage that message, too. God knows, with your looks and with men like that, it will be a cakewalk selling it.”
Kate managed to meet Suzette’s eyes. “You’re saying it would be good publicity?” Horror curled through her.
Suzette smiled gently. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity. I’m sure you’ve learned that by now. This is sexy and sex sells. Your men are hot, you’re gorgeous and this is a story with sex and romance in it, times three. All we have to do is hook it to your movie and your movie will open with a blaze of sensational publicity – and you won’t have to pay for most of it.”
Kate rubbed her temples. “This is my life,” she muttered.
Suzette shrugged. “You know after ten years in this business that you don’t have a private life. It’s all up for grabs. You might have to explain it to Garrett and Adrian, though.” She pulled a card out of her pocket and placed it on the mirrored surface in front of Kate. “You don’t have to say it out loud or in front of Mary-Ann. Send me an email. Tell me what story we’re giving the media. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
* * * * *
Garrett slid his fingers along the shallow indentation of her spine, following the great curve. He loved this shape on women and Kate’s was particularly sexy, especially the sharp slope over her hips.
She shivered as he traced, but didn’t protest. They were both replete and this was too mellow a moment, snatched unexpectedly out of the day. It was lunchtime and as the assistant director had called the break, Kate’s eyes had caught Garrett’s. He had been
almost able to read her thoughts. He had slid through the crowds, heading back around the set and through the discarded props back to his trailer, which was parked at the far end of the studio.
Kate had beat him there.
Their first orgasm had been mutual, up against the front room wall, with just enough clothes removed to be able to access the vital parts. Now he didn’t have to worry about hiding his strength, it had been easy to pin her in place and take her as hard as he needed to. Kate had come inside a minute.
Then he pulled all her clothes off, then his and taken her into the bedroom. This second coupling had been nearly as frantic, but there had been more control. More finesse.
As his climax neared, she cupped his face. “Bite me,” she whispered. “I know you want to. You’re nuzzling my neck.”
A thrill tore through him, along with fear.
“Do it,” she urged.
His teeth had already descended, roused by the idea. He couldn’t hold back. Both the urge to bite and his climax rushed at him. He turned her face, baring her nape and sank his teeth into the soft, delicious flesh. His climax hit and pleasure exploded through his body.
Kate screamed, her body arching under him. The aphrodisiac would hit her like the world’s most potent cocktail. Her muscles clenched around him, squeezing and convulsing as she climaxed. He felt the series of ripples and contractions that spoke of multiple climaxes as she stayed locked in that hard arch, trembling, her breath stilled.
Finally, she relaxed and fell back on the bed and her body loosened around him. “Oh my god,” she said weakly. “No wonder Mary wanted to boast about you.”
Garrett laughed. It felt good.
And now they were just relaxing. Kate said she wasn’t hungry. Not yet, anyway. For both of them, they suddenly found they had time to lay there and do nothing. Just for a few minutes. It was rare and it was glorious.
Blood Stone Page 34
