Sarah Mayberry – Hot for Him (страница 2)
“Would you promise to tend my wounds after they tear me to shreds?” he asked.
“I’ve got a large container of salt out the back, ready and waiting,” she said.
He laughed, a full-throated sound that drew the eyes of their interested audience.
Suddenly realizing how it must look, the two of them whispering with each other and grinning like schoolkids, she concentrated on her notes. The problem was, she wanted to wipe the smug smile off his face so badly, she leaped at any opportunity to lock horns with him.
But then she’d always been stubborn. From a young age she’d learned to look out for herself, and it had been good preparation for her career. She’d had to fight many prejudices in her battle to be taken seriously in the world of network television. Now, fighting was so much a part of her life it was second nature.
“Well, folks, that’s all we’ve got time for today. Let’s join together in thanking our special guests from the industry for their time and expertise in answering our questions today,” their chairperson, Bonnie Randall, said.
Claudia acknowledged the round of polite applause with a small smile. The truth was, of the five-hundred-or-so hopefuls crowded into this session, only a handful would achieve their dream to become part of the entertainment industry. It made her sad to see all the expectant faces sometimes.
Pushing back her chair, she stood for the first time in two hours and winced at how tight her back and butt were. She really had to think about adding some stretching to her work-out routine—Pilates or yoga or something. She was turning into an old lady with all the hours she was clocking behind her desk.
“This way,” Leandro said from behind her, and she felt a large hand land on her back as he steered her toward the closest exit.
Instinctively she dug her heels in, not liking how small she felt standing next to him. On a good day she was the shortest person in the room at five foot one, but she felt positively childlike next to Leandro’s towering height.
“I can find the door on my own,” she said coolly.
His mouth quirked. “Just trying to be a gentleman,” he said.
“
“A pirate? Why am I not getting Johnny Depp vibes when you say that?” he said wryly.
“You know why.”
He cocked his head to one side as he looked down at her. “You’re not still upset about the wedding episode?” he asked incredulously, as though she’d brought up a spat they’d had on the playground in elementary school.
“Yeah, I am. And I will continue to be as long as originality and reward for effort remain important to me,” she said stiffly.
He shook his head, clearly amused. She hated that she amused him. It made her want to kick him in the shin, or any other part of his body she had ready access to.
“Claudia, when are you going to let it rest?” he asked mockingly. His hand landed in the middle of her back again and she found herself being steered toward the exit once more.
She was so busy being irritated by his condescending attitude that she went without protest.
“It’s really not the conspiracy that you’re imagining, you know. I heard through a reliable source—who came to me, by the way, and not the other way around—that my biggest rival was running a feature-length special. What would you have done if the same opportunity fell into your lap?”
“Let me think for a moment… Come up with my own bright idea? Decide to be original?” she suggested.
“Sure you would have. And then you would have decided to fight fire with fire. You’re a beat ’em at their own game kind of woman. You wouldn’t be where you are today if you weren’t,” Leandro said.
They were out in the foyer of the Universal Hilton by now, and somehow they’d managed to find a quiet, secluded corner to stand in. Claudia was oblivious to everyone and everything else as she glared at the man looming over her.
“Don’t put me in the same grubby little basket as you, bucko,” she said, jabbing a finger at his chest. He was standing so close she actually hit him, her finger driving home into firm, resilient muscle.
To her consternation, he threw back his head and laughed.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she warned him through gritted teeth.
“Then stop being so cute,” he said. “Did you know that your nostrils flare when you get really angry?”
It was too much. It had been a long day, and an even longer convention, and Leandro Mandalor had been a dark, disturbing presence throughout the whole damned thing. Giving in to base impulse, she hauled back her foot and kicked him, hard, in the shin.
“Yow!” he howled, skipping backward and bending to clutch at his calf.
“
The sound of his laughter followed her across the marbled foyer.
She ground her teeth together and called him four-letter words all the way up to her floor. He thought she was a joke. A Kewpie doll he could poke a stick at and get some laughs out of. Her stride morphing into a stalk, she made her way to her hotel suite and swiped her key card.
Sadie and Grace looked up from where they were lounging in the living room when she entered.
“Uh-oh. Mandalor alert,” Sadie said as she saw Claudia’s face.
“The man is an arrogant ass. A patronizing pig. A…a…” Claudia spluttered, running out of appropriately vitriolic insults.
“Slippery snake? Jittery jerk? How about leprotic loser?” Grace suggested, poker-faced.
“It’s not funny,” Claudia wailed, throwing herself into an armchair and toeing her high heels off with a relieved sigh.
Sadie grimaced apologetically. “It is kind of funny. Sorry, sweetie,” she said. “Every day you’ve left the convention fuming at him. Even you have to admit that it’s a teensy, weensy bit amusing.”
Jumping to her feet again, Claudia crossed to the minibar and grabbed herself a bottle of mineral water.
“Have I been that bad?” she asked as she cracked the seal on the bottle.
Grace and Sadie made eye contact with each other, then nodded in unison.
“Yup.”
Taking a slug of mineral water, Claudia pushed her shoulder-length straight black hair away from her face.
“He reminds me of my brothers,” she admitted. “It’s not just that he’s Greek, either. Although that doesn’t help. There’s this whole macho man thing that Greek guys have—like they’re God’s gift to women. My brother Cosmo walks into a room and absolutely believes that all the women there want to have sex with him. Leandro is exactly the same.”
“Yeah, except that Leandro is probably not that far from the truth, whereas your brother is definitely on the deluded side,” Grace said wryly.
Claudia pulled a face and made a gagging noise. Sadie laughed.
“Come on, Claud, are you telling me you don’t find Leandro attractive?” Sadie asked.
“He’s a giant. And he’s got that big nose and those girly lips,” Claudia said, shaking her head dismissively.
Grace rolled her eyes. “You mean that sexy, masculine Greek nose and those lips that look like they could win Olympic gold in all the important oral events?”
“Sorry, can’t see it,” Claudia said firmly. It was true, too, she assured herself. She’d sat next to him for two hours today and felt nothing but irritation at being hemmed in and imposed upon. “He does absolutely nothing for me.”
“So, what did he say this time?” Sadie asked. She leaned forward, obviously eager for the latest installment in the Leandro Mandalor saga.
Claudia briskly filled in her two best friends and colleagues, feeling warmed when they gasped with outrage at the appropriate points and hooted their approval when Claudia reported her zingers.
“You’re definitely ahead on points,” Grace announced when Claudia had summed up the shin-kicking incident.
“Definitely. He’d have to do something really audacious to beat physical assault,” Sadie said.
Claudia winced. “Put like that, it sounds kind of…childish,” she admitted.
“Never say die, Claud,” Grace said. “And never, ever apologize.”
“Hmm. That’s so interesting, Gracie, because I swear when I picked you up from your place the other day, I heard you say sorry to Mac for using all the hot water in the shower…” Sadie said teasingly.
“Strategy. Mac thinks he’s got me where he wants me, but it’s
Claudia didn’t bother calling her friend on her faux feminist stance. Grace and Mac had long since ironed out the problems in their relationship and had been living with each other for nearly three months now. As for Mrs. Sadie Anderson…the content look behind her eyes was testament to how happy she was with Dylan.
“God, we’d better win tonight,” Claudia said. “If he walks away with that award, I am seriously going to need sedating for a few days.”
“We’ll win,” Grace said confidently.