Hollywood Blackmail (16 page)

“Hey, before we get there, just so you know, no matter what happens with the press, I’ll be with you. I’ll protect you.”

Lizzie smiled. “As long as we’re together, I think I can deal with anything.”

…

They rode straight up to the theater, Betty’s rumbling engine drawing the crowds that had started to drift away. TV cameras and reporters milling around the theater entrance began to turn in their direction. People were pointing, then came the shouting and the calling.

“It’s Ash!”

“Mr. Kincaid? Ash?”

“Mr. Kincaid, where have you been?”

“Nice publicity stunt, Ash!”

Ash ignored them, parked the bike, and got off. Then he held out his hand to Lizzie.

Her heart was beating so hard. So fast. Her stomach churned. She slid off the bike and luckily didn’t stumble. But then his arm was around her waist, his strong presence at her side. And all of a sudden it didn’t matter. The press, the people. The stares. The attention. None of it mattered. Because the only thing of any importance was him. As long as he was here, she could handle anything.

They began to walk up the red carpet, Ash smiling. Waving to the crowd. A reporter rushed up to them, microphone at the ready. “Mr. Kincaid!” It was stick-thin woman from the TV. “We were beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

Ash gave the woman his trademark sexy grin. “Uh, yeah. I had to stop and pick someone up.”

The woman turned and looked at Lizzie. “And do we get to know the name of the lucky lady?”

Ash opened his mouth but Lizzie put a hand on his arm and he glanced down, one eyebrow raised. She met his gaze. This was one thing she wanted to do herself. He seemed to understand because he smiled at her, a smile so full of tenderness it made her heart ache.

She took a breath then reached for the microphone. “You can call me Lizzie.”

“Nice to meet you. And can I ask what your relationship is to Mr. Kincaid?”

Ash had gone quite still. “You never answered my question,” he murmured.

She knew exactly what question he meant. Lizzie smiled at him. “My relationship to Mr. Kincaid? Actually, he’s my fiancé.”

The woman’s eyes just about popped out of her head. “Fiancé? Is this true, Mr. Kincaid?”

But Ash wasn’t looking at the woman, he was looking at her. “Yes,” he said softly. “’I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul’.”

The reporter opened her mouth for another question, no doubt to ask what that meant, but Lizzie knew. It was one of the parts of Wuthering Heights she knew by heart.

Ignoring the reporter completely, Ash turned and took Lizzie’s chin in his fingers, tilted her head back. When he kissed her, a thousand camera flashes went off, lighting up the street outside the theater.

But Lizzie didn’t even notice.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dr. Jax and my lovely girls for their handling of a stressed writer/wife/mother in the middle of deadline hell. You guys have put up with a lot. Never think I don’t appreciate all you do for me.

Also thanks to the grandparents for helping out with the kid stuff. That, too, is much appreciated.

Lastly, Google, for all your research help, I thank you.

About the Author

Jackie has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild-mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart—writing romance. She particularly likes to write emotional stories with alpha heroes who’ve just gotten the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.

She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband, the inimitable Dr. Jax, two kids, two cats, and some guppies (possibly dead guppies by the time you read this). When she’s not torturing alpha males and their stroppy heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random crap on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband.

You can find Jackie at
www.jackieashenden.com
or follow her on Twitter
@JackieAshenden
.

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