All in the Game (4 page)

Ty grinned broadly. Shannen lifted her chin and turned away.

Konrad joined the group after his long, slow turn in the boat race. He looked downright cheerful. “So, tonight we vote out Jed. Everybody cool with that?”

“If only!” Shannen gingerly moved her aching arms and flexed her fingers again. “But Jed'll have the fastest time and win immunity so we
can't
vote against him. We five will have to vote out one of us. Jed is going to be the winner in this game, I think that's screamingly obvious.”

“Speaking of screaming.” Konrad cocked his head. “Do I hear some?”

“I don't hear anything.” Lauren looked around. “Even those screeching monkeys are quiet for a change.”

Seconds after she'd uttered that declaration, a scream pierced the tranquil air. All heads turned in the direction of the ocean.

Jed was standing in the boat, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“That was definitely a scream,” Shannen said dryly, turning toward Konrad. “A primal one. Is there a scorpion in the boat with Jed or something?”

“It looks like Jed is trying to throw handfuls of water out of the boat.” Cortnee looked confused. “Why isn't he rowing?”

“Too bad he doesn't have a bucket,” said Konrad. “Lots easier to bail with a bucket than with your hands.” He surprised everybody by roaring with laughter.

“The boat's sinking!” exclaimed Rico. “Look, it really is! In another couple minutes, Jed is going to be in the ocean.”

“Oh, poor Jed!” cried Lauren.

“Yeah, poor poor Jed.” Konrad laughed harder. “Good thing Mister Wilderness Guide is such a strong swimmer, huh?”

“Good thing,” agreed Shannen. “Because the rowboat is history. All that's left is an oar. Well, Konrad did say it was a leaky old tub.” She shot a quizzical glance at him.

They all stared out at the lone floating oar and at Jed, two far-off blurs in the sea.

“Everybody!” Cortnee cried. “I just thought of something. Since the rowboat sank, Jed won't be able to complete the contest. He won't get immunity. One of us will have the fastest time and one of us will win immunity!”

“It won't be me,” predicted Konrad. “I was really slow out there.”

“We noticed.” Shannen said dryly. “There were times when we couldn't see you at all, you were slouched down so far in the boat. You have an interesting way of rowing, Konrad. And you're good at predictions, too, it seems,” she added, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

“Thank you, ma'am.” Konrad bowed from the waist.

For a few more minutes they all watched Jed swimming toward the crew's boat as the waves broke over him. There wasn't a trace of the sunken rowboat.

Later, a soaking-wet Jed was returned to shore in the dinghy from the crew boat. He stomped into camp with accusations of sabotage and demanded another chance in another rowboat.

As the cameras continued to roll, he threatened to sue the show and the network and everybody on the island, especially Konrad, if he ultimately won the game.

Bobby Dixon was unmoved. “Sorry, Jed. The rules of the game plainly state that do-overs are never allowed.
There's no proof of any wrongdoing, and the cameras were on the rowboat at all times.”

“On the rowboat, but not on Konrad!” argued Jed. “He got himself out of sight and did something to make it sink, I know he did. He cheated!”

“Not winning is obviously difficult for you, Jed, but you must accept it and move on like everybody else,” Bobby said unctuously. “In today's contest, the fastest time was Rico's, and he wins the immunity statue.”

Bobby handed Rico the foot-high painted wooden totem pole that looked as if it had been purchased at a roadside souvenir shop.

“This is the first time in the game that anybody but Jed has won that thing,” said Shannen. “No one can vote against Rico tonight. Gee, I wonder who everybody will vote off the island?”

T
he full moon had waned only slightly, so the bright path through the tangle of vines and low-hanging branches was as easy to follow as it had been last night. Shannen slowly, carefully made her way, as familiar with it by night as by day.

She had thoroughly explored this island during the long daylight hours, looking for food and anything else that might be useful to their group. She'd easily slipped off alone, when the cameras were fixed on groups of the others.

With Lauren unwittingly serving as a decoy, Shannen's absences went unnoticed. Since the twins weren't always side by side, as long as one of them was in view, who was to say which sister it was? That sort of fungibility sometimes bugged Shannen, but not on this island, not in this game.

Especially since her solo wanderings had provided her with quite a bit of useful information, some of which she didn't share with anybody. Like the undiscovered shortcut
to the crew's camp on the other side of the island and the secluded palm grove where she was now headed.

Shannen's heart began to thud heavily.

She'd slipped away from camp tonight, wondering if Cortnee had heard her leave. But there was nothing questionable about someone getting up and heading off “to use the facilities,” Shannen reminded herself.

Cortnee hadn't been suspicious last night; plus, she wouldn't know whether it was Lauren or Shannen who'd left on either night.

Certainly the last thing anybody would suspect was that practical, logical, no-nonsense Shannen Cullen was sneaking off to meet the chief cameraman. Not even Lauren, the person who knew her best in the world, would ever fathom that.

But then, there were some things that not even Lauren knew about her twin.

Nine years ago, in the throes of rebellion and intense first love—she'd often wondered how much one had fueled the other—Shannen had stopped sharing every single thought and feeling with Lauren. Her wild passion for Tynan Howe had been the biggest secret she'd ever kept. Deliberately, she hadn't even mentioned his name to her twin.

And though she'd gloried in her secret love, when it was over—after
he'd
ended it—the price she had paid was enduring her heartbreak alone. For the first time in her young life, Shannen hadn't had loyal Lauren to share her pain, thereby halfing it. Another grudge to hold against Tynan Howe, and she'd held fast to it.

Yet now, though supposedly older and wiser, here she was repeating her mistakes—the rebellion against the rules, the secrecy from her sister—and with the same man!

What was happening to that practical, logical and no-nonsense character she'd spent years honing? Why was she
sneaking out at midnight, like the recalcitrant teenager she'd once been, to meet Tynan Howe?
Again!

Nine years ago he had insisted he was too old for her. In her calmer moments back then—and since—she might even have seen his point and agreed. She might've dreamed of a day when she was out of high school, out of her teens, and had reached whatever age Ty deemed “old enough.”

But her age wasn't the sole reason cited by Tynan as to why they couldn't be together. It was those other, far more hurtful reasons he had supplied—the reasons she came to believe were his true reasons—that still resonated within her.

Well, she was of legal age now, and thanks to the multiple Howe scandals, Tynan was not quite the “catch” he once had been. Not that she wanted to catch him, Shannen quickly assured herself.

She didn't for many reasons—the current, main one being this game they were playing, on opposite sides of the camera, making Tynan Howe off-limits to her.

It was déjà-vu all over again, as the saying went.

If their clandestine meetings were discovered, she would undoubtedly be kicked out of the game, in full camera view, of course. Clark Garrett and Slick Bobby would want to milk every dramatic possibility.

Lauren would feel so betrayed by her twin's secrecy, both past and present, and the cameras would record her reaction to it all. Shannen flinched at the thought of wounding her sister.

Furthermore, if she were eliminated now, how long would Lauren last without her in the game? From the time they were little, Shannen had felt compelled to protect Lauren, to make sure no one took advantage of her more naive twin.

Would Konrad, Rico and Cortnee gang up on Lauren if her more formidable sister were gone? Being legitimately
voted off the island was one thing, but foolishly getting herself kicked out of the game was unacceptable.

Unexpectedly she and Lauren had come this far. Why throw away a possible chance to win?

Though it would be wonderful to win the top prize, just making the final four would be okay, too, Shannen told herself. Being one of the final four meant a cash prize, with each runner-up—the third, the second and, finally, the first—making more in turn.

Were she and Lauren
both
to make the final four, the payoff would be considerable. That was not something to be lightly dismissed.

The Cullen twins hadn't turned over their lives to a prime-time game show for the hell of it. They needed the money—the family was counting on them.

As for the risk Tynan was taking meeting her…

Well, keeping his job because he needed his salary wouldn't be a concern for
him.
Whatever their transgressions, the Howes must still be rich. After all, during the entire time the Howe family had been under the full glare of the media spotlight, one story that had never appeared was their plunge into poverty.

Ty probably wouldn't even lose his job. Wasn't it a universal truth that men rarely paid the same price for breaking the rules that women did? And, of course, Tynan was a Howe, whose family knew a thing or two thousand about rule breaking.

Victorious concerns aside, Tynan Howe was emotionally dangerous to her. Any man who could effortlessly turn back the clock nine years and transform her into her impetuous young-girl self was a must to avoid.

Unfortunately, Shannen couldn't seem to stay focused on all the practical, logical no-nonsense reasons why she should keep away from him. She kept getting distracted by other thoughts.

Like his name. He wasn't even using the name Howe.
She'd realized that the first day they had all arrived on the island. There were no introductions to the crew, but when she'd seen Ty among them—after getting over the initial stunning shock—she had paid close attention. And heard him called Ty Hale.

Hale, not Howe. Scrapping Howe for Hale didn't surprise her nearly as much as the fact that he was working as a television cameraman. After all, the Howe name was no longer a proud symbol of wealth, achievement and privilege. The family had dragged it through so much mud, it had become a stigma.

But Tynan had gone to law school. He'd been a senior law student at West Falls University Law School when they'd met. She knew he'd taken and passed the state bar exam. The names of graduates passing the various state professional examinations always were proudly published in the university newspaper.

Since when did a lawyer work as a cameramen on a network game show? Tynan Hale, attorney at law, made more sense than Tynan Hale, working-stiff cameraman, didn't it?

She wanted to know; she wondered every time she looked at him behind that camera. Which was nearly sixteen hours a day. The omnipresence of the camera crew was annoying enough, but having Ty always there had reawakened feelings she thought—she'd hoped!—had died.

Not so. Never had she been so aware of anyone in her life—except during their last go-round nine long years ago.

So why didn't you ask him all those pertinent questions last night, Shannen? she silently chided herself. Instead, she'd ended up in his arms within minutes, after making that pathetically lame excuse of why she had risked meeting him.

Why
had
she risked meeting him in the first place?

No use pretending she didn't know the answer to that
one. Seeing him every day, all day… Having him so near yet so totally out of reach…

The tension built and burned inside her. Unaccustomed to passivity, she couldn't stop herself from taking action.

Oh, who was she kidding? Shannen exhaled an impatient sigh, unable to talk herself into the convenient self-deception. Taking action and losing control were too very different responses, and she knew which one had prevailed last night.

Memories of last night whirled through her head, making her wince. Tynan had accused her of strategizing by using silence. Thankfully, he hadn't known she'd been struck dumb by the sight of him, by the tantalizing prospect of being alone with him. On a tropical island late at night,
both
of them legal, consenting adults.

Her imagination raced to places that made her blush.

It was definitely to her advantage that he believed she was cool enough to plot and plan and play a game. Now all she had to do was keep up the pretense.

It wouldn't be very hard to do, Shannen pep-talked herself, as she slowed her pace. She wasn't a giddy schoolgirl anymore, she was a mature woman known for her competence and self-control.

All she had to do was be herself—her
current
self. To tell Tynan Howe that this was the last time she would sneak around the island to meet him, and nothing he could say or do could change her mind.

That was all she had to do.

 

The moment Shannen spied Tynan Howe/Hale standing in the secluded grove of palm trees, the confidence-boosting tape she was playing in her head became a jumble of blather.

Fortunately, she had a moment or two to regain her composure before he sensed her presence. She knew he couldn't
hear her approaching. The wind and the sounds of the nocturnal birds and animals provided ideal cover.

That secret moment or two also provided her with time to study him, and helplessly Shannen made a thorough mental inventory.

He was tall and tanned and muscular, and his
Victorious
crew T-shirt and loose khaki shorts emphasized his build to perfection. His face was all arresting masculine features: the coffee-colored brown eyes alert with intensity and intelligence, the strong jaw and sharp blade of a nose, the mouth well shaped and sensual.

His dark-brown hair was cut short, perhaps in concession to the island heat? She remembered he'd worn it longer nine years ago, when at twenty-five, he'd been a legal adult and she, only seventeen, was not.

Unbidden came a visceral pang of memory, that hungry yearning she'd felt back then every time she'd looked at him.

It was remarkably similar to what she was feeling right now.

Shannen was aghast. This was a mature woman known for her competence and self-control? She had to get out of here, and fast!

“Shannen,” he called to her quietly.

Too late she realized she had accidentally moved into his line of vision. Okay, let's get this over with! She took a deep breath. “Hello,
Mr. Hale.
”

Her deep breathing had the unfortunate effect of making her sound throaty and breathless. That was certainly unintended. Shannen frowned.

“Do you disapprove of my alias?” Ty walked forward to meet her, his hands in his pockets, looking relaxed and cool and calm, everything she knew she was not.

She resented his composure mightily. “You can call yourself anything you want, it doesn't matter to me.”

“I wonder who voted to oust Cortnee tonight?” Ty
stopped in front of her and attempted another conversational sally. “It seems obvious that Jed cast the vote against Konrad, but the vote against Cortnee came as a surprise.”

Diverted, Shannen nodded her agreement. “I thought the five of us would unanimously vote against Jed, but there were only four votes against him. Enough to send him away, thank heavens. Maybe either Konrad or Rico decided they'd had enough of Cortnee?”

“Or you or your sister did,” suggested Ty.

“We both voted against Jed. Bad enough he's an insufferable braggart, but hearing he's such a user totally clinched it.”

“It's a secret ballot, so who knows? Unless you and Lauren discussed your votes?”

“We didn't have to. We can't stand Jed. And what a poor loser he was, throwing that big tantrum. It was pretty funny when Konrad couldn't stop laughing, though.” Shannen smiled at the memory. “Konrad's been absolutely giddy today.”

“The Internet discussion boards will be lit up over this,” said Ty. “Jed does have a loyal following, who will be furious that he's out of the game. That vote against Cortnee will be dissected, too. She has her own fan base. And you and your sister have an even bigger one.”

“We do?”

“Absolutely. Clark Garrett said you two are even being discussed on twins.com, which is normally used for parenting tips on multiple-born kids. He's elated with the scope of the show. Watch him try to find quadruplets for
Victorious II.
”

Shannen stared at him, completely nonplussed. “I haven't thought about public reaction to the show since the first few days after we arrived here. You're…keeping up with it?”

“You can't escape it in the crew's camp. Viewer response to
Victorious
is in the air we breathe there. Clark
Garrett is obsessed with the ratings, and he and Bobby monitor the show's Internet activity like overanxious mothers.”

She twisted her hands. “It's strange how life in this game seems to be more real than real life back home right now.”

And it was downright unnerving how she had managed to fixate on him to the exclusion of real life back home! Shannen gulped.

“What is your real life like back at home, Shannen?” He sounded genuinely interested.

She didn't want him to be. “Haven't you read my
Victorious
bio? The basic facts are all there,” she said glibly.

“The basic facts are pretty minimal. You and your sister graduated from West Falls University. You're a nutritionist at West Falls Hospital, and Lauren teaches home ec at West Falls High. You both were granted leaves of absence from your jobs to do this show—which you claim you tried out for as a lark. There isn't any real personal information.”