Masquerade (15 page)

‘Or,’ Dalton says, ‘perhaps he changed the present so much that now I won’t need to build a time machine in the future.’

“They gaze at one another, and Sarah says, ‘I guess we’ll never know.’

“But as they walk out of the hospital, Dalton takes her hand, and the audience knows.” Slade held up his hands for emphasis. “The end. Everyone gets up from their seats, so moved they spill the remainder of their popcorn on the floor.”

Slade looked intently at AJ, trying to judge his reaction by the way he chewed his hash browns. Finally AJ said, “Interesting. Sounds like it might have potential.”

“Then you’ll look at the script?”

“Sure. Drop it by anytime.”

Slade smiled. “You’ll have it by the end of the day."

AJ forked another bite of hash browns into his mouth. “I’m not sure how long it will take me to get to it. Every minute we’re not on the set, Natalie either has a sightseeing or shopping trip planned.” He gestured to her. “Which is it this morning? I’ve forgotten already.”

“Shopping,” she said.

He nodded. “Of course.”

Natalie glanced over at Slade, then folded he
r hands across her lap. “It seems like a great story.” She slid one hand on AJ’s arm and turned her attention completely to him. “I’ll skip my trip to Neiman Marcus if you want to spend the morning reading Slade’s script.”

“Really?” A
J asked. “You’d give up Neiman for the
Time Machine
?”

“I’ll go swimming and work on my tan instead.”

AJ turned to Slade. “I guess the story has one fan already.” He leaned closer to Slade. “I’m ready to green-light your script on the merit of how much money it just saved me at Neiman’s alone.”

“Great,” Slade said. “I’ll give it to you as soon as we finish here.” Slade picked up his fork and
took a bite of his eggs. Finally he felt like he had an appetite.

Chapter 16

The first thing out of Bella’s mouth when she walked into Clarissa’s room was, “Are you taking me to the ocean today?” Leave it to a child to skip the small talk.

Clarissa turned her back on Elaina, who lay sprawled in front of the TV watching Sesame Street, and smiled down at Bella. While Clarissa smiled she wrestled between the pros and cons of giving in to a beach trip this morning.

Pro: No screaming right now.

Con: Screaming the next time Bella didn’t get her way the first time she asked for something.

Pro: No screaming right now.

Con: Clarissa running around the beach after Bella because Bella had never learned to obey and wouldn’t follow her instructions. Perhaps something dangerous could even happen, like losing Bella to an undercurrent—which would lead to a lot of other cons, like the heartbreaking funeral and a lifetime of therapy to deal with the guilt of Bella’s death.

Clarissa bent down to be on Bella’s eye level and kept her voice cheerfully upbeat. “I’m not comfortable taking you to the beach by
myself yet, but if you’d like, we can go put on our suits and go to the kiddy pool again.”

Bella slouched her shoulders, tilted her face up, and let out a whiny, “
Wh-y-y can-n-’t I g-o-o to the bea-ea-ch n-ow-ow?”

“I’m not sure you can mind me well enough to follow the rules, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I ca-an too-o ob-ey-ey the ru-u-u-les!”

Clarissa stared down at Bella and all at once felt overwhelmed at the task ahead of her. How could she even think she wanted a
permanent position as a nanny when she didn’t know how she would make it through the next ten minutes with her sanity intact? Still, she continued to smile. “I’ll see how well you obey at the pool, and then we’ll talk about the beach.”

Bella took a deep breath, and Clarissa braced herself for
a bloodcurdling scream. Instead, Bella glanced over at the chair she had time-out in yesterday and then let the breath out again. She frowned as she considered her options. “Can we go to the pool right now?”

“Sure.”

“And if I’m good, we’ll go to the beach?”

“Right.”

“And we can catch sharks?”

“Well, um, if the
sharks are on the sand.”

“Okay.”

Clarissa got the girls ready, and Bella reminded her, in two-minute increments, that she was being good. Which always made Elaina pipe in with, “I’s being good too, huh, Mommy?”

“Yes, you’re both being very good,” Clarissa answered. “I appreciate it.” And she did. Still
, it was a relief when both girls finally splashed into the pool, bringing the constant performance review to an end.

Then Clarissa had time to think about her own performance review.

Yesterday had gone badly. In fact, thus far her career as Bella’s nanny had—in Hollywood’s terminology—been a one-star affair. If that. She needed today to be better. She needed to prove to Slade that she actually was competent and qualified to watch Bella. And for once it would be helpful if Bella could cooperate toward that end.

Clarissa
looked out at the kiddy pool where Bella sat perched on the side of the pool, kicking her feet in the water.

Keep being good, she told her silently. Keep being good until I can figure out how to handle you.

Chapter 17

Slade stood at AJ’s hotel room door, script in hand, and knocked lightly. Natalie answered the door. She wore a white bikini top; a short, silky, floral wraparound skirt; and a pair of white, beaded sandals that looked as though they’d snap if she took more than two steps in them. “AJ’s on the phone with California,” she said in a hushed tone, “I’ll give your script to him. Just a second.”

Leaving Slade in the hall, she took the envelope from his hands and disappeared into the room. When she came back
, she had a towel draped over her shoulder and carried a straw beach bag. She slipped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

“
So where are you taking me this morning?” She put her arm through Slade’s. “The beach, the pool, or somewhere else?”

“You want me to take you somewhere?”

“I got AJ to read your script, didn’t I?” She squeezed his arm. “You don’t want me to get bored and change my mind about shopping, do you?”

Slade smiled at her warily. “All right. I’ll meet you at the pool in ten minutes. Just give me time to change.”

Her smile widened. It was probably the same smile a praying mantis used right before it devoured its mate. “I’ll be waiting,” she cooed, then turned and walked down the hallway, her skirt swaying softly as she went.

Slade
strode back toward his room but stopped at Clarissa’s instead. If she was still in her room, he could tell her to take the girls to the pool. With Bella around, climbing over him and demanding to be tossed up into the air, Natalie wouldn’t have a chance to implement whatever plans she was concocting.

He knocked on the door. No one answered.

Plan number two. Meredith could show up at the pool and fake some sort of emergency. Anything that would require his immediate attention. He hurried to her room and tried it. No one answered there, either.

Slade slapped his hand on the door one last time, then
marched to his own room. Women. How come they were never around when you needed them?

After he’d closed his door behind him, he took out his cell phone and punched in Clarissa’s number. While it rang
, he unbuttoned his shirt.

Clarissa picked up after a couple of rings. “Hello?”

Slade tossed his shirt on the dresser and balanced the phone against his shoulder while he worked on his pants. “Are you still at the hotel?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Stop doing whatever you’re doing, and go to the pool with the girls.”

“I’m already at the pool with the girls.”

“Good. Then stay there.” He dropped the phone as he put one leg of his swimsuit on. He finished with his swimsuit, then picked up the phone from the floor. “Sorry about that. Look, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He turned off the phone, tossed it onto a chair, and grabbed a towel and a bottle of suntan lotion. He had just slipped on his sandals when he heard a knock on the door. He picked up his sunglasses and went to answer the door.

Somehow he’d known Natalie wouldn’t meet him at the pool. She had come to his room to wait for him while he finished
changing.

He opened the door, and she
stood there smiling casually. “I forgot to bring suntan lotion. Do you have any?”

He tossed his bottle to her. “You’re in luck.”

She caught it without even looking at the bottle. “I hope so.”

Chapter
18

Clarissa slipped the phone back into her bag. Stay where you are? The man was absolutely cryptic. Maybe movie stars were used to ordering people around without any explanations.

She lay bac
k on the pool deck chair and watched the girls go down the boat slide. Bella went down waving her arms and squealing.
Splash
. Elaina followed. More squealing.
Splash
. Then both girls waded across the pool, up the steps, and dripped their way back to the slide. They never seemed to get tired of it.

That was fine
, though. When Slade came he’d see what a good time the girls were having. Perhaps with a little luck Clarissa might raise her rating to a three- or four-star nanny today.

“You were right. The blue suit does look the nicest on you.”

Clarissa turned and saw Landon standing behind her. He was dressed in shorts and a polo, looking irresistibly tanned and toned. The sun hit his hair so that his blonde highlights gleamed. His eyes scanned over her, taking in her every detail.

“
Landon, hello,” Clarissa said. “Are you going swimming?” A stupid question. Of course he wasn’t going swimming. He was fully dressed. Only people like, well, people like herself, went into the pool with their clothes on.

He didn’t seem to notice, or at least didn’t comment
, on the obvious. He pulled one of the pool chairs next to hers and sat down, his arms resting casually on the chair armrests. “I was passing by and noticed you sitting here. You’ve lured me to you again with your swimsuit.”

Oh. This was what she needed. Slade
would be here in a few minutes. He’d see her with Landon and think she’d ignored everything he told her last night. Slade would think she was some sort of hopeless flirt. She could feel, as she sat stiffly smiling over at Landon, her rating as a nanny fall to a dangerously low level.

“Well, it’s nice of you to drop by and say hi. I mean, I’m sure you must be busy working on your series. Swamped probably. In a rush to get somewhere
. . .”

“I’ll be busy come Monday. That’s when the work starts.”

“Oh.”

Landon
leaned back in his chair. “So what are your plans for the day?”

Clarissa watched Bella
shriek into the pool. “I’m babysitting the girls.”

“Today? On Saturday? Slade isn’t even giving you the weekend off?”

“I watch Bella whenever he needs me to.”

“Then I’ll help you watch her.”
Landon smiled over at Clarissa. “Which one is your daughter?”

“The one at the top of the slide.”

Landon glanced in that direction. “She’s beautiful. Looks just like her mother. Same long blonde hair. Same big blue eyes.” Landon turned his attention back to Clarissa, and his gaze felt heavy. She told herself she was absolutely not going to blush but wasn’t sure how well she managed to achieve that goal.

“Um, thanks,” she said. “But you don’t want to sit around and tend children all day. They get to be quite a handful. I can’t take my eyes off them for a minute.”

“I’m great with kids,” Landon said. “Bella is crazy about me.” He waved at her and yelled, “Hi, Bella!”

Bella
glanced at him, then turned away, splashing through the pool without saying anything.

“Bella!” he called to her again. “It’s me, Uncle
Landon. Aren’t you going to say hi to me?”

Without looking at him she yelled, “Hi!”

Landon leaned back in his chair. “See. She loves me.”

Clarissa heard footsteps behind her, and then a woman’s voice said, “Who loves you,
Landon?”

Clarissa
glanced over her shoulder and saw Natalie and Slade both dressed in swimming suits and carrying towels.

Landon
smiled widely at Natalie. “Simply fill in the blank.”

Natalie tossed her towel on the chair next to
Landon and undid the tie on her skirt, slowly peeling it away from her white bikini and tanned waist.

Landon
leaned farther back in his chair and let his gaze run over her. “So, what brings you to the kiddy pool, Natalie?”

“Slade and I are spending the afternoon together while
AJ goes over Slade’s screenplay. When we saw you here, Slade had to come over and check on Bella.”

Slade dropped his things on the chair next to Natalie’s. He looked tense, although Clarissa couldn’t tell whether this was from being with Natalie or
because he found her with Landon. Perhaps both.

“There’s Bella now,”
Slade said and headed into the kiddy pool.

He was only a few steps into the water when Bella noticed him.
She was halfway down the slide, tried to stand up anyway, and ended up falling face first into the water. Slade sloshed over to her as quickly as he could.

Bella popped back up out of the water, laughing. “Daddy!” she yelled and held her arms up to him. He picked her up and swung her around.

Elaina slid down the slide next and immediately splashed over to Slade too. She held up her arms to him. “Swing me too! Swing me too!”

Holding Bella in one arm, Slade scooped Elaina up, spun around, and then fell down in the water. Both girls squealed with delight and chanted, “Again! Again!”

Clarissa hadn’t even noticed she’d gripped the armrests of her chair, but she found her grip slowly relaxing. Slade had picked up Elaina and held her along with his own daughter. There was no hesitancy, no sense of rejection—no sense that Slade considered Elaina a burden. It was a bittersweet relief. She couldn’t help wondering why Alex couldn’t have been like that.

“Do you mind rubbing some lotion on my back?”
Natalie held the bottle out to Landon. “I never can seem to reach there.”

He took it with a grin. “I’m always willing to help.”

Landon poured some lotion into the palm of his hand and then rubbed it slowly across Natalie’s shoulders, caressing the curves of her neck. She lifted her hair off her shoulders, and studied Landon through lowered lashes.

Completely obvious. Completely transparent. Next they’d be sending each other meaningful gazes and making guttural noises. Clarissa turned away, rolling her eyes as she did.

Had she and Landon behaved this blatantly while dancing last night? She felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment at the thought. No wonder Slade thought she was foolish. You always looked foolish flirting with shallow people.

She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

In fact, she was back to her resolve of swearing off men completely. Men had a way of muddling your thinking and making you act in ways you regretted later.

No more men.

She glanced over at Landon, and his handsomeness seemed diminished somehow. His jawline, instead of square and masculine, seemed over-exaggerated. His eyes, so intense last night, now looked artificial, like costume jewelry.

Her gaze traveled to the pool again. Slade was so different from
Landon. Slade had substance. Character. That’s why he was avoiding Natalie, and that’s why he would never look twice at Clarissa.

She watched him as he waded backward in the kiddy pool, grinning down at the girls as they splashed after him.

He would probably never come out of the pool. He’d stay there until dinnertime to avoid Little Miss Coppertone’s advances. And if Slade ever did come back in conversational range, he’d probably tell Clarissa she could have the rest of the day off, just so Bella could be his permanent chaperone.

On the downside, she would no longer have an excuse to avoid
Landon; but on the upside, Landon was now so involved with Natalie he probably wouldn’t care. They’d spend the day oiling each other and wouldn’t even notice Clarissa’s exit.

“Clarissa, do you need lotion on your back?”
Landon turned his smile at her.

Oh. How nice.
Landon was an equal-opportunity flirter.

He wiggled his fingers. “My hands are already
lotioned, so I might as well protect you from the sun too.”

“T
hat’s okay. I put on sunscreen before I came out.”

He swung his legs off his chair and faced Clarissa, then leaned over and put his hands on her shoulders. “You can never have too much sunscreen.” His hands caressed the lotion onto her shoulders. “You need to be careful, you know.”

Careful. Yes. Over in the pool, Slade held one girl under each arm and slowly spun them through the water. He hadn’t seen his nanny getting a massage from Landon. Yet.

Clarissa glanced at Natalie, though she wasn’t sure what help she’d get from that
corner. Natalie wasn’t paying attention to Landon anymore. She had lain back in her chair, stretched one arm above her head, and closed her eyes. Her pose looked as relaxed as it did seductive.

Clarissa swallowed and tried to appear casual about
Landon’s touch. “Thanks. My shoulders are safe now.”

With a gentle motion he swept her hair off of her back. “Here, lean forward, and I’ll put some on your back.”

“I don’t think I need it,” she said.

H
e shook his head, and his smile was tinged with mocking. “I think you do. You might be starting to burn already. You look a bit pink.”

And they both knew why. Why did she have to blush when she really didn’t want to?

Landon eyed her appraisingly. “Do you feel like you’re burning?”

Only with embarrassment.
“I’m fine,” Clarissa said.

Landon
shook his head again. “Maybe you should go inside and get out of the sun.”

“I’ve only been here for a little while,” Clarissa said, “a
nd Slade still needs me to babysit him. I mean, for him.”

A smile tugged at the comers of
Landon’s mouth. He seemed to think Clarissa’s discomfort was a direct compliment to him. “Slade looks like he’s taking care of Bella just fine.”

Natalie turned her head lazily toward
Landon. “If she says Slade wants her to babysit, then don’t argue with her. You don’t want to get her fired, do you?”

“Fired?”
Landon sat back in his chair. “Slade isn’t such a slave driver, is he?”

Clarissa pulled her towel up onto her legs. “I think I’ll be fine. Really.”

Landon waved a hand in Slade’s direction. “You don’t need to worry about Slade getting angry at you. Look at him. He’s such a family man now. Completely tame and domesticated. As harmless as a puppy.”

“Spoken like a wolf,” Natalie said, only half teasing. “You’re
still too undomesticated and wild.”

Landon
wiped the excess suntan lotion onto his arms. “I’ll settle down one day. When I find the right person.”

Natalie let out a tinkling laugh and stretched out her long legs. Her toenails were so perfectly manicured her feet hardly looked real. “You’ll never settle down. You don’t believe in commitment any more than I do.”

“You don’t believe in commitment?” Clarissa asked.

“People just lie to themselves when they get married,” Natalie said. “Love only lasts as long as a man’s attention span. Or,” she added with a smile, “A woman’s attention span.” Her
gaze zeroed in on Slade then, and it was a hungry gaze.

It sent a cold chill down Clarissa’s back. Slade deserved so much better than Natalie.

“Don’t pay any attention to Natalie,” Landon said settling into his chair. “She’s bitter and jaded. I still believe in true love.”

Natalie rolled her eyes and snorted. “Marriage isn’t natural. Plants and animals live freely without rules.
Why do people need them? Rules only hamper our freedoms.”

“You want to live like
the animals?” Clarissa repeated. “Are you planning on devouring your young too?”

Landon
laughed, and Natalie made a scoffing sound low in her throat.

Clarissa
didn’t let go of her point. “You’ve obviously never watched a nature documentary if you think that’s the way to go.”

One of Natalie’s immaculately formed eyebrows rose. “I forgot. You’re one of the married ranks, aren’t you?”
For the first time she looked at, and not just past, Clarissa. Natalie tapped her long golden fingernails against the armrest of her pool chair with a calculating look. “You’re the type of person who wants to follow all of society’s rules.”

“Well, m
ost of them,” Clarissa said.

For a moment longer Natalie stared at her, dissecting her with her gaze. “Haven’t you ever longed to be free from those sorts of restrictions?”

“Not really.”

“Oh, come on, haven’t you ever known you shouldn’t do something, but you couldn’t help yourself?” Natalie’s voice turned smooth and lulling. She smiled, catlike. “The temptation, the lure of a few moments of ecstasy is too much to resist, and
so you give in, even though you know you shouldn’t?”

“Yes,” Clarissa said, “I have those moments. They’re called ‘eating chocolate.’”