She rolled her eyes.“You’re weird.”
“You have no idea.”
Still laughing, she took off.His eyes followed her as he drained his champagne.The blue dress suited her to perfection, hugging her generous hips and showing just the right amount of cleavage.She’d asked him how he’d chosen the actresses on his list.They were all here tonight, and as he studied them now, he marveled at his egotism.
He’d dated his share of women, but he tended to gravitate toward brunettes.So it wasn’t surprising that all the actresses who’d made his list were dark-haired.
Now he couldn’t think of any other woman but Jillian.Wheat-colored hair, breasts just right for his palms, and a mouth that tasted like paradise.She was a spitfire, blowing hot and cold.She was going to complicate his life, yet he was looking forward to every second of it.
“Why the frown?”Estelle Fitzgerald asked, entering the gazebo.He hadn’t seen his mother approach.
“Just thinking.”Lex smiled down at her.Her hazel eyes sparkled.She always enjoyed entertaining.“Looks like your party is a success.”
“It is, isn’t it?”She wrapped an arm around his.“It’s nice to hang out with the girls.Sissy, I believe, might have found her next husband tonight.”
“The girls” were four of Estelle’s sorority sisters, all of them big time movers in the film industry.They were either married or widowed, except Sissy who changed husbands with the seasons.His mother was never short on companions, but she’d never shown interest in remarrying.
“What about you, Mother?Meet anyone tonight?”
She leaned back and harrumphed.“Are you trying to marry me off, Alexander?”
“Dad’s been dead a long time, and you are still young.”
She chuckled.“Thank you for that, darling, but no.I’m too set in my ways to have some old man telling me what to do.”
“Then marry a younger one and tellhimwhat to do.”
This time she laughed.“Oh, that’s a good one.And very progressive of you.I don’t think I’m ready to follow in Sissy’s footsteps.Besides, you boys would scare him off.”She sighed.“I just want to play with my grandchildren.Grandkids fromallof my children.”
That was the subtlest she’d ever hinted at wanting to see him settle down.As usual, he didn’t rise to the bait.
Silence followed, and then she asked, “Has Jillian left?”
“No.She went to talk to her uncle.”
“Wonderful man, Chris Lander.We had a very long and interesting conversation.”
Lex frowned.He didn’t want his mother pumping people for information on Jillian.“About?”
“Stunts and the illusions of pyrotechnics.”
Right.“So you didn’t discuss Jillian?”
“Of course not,” she protested too forcefully and quickly, a sure sign she was lying.“Not from lack of trying.”
Lex liked Chris Lander more and more.
“The man gives new meaning to close-mouthed,” Estelle continued.“Barbs told me Jillian’s very talented and serious about her work, but very private.She doesn’t attend parties, even the ones the studio throws, and she only works with her uncle.So how did you two meet?How long have you known each other?”
Lex pressed a kiss on her temple.“Mother, all you need to know is that she’s in my life.”
“Is she the one?”
His mother had told him he’d know when he met the right woman.Lex recalled the meeting outside that decrepit trailer at the skydiving school like it had happened only seconds ago.He’d known the moment Jillian had looked at him that he wanted her, but her laugh...ahh.The sound of it was with him even now.
“Yes,” he said, not bothering to explain.
A longer silence followed his disclosure.
