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About the Author
JULES BENNETT’s love of storytelling started when she would get in trouble as a child and would tell her parents her imaginary friend Mimi did it. Since then, her vivid imagination has taken her down a path she’d only dreamed of.
When Jules isn’t spending time with her wonderful supportive husband and two daughters, you will find her reading her favorite authors. Though she calls that time “research.” She loves to hear from readers! Contact her at [email protected], visit her website at www.julesbennett.com or send her a letter at PO Box 396, Minford, OH 45653, USA. You can also visit her fan page on Facebook or follow her on Twitter (@Jules-Bennett).
Caught
in the Spotlight
Jules Bennett
One
When a dripping-wet female yelled his name, Bronson Dane didn’t even try to stop his eyes from roaming over all of her.
With only a short white towel covering her glistening dark, Italian skin, his mother’s personal assistant of only six months certainly knew how to catch a man’s attention.
“Mr. Dane,” she repeated, clutching the towel to her chest with both hands. She’d stopped short as she’d stepped from the bath when she saw him standing at the desk in his mother’s adjoining office.
“Formalities are unnecessary when you’re only wearing water droplets and a towel. Call me Bronson.” He shoved his hands in his pants pockets, thankful he’d shed his jacket because, damn, the temperature just rose at least ten degrees. “Where is my mother and why are you showering in her private bath?”
Wide eyes, nearly as dark as her ebony hair, blinked in rapid succession. “Olivia is gone for the day. I often use the gym, and since I’m working this afternoon, she told me just to freshen up here instead of running back to my guest cottage.”
Bronson muttered a curse at his naive mother. It was bad enough Mia Spinelli lived on the Dane estate, but now she was given free rein of the house? Hadn’t his mother learned her lesson from the last “loyal” assistant? When would the woman realize she couldn’t trust everyone who looked innocent?
This was Hollywood, for pity’s sake. Lies and manipulation were as common as breast implants and collagen injections.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dane. I had no idea anyone would be coming by,” Mia continued, squaring her shoulders as if having a conversation wearing only a scrap of terry cloth was normal. “Weren’t you supposed to be shooting in Australia until next week?”
“Call me Bronson,” he reminded her, gritting his teeth at the floral aroma wafting from the bathroom. “The movie wrapped a week early. I stopped by to talk to my mother about the film festival next week. Did she say when she’d be back?”
“She’ll be back later in the afternoon. She’s having lunch with her attorney to go over the final contract for her next book.” The knuckles on the hand fisting her towel between her breasts turned white as she crossed the room. “If you’ll excuse me, I dropped my toiletry bag on the desk chair when I came in because the phone was ringing.”
Before she could pass by him, he blocked her and reached for the simple black bag from the leather desk chair. She grabbed for it, but he held the small bag out to the side, away from her grasp.
He didn’t trust her, especially since she’d just come off the heels of working for the one man he despised in the industry, Anthony Price. He loathed the man with every fiber of his being. But he certainly didn’t want to think about all those reasons now.
His mother had assured him that Mia was “a doll” and completely trustworthy and dependable. His sister, Victoria, had jumped on the Mia bandwagon as well, stating that Mia was such a joy and pleasure to be around. When they’d chatted on the phone last, Victoria had gone so far as to say that she’d instantly clicked with their mother’s new assistant.
Granted, Mia had been around for six months, but was that enough time for his mother and sister to be such diehard Mia Spinelli fans?
Bronson wasn’t blind, though. Anthony sending his assistant here to snoop was really sinking to a low he never expected.
The rumors of Mia and Anthony’s relationship were anything but businesslike. And that irked him even more. The fact his mother had hired Mia while he’d been on location in Australia still grated on him. True, his mother could have any assistant she chose, but why bring in one fresh from his nemesis?
The Hollywood rumor mill had pegged the mesmerizing Mia as the main problem in Anthony’s rocky marriage. Whom Mia slept with was none of his concern, but it was his business if she was taking Dane family secrets back to her lover.
Bronson and his mother were secretly working on a huge film that he knew the media would die to get their hands on. He and his mother had worked for years honing this project, and he had no doubt Anthony Price, Hollywood’s top director, wanted to know just what the big secret was.
Just because his mother wasn’t suspicious didn’t mean he’d be letting his guard down any time soon.
Bronson intended to find out just what this conveniently placed assistant’s intentions were before she uncovered the script and slid back in between Anthony’s sheets with it in hand. The thought of this sexy siren in bed with the devil made his stomach knot up.
He thrust the bag her way because he needed her to get dressed. Whether he trusted her or not had no bearing on matters; she was fresh from the shower smelling of something sexy and floral—her own because that certainly wasn’t his mother’s scent—and he was having a hard time focusing on the task at hand.
Not to mention that he was not one bit happy with the immediate physical attraction he felt to his enemy’s lover.
“Get dressed. We’ll talk.”
With a slight nod, she turned, crossed the room and entered the still-steamy bath, shutting the door at her back. He had no room on his plate for lustful feelings, and he was a damn fool for even letting them creep into his thoughts. His main concern right now was to keep his mother and his fashion designer sister out of any more scandal.
His mother’s last assistant had stolen nearly half a million dollars from Olivia’s personal account over the span of several months. The media loved feeding off the Dane name right now, which is why they needed to be a bit more cautious about whom they let into their lives—especially if he had any hopes of keeping this script under wraps.
Was it any wonder his blood pressure had soared since he stepped into his mother’s office? Olivia Dane was an icon, and the media would love to get some dirt on her—though he doubted there was any. They had a way of twisting even the innocent to make them look sordid.
Olivia Dane had been Hollywood’s sweetheart, had starred in more films than any other female in the industry and had been dubbed the “Grand Dane” years ago. The media loved her. Which is precisely why he needed to keep a close watch on her new assistant.
The bathroom door opened once again and Mia emerged wearing crisp white capris and a black, sleeveless button-down shirt. She had twisted her long dark hair into some sort of knot at the nape of her neck. Her feet were still bare, except for the subtle pink polish on her toes. A simple gold locket lay in the open V of her shirt.
Everything about this woman screamed innocence and simplicity, so how the hell did she end up working for the most glamorous woman in Hollywood?
Olivia had told him how impeccable Mia’s credentials were and Mia’s reasons for leaving her job with Anthony. Supposedly