with her self-indulgence this morning, Claudia brushed it away. While she was contemplating her navel, Ocean Boulevard awaited.
It was mid-morning when her assistant, Gabby, buzzed a call through to her.
“I have Leandro Mandalor on line one,” Gabby said. She sounded faintly scandalized that the competition would dare to call.
Claudia pursed her lips.
“Tell him I’m unavailable,” she said. “Tell him to call back in an hour.”
Smiling to herself, she bent to her work again. Did he really think he could just call her after what had happened and she’d jump at the chance to talk to him like a good little girl?
Probably he did, she knew. That ego. That selfassurance—of course he did.
Well, he had another think coming.
Exactly an hour later, Gabby buzzed her again.
“I’ve got Mr. Mandalor again,” she said.
“Tell him my meeting has run overtime. He should try again in another hour,” Claudia said.
An hour later, Gabby came through to Claudia’s office.
“It’s him again,” she said. She looked faintly harassed. “I think he knows I’m lying.”
“I’m a busy person, Gabby. He has no way of knowing if I’m in a meeting or not. Tell him I went straight out to my lunch meeting without checking my messages. You don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Looking distinctly uncomfortable, Gabby picked up the line from Claudia’s office.
“Mr. Mandalor? I’m terribly sorry, but Ms. Dostis has gone straight out to her luncheon appointment. Perhaps if you tried later this afternoon…?”
Claudia could hear the low bass of Leandro’s voice without being able to discern actual words. She frowned as Gabby flinched, then went pale.
“Um, just hold on a moment,” Gabby said, reaching for the hold key as though it were a lifeline.
“What?” Claudia asked. “Did he bully you? What an asshole.”
“He said that you’ve had your fun, but that he wasn’t calling about the kiss. He said that something very important has come up and unless you want to see it across the front page of The National Enquirer, you should take his call.”
To her everlasting shame, Claudia felt herself blush with self-consciousness. How dare he mention that stupid kiss to her assistant?
“Give me that,” she said, wresting the phone from Gabby’s unresisting fingers.
Her finger punched down onto the hold button.
“What do you want?” she asked bluntly as soon as the line went live.
“My, my. What a terribly quick lunch that must have been,” Leandro said.
It was the first time she’d heard his voice over the phone. To her astonishment, the deep vibrato of his baritone made something utterly primitive and feminine within her snap to quivering attention.
“Do you or do you not have a business matter to discuss with me?” she said.
Gabby was standing in her doorway, hovering curiously. Claudia gave her a thumbs-up to indicate all was well and sent her on her way.
“That kiss was hot, but not hot enough for me to jump through all those flaming hoops like a dumb circus pony, Claudia. Yes, I have a business issue to discuss.”
Not hot enough? Where did this guy get off? Claudia puffed her cheeks out and put her free hand on her hip, really ticked off now. Then she noticed Gabby still hovering.
This time she waved her hand at her sticky-beak assistant, indicating she should go, and Gabby had no choice but to slink away unsatisfied.
“Fire away, then, Mr. Mandalor. I’m a busy woman.”
“Not too busy for this. Are you aware that a member of your cast is, shall we say, getting it on with a member of mine?” he asked.
Claudia blinked and sat back in her chair. She usually had a pretty good grip on who was doing what with whom. It was part of the job—she needed to know who might be at risk, and who was putting the show at risk.
“No. Who are we talking about here?”
“Alicia Morrison on your side, Wes Brooks on mine,” he said.
Claudia winced. Alicia was just seventeen, Wes in his thirties. Not a particularly good look, especially when Alicia played a character called Angel.
“But wait, there’s more,” Claudia said, anticipating Leandro’s next line.
“Clever lady. The reason I know about this little… fling…is that Alicia and Wes were dumb enough to videotape themselves in action.”
Shit.
“Please tell me that tape has not disappeared,” she said.
“House break-in. Just your usual grab and run. But guess which tape was still in the video machine?”
Claudia mouthed a four-letter word.
“So Wes came to you and confessed all?” Claudia asked. “And now we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop?”
“It’s worse than that. I got a call this morning from some scuzzball. He wants to meet tonight to find out what this tape is worth to both of us.”
Claudia frowned. “Blackmail?” Her stomach tensed. This was a first for her.
“In a word.”
Claudia stared at her desk, her mind racing as she calculated what was at stake. Alicia was a popular, up-and-coming young actress. She’d played a virginal innocent since joining the show at age fourteen. Lord only knew when and how she’d met Wes, but Claudia couldn’t help feeling some responsibility for the situation she was in. Who was to say what Alicia’s life would be like if Boulevard hadn’t plucked her out of a shopping center talent competition and put her on national television? Not that Alicia was crying herself to sleep at night over her great career or anything—but perhaps she shouldn’t have to suffer publicly for her bad decisions just yet.
Then there was the damage this would cause to the show. They had a strong core audience in the Midwest. She could just imagine the kind of mail she’d get if triple X-rated footage began to do the rounds. She’d be forced to lose Alicia, which would mean months of rewriting and stress for her team…
“Where does our budding entrepreneur want to meet?” she asked, grabbing a pen and pulling her notepad toward her.
“He gave me an address for a bar on the Strip. Here’s what I was thinking—I go along representing both of us tonight, see what he’s got, whether it’s anything to worry about. Then
