never seen my show.” She took a drag from the cigarette. “Really, sometimes I can’t believe I came from such a hick family.”
Anger sparked low in his stomach. “Don’t talk about your family that way. They’re good people.”
Her laugh was dry as she looked up at him from the couch. “I know—salt of the earth, God-fearing people. And I’m glad they took you in, Jarett, really I am. I just wish you’d stop thinking of me as your little sister. There are thousands, maybe millions of men who’d love to sleep with me, you know.”
He refrained from mentioning that a good number of them already had. She opened her knees slightly to give him another glance at what she was offering, but Jarett had developed a rather clinical attitude toward Taylor’s nudity. “Put your legs together, and act like a lady.”
She scoffed, but complied. “A lady? Is that what you’re holding out for, Jarett—a lady? You’re in the wrong town, old friend.”
Don’t I know it. And his lack of female companionship the last year or so had proved it. “I’m only here to look out for you,” he said finally, crossing his arms. “Although I don’t believe I’m doing such a good job.”
She grinned, took another drag, then smashed the cigarette butt into a lead crystal ashtray the size of a dinner plate. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jarett. You follow me like a goddamned bloodhound, and you keep the freaks at bay.”
He walked over to the wet bar and picked up an empty bottle of vodka. “Those freaks don’t pose nearly as much of a threat as the things you do to yourself.”
“Booze loosens me up,” she said with a sigh. “You ought to try it sometime.”
He opened a drawer that held drinking glasses and reached in the back to pull out a handful of prescription bottles. “And what do the pills do?”
She blanched, then recovered with a glib smile. “The pills give me a boost of energy when I need it, that’s all.”
“You’ve been needing a boost a lot lately.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You have been keeping an eye on me.”
He set the pills aside, then walked over and eased down on the couch opposite her, hoping that some part of the small-town girl he remembered remained to reason with. “Taylor, I think after the trip to Chicago, you should check yourself into a rehab clinic.”
She frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like I’m an addict or anything.”
“Good. Then it should be easy for you to give up the pills and the booze. You’re on hiatus from the show, so it’ll be a good time to get some rest and to get clean.”
“No way—the tabloids will have a field day.”
“You haven’t seen today’s headlines—they’re already having a field day. That stunt you pulled at Zago’s restaurant the other night has everyone speculating about what you’re hooked on.”
She scoffed again. “Can’t a girl dance on a table without everyone thinking she’s on drugs?”
“But you were on drugs.”
“Jarett, for heaven’s sake, you make it sound like I’m a coke head or something.”
“Or something,” he said, nodding.
“The doctor gave me those pills,” she said, her eyes bright.
“Some of the doctors you’ve been dealing with are little more than drug dealers,” he said quietly.
“Peterson called this morning, and he said the network is getting concerned about your behavior.
He said one more stunt, and your career could be on the line.”
“Peterson isn’t the only agent in town,” she said lightly.
“Taylor, listen to yourself. You jumped through hoops to sign with Peterson’s agency—he’s one of the best and you know it. He’s the reason you got the part on Many Moons.”
She sat up, scowling. “I got myself that part.
No one could play Tess Canton the way I do.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. But you’re letting the character take over your life.
And it’s not pretty.”
Her face screwed up in anger and she bounced up from the couch, his jacket swinging around her. “Oh, so now you don’t even think I’m pretty?” She started crying.
Jarett sighed and held up his hands. “I didn’t say that. Of course you’re pretty. You’re beautiful, Taylor.”
She managed a smile through her tears. “You think so?”
“Yes,” he said levelly. “Now, are you going to the cast party, or are you going to disappoint your fans?”
She inhaled, then sighed prettily. “I’m going to the cast party.”
“Good.” He stood up.
“Do you have to go, Jarett?” Her face crumpled, and his chest squeezed at her desperate tone.
He wished he could help Taylor, but his sympathy didn’t extend to having an empty physical relationship with her. He’d promised his best friend, David, that he’d take care of his sister until David returned from Haiti to step in. In addition to the bond they’d forged when David and Taylor’s parents had taken him in as a teenager, he and David had joined the Air Force and trained side by side for four years. They were closer than most brothers, and Jarett would gladly have put his life on the line for David. Although some days, he thought the two-year promise he’d made to his friend would be the death of him.
“I have to get a car lined up for tonight,” he said with the best smile he could muster. “And another guard to help me keep the, um, freaks at bay.”
“Okay. Do you want your jacket back?” she teased.
“I’ll get it later,” he said breezily, backing away before she could take it off and offer it to him.
She sighed. “What would I do without you, Jarett?”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” he said sincerely, then handily changed the subject.
“Your hairdresser is downstairs ready to have a stroke.”
She drove her hands into her wild, white-blond hair. “Okay, send him up—tell him I’m jumping in the shower.” A yawn overtook her and her entire body seemed to deflate with fatigue.
“No pills tonight,” Jarett said with a pointed look.
“No pills,” she agreed, although her voice was less than convincing.
He left her suite and found Rosie to let her know that Taylor was back on track for the time being, but as he walked downstairs, Jarett’s
