Genuine Lies

  “That’s wonderful, Mr. Delrickio.”

  “This is your only body.”

  Drake didn’t want his only body carved like a turkey. “Your family?”

  “Wonderful.” Always the doting papa, he smiled. “Angelina gave me a new grandson last week. Now I have fourteen grandchildren.” It made him misty-eyed. “This is a man’s immortality. And you, Drake, you should be married to a nice girl, making babies. It would center your life.” He leaned forward, an earnest, concerned father about to impart sage advice. “It’s one thing to fuck beautiful women. A man must be a man, after all. But family, there’s nothing to replace it.”

  Drake managed a smile as he lifted his cup. “I’m still looking.”

  “When you stop thinking with your dick and think with your heart, you’ll find.” He let out a sigh as their meal was served, then lifted a brow at Drake’s and tallied the grams of fat. “Now …” Nearly wincing at the syrup Drake puddled over his pancakes, Delrickio dantily forked a melon ball. “You’re prepared to pay off your debt.”

  The bite of ham stuck in Drake’s throat. As he fought to swallow it, he felt a thin line of sweat trickle down his side. “As you know, I’ve had a little downswing. Right now I’m experiencing a temporary cash-flow problem.” He soaked his pancakes with more syrup while Delrickio solemnly ate his fruit. “I am prepared to give you ten percent, as good faith.”

  “Ten percent.” Mouth pursed, Delrickio spread a thimbleful of strawberry jam on his toast. “And the other ninety thousand?”

  Ninety thousand. The two words rang like hammer blows inside Drake’s skull. “As soon as things break for me. All I need is one winner.”

  Delrickio dabbed his lips with his napkin. “So you’ve said before.”

  “I realize that, but this time—”

  Delrickio had only to lift a hand to cut off Drake’s hurried explanations. “I have an affection for you, Drake, so I’ll tell you gambling is a fool’s game. For me, it is part of my business, but it disturbs me to see you risk your … your health on point spreads.”

  “I’m going to make it up on the Super Bowl.” Drake began to eat quickly, struggling to fill the hole fear left in his gut. “I need only a week.”

  “And if you lose?”

  “I won’t.” A desperate smile, sweat streaming down his back.

  Delrickio went on eating. A bite of melon, a bite of toast, a sip of juice. At the table beside them, a woman settled a toddler into a high chair. Delrickio winked at the child, then returned to the routine—melon, toast, juice. Drake felt the eggs congeal in his stomach.

  “Your aunt is well?”

  “Eve?” Drake licked his lips. He knew, as few did, that Delrickio and his aunt had had a brief, torrid affair. Drake had never been sure if he could count that in his favor. “She’s fine.”

  “I hear she’d decided to publish her memoirs.”

  “Yes.” Though his stomach protested, Drake drank more coffee. “That is, she’s brought in a writer from the East to do her authorized bio.”

  “A young woman.”

  “Julia Summers. She seems competent.”

  “And how much does your aunt plan to make public?”

  Drake felt a little wave of relief at the turn in the conversation. He slathered butter on a piece of toast. “Who knows? With Eve it depends on the mood of the moment.”

  “But you’ll find out.”

  The tone had Drake pausing, his knife still in the air. “She doesn’t talk to me about that sort of thing.”

  “You’ll find out,” Delrickio repeated. “And you’ll have your week. A favor for a favor.” Delrickio smiled. “That’s how it is between friends. And family.”

  • • •

  It made her feel young to dive into the pool. The evening with Victor had made her glow like a girl again. Eve had awakened later than usual, and with a blinding headache. But the medication, and now the cool, clear water, made the pain tolerable.

  She swam laps slowly, methodically, taking pleasure in feeling her arms and legs move in precision. It was a small thing, the use of one’s body. But she’d learned to appreciate it.

  It had been no small thing last night, she thought as she switched to a side stroke. Sex was always incredible with Victor. Passionate or gentle, slow or frantic. God knew they had made love in every possible way over the years.

  Last night had been beautiful. Being held after passion had been spent, lying together dozing like two old war horses, waking again to feel him slide into her.

  Of all the men, of all the lovers, there was no one like Victor. Because of all the men, of all the lovers, he was the only one who truly had captured her heart.

  There had been a time, years and years before, when she had despaired over her feelings for him, when she had cursed and raged and beat her fists against fate for making it impossible for them to be together. That time was passed. Now she could be grateful for every hour they had.

  Eve pulled herself out of the pool, shivered as the cool air hit her wet skin, then drew on a long red terry-cloth robe. As if she’d been watching for her cue, Travers hustled out with a breakfast tray and a bottle of moisturizer.

  “Did Nina call her?” Eve asked.

  Travers sucked air through her nose. The sound was like steam in a kettle. “On her way.”

  “Good.” Eve picked up the bottle, shaking it idly as she watched her housekeeper. “You needn’t make your disapproval so obvious.”

  “I think what I think.”

  “And know what you know,” Eve added with a little smile. “Why blame her?”

  Travers busied herself setting up the breakfast on the glossy white table. “Best to send her back and forget the whole thing. Asking for trouble. Nobody’ll thank you for it.”

  With expert fingers Eve spread the moisturizer over her face. “I need her,” she said simply. “I can’t do this myself.”

  Travers’s lips thinned. “You’ve done every damn thing you’ve wanted to do all your life. You’re wrong about this.”

  Eve sat, then popped a raspberry into her mouth. “I hope not. That’ll be all.”

  Travers stomped back toward the house. Still smiling, Eve slipped on sunglasses and waited for Julia. She didn’t wait long. From behind the dark lenses, she watched, then made judgments as practical shoes, slim royal blue slacks, a crisp striped blouse came into view. Slightly more relaxed but still cautious, Eve decided, based on body language as well as the clothing.

  When, if ever, she wondered, would they forge some kind of trust?

  “I hope you don’t mind talking out here.” Eve gestured to the cushioned chair beside her.

  “No, not at all.” How many, Julia wondered, had seen that famous face washed of makeup? And how many knew that the beauty was in the complexion and bone structure, not the artifice. “Wherever you’re most relaxed suits me.”

  “I could say the same.” Eve poured the juice and lifted a brow when Julia shook her head at the addition of champagne. “Do you ever?” she asked. “Relax?”

  “Of course. But not when I’m working.”

  Thoughtful, Eve sipped her mimosa, and finding it to her liking, sipped again. “What do you do? To relax, I mean?”

  Thrown off, Julia stammered, “Well, I … I …”

  “Caught,” Eve said with a quick, lusty laugh. “Let me tell you about yourself, shall I? You’re enviably young, and lovely. You’re a devoted mother whose child is the center of her life, and you’re determined to do a good job of raising him. Your work comes second, though you approach it with a ponderous sobriety. Etiquette, propriety, and manners are your bywords, particularly so since there’s a tough, passionate woman under all the control. Ambition is a secret vice you’re almost ashamed of having. Men are far down on your list of priorities, somewhere, I would think, below folding Brandon’s socks.”

  It took all of Julia’s will to keep her face composed. She could do nothing about the flash of heat in her eyes. “You make me so
und very dull.”

  “Admirable.” Eve corrected her, and dipped again into the raspberries. “Though the two are sometimes synonymous. The truth is, I’d hoped to get a rise out of you, to shake that awesome composure of yours.”

  “Why?”

  “I’d like to know I’m baring my soul to a fellow human.” With a shrug, Eve broke off the end of a flaky croissant. “From your little exchange with Paul over dinner the other night, I detected a good healthy temper. I admire temper.”

  “Not all of us are in the position to let ours loose.” But hers was still smoldering in her eyes. “I’m human, Miss Benedict.”

  “Eve.”

  “I’m human, Eve, human enough that being manipulated pisses me off.” Julia opened her briefcase to bring out her pad and recorder. “Did you send him to see me yesterday?”

  Eve was grinning. “Send who?”

  “Paul Winthrop.”

  “No.” Surprise and interest registered clearly, but Julia reminded herself the woman was an actress. “Paul paid you a visit?”

  “Yes. He seems concerned about the book, and the way I’ll write it.”

  “He’s always been protective of me.” Eve’s appetite came and went these days. She bypassed the rest of breakfast for a cigarette. “And I’d imagine he’s intrigued by you.”

  “I doubt it’s personal.”

  “Don’t.” Eve laughed again, but an idea began to brew. “My dear, most women have their tongues hanging out after five minutes with him. He’s spoiled. With his looks, his charm, that underlying shimmer of raw sex, it’s hard to expect otherwise. I know,” she added, drawing in smoke. “I fell for his father.”

  “Tell me about that.” Julia took advantage of the opening and punched record. “About Rory Winthrop.”

  “Ah, Rory … the face of a fallen angel, the soul of a poet, the body of a god, and the mind of a Doberman chasing a bitch in heat.” When she laughed again, there was no malice in it, but ripe good humor. “I’ve always thought it was a pity we couldn’t make a go of it. I liked the son of a bitch. Rory’s problem was that whenever he got an erection, he felt honor bound not to waste it. French maids, Irish cooks, leading ladies, and spangled bimbos. If a look had Rory getting it up, he felt it was his male duty to stick it somewhere.” She grinned, refilling her glass with juice and champagne. “I might have tolerated the infidelity—there was nothing personal about it. Rory’s mistake was that he found it necessary to lie. I couldn’t stay married to a man who thought me stupid enough to believe pitiful fabrications.”

  “His unfaithfulness didn’t bother you?”

  “I didn’t say that. Divorce is much too clean and unimaginative a way to pay a man back for screwing around. I believe in revenge, Julia.” She savored the word as she savored the zip of champagne. “If I had cared more about Rory, less about Paul, well, let’s just say things might have ended more explosively.”

  Again Julia felt that shimmer of understanding. She had cared too much about a child herself to destroy the father. “Though your relationship with Rory ended years ago, you still have a warm relationship with his son.”

  “I love Paul. He’s the closest I’ve come to having a child of my own.” She waved away the sentiment but lighted a cigarette immediately after crushing one out. How difficult it had been for her to make that statement. “Not your average mother figure,” she said with a thin smile. “But I wanted to mother that boy. I was just over forty, right at the point where a woman knows she has virtually no time left to take that turn at the biological bat. And there was this bright, beautiful child—the same age as your Brandon.” She drank again, to give herself time to get control over her emotions. “Paul was my only turn at bat.”

  “And Paul’s mother?”

  “Marion Heart? A stunning actress—a bit of a snob when it came to Hollywood. After all, she was theater. She and Rory bounced the child back and forth between New York and L.A. Marion had a kind of detached affection for Paul, as if he were a pet she had bought on impulse and now had to feed and walk.”

  “But that’s horrible.”

  It was the first time Eve had heard real emotion in Julia’s voice, emotion to match what flashed in her eyes. “There are a great many women in the same situation. You don’t believe me,” she added, “because of Brandon. But I promise you, not all women embrace motherhood. There was no abuse. Neither Rory nor Marion would have dreamed of harming the boy. Nor was there neglect. There was only a kind of benign disinterest.”

  “It must have hurt him,” Julia murmured.

  “One doesn’t always miss what one hasn’t known.” She observed that Julia had stopped taking notes and was listening, just listening. “When I met Paul, he was an intelligent and very self-sufficient child. I couldn’t step in and play the doting mama—even if I’d known how. But I could pay attention, and enjoy. The truth is, I often think I married Rory because I was head over heels for his son.”

  She settled back, enjoying this particular memory. “Of course, I’d known Rory for some time. We traveled in the same circles. There was an attraction, a spark, but the timing had always been off. Whenever I was free, he was involved, and vice versa. Then we made a film together.”

  “Fancy Face.”

  “Yes, a romantic comedy. A damn good one. It was one of my best experiences. A sharp, witty script, a creative director, an elegant wardrobe, and a costar who knew how to make those sexual sparks fly. Two weeks into filming, and we were making them fly offscreen.”

  • • •

  A little drunk, a lot reckless, Eve strolled into Rory’s Malibu beach house. Shooting had run late, and afterward they had hidden themselves away in a dingy diner, swiging beer and gobbling greasy food. Rory had popped coin after coin in the jukebox so that their laughter and all that sexual teasing had been accompanied by the Beach Boys.

  Flower power was making its early noises in California. Most of the other diners were teenagers and college students with hair flowing down the backs of their tie-dyed T-shirts.

  A young girl, groggy on pot, slipped love beads around Rory’s neck when he dropped two dollars in change into the juke.

  They were established stars, but went unrecognized. The kids who patronized the diner didn’t spend their money on movies starring Eve Benedict and Rory Winthrop. They spent it on concerts and drugs and incense. Woodstock was only three years and a continent away.

  Eve and Rory weren’t overly concerned with Vietnam or sitar music.

  They had left the diner to roar into Malibu with the top down on his Mercedes, buzzed on beer and anticipation. Eve had timed this night carefully. There was no shoot the next day, so she wouldn’t have to worry about puffy eyes. She might have wanted a night of sex, but she was first and last a film star.

  She’d made the decision with her eyes open to take Rory as a lover. There were holes in her life, holes she knew would never be filled again. But she could cover them over, at least briefly.

  With her hair wildly touseled by the wind, her shoes left behind on the floor of his car, Eve took a quick turn around the living room. High glossy wood ceilings, walls of sheer glass, the sound of the surf. Here, she thought, lowering herself to the rug in front of the huge stone fireplace. Here and now.

  She smiled up at him. In the light of the candles he’d hurriedly lit, he looked incredible. Bronze skin, mahogany hair, sapphire eyes. She’d already tasted his mouth, while technicians had crowded around them. She wanted it—and him—without a script or director.

  She wanted wild, dangerous sex, to help her forget for a few hours what she would live with for the rest of her life.

  He knelt beside her. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted you?”

  There was nothing, she knew, more powerful than a woman about to yield to a man. “No.”

  He gathered her hair in his hand. “How long have we known each other?”

  “Five, six years.”

  “That’s how long.” He lowered his head to nip at her lip.
“The trouble is I’ve been spending too much time in London, when I could have been here, making love to you.”

  It was part of his charm, making a woman believe he thought only of her. In fact, whatever woman he was with at the moment, the fantasy was quite real.

  She slid her hands over his face, fascinated with the lines and dips and planes that formed into such staggering male beauty. Physically, Rory Winthrop was perfect. And for tonight, at least, he was hers.

  “Then have me now.” She accompanied the invitation with a low laugh as she tugged his shirt over his head. In the candlelight her eyes glinted with hunger and promise.

  He sensed that she wanted not a dance but a race. Though he might have preferred a bit more romance and anticipation this first time, Rory was always willing to accommodate a woman. That, too, was part of his charm—and part of his weakness.

  He dragged at her clothes, delighted, destroyed by the way her