Kendra followed in his wake. “I can see what you mean by him being overprotective,” she told Billie dryly. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a forceful bellhop.”
Billie was beaming at her charge like a proud mother. “I told you everything would work out. Yusef will adjust to the situation in no time at all. Come on, Dave, let’s take him to see Joel.”
But would the rest of the film company adjust to Yusef, Kendra wondered in amusement as she watched the jeep disappear around the corner at the end of the street. She was still smiling as she walked back into the house and closed the door.
Her smile slowly faded as she once more crossed the large room and pushed aside the curtain of amber beads to enter the sleeping area. She could feel the familiar cold lassitude flooding every muscle now that she had let down her guard. More than anything she wanted to lie down on one of those scrumptious-looking couches and sleep for a week. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to rest for just fifteen minutes? She gazed wistfully at the couch’s inviting spread. Then, reluctantly shook her head, picked up one of the suitcases, and placed it on the bed. She knew better by now than to pamper herself with a nap. Her bone-weariness had been growing steadily of late; that fifteen minutes probably would stretch to the entire evening if she fell asleep as she had done a lot recently.
Panic raced through her, but she quickly suppressed it. There was nothing wrong with her that a week’s rest couldn’t put right. She assured herself staunchly that the only reason she was feeling so exhausted was because of the grueling experience of finishing that picture Bodine directed. Skip was right. Bodine was an incompetent ass of a stunt corrdinator. As soon as she finished Venture and had the most monstrous bills paid, she’d be able to take a month or so off and relax. But not now. She mustn’t give in now.
She opened the suitcases and pulled out fresh underthings, a pair of khaki slacks, and a loose tunic top in a dull army green. When she entered the bathroom, she discovered what Dave had meant by Billie opting for atmosphere rather than convenience. The little alcove adjoining the bedroom contained only a toilet, basin, and a chipped, clawfooted bathtub that must have been fifty years old. Would it be too much to hope for hot water, she wondered morosely. She made a face as the cold brownish water poured from the curved nozzle. On second thought she would take a sponge bath and explore the possibility of a hot shower later. There had to be someone who had decent bath facilities on this location.
She had completed her bath, slipped on the khakis and tunic and was putting her hair up in a high ponytail when she heard the front door open and then close with a decisive slam.
“Kendra!”
The voice was rough and angry and undeniably that of Joel Damon. She sighed resignedly. So much for her plan of confronting him in the businesslike atmosphere of his office. She called, “I’ll be out in a minute.” Perhaps she could keep him out of the bedroom.
She should have realized how futile that hope was. When she came out of the bathroom, it was to see him pushing impatiently through the beaded curtains, a dark scowl on his face.
She tried to ignore the sudden jump of her pulse at the sight of him. It wasn’t joy; it was a mere chemical reaction to an attractive male, she assured herself quickly. Dressed in dark jeans that hugged the strong line of his thighs and a cream sweatshirt that complemented his darkness, he looked virile enough to excite any woman.
“Hello, Joel,” she said coolly. “You needn’t have taken the trouble to come and see me. I told Dave I’d report to you as soon as I changed. I realize how busy you are.”
“Report?” Joel asked caustically. “You sound like a private talking to his CO. Dave gave me your message and you’ll be happy to know that it annoyed me just as much as you intended it to. Why the devil didn’t you come as soon as you arrived, blast it?”
“You are my CO in a manner of speaking,” Kendra said quietly. “And Billie’s business was more important than my strictly perfunctory courtesy call.” She lifted an inquiring brow. “Where is she, by the way?”
“At the first aid tent repairing the damage to her newest acquisition.”
“You’re going to let Yusef stay?”
“I don’t have much choice unless I want Billie moving into town to protect him,” he said with exasperation. “At least I can keep an eye on both of them here.” He drew a deep breath. “And now that we’ve disposed of the subject of Billie and her wild man, will you kindly tell me where you’ve been for the last month? I’ve been calling your apartment every evening since the day I arrived in Sedikhan and there’s been no answer. I even checked the listing personnel gave me with the phone company to make sure it was a working number.”
“You tried to call me?” Kendra asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
“I just said so, didn’t I? You knew damn well I wouldn’t let you get the last word after you took off in my car and left me to walk five miles to the nearest town to phone for a taxi.”
“That far?” A tiny smile was tugging at Kendra’s lips. “What a pity.”
“I can see your heart’s bleeding for me,” Joel said dryly. “I could cheerfully have murdered you by the time I got back to the house in Laurel Canyon and found the Mercedes, but no Kendra Michaels.”
“You deserved it,” she said serenely. “You’re a very arrogant man and like to get your own way entirely too much, Joel Damon.”
“You liked my way very much too that night a month ago,” he said softly. His expression suddenly became grave. “Where have you been for the past month, Kendra?”
“I had a job to finish before I started Venture. I was on location in Colorado.” She had trouble now in meeting the intensity of his green eyes. “We had said all we had to say, and there wasn’t any need for you to phone me anyway. I’m sorry if your ego was stung a little.”
“Hell yes, I was stung…and annoyed,” Joel said crisply. “But that wasn’t why I was trying to get in touch with you. After I got over the first anger, I started to worry, dammit.”
Her forehead knitted in puzzlement. “Worry? What about?”
“What do you think?” he asked, scowling. “I didn’t protect you. I thought you’d be on the pill. How was I to know that you were the last virgin left in Hollywood?” He ran his hand through his hair. “I was afraid I might have made you pregnant.”
“I see.” She felt as stunned as if she had been struck by lightning. She had never even considered the possibility that Joel had broached. She had been so busy trying to block the man out of her thoughts that the possible repercussions of that night had also been repressed. And those repercussions were a very real possibility, she realized numbly. No, she was panicking for no reason. Just because she was a little late was no need to worry. She was often irregular, particularly when she was under the sort of stress she’d been under the past few months. She smiled with an effort. “I can see how you might have been a little concerned. Poor Joel, did you think I was going to try to involve you in a paternity suit? Or were you going to give me a nice fat check and the name of an exclusive little abortion clinic in Beverly Hills?”
“Shut up!” Joel’s voice was oddly husky. “Is it too much to believe that I was genuinely worried about you? That I didn’t want you to suffer for the pleasure you gave me, that we gave each other? I wanted to let you know you could count on me if it proved necessary.” His green eyes were searching. “Is it necessary, Kendra?”
“How very gallant of you,” she said, not looking at him. Why was she feeling this aching pain because of the notion that it was only obligation prompting Joel’s concern? “I’d never heard you had such a keen sense of responsibility, Joel. It’s very old-fashioned to—”
She broke off as he crossed the room in three swift strides. His hands grasped her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Give me a straight answer, dammit. Are you pregnant?”
She glared up at him defiantly, her eyes suspiciously bright. “Of course I’m not pregnant,” she said, her throat tight and painful. “S
o you needn’t worry that I’ll come to you with any demands on either your conscience or your bank account.”
She could see the relief wash over his face and it brought a fresh jab of agony that was totally unreasonable.
“You’re sure?”
“Very sure,” she lied with a shaky little laugh. “I’m sorry to insult your virility, but it was only one night.”
“Thank God,” he breathed fervently. “Lord, I was worried, sweetheart.” His arms slipped around her with the utmost naturalness and cradled her to him with a simple affection he had never had the chance to show her before. “I kept thinking of you all alone and having to contend with a problem like that.” His lips gently brushed her temple. “It nearly drove me crazy. It won’t happen again, I promise. I’ll make sure of that. I’ll take care of you from now on.” His hands were running up and down her back in a caress that was both soothing and exploratory. “You’re thinner than the last time I held you. You feel almost breakable in my arms. Didn’t you eat at all when you were in Colorado?”
She leaned against him like a weary child. There was no threat, no demand in the arms that held her. There was only tenderness and caring and a lovely protectiveness that made her feel marvelously treasured. “Sometimes,” she said, nestling her head under his chin. “Most of the time I was too tired to bother. It was a rough job.”
One hand moved up to knead gently the muscles at the nape of her neck. “All your jobs are rough,” he said thickly. “I had Ron Willet get a few clips from your last pictures. Some of the stuff you did scared the hell out of me.” His hand was loosening her ponytail and suddenly her hair tumbled down around her shoulders in a shiny cloud. His hands threaded through the tresses with tactile pleasure. “So pretty. Like fragrant satin. I kept remembering the feel of it in my hands when I was lying in bed at night and my palms would tingle.” He chuckled huskily. “Of course that wasn’t the only portion of my anatomy that tingled.”
He was stroking her hair with a gentleness that caused her to cuddle closer to his warmth like a kitten newly in from the cold.
“I memorized and can recall every curve and valley of your strong silky body, but it was your hair that I remembered the most. Your hair and your husky, scratchy little voice that rubbed my senses like a hand caressing me. Lord, I love your voice.”
She felt as if she were wrapped in a cloudlike blanket of loving security. “You really had Ron go to the trouble to get those clips?” she asked dreamily. “Why on earth did you do that?”
“That’s what I asked myself. I was busy as hell and working sixteen hours a day on Venture. I should have been so tired when I finally got to bed that I’d be knocked out with exhaustion.” He was winding the short wispy curls at her nape around his fingers. “Instead, I found I couldn’t get to sleep until I had my nightly fix of one Kendra Michaels.” His voice became a disgusted growl. “Hell, I didn’t even enjoy them. I couldn’t see your face, your hair was always covered with a wig, and the things you were doing caused my guts to knot and my skin to break out in a cold sweat. The worst thing about it was that I knew you were probably taking the same kind of crazy chances at the exact moment I was looking at those damn clips.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath. “No more, sweetheart. I can’t take any more of it. It got so that I was even having nightmares about it and I couldn’t wait until I got you here and could keep you safe.”
She felt a nagging sense of unease that pierced the warm contentment she was feeling. What was he talking about? “Safe?” she asked slowly. “I don’t know what you mean, Joel.”
“I’ve made inquiries; Wendy Lynch is available to do the stunts on Venture,” he said with a coolness that dumbfounded her. “I can fly her out from L.A. and have her on the set by day after tomorrow.” He added quickly, “You won’t suffer monetarily from the replacement, of course. You’ll still get the fee agreed upon, plus a sizable compensatory bonus.”
“Wendy Lynch,” she repeated the name blankly, “doing my stunts?” She stiffened in his arms. “What the devil are you talking about? No one else is going to do my stunts!”
“Wendy Lynch is doing your stunts,” he corrected, lifting his head to look down at her, his expression hard with determination. “Get used to the idea, Kendra. I told you what watching those clips did to me. Do you think I’m going through the hell of actually directing you while you’re doing them? No way, rainbow lady.”
Rainbow lady. The term stoked the embers of resentment smoldering within her. She deliberately stepped back out of his embrace, shrugging off his hold. “I believe we discussed the fallacy of you calling me that,” she said through her teeth. “I’m not the insubstantial lightweight you want me to be. I guess I don’t have to ask what duties you had in mind as a replacement for my legitimate work.”
“I told you I’d take care of you,” he said gruffly. “I wouldn’t let you suffer for coming to me. What difference does it make where the money comes from as long as it makes you comfortable and keeps you from taking risks that could kill you?”
“How simplistic can you get? I wonder if you’d have the same attitude if I tried to hire you as some sort of sexual gigolo?”
He turned white, an odd, stunned look tautening his face. “A gigolo?” A bitter smile curved his lips. “Perhaps I’d be more understanding than you think. I believe my father was very much in demand in that role.” He gestured impatiently. “But that’s hardly pertinent to the situation. We’re talking about you…and how we can keep you in one piece.”
“You’re wrong. We’re talking about choices. My choices that you’re trying to take away from me. Choices that you have no right to rob me of.” Her voice was vibrating with the intensity of her feelings and her brown eyes were blazing. “For heaven’s sake, you don’t even have the excuse of caring about me. How could you care? You don’t even know me. You don’t know what I think or how I feel. All you know is that I have a responsive body you believe will amuse you for a while. Well, I’m worth more than that. I have value, damn you!”
“It’s more,” he said roughly. “Hell, do you think I react like this to every woman?” He shrugged helplessly, seeming to search for words. “I do want you. Right this moment I’m aching with it, but there’s something else there, too. I have an urge to take care of you.” He shook his head in frustration. “I worry about you. I may not know what you think or feel, but I want to know, dammit. Give me the opportunity, Kendra!”
“While I’m tucked away in your own private harem?” she asked mockingly. “I appreciate your consideration in putting me in a special category, but it would all come down to the same thing in the end. You don’t have the reputation for a great deal of staying power, do you, Joel? Even if the arrangement you offered appealed to me, it would be too high-risk. We both know how competitive my profession is. And a harem would have a definitely softening effect.”
“Your work can’t be that important to you,” Joel said tersely. “What can you get out of it besides money and some kind of perverse kick?”
“You may not regard it as a desirable occupation, but it’s what I do for a living. I’m a stuntwoman and a damn good one.” Her words had the rapid spate of a machine gun. “A stunt person isn’t just a reckless idiot willing to take chances. He or she has to be in better shape physically than most professional athletes. Do you know that I spend three hours a day exercising just to maintain that strength? That I’m proficient on the trapeze, that I can fly a plane, drive a car, and race a motorboat with more skill than most professionals who make it their life’s work. I’m an expert and, by God, I’ve paid my dues.” She was glaring at him defiantly. “You think that my voice is sexy? Did you ever question how it got that way?”
He shook his head. “It never occurred to me it wasn’t your natural voice.”
“Hardly natural,” she said. “When I was nineteen, a lariat slipped from my shoulders to my throat as I was being dragged by a horse. They got to me before my neck was broken but my larynx was permanent
ly damaged. This husky little whisper is as loud as I’ll ever be able to speak, Joel. I’ve had more broken bones and torn muscles and bruises than I can count, but through it all there’s one thing that makes it worthwhile: I’m a professional, the very best I can be. I’m proud of what I am, Joel.” She gazed at him questioningly. “Did you really think I’d give up that pride to be some kind of toy?”
He didn’t seem to be listening, his face was even paler than before. He took a step closer, his eyes fixed with compulsive fascination on her throat. His hand reached out shakily to touch her smooth skin. “You were dragged along behind a horse by your throat?” He closed his eyes, his face betraying the sickness he felt. “God, I can almost see it happening.” He opened his lids and his green eyes were blazing. “And you want me to stand by and watch that happening to you again? Hell no!”
She shook off his hand impatiently. “Hell yes!” she said, just as decisively. “I have a contract with Donovan, Limited, and as long as I fulfill my part of that contract, there’s no way you can fire me, Joel.” She drew a deep, steadying breath. “And I intend to fulfill that contract, every single gag and every extra bit that Skip will give me, including the special jump across the canyon.”
“No!” His voice was softly menacing. “You won’t even get within sight of that canyon jump. Not if I have to fire Skip Lowden and his whole team.”
“You’re bluffing, Joel. I know your reputation too well to believe you’d ever be that much of a bastard. You may be a workaholic and drive everyone around you into the ground, but you’re a fair man. You’ll keep the fireworks between us and not let any bystanders be hurt.”
She could see his hands clench slowly at his sides and frustration tighten his lips. “Don’t count on it, Kendra. You’ve had it all your own way in our relationship to date, but you can be sure that I’m not going to be satisfied with the status quo. I can make it easy or difficult for you on the set and I won’t hesitate to put you through hell if it means getting what I want. That rough job you’ve just finished may seem like a rest cure by the time I’ve finished with you. In two weeks I’ll wager you’ll be very happy for me to send for Wendy Lynch to replace you.”