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Ewww.
Skin crawling, she focused her eyes forward, past signed and framed photos of prior guests with the host, toward the door at the end of the hall. Where Sam waited for her. How sweet that he’d showed up in support. They’d spoken on the phone since returning to the States, but hadn’t planned to see each other until the Christmas premiere.
Her stomach fluttered, catching her unaware. Viewing him on that studio screen shouldn’t affect her this much. Yet still she doubled-timed down the corridor.
Pausing outside the door, she fluffed her hair with her nails, checked the string straps of her seafoam dress, and smoothed the flirty hem down to where it stopped just above her knees. Muffin danced around her legs in protest over having the leash tugged.
Bella glanced down. “Sorry, precious.”
Damn. How many times had she asserted to Sam that looks didn’t matter? She forced her arms back to her sides, shaking out her hands to release nerves.
Deep breath. She strode slowly through the door as if in no hurry at all, Muffin trotting alongside. A girl with a clipboard stood by the refreshments cart, jotting notes beside the empty sofa where Sam had been sitting. Bella twirled, looked around, but the room was otherwise vacant.
She walked over to the young intern taking stock of the coffee supply. “Excuse me?”
The intern spun to face her, pageboy haircut swishing in her enthusiasm. “Yes, Ms. Hudson. Can I help you with something?”
Bella waved toward the sofa where the video screen had showed Sam earlier. “What happened to the man who was waiting back here?”
“Which one?” She clutched the clipboard to her chest. “The younger hunk or the older charmer?”
“The young hunk, without question,” she answered, surprised at the hint of territorialism that crept into her voice.
“He left with the older gentleman.”
“Oh.” Disappointment stabbed. Had he met up with a friend? Or brought along a business acquaintance, merely stopping in for her PR on his way to something else? He’d made it clear more than once that his work came first. She couldn’t resist asking, “Any idea who was with him?”
The star-struck intern’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “I sure do. Mr. Garrison was with the director of your movie.”
Ah crap. She grabbed the edge of the sofa to bolster her suddenly wobbly knees.
Uncle David. Not her uncle. Her real father. Had come here. No. No. No.
Her heart thudded hard in her chest, darn near thumping to her stomach. She accepted she would have to face him at the premiere, but that should be hectic enough for her to be able to stay away from him. She wasn’t ready for a face-to-face, especially a surprise meeting. Not yet. Maybe never.
What if she’d seen him, now, unprepared? Her throat tightened. Had he come simply because of the movie? Of course he had. He didn’t care about her any more than he cared about his other two children. The bastard.
And Sam had left with him.
Why?
Her mind churned. Sam knew how she felt about her biological father. He could only have lured David away to spare her the stress of an unexpected visit. It was thoughtful, and yes, even helpful, but…She couldn’t help but think how he’d interfered again, much as he’d done with Charlotte.
God, he confused her, thoughtful but pushy.
And he took allergy pills to be near Muffin.
Bella flopped on the sofa beside the vase of roses speckled with holly. Disappointment over not seeing Sam pinched harder than her silver Ferragamo heels.
Harder than she would have expected given she’d known the man less than a week.
She was a total mess, in no way ready to deal with complicated relationships. And she doubted her mind would be any more settled by the time she saw Sam at the Christmas premiere.
Bella couldn’t imagine a Christmas more exciting—and tumultuous—than this one.
Sitting in her unabashedly frilly bedroom retreat with a hairdresser working behind her and a friend beside her gabbing away, Bella glanced at the clock. Forty-five minutes until she would leave for the opening of Honor.
Forty-five minutes until she would see Sam.
She hadn’t even been able to speak with him after her Christmas Eve interview when he’d left with David. As much as she feared her out-of-control emotions around Sam, curiosity was eating her alive.
Along with irritation.
Bella fidgeted on the pink-paisley vanity chair as the hairstylist pinned loops of hair in place. She’d expected Sam to be more ardent in pursuing her. Maybe he’d really meant what he said about this merely being a convenient arrangement.
Damn it, she hated sitting still because it gave her too much time to think. She preferred to be moving, busy, active.
Tough to do when having her hair yanked. At least she didn’t have to hang out alone. Her brother Max’s fiancée Dana kept her company while Muffin snoozed in her puppy bed—a small white wrought-iron model that matched Bella’s larger version across the room. The stylist worked his magic while Dana rambled on about family gossip. Dana was the one to comfort her when the news about David and her mother Sabrina’s affair came out.
Dana was there for her now, already dressed for the big event in a sleek bronze dress with yellow diamond accent jewelry that complimented her olive skin and luminous dark brown eyes. Uber-efficient Dana wouldn’t be a mental mess over some guy. Dana glided around the room straightening covers, tossing a discarded nightie in the hamper, straightening a stack of scripts for future projects her agent had messengered over for Bella’s consideration.
The male hairstylist from Hudson Studios tapped Bella’s shoulders. “Sit up straight, please.”
Perched on a vanity chair in only a camisole and tap pants, she forced herself not to slump while her red hair was twisted into at least a gazillion swirls.
She cut her eyes toward Dana since she wasn’t allowed to move her cramping muscles. “Thanks for hanging out with me. I would have died of boredom without you. I’m sure there are things you would rather do with your Christmas than babysit me.”
Dana dropped into a floral, ruffle skirted armchair. “You’re family. And besides—” she grazed her fingers over the yellow teardrop diamond resting in the V of her low-cut gown “—what woman doesn’t like to be draped in a mint’s worth of jewels? It’s not every day I have the excuse to wear this kind of bling.”
“You’re a gem yourself. My brother’s a lucky man.” She resisted the urge to chew off her peachy lipstick. “It’s kinda sad that it takes a movie premiere to bring the rest of our family together for the holidays. If nothing else, everyone should be here for Grandmere.”
Even if that meant she had to put up with the debacle between her parents and David. Would there be some kind of blowup with the three of them in one place? It sucked to think the best she could hope for was painfully thick tension. She couldn’t ignore her gratitude that Sam had saved her that tension the night before.
Dana grimaced. “Umm, I guess you haven’t heard via the Hudson grapevine, but while you were in France, Dev and Valerie separated.”
“What?” Her oldest brother had split up with his wife? “Already? I had my doubts about them, but still, they only eloped a few months ago.”
“I realize he’s your brother, but you have to know he never treated Valerie very well. Maybe this will make him wake up before he loses her altogether,” Dana said logically, pointing out a missed thread of hair to the stylist.
How could she keep a cool head about things like this?
Bella held still in spite of the yanking tugs on her hair. At least they didn’t have to worry about the stylist spouting gossip, not if he wanted to keep his high-profile job with the studio.
Of course so far it wasn’t as if she and Dana were revealing state secrets. “I’m not holding my breath on Dev scrounging up an empathy gene.”
Dana crossed her legs, gold strappy high heel dangling off her toe. “What’s the scoop with you and this hotel mogul?”
“It’s nothing serious.” Which was exactly what she’d asked for, yet she couldn’t help feeling miffed at his no-show lack of attention.
“He came all the way from France to Beverly Hills just to ‘hang out’ with you.”
“He has business here.” And he’d protected her from David. Yet hadn’t so much as met her for coffee. Although that hadn’t stopped her from having her driver detour by Sam’s new hotel to scope out the project he had in the works—a mighty high-end impressive project.
“Business? Uh-huh. Whatever.”
She wasn’t sure if she wanted Dana to be right or not. “I appreciate your optimism, but I’m fairly certain long-term romance just isn’t in the cards for me anytime soon.” If ever. “Think about it. Dev broke up with his brand-new wife. My parents aren’t speaking to each other. We don’t even need to go into how crummy Uncle David’s marriage was before Aunt Ava died. I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but how are you not shaking in your shoes over becoming a Hudson?”
Dana leaned forward. “Max and I are happy. So are Luc and Gwen.” Bella’s brothers, Markus’s biological sons along with Dev. “And what about Charlotte and Alec? Even Jack and CeCe beat the odds and got back together again.”
