She put a slight emphasis on the final word, hoping he’d understand her message. To appease Logan she’d agreed to let four of his security people—two men and two women—hang out with the party. To keep them unobtrusive, Logan had caved to them guarding in bathing suits. The kids would be kept under observation and never know it.
“But...” Madison looked as if she’d rather die than have her uncle show up at her party, but before she could protest, Chase spoke up.
“I’ll come, too,” the actor said. “I’ve heard that Caprice is a terrific club.”
“It’s fabulous,” Madison agreed, catching him by the arm and turning him toward the pool.
While the teenager practically floated into the club between Logan and Chase, Bobby said, “Beautiful girl. She told me she’s an actress.”
Scarlett recognized the look in Bobby’s eye. “It’s not what her parents want for her.”
“She seems pretty headstrong.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
Bobby laughed at her tone. “You know, she might work as our main character’s daughter.”
Seeing that the producer wasn’t kidding, Scarlett grabbed his arm. “Oh, please don’t put that idea in her head. I’m supposed to be spending the summer convincing her to go to college. If she heads off to Hollywood instead and her uncle thinks I had anything to do with it, he’ll kill me.”
Her vehemence made Bobby’s eyebrows go up. “Well, if it’s that important to you, of course I won’t say a word.”
“Thank you.”
Her gaze shot across the pool deck to where the four teenage girls had clustered around Chase. As handsome and perfect as he was, her attention was drawn to where Logan stood, conversing with one of his employees. He possessed a charismatic pull as potent as the movie star’s, but was too serious-minded to let it shine. Scarlett experienced a delicious thrill as he caught her watching him. He looked powerful and dangerous as his eyes promised her they were going to have a long and intense conversation.
“Looks like you have your hands full at the moment,” Bobby said. “And I’m feeling lucky. Perhaps we should catch up over drinks later.”
She shifted her attention to the producer and smiled in relief. “That would be great. I’ll have my assistant get you and Chase set up in a suite.” As she called Sandy, Scarlett spotted Logan and Chase heading her way. Whatever they were talking about wasn’t improving Logan’s mood.
He practically vibrated with annoyance as he stopped beside her. “Chase here tells me that you two are doing a TV series together.”
“Ah...” Scarlett felt off balance, as if she’d been struck by a rogue wave. This was not the time or place for this conversation. “That’s not exactly true.”
“No?” Logan demanded, his hard voice low. “So what is exactly true?”
“I told Bobby no.” She shot the producer an apologetic look.
“If that’s true, then why are they here?”
“To talk her into changing her mind,” Chase explained. “The part could have been written specifically for her and she knows it.”
“Then maybe she should move back to Hollywood and take it.” His congenial tone didn’t match the tightness around his mouth.
Stung by Logan’s negative assumption about her, Scarlett hastened to correct him. “I’m not going anywhere. My life is here. I love what I’m doing.” Why wouldn’t he give her the benefit of the doubt?
“But you’re an actress,” Bobby insisted. “And a damn good one.”
“Will you all stop ganging up on me?” Scarlett took Bobby and Chase by the arms and turned them toward the door. “You two run along and win some money. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”
With those two taken care of for the moment, Scarlett turned to her next problem, but before she could defend herself against the recriminations in Logan’s eyes, a pair of slim arms slipped around her neck in a gleeful chokehold.
“You are the best. I can’t believe Chase Reynolds came to meet my friends. He’s so amazing.”
“That’s Chase for you. Always ready to make new friends.” Released from the exuberant hug, Scarlett turned to smile at Madison.
“I can’t believe you two used to date.”
Scarlett’s gaze shot to Logan. He had his phone out and was texting someone. She could only pray he hadn’t heard. “Yes, well. It was a long time ago. Now, I hope the rest of the day isn’t a letdown. I don’t have anything to top that.”