For His Little Girl

sorted out.'

'You mean you're scared I'm not,' Luke said, reading this accurately. 'No sweat, Ritchie. I invented two completely new recipes, with Josie's help.'

'Why, isn't that sweet!' Ritchie seemed almost overwhelmed.

'I knew you'd love it. You're going to love the next bit even more. Josie comes on the show with me-star billing for the day. The next generation.'

'The next-' Ritchie blanched. 'You mean you're going to tell people she's your kid?'

'Sure I'm going to tell them. What's the point of having a kid if nobody knows?'

'Well, pardon me, but nobody has known for the past few years. I don't recall your rushing to tell the world that you had a growing daughter.'

'Well, I'm telling the world now. It's a wonderful idea.''

'I don't think so. I really don't think so.'

'She's going to wear an apron and chef's hat that match mine, and she'll look great in them.'

Ritchie took a deep breath and rallied his forces. His smile was ghastly. 'Luke, baby, the chicks like to think you're available, know what I mean? Okay, we're all unmarried fathers these days-'

'You, Ritch? Surely not?'

Ritchie gulped. 'You'd be surprised at some of the guys I could tell you about. But,' he added, rushing on before Luke could make an issue of it, 'we don't have to parade it. You've got a reputation as a stud, and you've got to play up to it. When they eat your dishes, the guys tell themselves they can have a wild sex life like Luke Danton, and the chicks feel they've got Luke Danton in bed with them. I've seen some of those hot e-mails you get. And then you come out with a kid? It spoils your image. Get real. Get rid!''

For the first time it occurred to Luke that he actively disliked Ritchie. In a colder voice than the producer had ever heard him use before he said,

'It's lucky for you that Josie's out of earshot because if she'd heard that, you'd be in big trouble.She is my daughter, and she is coming on the show with me. Got it?'

'Got it, got it!' Ritchie said.

'Plus I want to change the running order. This show goes out first.'

'But that's the day after tomorrow.'

'Right. That way she'll get to see it before she leaves.'

Hope gleamed in the producer's eye. 'She's leaving?'

'Just do it, Ritch. And get it perfect.'

'Yes, yes, whatever you say. Get it perfect, put it on first. Tell all the world. Watch the ratings slump. Cut your throat. Oh, God, I wish I was dead! Derek, my inhaler!'

Chapter Seven

Josie was a smash on the show. She had one moment of camera nerves, but her father's arm about her shoulders solved that. Luke introduced her proudly, and then they were off.

Each show was shot in over an hour, and then the best bits edited into half an hour. For the first forty minutes everything went swimmingly. They made the dips together, Luke the spicy one, Josie the bland one, but then disaster struck. Luke indicated to Josie to move both dips to another area. She lifted his first but her fingers were slippery. The next moment it had fallen to the floor with a crash. Luke surveyed the mess and a grin took over his face.

'Whoops!' he said.

'Sorry, Daddy!'

He tweaked her hair. 'You will be. You're going to make the replacement. Come on, tiger, you can do it. Remember what I showed you.'

She nodded and eagerly began assembling the ingredients, while the assistants scrabbled on the floor, cleaning up the mess. Everyone in the studio became intent on Josie, who frowned with concentration, hesitating until Luke said quietly, 'That one,' then going on confidently. He prompted her once more, and then she swept to the finish with an air of triumph, and her father led the applause. At the end of the show they took their bows together.

Ritchie was almost sobbing with delight. 'Wonderful! Wonderful! We'll keep that bit in the show. They'll love it.'

'You're singing a different tune,' Luke observed wryly, but after that he let Ritchie off the hook.

Father and daughter were euphoric all the way home and for the rest of the evening. A stills photographer had taken shot after shot of them that morning and had a set ready before they left the studio. At soon as they reached home Luke got to work scanning the best pictures into his computer and using them to update the Web site. Supper was Pippa's task, and for once she was able to enjoy herself in Luke's kitchen without him hovering nervously over her, since he was totally absorbed in writing new text, advertising the next show as the best ever, with a new star.

Josie eagerly offered her help, and was thrilled at the result. But the day had tired her, and she made no protest when Pippa said it was bedtime. Luke came in with them and tucked her in.

'Did you have a good time today, honey?'

'Oh, Dad, it was the best! Do you think I could be a TV star?'

'My girl can be anything she wants to be. Just name it.'

She considered. 'I can't decide whether I want to be the greatest cook in the world, or the greatest TV star in the world, but maybe I'll be both-like you.'

He grinned. 'Keep going. I can take a lot of that.'

He kissed her and joined Pippa in the doorway, slipping his arm about her before they left the room. She noticed that his smile faded at once.

'Is something the matter, Luke?'

He drew her away from Josie's door, and into the big room. 'I'm thinking about a phone call I've got to make. My folks always watch the show, and if Josie's going to appear the day after tomorrow-' He floundered into silence, the picture of guilt.

A monstrous suspicion grew in Pippa. 'Luke, does your family know you have a daughter?''

He shook his head. 'Don't get mad at me. If I'd told Mom everything years ago, she'd have come down on me like a duck on a June bug.'

'That's nothing to what she's going to do now.'

'I know, I know. Look, I wish I'd done it but-'

'But you did what was easiest, as always.'

'Lord, but you sound like her!'

'I'm a mother, too. It comes with the territory.'

'Okay, so I've got to pick up the phone and explain before she sees the show.'

'Phone, nothing. You get over there and tell her to her face.'

He visibly paled. 'You're crazy. You don't know my mom.'

'Are you a man or a mouse?''

'A mouse! Definitely a mouse!'

'Do it!'

'Okay, okay!'

'Now!'

'Yes, ma'am!'

He vanished, and a few minutes later Pippa heard the car being driven away. She wandered out onto the balcony and sat watching the sea. She knew a little about Luke's family. In England he'd shown her photographs of his parents, his younger brother, Zak, seventeen in those days, and his sister, Becky, fourteen. She'd seen the family resemblance that had lain not so much in features as the anarchic grins and the looks of healthy animals that lived as they pleased.

She reckoned it would take Luke at least a couple of hours, but after only half an hour she saw his Porsche