Wishbones

already worried, and she was a thousand miles away. “Things are under control.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

Graf rose from the bed and came to put his arms around me. His lips found the sensitive spot on my neck and sent shivers all over me.

“Sarah Booth, are you carrying on with that actor?”

She did have radar. “Everything is fine here.”

“That’s not an answer.” Her worry had turned to suspicion. “You sound… satisfied. You slept with Graf, didn’t you?”

It was impossible to have this conversation with Graf nibbling at my neck and earlobes. “I have to get ready for my scene.”

“Listen here, Marilyn Monroe, talk to Federico and tell him that your friends from Zinnia are on the next flight out. Obviously you need someone to come out there and keep you safe.”

Happiness made me grip the phone harder. “You’re coming? Really?”

“Me and Cece and Millie. Have someone pick us up at the Petaluma airport.”

“I can’t believe it.” I was thrilled.

“You’d better believe it, and tell that gigolo he’s going to answer to me if his intentions aren’t honorable.”

I didn’t have to tell him. He was close enough to the phone to hear.

“I intend to make love to Sarah Booth until she begs for mercy,” he said into the phone. “After that, it’s up to her what happens.”

“I’ll see you soon,” I said before she could respond to Graf. “I love you, Tinkie.” I snapped the phone closed.

“Come back to bed.” He put his words into action as he picked me up and placed me gently back in the bed. “Now let’s pick up where we left off.”

I didn’t have a better plan for the early morning hours so I returned his kisses. If I couldn’t look rested for the camera, at least I could look like the cat that got the canary.

Graf and I appeared on the set, causing a series of speculative glances in our direction. Had someone seen us on the beach, or heard us in the mansion? I wasn’t ashamed of my actions, but I had a degree of modesty. I fought the flush that would betray me.

Federico had replaced the defective balustrade with a plaster piece, but it was clearly marked so that I wouldn’t lean against it. The rest of the balustrade had been tested for safety.

I went up to my room and stepped onto the balcony. The wind fans were started and the chimes rang a beautiful song of light and dark notes. The silky length of the dressing gown blew against my body, reminding me of the feel of the water the previous night, which led to thoughts of Graf and the things he’d done to me… and the things I’d done to him.

“Close up on her face!” Federico directed.

I looked down and saw Graf walk onto the lawn, his shirt rumpled and his tie askew. Desire licked at me like hungry flames.

Below I heard Federico ordering camera shots, but I forgot everything except the role I was playing and “Ned,” a man I meant to seduce, use, and destroy.

When Federico yelled cut, I stepped back from the balcony and into my room. My heart was pounding. I’d gone so deeply into Matty that I’d lost myself. There was a rap on the door of my bedroom. When I opened it, Federico grasped me in a bear hug and kissed both cheeks.

“You are caliente! I thought you were going to melt the camera lens. I think Graf is worried, Sarah Booth. You looked as if you meant to eat him!” He kissed my cheeks again. “The camera loves you!”

I tried to blink myself back into the real world, but it was hard, moving from a character into my body.

“Go up to the ballroom and let Dallas help you get ready for the next scene,” Federico said. “The clothes are all up there, and she’s waiting for you, along with the makeup artist. Just a little refresher.”

“Little refresher” my ass-I was sweating like a ditchdigger. The day was warm, but my thoughts had been so torrid that I’d worked up a sweat without moving.

“Thanks, Federico, I will.”

He gave me another hug and then went back to his job. I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face and neck. This was more than I’d bargained for. Maybe it was a sign, though, that I was becoming a better actress-that I could give myself to the part so successfully.

“Maybe it’s a sign you’re turnin’ into a damn psychotic!”

I heard Jitty as clearly as if she were standing at my side. I looked up into the mirror, half expecting to see her. Instead, I saw a face filled with fury.

Long fingers dug into the flesh of my arm above the elbow.

“Mother doesn’t want you here. Get out!”

I whirled, grabbing for her, but I was too slow. Estelle fled the room. I didn’t bother to pursue her. She knew the house backward and forward. She’d elude me, as she’d done before. In the future, I would lock my door and I’d tell Federico that his security team was too lax. I was tired of Estelle popping in and out of my room like some demented jack-in-the-box.

Once I’d cooled off a little and gathered my wits, I headed up the stairs to the third-floor ballroom where Dallas Brown had set up the clothes for the shoots. She’d done a superb job of selecting for me. The designs were sexy in an understated, purely adult way, and it was a joy to gossip with her about her past work experiences. She was always insightful and never cruel.

Halfway up the stairs I caught sight of the swish of a red dress hem. It was a flicker of movement, the wisp of material at the corner of my eye. I thought of the red dress and the front door from the previous night-I’d seen it. I wasn’t dreaming.

Here it was again, just ahead of me, tantalizing with the possibility of resolving at least one of the mysteries that seemed to populate the movie set.

I doubled my stride and took the stairs two at a time. As I got to the top, I looked down the hallway to the left. A dark-haired figure, slender and indistinct, disappeared at the end of the hall.

The ballroom was to the right, but I turned left, to follow the figure. I meant to find who it was taunting me with these visits set up to make me afraid. What they didn’t realize was that I lived with a real-life ghost. Jitty had taught me a few things about the Great Beyond. If this apparition was a ghost, it couldn’t hurt me, unless I let it scare me to death.

I ran down the hallway and stopped at a closed door. I rattled the knob. Locked. I moved back toward the ballroom, checking every door along the way. All were locked. Which proved nothing except that the person pretending to be a ghost had sense enough to lock a door behind herself.

“Sarah Booth, are you okay?”

Dallas had come out of the costume room into the hallway. She looked at me with concern as I rattled another door.

“I saw someone down here. What’s in those rooms?”

She shook her head. “Federico said something about his wife’s possessions. Her clothes, things like that. I guess he couldn’t bear to part with them or kept them for Estelle. He said the doors were locked and he didn’t want anyone in there.”

“So only a family member would have a key to those rooms?” Damn Estelle. She was putting all of her time and energy into trying to run me off. Why me? Why not focus all of this on Jovan, Federico’s girlfriend? I was merely an actor trying to make some money.

She shrugged, drawing me into the ballroom where screens had been put up for privacy. “Try this dress on, Sarah Booth. The fabric is perfect to give a soft reflection of the night lights. Federico loves it. He says it’s you.”

I looked at the dress she held up, fitted at the waist with a full skirt and a plunging halter top that made it totally backless. The fabric was brown, like molten chocolate. “This is incredible.”

“Try it on.” She held it out to me and I slipped behind a screen and let it glide down my body. Perfection. Dallas could look at a skirt or blouse or slacks and instantly know how they’d fit me.

I came out to show her. She was all smiles until her face fell into a frown.