talk herself out of feeling as though she’d started to shrink.
Lance stood on Jade’s left and Bram on her right. As Paul stepped forward to greet Jade, he blocked her view of Georgie. Who knew whether it was deliberate or accidental? “I’m Paul York. I understand you just got off a plane.”
“It seems like we’ve been traveling forever.” Like Lance, she was rumpled, but her straight-legged black slacks and sleeveless black top still looked chic. Nothing about her signaled a woman who’d lost a baby less than a month ago. She shifted her weight, trying to see around Paul. She undoubtedly wanted to find Georgie so she could give her a big freaking hug. Fortunately, her cell rang before that could happen. “I need to take this. A couple of our people were deathly ill on the plane.”
She slid her hobo bag off her shoulder, pulled out her phone, and stepped away from them. Laura filled a coffee mug, and Meg swiped a chocolate truffle. Bram drifted toward Georgie. She hoped he didn’t get too close because she’d never be able to resist the temptation to kick him.
Rory did her best to ease the tension. “Laura, I hear you’ve been pushing Georgie for the lead in Rich Greenberg’s project? It’s a cute script. I wish we’d had a shot at it.”
“The movie about the bimbo vampire?” Meg wrinkled her nose. “Mom was talking about it.”
“Georgie’s perfect for the part,” Paul said.
“Georgie’s not interested,” Bram said. “She’s tired of doing comedy.”
He was right, but Georgie was angry and not the only immature person in this marriage. “Laura’s set up a meeting for me with Greenberg.”
Jade was growing agitated, although none of them could make out more than a few words. Finally, she snapped her phone shut and returned to Lance’s side, her perfect brow knit in distress. “Bad news about Dari and Ellen. Remember that outbreak of SARS in the Philippines? The doctors are afraid they both might have it.”
“SARS? My God…” Lance took her hand, the two of them against the world. “Are they going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. They’re in isolation right now, being shot full of antibiotics.”
“We’d better get over to the hospital right away.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Sure it is. We’ll go in through the back.”
“That’s not the problem.” She shoved the phone back in her purse and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “We can’t go anywhere.”
Lance stroked her fingers. “What do you mean?”
“That was the head of the county public health department on the phone. The hospital alerted him. Ellen’s and Dari’s test results won’t be back for forty-eight hours, and until they know for sure whether or not it’s SARS, everybody who was on the plane is under quarantine.” She looked around the room. “Along with anyone we’ve come into contact with since.”
Dead silence fell. Georgie felt dizzy, and Bram went still at her side.
“You don’t mean us,” Paul finally said.
“I’m afraid so.”
Bram didn’t move. “Are you saying we’re all supposed to stay here-in my house-for the next two days? We’ve barely had any contact with either of you.”
“Until Tuesday morning,” she said tightly. “Ironic, isn’t it?” Her gaze drifted to Georgie.
“Impossible,” Laura said. “I have back-to-back meetings on Monday.”
Meg frowned. “Mom and I are going riding tomorrow.”
“If I have to be quarantined, I’m doing it in my own house.” Rory glanced around for her purse. “I’ll go out through the back gate.”
“You’d better clear it with Public Health first,” Jade said. “These guys mean business. I’m sure you’d have to send your staff away first.”
Rory paused in her search for her purse, apparently remembering the filmmakers she was housing.
Chaz had taken the coffeepot from Aaron and turned to Bram. “What’s SARS? I don’t know what that is.”
Aaron answered for him. “Severe acute respiratory syndrome. It’s a serious disease. Very contagious. There was a pandemic a few years ago that killed hundreds of people and made thousands sick. A pandemic is like an epidemic, except a lot bigger.”
“I know what a pandemic is,” Chaz retorted so defensively Georgie knew she was lying.
“This is bullshit,” Bram said. “Lance hasn’t even been in the house fifteen minutes. And, god knows, nobody kissed him.”
Jade flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I explained that to Public Health, but they won’t budge.”
Laura whipped out her cell. “Give me the number. I’ll make them budge.”
But she wasn’t the only alpha dog in the room, and the others-Bram, Paul, and Rory-already had their hands on their own phones. Aaron took one look at Georgie and grabbed his, too. Lance glanced around. “Everybody can’t call.”
“I’ll do it,” Rory said. “I have contacts.”
For the next half hour while Georgie sat silently, the rest of them listened in on Rory’s conversations as she spoke to officials in the county’s Public Health Department and then the mayor himself. Finally, she conceded defeat. “Pulling strings isn’t going to work. This is political. Because celebrities are involved, nobody wants to be held responsible if this thing gets out of hand. It’s definitely overkill, but it seems as though we’re trapped.”
People began looking in Georgie’s direction, judging her reaction to being cooped up with her ex and his new wife. Scooter Brown would have known how to handle this. Scooter always came through in tough situations.
She pushed Scooter up from the couch. “We’ll make the best of it. Like a big house party. It’ll be fun.”
Chaz plunged into the mess. “I have a ton of food in the freezer, so that’s not a problem.”
“I need a drink,” Bram said.
“Of course you do,” Georgie snapped before she could stop herself, which meant Scooter had to jump in and rescue her. “A great idea, sweetie. Open a couple of bottles.”
Chaz turned to Bram. “Where’s everybody going to sleep?”
Georgie should suggest Paul share a room with Lance. He’d love cozying up to his favorite person.
Gradually they sorted it out. Meg insisted on taking the couch in Bram’s office, leaving the guesthouse bed to Rory and Laura. Paul would sleep in Georgie’s office. The guest room where Georgie had been sleeping went to Lance and Jade, which forced Georgie to explain that she’d been using it as her dressing room and would need to get some of her things out first. In a whispered argument, Chaz begrudgingly agreed to let Aaron sleep in her living room. That left Georgie cuddled up in her husband’s bed. It was such an unsettling prospect that Scooter once again had to come to Georgie’s aid. “I think the wind is calming down,” she chirped. “Let’s light a fire on the veranda. We could even make s’mores.”
“Or not,” Skip drawled.
Rory phoned her housekeeper and arranged for some personal items to be placed in a rainproof bag by the back gate. Meg lent Laura a roomy sleeping shirt. Jade announced that she slept nude so Georgie didn’t need to bother finding her anything. Chaz and Aaron distributed towels, washcloths, extra bedding, and toothbrushes. All the while Georgie struggled with a sense of unreality.
After the worst of the storm passed, Meg led Rory and Laura to the guesthouse while Bram made his way through the remaining sprinkles to retrieve Rory’s things. Her father poured a brandy and went out to sit on the veranda. Lance and Jade wanted to clean up after their long trip, and Aaron led them upstairs.
Georgie began helping an unappreciative Chaz pick up. Before long, she heard the shower go on in her bathroom and-twenty minutes later-turn off.
One shower. How cozy.
Her stomach churned. Having Lance here was horrible enough, but Jade’s presence made the situation unbearable. And it was all Bram’s fault.
She closed herself in his bedroom. She’d make the turret that occupied the far end of the room her sanctuary. An inlaid wooden table sat between a pair of easy chairs, and a lamp with a heavy bronze base rested near a chaise upholstered in a nappy chocolate brown chenille that complemented the buckwheat-honey walls. The chaise could only hold one person, and that’s where she’d sleep. Bram’s bed was for sex, not all-night intimacy.
She walked over to the window and gazed down along the rain-slicked driveway toward the gates. Even though
