'Hmm?'
'I'm glad we decided to come here instead of flying off somewhere.'
'We'll go to Maui for a couple of weeks around Christmas. I want you to see my place there.' Brooke thought of her schedule if she decided to take Claire up on the feature for cable. Somehow or other, she'd manage to get the two weeks. 'I love you.'
His hand stopped a moment, then pressed her closer. They were three words she didn't say often. 'Did I tell you how beautiful you looked when Billings shoved you out on the terrace?'
Brooke's head shot up. 'You saw that?' Grinning he traced her ear with his fingertip. 'Funny, I didn't expect you to be as terrified as I was.'
Brooke regarded him a moment, then a smile curved on her lips. 'Were you really?'
'A half hour before the wedding, I'd run up a list of all the reasons why we should call it off.' She lifted a brow. ' 'Were there many?''
'I lost count,' he told her, ignoring the narrowing of her eyes. 'I could only think of one good reason to go through with it.'
''Oh, really?'' Her chin came up as she tossed her head. 'And what was that?'
'I love you.'
Brooke dropped her forehead onto his. 'That's it, huh?'
'The only one I could think of.' He slid a hand down to her hip. 'Though one or two others are beginning to occur to me.'
'Mmm. Like it being good for the campaign.' She began, to nuzzle, just behind his ear.
'Oh, sure. That's top on my list.' He groaned when the first shudder rippled through him. 'Right next to having somebody to sort my socks.'
'You can forget that one,' Brooke murmured, moving down to his shoulder. 'But there's always having an in with the director when you do that part for cable.'
'Haven't decided to do it.' His legs tangled with hers as they altered positions. ''Have you?''
'Not yet.' Her thoughts began to drift as he cupped her breast. 'But you should.'
'Why?'
Lazily, her eyes opened to look into his. 'I shouldn't tell you.'
Intrigued, he propped himself on his elbow and toyed with her hair. 'Why not?'
She sighed a little, while managing to convey a shrug. 'The last thing you need is someone feeding your ego.'
'Go ahead.' He kissed her nose. 'I can take it.'
'Damn it, Parks, you're good.'
He stopped in the action of twining her hair around his finger and stared at her. 'What did you say?' Brooke shifted again. 'Well, I don't mean you can act,' she began. 'Don't start getting delusions.'
He grinned, enjoying her ironic lift of brow. 'That's more like it.'
'You have good camera presence,' she went on. 'Do you have any idea how many big stars stay big simply by playing themselves?'' Parks grunted, more interested in the curve of her shoulder. 'You know how to play yourself. Parks,' Brooke persisted, drawing him back for a moment. 'And if you were to stick to parts, at least for a while, that suited you…well, when you really are ready to retire from baseball you could walk right into a movie career.'
He started to laugh, then stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. 'You're not joking.'
Brooke stared at him, then let out a long breath. 'I'm really going to hate myself when I've got to deal with you as a director in a couple of weeks, but you're very, very good, and you should think about it. And if you get a star complex when I tell you to run through some business on camera a half a dozen times, I'll…'
'What?' he challenged.
'Something,' Brooke said ominously. 'Something despicable.'
He gave her a wicked grin. 'Promise?'
Since she couldn't stop the laugh, she rolled him over forcibly so that she was lying across him again. 'Yeah. And now I'm going to make love to you until your bones dissolve.'
'Is this in my contract?' he demanded. 'You better believe it.'
Chapter 12
Though it was November, Los Angeles was suffering from a heat wave that fried tempers and melted patience. Brooke's was no exception. She and Parks had had ten long, isolated days before she had begun work again-but they hadn't been trouble-free. Nothing's trouble-free, Brooke reminded herself as she knotted her blouse beneath her breasts. What fool thought a honeymoon would be? She had, she admitted ruefully as the camera crane was unloaded. But then how much thought had she really given to adjustments, to changes and, as Parks had termed it, the nuts and bolts business that made up a marriage?
She had accepted his name, and though she would keep her own professionally, it was Brooke Jones that she would sign to all legal documents. He had given up his apartment and moved into her house. She had his name, he had her key. Why did she feel she was tallying a balance sheet? Frustrated, Brooke wiped her forearm over her brow.
Was that what marriage was, she wondered, a series of checks and balances? With her marriage barely three weeks old, she should be blissfully happy, glowing. Instead, Brooke felt frustrated, annoyed and unsettled perhaps more unsettled because she knew Parks was no more blissfully happy than she.
With a shake of her head, she told herself to put it aside. Bringing her personal problems to work wouldn't solve them-and more than likely it would make them worse, since she was directing Parks. 'Let's go up, E.J., I want to see the angle.' Sitting in the basket beside him, she gave the crane operator a nod to take them up.
Below them, the beach spread gold. The surf kicked up, white and frothy, catching the glint of the sun and rainbowing through the lens. She thought she could feel the heat steam from the metal casing of the camera. 'All right, I'll want a wide shot when he starts, then zoom in, but not too tight. At this angle, we'll get a good profile of the horse. The palomino's a nice contrast with the jeans. Set the speed. I want it slow enough so they see every muscle ripple.'
'On Parks or the horse?' E.J. asked with a grin.
'On both,' Brooke answered curtly, nodding to be brought down. Wiping her palms on the seat of her pants, she strode over to where Parks waited. He wore nothing but snug, low-slung de Marco jeans. 'We're ready for you.'
'All right.' Parks gave her a long, steady look as he hooked his thumbs in his front pockets. He wasn't sure why he was dissatisfied, or why he felt the need to annoy her. The friction had been growing between them for the past few days, building and shifting like some electric storm. But there'd been no boom of thunder, no slash of lightning to release the pressure. 'What do you want?'
'You've seen the script,' she reminded him.
'Aren't you going to give me my motivation?'
'Don't be a smart aleck, Parks,' she snapped. 'It's too damn hot.'
'Just want to make sure I've got the right mood so you won't make me do it a half dozen times.'
Temper flared in her eyes and was forcefully suppressed. She wouldn't let him taunt her into a public sniping. 'You'll do it two dozen times if I feel it's necessary,' she said as calmly as possible. 'Now get on the horse, gallop straight down the beach in the shallows. And enjoy it.'
''Is that an order?'' he murmured, deceptively mild. 'It's a direction,' she returned evenly. 'I'm the director, you're the talent. Got it?'
'Yeah, I got it.' Catching her close, he crushed her mouth with his. He felt the dampness of her blouse under Ids palm, the angry rigidity of her body and the yielding softness of her breasts. Why was he angry? he wondered even as his temper inched higher. Why did he feel he was dragging her close and shoving her away at the same time? 'Got that?' he demanded as he turned and swung onto the horse.
She glared at him, a half-naked man astride a golden horse, as he smiled down at her with the cocky
