Jane Millionaire

Scenes from the day she’d left the castle aired. Clips of Rob’s face while she faced the bachelors prior to stating her choice. Her comment that she chose no one since she hadn’t fallen in love with any of the bachelors. Rob’s look of relief.

How had she missed the emotions he’d revealed?

Because he had kept them hidden from her. He hadn’t been willing to share his feelings, and she was sure he hadn’t meant for them to ever be known by anyone. JP must have twisted his arm into doing this. Or the network had offered him a deal he hadn’t been able to refuse. Or maybe the ratings really hadn’t been as good as the media attention led one to believe.

Tension filled her while she watched an edited version of her knocking the vase over in the hallway, of her chasing after Rob, and damn, if they hadn’t even caught them on film in the stairwell, although only a brief segment of their conversation was shown. Thank goodness.

She also realized no clips of her going to Rob’s room had been aired. Nor any of the sound effects of the night he’d come to her room. Had that been intentional, or had Rob destroyed that footage long ago?

Panicky energy shot through Jill. She stood and paced across the room during the next commercial break. What did all this mean? What did she want it to mean?

As if she didn’t know. She laughed at herself. She wanted Rob. But how could she ever know that he was sincere in his feelings for her? That he hadn’t done this for ratings?

But would he go this far for mere numbers on a show?

Her heart quickened, as did her pace.

“Sit down. You’re making me nervous,” Jessie ordered.

Jill glared at her and continued to pace. She had to figure out what Rob commentating this show meant. When his handsome face came onto the screen, her long strides paused.

“God, he’s too good-looking to be real,” Jessie sighed, dropping back onto the sofa and earning another glare.

More clips of her interview, then Rob sitting in the same chair as she had, but the background looked different. When had they taped that? At the castle? Somehow she didn’t think so.

“How did I feel when I first met Jane?” He laughed, looking proud and confident, but Jill heard the uncertainty in his voice. “Like a two-by-four had smacked me over the head. Here was the sexiest woman I’d ever met, and she was totally off-limits.”

Jill’s eyes widened. He’d thought that?

“I remember taking a cold shower that night. One of many I took after meeting her.” He grinned at the camera and Jill’s heart rate hitched higher. “I didn’t know men really took cold showers until I met Jane and I practically took up residence in one.”

He’d been taking cold showers when she’d been burning up with need for him? What a waste.

“The night she met the bachelors, I watched her float down the stairs and knew I was in trouble. I tried to stay in the background and watch while she danced, but couldn’t. I pushed reason aside and held her in my arms for those too short three minutes. From there my obsession with Jane only got worse. She monopolized my every thought. The more time I spent with her, the more I wanted her,” he paused, as if mentally chiding himself for his omission.

“I won’t go into all the reasons outside the obvious why I felt I needed to resist my attraction to Jane. Let it suffice to say I’d been burned a time or two and hadn’t trusted women in a long time. Not until Jane. And even with her, I didn’t let myself have total faith. Not like I should have. Not like she deserved.”

He paused again, looking a bit uncomfortable for a man so proud, so strong.

“Jane,” he stopped, took a deep breath. “Jill, if you’re watching this. I made a really big mistake when I asked you to go.” He paused, swallowed. “An even bigger one when I let you leave without telling you how I really felt.”

Commercial.

Jill blinked, wanting to shake the television set for cutting to a commercial at such an inopportune time.

He’d said Jill instead of Jane.

“He’s got it bad,” Jessie piped up. “Maybe even as bad as you do.”

“Be quiet,” Jill ordered, crossing the room to dig in her purse for her wallet. Right before she’d left, JP slipped her a business card with Rob’s cell phone number scribbled on the back. He’d told her to give it some time and to call Rob since he was sure his friend would regret his hasty reactions.

Jill had taken the card, kept it, but not believed she’d ever use it. How many times had she almost tossed the card only to stuff it back into her purse? At this moment, she needed to hear Rob’s voice. To ask him what this show meant, what he’d been thinking when he’d recorded it, and more importantly, how he felt. Did he love her? Was there even the remotest possibility he could learn to love her?

Okay, so she was upset he’d rejected her in the worst kind of way. If he loved her, she’d forgive him. She might make him eat dirt first, but she’d welcome him with open arms when all was said and done.

Then reality set in. This wasn’t just some average Joe she loved. Nor was he Detective Reynaldo Curtis who could bring Law and Order to her erratic heartbeats. He was Rob Lancaster the famous Hollywood producer. They came from totally different worlds. How could she ever compete with the jet set life he lived?

She couldn’t. He’d bore of her, and then she’d have to go through the rejection again. It wasn’t worth it.