The Girl From Summer Hill (Summer Hill 1)

“Too bad he’s going to jail and won’t ever have a chance to show the world that he’s actually a better actor than I am.”

On the coffee table was an oval piece of Lucite on a black stand. Casey picked it up. On the bottom was engraved DEVLIN HAINES. THE BEST. “A bit ambiguous. Was this an award for something?”

“Yeah, and it’s his most precious possession. His one and only award, given to him for being a good DJ. I think he chose what was to be written on it.”

“What do you know about him personally?”

“During the hell of the divorce, I found out that the story he courted Nina with, about a childhood filled with country clubs and riding lessons, wasn’t true.” Tate paused. “The truth is that he had a pretty rough childhood. No father, mother rarely sober. He pretty much had to support himself for most of his life. Bagging groceries, mowing lawns when he was so little he had to reach up to hold on to the handle, that sort of thing. But in his last year of high school, he worked as a DJ at a local radio station and he liked doing it. His story is that he was so good at it that it made him go to L.A. to try his hand at getting into the entertainment industry.”

“And he became obsessed with the idea of finally getting someone else to support him.”

“I guess.” Tate took the award from her and put it back on the table. “The irony is that I would have been quite willing to pay his bills if he’d just been good to Nina and Emmie.”

“But he wanted more. And now he hates you because he couldn’t win over you no matter what. Too bad you two couldn’t enter a Best DJ contest. He’d leave paradise just to show you up.”

Tate turned to her, his eyes wide. “What does he want most in the world?”

“My guess is that it’s for you to lose to him. To beat you is probably the only thing he wants more than a life without work. Too bad he can’t do that.” She drew her breath in sharply as she understood what he was thinking. “An act-off? A challenge? Kit’s play? Wickham versus Darcy?”

“That’s exactly what’s in my mind.”

“But how do we make sure he hears of it?”

“He’s an obsessive radio listener. He says all the news that’s important goes to radio first. Just last year he was trying to get me to buy some local radio station and sign it over to him. He said it was for Emmie’s future.” Tate stood up. “He always has the radio on. He likes to complain about the DJs and tell how he could do it better, how he would have had a career in that field if he hadn’t given it up for Nina and Emmie.”

Tate walked to the windows, looked out for a moment, then turned back to her. “We have to plan this. We need to figure it all out before we present it to the others.”

“The FBI is going to be involved. Will we have to get their permission?”

“To put on an acting contest? I don’t think so. Why don’t you and I make as thorough a plan as we can, then present it to Kit’s son?”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

They smiled at each other.

Casey realized that while it was nice to be compatible in bed, in an odd way this sharing of ideas was even more intimate. That they thought alike and dealt with a problem in the same way made her feel closer to him than she ever had before.

“Stop looking at me like that or we’ll never keep our clothes on.” Tate held out his hand to her. “Let’s go home and figure this out.”

She took his hand. Home. What a lovely thought.

Devlin was sitting in a plastic chair on the concrete walkway of the sleazy motel and watching the girl Lori do laps in the pool. Running away with her had seemed like such a good idea. He’d been full of thoughts of caviar and champagne on a private jet. Not that he even liked the salty fish eggs—disgusting flavor!—but the thought that he’d soon have anything he wanted had been wonderful.

When the PI told him that the girl was Kit Montgomery’s illegitimate granddaughter, Devlin had gone into a frenzy of happiness. All his dreams were going to come true! There’d be no more struggle in his life, no more taking on acting roles that were beneath him, no more people like Tate Landers putting him down.

All he had to do was get the girl to agree to leave with him, and that had been easy. She was astonishingly naïve and dying for some independence. Her parents were out of the country, as her father was some kind of diplomat. Devlin grimaced at that. Wealth could buy excellent jobs! Lori had been turned over to her rich grandmother for the summer to be safeguarded.

Devlin thought how pampered kids today were. When he was eighteen he’d been supporting himself and his mother for years. But this kid still lived at home, was still supervised by adults.

Putting his hand up to shield his eyes against the sun, he watched the girl walk to the low diving board. She looked good in her bikini, but she acted like a child. Before they left, he’d asked her three times if she really was eighteen and she’d said yes. She didn’t have a driver’s license, but she said she’d get her passport to prove it. When she forgot to pack it, Devlin had been quite annoyed and had told her so. But when she started to cry, he backed off. Until they were actually married, he didn’t want to turn her off.

He’d envisioned a chauffeured limo arriving to pick them up. There would, of course, be a dramatic scene. But Devlin could handle drama. He and Lori would hold hands and swear that they couldn’t bear to be parted. With triumph, Devlin would show the marriage certificate.

But so far, nothing had gone as he’d planned. The missing ID didn’t allow them to marry, so he’d decided to win her in other ways. Until she was fully his, he couldn’t risk taking her back to get her passport. That grandmother of hers was much too possessive!

The first night he’d climbed into bed with her, but she’d curled up with cramps and told him in detail about how heavy her “flow” was. It was enough to turn off any man!

That was three nights ago, and he was running out of cash. He didn’t dare use his credit cards, since the bills went to Landers. Devlin had been sure Kit Montgomery would use his government connections to find them, but where was he?