Billionaire Novelist's Fiery Debutante (16 page)

“Look, Chloe,” he suddenly began, and she looked up, a flicker of hope stirring in her bosom.

“Yes?”

“I—”

But just then the door to Melinda’s office opened, and a very large woman appeared. Her curly hair framed a round friendly face, and her lips were turned up into a smile. “Josh! This is the best damn Knox you’ve written in years! Oh, hello, honey. Didn’t see you there. Did you want to see me about something?”

“Hi, Mrs. DuChamp,” Chloe began.

“This is Chloe Thomson, Melinda,” Josh cut her off. “She’s one of the biggest talents I’ve ever come across. I think you should take her on.”

Melinda’s eyes narrowed as she looked from Josh to Chloe and back. Then she pointed her finger at Chloe. “You. In my office. Now.”

When Josh opened his mouth to speak, she held up the same finger. “You. Shut up and stay here.”

“But—”

“Shush!”

And with those words, Chloe was ushered into the mighty Melinda DuChamp’s office, leaving a flabbergasted Josh slowly stewing in the waiting room.

CHAPTER 35

“So. What brings you here?”

“Well…” Only now did she notice she was still clasping the manuscript in her hands. She slowly laid it on the desk in front of the agent. “I, um, have written a book.”

If the agent had been surprised by this confession, she didn’t show it. But then of course practically everyone and his sister wrote a book these days, and probably tried to rope her into being their agent.

“It’s about a veteran author who meets a young aspiring writer.”

In a few practiced words, she explained the book’s set-up to a patiently listening Melinda, and as she did so, didn’t notice the slow smile creeping up the woman’s lips.

“So you’re Chloe Thomson,” Melinda finally said, her eyes glowing. She leaned forward and extended a hand. “Thank you,” she stated emphatically.

Chloe took the outstretched hand hesitantly. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

As the agent shook her hand warmly, the smile widened. “Thank you for saving the career of one of the best writers I know. Without you I don’t know what would have happened, but if I may venture a guess, nothing good.”

Understanding dawning, Chloe blushed. Of course. Josh must have told his agent about her. “It’s nothing, really,” she said. “I—we—we helped each other.”

Melinda’s eyebrows lifted. “I think you did a little more than that, honey. If not for you, Josh would never have written this book.” She tapped the manuscript of the next Frankie Knox with her long outrageously pink fingernails. “All the time I was reading it, I kept wondering how Josh had managed to nail Jacqueline Spark’s voice this time, and then it hit me.” She gestured at Chloe. “You are Jacqueline Spark.”

Chloe waved her hands deferentially. “I really don’t think—”

“Josh has received criticism in the past that his female characters were mere cardboard cutouts, especially Jacqueline Spark. But in this book? She really jumps off the page, alive and kicking and giving good old Knox a run for his money.” She grinned. “And I love it!”

All this talk about Josh’s book was making Chloe wonder if it had been such a good idea, after all, to come here. She had her own career to think of now, and not Joshua Poole’s. He would be fine, whether his next novel sold well or not. She, on the other hand, had to make this book a smash hit or she could kiss her own career goodbye before it had even started.

Self-publishing had all been well and good, but her first novel had tanked. Trying the traditional route now, she hoped to turn her second one into a hit.

She shifted in her seat. “Returning to my own book, I think you will find the story a poignant tale of love and loss against the backdrop of—”

“Yadda yadda yadda,” said Melinda with a flick of her fingers. But before she could retort, added, “Look, honey. If you’re even half as good as I think you are, we’re going to get along splendidly. I’ll be your agent, if you let me, and I’ll work like a beaver in your interests. All I ask in return…”

Letting out a silent yelp of joy, Chloe nevertheless managed to remain seated and hold onto her poise. To some extent. “Anything!” she squeaked out eagerly.

Melinda pointed at the door. “Give that man out there some more of whatever magic dust you’ve been sprinkling about, will you?” When Chloe opened her mouth to protest, she cut her off with an imperious lift of her brow. “Not just for his sake or mine, you hear?” She then inclined her head to Chloe and lowered her voice. “He’s a great guy, Chloe, and any woman would be glad to have him. Let that woman be you, honey, before some crazy bitch comes in and scoops him up.” She nodded. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to that man, and that’s me speaking as a friend, not a tenpercenter.”

When Chloe passed Josh going in, a brief look of concern and wonder passed between them. The look of concern was in Josh’s eyes, she noted, wonder in hers.

As the door closed and she found herself alone in Melinda’s waiting room, slowly making her way over to the elevators, she wondered what should be her next course of action. Josh had made it clear he still bore her a grudge about the way she’d snubbed him. She knew she still harbored feelings for the man deeper than mere friendship, but also knew he would never take her back. Not after what had transpired between them.

The way he’d railed at her just now was enough to show her the gap between them could not be bridged. Though he’d magnanimously told his agent to take her on, he was still angry with her, that much was obvious. With a wistful sigh, she rode the elevator down, thinking back to those wonderful days on Eden Island, when everything had been so simple. Before life had interfered with its complications and practical problems.

As she walked down West 27
^th
Street on her way to the subway, she briefly reflected on what could have been, and then decided to put Josh Reynolds out of her mind once and for all.

Of course, if she hadn’t been able to forget him during the past three months, there wasn’t much hope she would be more successful now.

He was a hard man to forget, and even harder to get over.

As she disappeared down the entrance to the metro, she wasn’t aware of a pair of eyes staring after her from the tenth floor of the building she’d just left, the same wistfulness reflected in them she was feeling.

And as she disappeared from view, Josh heaved a deep sigh.

Like the book Chloe had written, the affair was at an end, and only sorrow and pain remained.

“Don’t you go hurling yourself through that window now, you hear?” a laconic voice sounded behind him. He’d just given Melinda the synopsis of Chloe’s book, and the agent had laughed merrily at the notion that Josh was the old hack depicted in the story, Chloe the young and rising star.

“She’s a real hoot, this girlfriend of yours,” Melinda laughed.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he grunted, turning back to his agent. “Not anymore, at least.”

Melinda eyed him sternly, her smile suddenly wiped away. “Don’t you think it’s time you did something about it, then?”

He shrugged. “Nothing to be done, Mel. This isn’t the Middle Ages anymore, you know. You can’t just kidnap the woman you want, lock her up in your castle and ravish her until she succumbs to your irresistible charm. This is the twenty-first century. The cops don’t take kindly to kidnappers, and neither does the judge.”

“Who said anything about kidnapping?”

He eyed his agent narrowly. She had that mischievous glint in her eye that told him she was brooding on some plan or other.

“What did you have in mind?”

Melinda’s lips quivered into a grin. “Something every beginning writer wants. A private retreat all tailored to her personal needs.” She flicked an eyebrow. “Handsome old mentor included.”

He closed his eyes as he heaved a groan of exasperation. “You’re crazy, Mel. Doggone crazy.”

“So are you,” she countered, quick as lightning. “Crazy about Chloe Thomson.” She rose from her chair and gave him one of her trademark glowering looks. “And you’re crazy if you don’t go after her, you stubborn fool!”

CHAPTER 36

There is nothing sacred or honest about a woman who smells success in her chosen profession, Chloe knew. She will claw, fight and struggle her way to the top, only to wonder, once she gets there: is that all there is?

She was one of those people. The moment she’d reached the top as a singer, she’d quickly discovered being famous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And once she realized that, the way down was much quicker and easier than the way up.

Now that she’d finally signed a contract with the fabled super agent Melinda DuChamp, however, and the agent had just informed her that she was engaged in a bidding war between three publishers, all clambering to offer her million dollar contracts, she felt she’d actually reached the top of a mountain that had been worth climbing.

This time, reaching the peak didn’t leave a bad taste in her mouth. This time, nobody wanted to change her, or make her into someone she wasn’t. This time she’d reached the top on her own terms, and it felt good.

So good that she’d even agreed to do interviews, and the paparazzi who had been following her around and snapping pictures of her and Josh were the first to congratulate her on her newfound success. Well, perhaps not actually congratulate her, but the headlines in the tabloids had a positive slant for once. And the luridness of the pictures they’d published of her and Josh was notably absent this time.

But then there were no pictures to be taken. The story of Josh Poole and Chloe Thomson was old news by now, as was the relationship that had briefly flowered and then come crashing down to earth soon after.

So when she was seated at her desk in the old house she shared with the Five Riders of the Apocalypse, she sat staring out the window, dreamily wondering about her next course of action. If any of the offers from the publishing world’s Big Five actually materialized—and according to Melinda there wasn’t a chance in hell they wouldn’t—she would be a rich young woman.

She’d been there before. When her pop career had briefly taken off, there had been million dollar deals, merchandising contracts, tours being set up. But before any of those lucrative deals could bear fruit, she’d burned out and run to ground. When all was said and done, and she’d paid all her bills, she was left with a surplus of a mere ten thousand dollars in her savings account. Not enough to retire on, but perhaps enough to take the time to write a novel and try to launch a new career.

Her gamble had paid off, and just when the last of her savings had run out, she would finally be able to afford a decent place to live. Though with pain in her heart, she would start looking for an apartment as soon as the check cleared.

Perhaps even buy her mother one as well.

With a sigh of contentment, she opened her laptop and stared at the first page of the new book she’d commenced just the night before. It was supposed to be a sequel to the first book, though how she would go about it, she had no idea. There wasn’t a Josh Reynolds/Poole to inspire her this time, and after her heroine had made it all the way to the top, she had no idea what new adventures awaited.

Would she meet a new prince charming? Would she ever be able to forget Josh? Get over him and start a new life without him?

She found her thoughts drifting back to those halcyon days on Eden Island more and more lately, realizing that short week had changed her life in more ways than one. She got a book out of the experience, of course, but more than that, she had changed. From the girl she’d been to the woman she was now.

Many romantic illusions she’d held were gone now, destroyed by the hammer of reality. Josh Poole was Josh Reynolds, a man who’d let her down. Since their brief meeting in Melinda’s office, he hadn’t been in touch. For a fleeting moment, she’d hoped they’d be able to reestablish some sort of rapport, or at least save what was left of their friendship.

She’d read in the papers what an astounding success the new Frankie Knox had been. Number one bestseller wherever she looked. Josh was all over the papers now, and on every TV show she managed to catch.

Seated in the communal family room with Kiki, Fifi, Gigi and the rest of the gang, she felt the men’s eyes on her each time Josh’s handsome face appeared, his easy smile and effortless charm sending her heart racing and her spirits plumbing the depths.

She still loved him, she knew—still hadn’t been able to get over him.

Perhaps now she would—this next project would be her goodbye kiss to the romance that had rocked her world.

Then, just when she’d applied fingers to the keyboard and had started typing the first line of her new masterpiece, her phone dinged, the sign that a message had arrived.

Digging it out of her purse, she checked the display. With a surge of anticipation, she saw that it was from Melinda. The super agent never called, only ever left messages, usually very brief and to the point.

‘Highest bid is in. Two millions dollars. Congrats. Mel.’

Clapping her hands with glee, she almost dropped the phone. Then she did drop it as she rose from her chair and started yipping and running a victory lap around her bedroom.

She’d done it! She’d really done it!

And she would have raced downstairs to tell the guys, if her phone hadn’t dinged a second time.

‘Booked you a sojourn on Eden to work on your next bestseller. You deserve it. Happy birthday, hun. Mel.’

With a wistful smile, she stared at the display. Melinda was right. The only place she would be able to write her next book was Eden Island. It was where it had all begun, and where she would take the next step in a career that she just knew was going to be stellar.

Then, as she sank into her chair, staring at the phone, a pang of sorrow shot through her, as she thought of Eden Island without Josh. This time, she would really be all alone out there. This time, she would actually get what she always wanted: the island and the villa all to herself.

She closed her eyes and pressed the phone to her feverish brow. Eden Island, here I come, she thought. Ready to take the next leap.