McCloud's Woman Read Online Free Page A

conversation.
    No one seemed surprised by the odd direction of his thoughts.
    “You think ?” Cleo asked.
    “Tim’s assistants always quit,” Jared explained, reaching
for the salsa. “He ignores them until they either do something explosive
to prove they exist, or decide they’re invisible, and disappear into
the woodwork.”
    “I hire them to work, not become a part of my life,” TJ growled.
    “You have no life,” Cleo said bluntly. “Most women just don’t realize you like it that way.”
    Exactly, TJ thought in satisfaction. Finally, a woman who
got it, to use Leona’s memorable phrasing. He liked his life the way it
was.
    Which was why he was reluctant to ruin it.
    ***
    “Sid, you should have known about this!” Mara shouted into
her cell phone while scanning through her contact files, looking for
the name of local officials. “There’s a damned archeological dig square
in the middle of the road. We’ll never get equipment out there.”
    Locating the mayor’s name, she handed the computerized
address book to Ian, accepted the drink he offered her, and glanced at
the scenery passing outside the limo’s window.
    “No, I haven’t talked to the site foreman yet.” She
grimaced at her ex-husband’s annoying habit of treating her like an
idiot. But what else could she expect? She’d disguised her brains for
too long. “I didn’t even know the dig existed until two minutes ago.
There has to be another entrance to that beach.”
    Using his own cell phone, Ian left a message on the
mayor’s machine and began scanning her file for other numbers. Mara took
a sip of her martini while Sid ranted, then set the drink back in the
limo bar and reached for her notes. She should have followed her
instincts and left Sid out of this, but she was terrified she’d wreck
everything on her own. She’d made a career of wrecking things.
    “Sid, those scenes require a boom. We can’t get it in
there without taking a bulldozer to that dune. Someone should have
checked the location after the hurricane.” She rifled through her notes
until she found the map again. A rock jetty blocked the east end of the
beach. The crazy lady’s swamp blocked the west end. No access anywhere.
    Visions of the whole production imploding danced across
the film screen of her mind. They’d already spent a quarter million.
Glynis Everett would only be available for the next six months, and they
needed three of those months at this location. Without the star, the
film was dead in the water. A quarter million down the drain—along with
her dreams of owning her own studio. She’d be under her family’s thumb
for the rest of her life.
    They’d crush her into the lowly frog she’d once been. She couldn’t let that happen. She’d go as crazy as her mother.
    Now there was a topic best avoided. Tapping her gold pen
against her notes, Mara half listened to Sid’s curses and threats while
she formulated another plan in the back of her mind.
    She knew Tim, or had, once upon a lifetime ago. He’d
probably been the only shy athlete in the history of their exclusive
Long Island private school. He’d even had time for the lonely four-eyed
sister of his best friend. She’d suffered a bad case of hero worship
until the day he’d turned traitor and walked out on her when she needed
him most. He owed her for that.
    He wouldn’t see it that way.
    No matter. They were on level playing ground now. She was
no longer the humble scholarship student, and he wasn’t the wealthy
golden-boy athlete. This time, he could work with her, or she’d rip his
throat out.
    Remembering the dangerous light in TJ’s eyes when he’d
ordered her out of his lab, Mara thought she’d prefer working with him
than against him, but the choice would have to be his.
    Hitting the phone’s end button and shutting Sid out in
mid-rant, she retrieved her address book from the PDA and pointed out a
list of names to Ian. “Call all the