Stand-In Star Read Online Free Page B

lush, manicured golf course. No doubt membership cost more than double her annual salary.
    Finally they arrived at the bottom of the grandest spiral staircase she’d ever seen outside the television. She looked up and up and up, wondering how many floors his mansion had.
    “I’ll put you on the third floor,” he said, as if some kind of mind reader. “I’m on the second at the opposite end of the house.” His undertones couldn’t have been clearer. She was to stay out of his way.
    She nodded and then breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around and began to climb the stairs. Unfortunately due to the stairs being curved, there were no large pieces of art to commandeer her attention as they trekked upward. She kept her eyes down, focusing on each step and moving one foot in front of another, but it didn’t make one iota of difference. Nate and his perfect physique were already imprinted in her mind. Simply knowing he was taking the stairs only a few steps ahead had her insides tangling and her hormones in a tizzy. It made her feel girly and silly like one of the bimbo heroines in the romantic comedies Daisy had starred in.
    Although only three floors, the climb took forever. She breathed in deeply as she stepped onto level tiles and her eyes snapped once again to the walls, all splattered with large and truly amazing photographs of sunsets. They’d also been the subject of choice on the ground floor. She frowned, wondering if Nate just had a thing for golden, burnt-orange skies or if… “Did you take these?” She gazed up at a photo of the sun setting over the Golden Gate Bridge.
    He stopped and swung around to see what she was looking at. He rested her suitcase on the floor and shrugged. “It’s a hobby.”
    She considered this and then moved along to the next sunset. A beach, not one she recognized but beautiful nonetheless. She got the feeling he could make anything look beautiful. “Just a hobby? These are amazing.”
    He almost smiled. She’d swear that’s what she’d seen lurking at the corner of his mouth but he clamped his lips together annihilating the possibility. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and gestured down the corridor. “I’ve got to get to work, so…if you don’t mind.”
    Actually she did mind. So, he’d done her a favor by taking her in but there was no need to be so damn narky. It figured he’d taken these photos—he had moody artist down to a tee. Well, she was a woman who liked good conversation and she wasn’t about to spend six days in his house being inflicted with the silent treatment. “Of course, and what is it you do for a living, Nate?” She added a sugar-sweet smile for affect.
    He started to walk and then must have realized she hadn’t acquiesced to his request. She heard him breathe out like it was a real hassle to do so. He turned back. “I’m a portrait photographer and I also teach. Photography that is, not anthropology or anything academic.”
    The last line sounded like a personal insult. Against himself. But looking at his photos, looking about his house, he had nothing to feel inferior about. She ignored his self-deprecation, moving on to the next spectacular image and this time smiling because the photo had that kind of effect. “And let me guess, if I wanted to do one of those courses, it would cost a bundle and there’d be a lengthy waiting list?”
    “Something like that.”
    He didn’t look at the photo but rather at her as if he was trying to see beneath the surface. If he took some time to get to know her, he’d realize she was an open book whereas he was an enigma. “So, are the courses on portrait photography too or are they more general?”
    He cleared his throat. “We offer courses in every type of photography—portrait, landscape, creative. We also teach digital imaging and how to enhance and alter photos once they’re taken.”
    “Wow. I think that’s the most you’ve said to me since we met.”
    He raised his eyebrows with