Читать книгу Bachelor Undone - Brenda Jackson - Страница 8

Spending her vacation in New York during the month of December was not on Darcelle Owens’s list of things to do, which was why she was in a cab headed for JFK International Airport. She loved living in the Big Apple, but when forecasters had predicted the city’s coldest winter ever, she was glad she had plans to get the hell out of Dodge.

Jamaica, here I come, she thought relaxing back in her seat. While her coworkers would be battling the snow, she planned to be lying half-naked on the beach under the heat of the Jamaican sun. And then at night, she’d become a sophisticated hooch and let her hair down, party and even do a little man-hunting. She deserved it after working her tail off the past two years.

She had the whole month of December off and would have loved to spend the entire time in Jamaica. But her parents expected her to come home for Christmas, as usual. She got a chill in her bones just thinking of returning to Minneapolis for even a little while.

She’d always hated cold weather and would have headed south to attend college if her parents hadn’t convinced her of how much money they could save not having to pay out-of-state tuition. When she talked to her mother just that morning, it was twenty below zero. Brrrr.

And then her best friend Ellie Lassiter expected her to spend a few days with her at her lake house in North Carolina before Ellie and her husband Uriel’s New Year’s Eve bash.

Darcy planned to keep her family and Ellie happy, but first she intended to relax in the warm weather for at least three weeks.

Darcy cringed when she heard the chime of a text message on her cell phone. How dare her younger brother Prescott teach their mother how to text! Darcy bet between her, Prescott and her older brother Jonas that their mother, Joan Owens, sent out over one hundred text messages a day. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a tad bit, but it would seem about that number.

Checking her phone, Darcy smiled when she saw the message hadn’t come from her mother after all. It was from Ellie.

Behave yourself in J. Have fun. E

Darcy chuckled and quickly texted back. Can’t behave myself and have fun, too. LOL.

Got Bruce with you? the responding text asked.

Darcy’s smile widened. Bruce was the name she’d given her little sex toy. Nope. Left Bruce behind this time. I hope to get lucky and find someone who’s looking to have some fun. Looking forward to relaxing, reading and replacing Bruce with the real thing.

She wasn’t surprised when within seconds of sending that message her cell phone rang. Of course it was Ellie. “Yes, El?”

“And just what do you mean by that?” her best friend asked.

Darcy threw her head back and laughed. “Just what I said. It’s time Bruce goes into retirement. He’s earned it.”

“Girl, you’re awful.”

“No, I’m not. If I was awful, I wouldn’t have gone without being in a relationship for two years. If it hadn’t been for Bruce and my romance novels, I don’t know what I would have done to keep sane.”

And that was so true. She had moved from Minneapolis after taking a job as a city planner for New York City. Over the past two years, she had been working day and night trying to prove the city hadn’t made a mistake by hiring an outsider.

She had worked hard and hadn’t taken any time off other than the recognized holidays, which was why she had accumulated so much vacation time. And now she intended to enjoy it. It was the end of the year, and her boss had warned her to “use it or lose it.” The only thing she planned to lose was two years of abstinence.

“Chill, El,” she said when there was silence on the other end. “I’m taking plenty of condoms with me if that makes you happy.”

She glanced up and saw the elderly cabdriver looking at her looking in the rearview mirror. Oops. She couldn’t do anything but smile. She lowered her head and whispered into the phone. “Look, you’re going to get me in trouble, El. The cabbie heard my remark about condoms and is looking at me funny. Like he thinks I’m a loose woman or something.”

“Nobody’s fault but your own for saying what you did.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Whatever. Go and have your fun, but be careful, stay safe and you better have a lot to tell me when you get back.”

Darcy felt giddy all the way to her toes. “Trust me, I will. I intend to become one of the heroines in those romance novels I enjoy reading so much. And I got this hot pink bikini with the word seduction written all over it.”

Darcy then clicked off the phone and glanced out the cab’s window. It had started snowing. She drew in a deep breath thinking she couldn’t get to Jamaica fast enough.

York Ellis, former NYPD officer and present-day security expert, felt adrenaline flow through his veins. It was always that way at the start of a new case, and from the sound of things, this one would be a challenge. As far as he was concerned, anything would top the last case he had protecting the horse who’d won the Kentucky Derby when rumors of a horse-napping had begun circulating.

He glanced across his desk at Malcolm Overstreet, renowned director and screenwriter. Malcolm was there to represent a group of New York filmmakers whose movies were getting put on the black market before they got the chance to be released to theaters. This was causing the filmmakers enormous loss of profits and almost forcing them into bankruptcy. In this case, the actual movie footage was being sold while the production was still in process. Certain scenes were even appearing on the internet.

On top of that, idle threats had been made against the making of a controversial movie. Malcolm wanted York’s firm to find out who was behind the bootlegging as well as handle the security for the movie.

York had enough people working for him to do the latter, and as far as finding out who was involved in advance footage being released to the public, he figured with the right plan in place that should be easy enough.

“Have you ever considered the possibility this might be an inside job?” he asked Malcolm. He could tell from the man’s expression that he hadn’t.

“We have good people working for our production company,” Malcolm said. “If we lose money, they lose money.”

Not necessarily, York thought. “When does the movie continue shooting?” he asked.

“Next week in Jamaica,” Malcolm responded.

York nodded as he jotted down a few notes. He knew the film was a controversial biography on the life of Marcus Garvey, the black civil rights activist from Jamaica. And he knew it would depict a side of Garvey that some didn’t want told—which was the reason for the heightened security while they were on the island. “Has any current cast or crew member worked on your last couple of movies?”

“Yes, we usually hire the same crew for all our productions. Some of them have been with us for years, and it’s hard to imagine them being a part of anything illegal.”

“What about your cast?”

“Johnny Rush is my leading man as Garvey, and Danielle Simone is my leading lady as his love interest. But you can scratch them off the list,” Malcolm said confidently.

York lifted a brow. “Why are you so sure?”

“Their egos. Both are too vain to want their work anywhere other than the big screen, trust me. They think having their work out on the black market is an insult to their talent. In fact, the only way they would agree to work with Spirit Head Productions again is if we assured them their work will not be undermined and hit the streets before a premier date.”

“What about Damien Felder?” York asked, glancing down at the papers on his desk. “I’ve noticed his name has shown up on probably every production you’ve done.”

Malcolm nodded. “You can mark Damien’s name off the list as well. He’s my line producer, and a cut in our profits slashes into his bank account as well. He has nothing to gain from our movies appearing on the black market. If another one of our movies gets bootlegged, we’ll be filing for bankruptcy.”

Malcolm then leaned forward. “I believe whoever is behind things will try and get the footage sometime while my cast and crew are shooting the final scenes in Jamaica. And I want you to make sure that doesn’t happen, York. My partners and I are sick and tired of losing money that way. It’s not fair not only to us but to every person who has a stake in the production.”

The man paused and then added, “And then there’s this threat on Rush. Some think he fabricated things for publicity, but we can’t take any chances.”

York closed his notepad. Malcolm and his group were heavy hitters who could open the doors to even more business for York’s security firm. But more importantly, it was the principle of the thing. Someone was breaking the law and cutting into the profits—actually outright stealing them—and they were profits they didn’t deserve.

He knew one of the main reasons Malcolm had come to him was because Malcolm was a friend of his father’s. Malcolm had also attended Morehouse College as a young man along with York’s father and five godfathers before getting a graduate degree from Columbia University Film School. “I understand, and I intend to fly to Jamaica immediately and find out who is behind things.”

Malcolm lifted a brow. “Will it be that easy?”

York met the man’s gaze with an intense look. “No, but once I establish my cover, I’ll be a regular on set and I can keep an eye on what’s going on. And the six men and three women working for me are the best of the best. Rest assured, whoever is behind this has messed with one of your productions for the last time.”