“It’s not her fault,” Raine jumped in.

Alec gave his sister a look that questioned her sanity.

Charlotte supposed it was her fault. And she didn’t blame Alec for being angry. She was ready to face the music. But she was sorely disappointed at having let the Hudsons down.

Alec reached for her arm, then he seemed to remember his filthy hands, because he pulled back, nodding toward a quiet corner of the porch.

“I feel terrible,” she began as soon as they were out of earshot. “I should have thought about security. I should have thought about safety-”

“I need to ask,” said Alec, coming to a halt, turning to face her. He didn’t look angry. In fact, he looked concerned.

“What?” she asked bravely, watching his expression closely.

“What happened earlier-between us.”

Ahh. Now she got it. She shifted gears. This was the it-was-a-good-time speech, the we’re-both-adults speech, the no-expectations speech.

Okay. She was prepared for that. They were both adults, and neither of them were under any illusions.

Charlotte squared her shoulders. “You don’t have to say it, Alec. I understand. And I agree with you completely.” They’d go on as if nothing had happened. If he’d let them stay and complete the movie, that was a huge win for her. She wasn’t going to sit around and cry over a one-night stand.

Well, maybe she’d cry a bit. But only because it was such an incredible one-night stand. It would have been nice for it to be two nights or three. But that wasn’t the way Alec operated. Or so she’d read in the tabloids.

“You agree with me?” he asked.

She nodded. “And it’ll stay our secret.”

He folded his arms over his wet shirt. “We already established that.”

“Right.” She nodded. “Of course we did.” So what was left to talk about?

“What I wanted to ask you…” He glanced around. Then he moved in closer. “Do you want to do it again?”

Charlotte blinked. “I don’t understand.”

He moved closer still. “I don’t dare even touch you out here, never mind pull you into my arms and kiss you. But I’m asking, do you want to make love with me again?”

“And finish the movie?”

“What does one have to do with the other?”

“Well, I’m here because of the filming, and now we’ve destroyed your yard.”

He glanced over her shoulder. “They did a pretty good job of that.”

“Are you kicking us out?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to stand here and keep my hands off you?”

Charlotte had a pretty good idea, since she was fighting the same battle to keep her hands off him. She smiled.

He frowned in return. “Answer the damn question.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“Raine is staring at us.”

“You let me worry about Raine.”

Six

Charlotte changed out of her dress and took a long, hot shower. Afterward, she was still too keyed up to sleep. It was past midnight, but people were still working in the yard. Equipment roared to life, and a few firefighters stood by the smoking rubble with shovels and a hose.

She slipped into a pair of jeans and a short T-shirt, stuffing her feet into a pair of low sandals and pulling her damp hair into a simple ponytail.

Maybe she could find some brandy in the kitchen. A strong drink might help her sleep.

She padded down two flights of stairs, past the film sets in the entryway and the great room, along the hall toward the back of the house. She heard voices through the open door of a library.

Alec, Kiefer, Jack, Lars and three other crew members sat around a large table.

“David will be here in the morning to do an assessment,” said Jack, slipping his cell phone into his pocket.

“We’ll lose two shooting days at least,” said Lars with a scowl. “Somebody’s ass is on the-”

“I can pull a construction crew off the project in Toulouse,” Kiefer said to Alec.

Charlotte cringed. Alec had been clear that none of his employees were to be impacted.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to fire anyone,” said Alec, staring directly at Lars. “Seems to me you’re going to need all the skilled labor you can find.”

The three crew members stilled, and Lars’s mouth worked as his face went ruddy. “How is it any of your-”

“It’s my yard that was burned to a crisp,” said Alec. “And I don’t intend it to become a permanent movie set.”

“We move on,” said Jack, nodding in Alec’s direction, clearly overruling Lars. “Accidents happen.”

It was the first time Charlotte had seen her brother pull rank. Maybe it was because she didn’t particularly like Lars. Or maybe it was because he was backing Alec. But she was proud of Jack.

Alec caught sight of her. He gave her a little smile and motioned her in, indicating an empty chair next to him.

“The construction crew?” Kiefer asked Alec.

“If we can spare them,” said Alec, letting his thigh come to rest against Charlotte’s as she sat down. He had also changed, into a pair of black slacks and a royal-blue, pin-striped dress shirt. He hadn’t bothered with a tie, and she discovered she liked the casual look on him.

“Send me the bill,” Jack told Kiefer.

Kiefer gave him a nod.

Lars was silent and sullen, his jaw clenched where he’d pulled back from the table.

One of the other crew members flipped through a clipboard. “If we switch scenes thirty-five and sixteen, and move up the party sequence, we can make up some time,” he said.

“Can you get the extras in tomorrow?” asked Jack.

“On it,” said the man, making a notation.

“The story editor isn’t finished with thirty-five,” said Lars.

“He has eight hours to get finished,” said Jack.

“Unacceptable,” Lars retorted.

“You want to duke it out with David tomorrow?” asked Jack, a tightness around his mouth. “Because I’m not about to tell a man coming off a string of low-budget independents that our story editor is a prima donna.”

Alec leaned over to Charlotte and whispered, “I think Jack has this well in hand.”

She tried not to smile. She’d always assumed Jack’s laid-back persona meant he wasn’t as strong as some of those around him. He might disguise it, but her brother seemed to have a backbone of steel.

“Charlotte?” came Raine’s voice from the doorway.

Charlotte guiltily snapped her leg away from Alec’s and pushed back her chair.

“I was looking for you,” she said to Raine, coming to her feet. She crossed the room without looking back. “I was hoping to find some brandy,” she told Raine in an undertone.

“Right this way,” said Raine, pointing to the kitchen. She was still wearing the kicky little black skirt with a fitted, purple tank top. Charlotte couldn’t help wondering what Raine had been doing for the past hour.

She settled into a breakfast nook, while Raine rattled through a cabinet.

The bay window faced east, so the destruction of the front yard was out of sight. The moon was full, the stars in multiple layers. Pot lights outlined a few of the garden pathways, and the pool was just visible down the slope, beyond an oleander hedge.

“I know I won’t sleep, either,” said Raine, curling onto the semicircular bench seat across from Charlotte. She set down a bottle of cognac and two thin crystal snifters.

“I’m so glad nobody was seriously hurt,” said Charlotte.

“Now that out there,” said Raine, pouring the amber liquid into the glasses, “that was more like the real Alec.”

“He took it very well,” Charlotte agreed. Though she supposed two hours of vigorous sex might have mellowed him out a little. “What were you doing with Kiefer?”

“We’re renovating the head office in Toulouse. The architect wanted to change the configuration of my offices.”

“Problem?”

Raine grinned. “Not really. But don’t tell Kiefer.”

“You’re making him sweat?”

Raine nodded.

“Just recreationally?” Charlotte took a sip of the cognac, letting the warm liquid ease down her throat.

“You bet,” said Raine with a toss of her bobbed hair. “Life’s too easy for Kiefer.”

“And it’s not for you?”

Raine frowned. “It’s not the same thing. I don’t have every woman in France laying out the red carpet for me.”

“You’re his boss.”

“Ha! I’d love to hear you say that when Kiefer’s in the room.”

“Say what when Kiefer’s in the room?” Kiefer appeared from the hallway.

Charlotte glanced to Raine, unsure of what to say.

“Go ahead.” Raine laughed. “Tell him.”

Charlotte cleared her throat, trying to guess what kind of a hornet’s nest she was walking into. “That she’s your boss.”

Kiefer scoffed out a strangled laugh. “Not until she can read a balance sheet, write a contract or take me in a fistfight.”

“I own fifty percent of Montcalm Corporation.”

“We both know that’s an honorary thing.” His gaze zeroed in on the bottle, and he helped himself to a snifter from a glassed-in cupboard.

“See what I have to put up with?” Raine asked Charlotte.

“Do you have signing authority?” asked Charlotte, taking Raine’s side. She liked Kiefer, but she assumed he could take care of himself.

“I have plenty of signing authority.” Raine nodded briskly.

“Alec is the CEO,” Kiefer pointed out. “And I have absolutely no problem reporting to him.”

“I don’t know, Kiefer,” Charlotte teased. “If she can sign your paycheck, I think you work for her.”

Kiefer poured himself a measure of cognac. “When she has the power to fire me, I’ll get worried.”

“You’re fired,” said Raine.

Kiefer just chuckled, holding up his brandy in a toast. “You just keep publishing the pretty little puff pictures, sweetheart. Let me worry about the serious stuff.”

Raine’s jade eyes flared, and she jumped to her feet. “I can’t get any respect. I swear, I am getting an MBA.”

But Charlotte’s attention stayed on Kiefer, watching his expression, catching that unguarded second when his gaze dipped to Raine’s clingy, low-cut top and his nostrils flared.

Charlotte sat back. Interesting. The crackling energy between them was a lot more than just antagonism.

“Good luck with that,” Kiefer drawled.

“If only to shove it in your face.”

“Your degree is in what?” he asked mildly. “Fashion? Fine art?”

“That’s why I’m a magazine publisher.”

He swirled the cognac in his wide palm, pretending to study it. “By the way-” he looked up “-circulation was down last quarter.”

“You’re an ass.”

“Hey-” he feigned innocence “-don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Don’t ask me to do this, Alec.” On the balcony of Alec’s office, Kiefer gazed down at the construction crew swarming over last night’s fire rubble.

“It’s a couple of days,” said Alec from the open doorway, struggling to understand why Kiefer would refuse. “Take her to the distribution offices. Meet with the executives.”

“Raine doesn’t need me there.”

“I want you to get a feel for the magazine business. You said yourself distribution was down.”

“Marginally.”

Alec stepped out onto the balcony, moving next to Kiefer at the rail.

“You need me here,” said Kiefer.

“No, we don’t.”

“Or in Toulouse.”

“What good are you in Toulouse? The office is a mess, and the construction crew is working here.”

“Tokyo, then. Send me to Kana Hanako.”

“I want you to help Raine.” Truth was, Alec wanted Kiefer to make sure Raine stayed away from the château for a couple of days. It was the only way he was going to get any time alone with Charlotte.

Underhanded, maybe. But he had used Kiefer for less noble purposes in the past.

Kiefer’s jaw set in a line, and his hands smacked down hard on the rail. “Well, you might as well fire me, then.” He turned to stalk back into the office.

What?

Alec gave his head a shake.

“What?” He shifted to stare at Kiefer.

Kiefer rounded, his hands on his hips. “Go ahead. Fire me for refusing an order.”

“I’m not-” Alec stepped inside. “Listen, I know you’re not wild about Raine.”

Kiefer started to laugh.

“What’s funny?”

“I’m not wild about Raine?”

Okay, so Raine made Kiefer nuts. They’d always sparked off each other, dragged one another down into the most petty of arguments. But they’d worked together for years. Alec assumed the relationship was at least tolerable.

Kiefer took a step forward, shaking his head in amazement. “You think I’m refusing an order because I don’t like Raine?”

“Why else?” It was not as if traveling to Paris, London and Rome was some kind of hardship. Particularly if they took the corporate jet.