Riding the Line (19 page)
But hell, he was jealous. How come his brothers had managed to get over being brought up by a contrary old bastard when he’d escaped and still struggled with it? Sometimes he still felt like a seven-year-old kid, powerless to defend himself against the weight of his father’s blows. Maybe Robyn was right and he was just too afraid to stand up for himself.
A small sound alerted him to the presence of another person behind him. He turned and saw Robyn fully dressed standing frozen in the bedroom doorway. He smiled at her. ‘It’s not time to get up, is it?’
She bit her lip. ‘No, I just needed to go get some . . .’ She made an airy gesture.
‘Some?’ Dakota advanced on her and she took a step back. ‘Some sex?’ He stroked a hand over his cock. ‘I can help you with that right here.’
She sighed and dropped her purse on to the carpet. ‘You’re not going to let me get out of here, are you?’
‘Nope.’ He started to undo the buttons on her jacket.
‘You’re just going to keep making love to me until I give up.’
‘Yep.’ He pulled her T-shirt off and unfastened her bra, all the time backing her back toward the bed. She slid a hand over his chest and tweaked his nipple. He winced but focused on pushing her jeans and panties down until she could step out of them.
He guided her toward the bed, lay down on his back and hauled her over him.
‘One more time, honey, and then I think I’ll be able to sleep, I promise.’
‘And by then it will be time to get up.’ She sighed and wrapped her hand around his thickening cock. ‘I suppose I might as well enjoy it then.’ She bent her head and took him deep inside her mouth.
Dakota closed his eyes as Robyn started to suck. Sometimes life was just too contrary to obsess over. Sometimes it was better just to go along for the ride.
Chapter Fourteen
‘So who exactly did you say you were?’
Robyn raised her chin to stare into the cold blue eyes of the tall blond cowboy who stood in front of her.
‘I’m Robyn Cooper, Mr Scott’s personal assistant.’ She waved her security pass in his face. ‘See? It says so here.’
He frowned down at her. ‘Well, I’m Jay Turner, his brother, and I don’t remember hearing anything about you.’
She fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘Well, perhaps that’s because you weren’t on set yesterday as planned.’
‘Lady, I talked to Dakota last night. He sure didn’t mention you.’
‘He didn’t?’
‘Mr Turner, are you saying Ms Cooper shouldn’t be here?’ Robyn noted that Stephanie could barely keep the note of excitement out of her voice as she smiled triumphantly down at her.
‘I’m saying I need to talk to my brother.’ Jay looked around impatiently. ‘Where the hell is he?’
‘I’m right here.’
Robyn turned to see Dakota emerging from the make-up trailer, his half-unzipped jeans barely hanging on his hips, his chest oiled and gleaming.
‘Jeez, what the hell did they do to you?’ Jay laughed out loud. ‘You look like someone from the gay rodeo.’
Dakota kept going until his toes were aligned with his brother’s. Robyn noticed they were about the same height and build.
‘They did what you told them to do, asshole,’ Dakota growled.
Jay held out his hands palms up. He was still chuckling. ‘I didn’t choose your clothes, dude. You’ll have to take that up with Lauren.’
Robyn frowned.
Who the hell was Lauren
?
Who the hell was Lauren
?
‘Lauren did this to me?’ Dakota’s expression darkened. ‘Where is she?’
‘She’s coming in with Grayson later today so you can fight it out with her then.’ Jay punched Dakota’s shoulder. ‘I only supplied the boots. Lauren came up with the props and your clothes, and the film production company put it all together.’
‘Lucky me,’ Dakota muttered. He caught sight of Robyn and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Robyn, I’d like you to meet my brother, Jay Turner.’
The humor in Jay’s face abruptly faded. We’ve already met.’
Robyn managed a smile as she moved out of Dakota’s embrace. ‘Mr Turner thinks I’m here under false pretenses. Apparently you didn’t think to mention me when you talked to him last night.’
Dakota grimaced. ‘Damn, I’m sorry, Robyn, I meant to but Jay’s news kind of put it out of my head.’
Jay pointed at the office building behind them. ‘How about we take this inside?’ He glanced at Robyn, his blue eyes glacial. ‘Might as well keep it in the family.’
Robyn took a step away from him. Strange how much that comment hurt. ‘I’m not part of your family, Mr Turner, so I suppose that means I should stay outside?’
Dakota grabbed her hand. ‘You’re coming, honey. My brother is just being a mite overprotective.’
Jay turned on his heel and headed for the production office. Dakota edged past a gawping Stephanie and a couple of the crew, Robyn’s hand held tightly in his own. Inside the office, Jay took the commanding space behind the desk, leaving the uncomfortable chairs to Robyn and Dakota – as if they wanted to sit anyway. Robyn shut the door and leant against it. The brothers squared off in front of her.
‘What’s up, Jay?’
Jay pointed at Robyn. ‘She “says” she’s your personal assistant. When did a buckle bunny ever get that respectable?’
‘When did you get so fucking rude?’ Dakota took a step toward Jay, his hands clenched into fists.
Jay’s eyebrows rose. ‘Whoa, little brother. What’s the problem?’ He eyed Robyn. ‘I’ve seen her around the rodeo before. It’s no big deal whom you choose to sleep with. I just don’t want her around my commercial shoot.’
‘Robyn is my assistant. She knows more about Hollywood than you could ever imagine.’
‘She told you that?’
Dakota glanced her way, his expression livid. Robyn realized she was holding her breath. Would he keep her secrets or tell his brother about her?
‘Look, she isn’t a buckle bunny.’ Dakota sighed. ‘She doesn’t even know how to ride a horse, let alone follow the rodeo.’
Robyn cleared her throat. ‘Actually I can ride a horse.’
Dakota glared at her. ‘Thanks, honey, you’re really helping here.’ He turned back to Jay. ‘She’s not going anywhere. If you make her leave, I’ll go as well and fuck your commercial.’
Jay went still, his mouth a tight line. He didn’t strike Robyn as the kind of guy who liked being issued ultimatums. She wanted to close her eyes. How dare Dakota be so reckless? Was he really prepared to lose his job and fight with his brother over her?
‘It’s OK, Dakota. I can always get another job.’
Dakota cut her off with a decisive wave of his hand. ‘It’s not an option, honey. Jay needs to make up his mind.’
Robyn marched right up to Dakota and poked him in the chest. ‘Don’t get all macho and tell me what I can and cannot do. If I want to stop you doing something totally insane, I will!’
Dakota scowled down at her. ‘The hell you will.’
To her astonishment, Jay began to laugh. He moved around the desk and held out his hand. ‘Put it there, little bro. I’ve never seen you get mad before. I didn’t think you could.’ He grinned at Robyn. ‘And if you can make him that angry, I reckon it will be fun to keep you around as well.’ He shook Dakota’s hand and turned to the door. ‘I’ll go tell that Stephanie chick you can stay, Robyn, and then let’s get back to work. This shoot is costing me a fortune.’
As his booted footsteps died away, Dakota stared down at Robyn. ‘What just happened here?’
She hugged him tight. ‘Your brother decided to act like a sensible man.’
‘Couldn’t have been my brother, then. He has a terrible temper.’
‘Maybe he realized it wasn’t worth the fight.’
Dakota chuckled. ‘You don’t know him, Robyn. Everything is worth a fight to Jay. He loves Helen and he’s always quarrelling with her, although, to be fair, they seem to thrive on it.’
Robyn patted his cheek. ‘Well, perhaps he simply realized you weren’t going to back down and decided to humor you.’
‘Well, there’s a first time for everything. It’s far more likely that he didn’t want to lose any more money on the commercial.’
She smiled into his eyes and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘Who’s Lauren?’
He blinked and a slow smile spread over his face. ‘Lauren?’
‘Yeah, your brother mentioned her earlier. I don’t remember anyone in the production company with that name.’
‘No, you wouldn’t. Lauren is
way
more special than that.’
way
more special than that.’
‘Really? How special?’
‘She has a company called Retro Girl that provides props from the 50s and 60s to ad and film companies.’
‘Good for her.’
‘She’s provided most of the stufffor this commercial.’ He patted the crotch of his faded jeans. ‘Apparently, these were made in the 50s.’
‘Really.’ Robyn was beginning to dislike Lauren. She sounded way too good to be true and Dakota seemed to think she was way too cool. ‘Shame she couldn’t find a pair that stayed up.’
Dakota looked reproachful. ‘You said I looked good in them yesterday.’
Robyn stalked toward the door. ‘And you’d better look good in them today, seeing as your brother is watching.’
He followed her out of the door. ‘Yeah, and Lauren will be here soon as well. I hope she likes what she sees.’
‘How could she not?’
Robyn realized she was gritting her teeth as Dakota smiled back at her. Dressed in her black Wal-Mart T-shirt and capris she suddenly felt exposed. If only she could sneak back into her apartment and liberate a few of her old clothes . . . She made her way toward the new set which depicted the interior of a barn. Wisps of hay floated around the set making Robyn’s eyes water. She sneezed hard, felt Dakota push a handkerchief into her hand.
For once it was a pleasure to seek anonymity behind the camera rather than having to take her seething emotions on stage. Dakota drove her mad. One minute he was defending her as though he really cared about her, the next singing the praises of dear Lauren, who had her own company.
Her gaze drifted to Dakota who stood in the center of the circle of lights, head bent as he listened to Joe, the director. Occasionally he nodded and pointed at some part of the set. Robyn wanted to go to him, slap his face and kiss him all at the same time. It was the first time that someone had stood up for her in years and she was absurdly grateful.
Would Dakota really have walked out if Jay insisted she had to leave? Would she have let him? God, he was such a nice guy . . .
‘Ms Cooper?’
She turned to find Jay Turner at her elbow, his expression benign.
‘Everything’s settled with the production company, so we’re cool, OK?’
She smiled at him. ‘OK.’ He continued to study her, the intent focus of his gaze made her want to hide. ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘You really do look familiar. Are you sure we haven’t met before?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Robyn gathered her courage. ‘But I really am an actress. You might have seen me in a few commercials or in the background of some bad movies.’
Jay’s intent blue eyes reminded her of a husky dog. ‘Yeah, maybe that’s it.’ He frowned. ‘I just need to place you in the right setting and I’ll work it out.’
Robyn shrugged. ‘Don’t worry about it. I get it a lot. I must have an average face.’
‘No, you don’t. You’re quite distinct.’ Jay smiled at her. ‘I’ll get it. Meanwhile, you keep helping my little brother and we’ll get along just fine.’
Robin raised her eyebrows. ‘Is that a threat, Mr Turner?’
His smile disappeared. ‘No, it’s a promise. He’s a nice guy. I don’t want to see him hurt again.’
Sudden heat crowded Robyn’s cheeks. ‘And what about me? What if I’m the one who gets hurt?’
Jay shrugged. ‘I guess that’s your problem, Ms Cooper. Dakota is mine.’
Jay touched the brim of his Stetson and stepped back, then disappeared through the crowd watching the shoot. Robyn pressed her lips together and stared blindly into the lights. So that was how a family protected its own. She was OK as long as she pleased Dakota and after that she was irrelevant. Despite the heat, she shivered. How nice to have that support behind you. How horrible to feel so excluded. But she’d felt that way all her life, so why did it bother her now?
Because she sensed that behind all the banter and the alpha-male behavior Dakota and his brother really cared about each other. Having a crap father had obviously bonded them together. Having a crap mother had driven her and her sisters apart.
She made her way to the corner of the set and sat down on an abandoned straw bale. In the welcome shadow of the wall, she took off her sunglasses. Her oldest sister, Wren, had two failed marriages behind her and was an alcoholic. Her other sister Leda was . . . Robyn closed her eyes tight against the thought of Leda.
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