Hollywood Wives - the New Generation Read Online Free PDF Page A

sure that the private investigator she'd
hired would come up with plenty of incriminating evidence.
    Call it woman's instinct, but she knew that marriage number four was
definitely over.
    Shortly after Lissa left the restaurant, Taylor announced she had a
meeting with her writer and had to rush.
    'Jesus!' Stella exclaimed. 'How long have you been working on this
script of yours now?'
    'Too long,' Taylor said, with a grimace. 'And I'm
still
stuck in development hell.'
    'Surely Larry can help?' James asked.
    Yes
, Taylor thought grimly.
He can and he will
.
    When she'd first got involved with the project, she hadn't imagined
that she'd require her husband's assistance. She'd been determined to
prove to Hollywood that there was more than
one
talent in the
family, that she was quite capable of getting a movie off the ground by
herself.
    The truth was that - dammit - she couldn't. Hollywood was basically
a boys' town, and even though she was married to one of the boys, when
she was out there operating on her own, it didn't make any difference.
    This was infuriating, because more than anything Taylor craved
recognition and her own identity. Hollywood knew her as Mrs Lawrence
Singer, the wife of an extraordinarily multi-talented man who had three
Oscars on his mantel and numerous other awards. A man who was well
respected and well liked. And just because she was his wife (second),
so was she.
    Larry was, at fifty, only a mere sixteen years older than her -
hardly an age-gap in Hollywood circles, where the norm was at least
twenty years.
    Successful men usually dumped their first wives within several years
of making it big. Then they married the second much younger wife, and
started another family, claiming that they would now be able to spend
quality time with their new offspring - conveniently forgetting how
much this self-serving statement pissed off their original children.
Stella's husband, Seth, was a classic example. Taylor had decided that
children were not on her agenda for now. First, a kick-ass career, then
maybe a kid or two. It wasn't as if Larry was desperate - the one time
they'd discussed it, he'd told her he didn't care either way. He had a
teenage daughter from his first marriage, and fortunately the girl
resided in Hawaii with her mother, so Taylor hardly ever saw her.
    She and Larry had been married for five years. They'd lived together
for eighteen months before he'd got his divorce - a divorce that had
cost him millions, but he hadn't seemed to mind. Taylor
had
minded. Especially when
his lawyers stepped in and suggested that
she
sign a
prenuptial. She'd moved out of his house in a rage, and not spoken to
him for days. Her behaviour paid off. He'd begged her forgiveness and
the pre-nup was never mentioned again.
    They'd met on one of his movies. She'd had a small role and he was
king of the set. She'd gone after him from day one. Married or not,
Larry Singer was destined to be her ticket to ride on
all
the
roundabouts.
    Tracking him was easy - especially for an experienced player like
Taylor, who'd been knocking around Hollywood for several years,
snagging small roles in theatrical movies and starring in a couple of
failed sit-coms.
    Taylor was an ex-cheerleader who'd come to Hollywood after winning a
beauty pageant. Once there, she'd managed to fuck her way to the middle.
    Larry was an extraordinarily talented, rather plain man who'd never
explored his sexual potential.
    Taylor had helped him make the trip.
    Now it was his turn to help her.
    She had a script that was almost right, and so it should be: she'd
been working on it for long enough, hiring and firing a succession of
writers. When the script was exactly the way she wanted it, she planned
on directing
and
playing the lead role of a strong woman. So
far three studios had passed, and finally she'd been forced to ask
Larry to come to her aid. With his kind of clout they both knew he
could get anything done.
    Pending script approval, he'd set up a deal for