Necessary Detour Read Online Free PDF Page A

macho. Crocodile wrestler or stuntman.
    “Nice to meet you.” She turned to go.
    He’d been dismissed. “You too.” Okay, she wasn’t going to reveal her plans to a stranger, but he considered continuing the conversation just to watch how her lips slid across her teeth when she talked. She was so damned pretty.
    She walked to the front of the house without looking back, her silk robe blowing out behind her. Did she know how dangerous that was to turn her back on a complete stranger?
    Pete mentally kicked himself for not getting more information. It would be difficult with her so close but not impossible.
    ****
    Nikki’s face was hot and her heart pounded against her rib cage. If that man wasn’t paparazzi or a stalker, who was he? Maybe he was a renter, working on computer software like he said.
    She’d been shocked to see her neighbor was the cowboy from the grocery store. The very attractive cowboy from the grocery store. He had a large scar across his chin, suggestive of stitches, maybe a childhood injury and when he smiled, the scar turned white. He still sounded like he’d swallowed barbed wire.
    Just in case she was wrong and this Pete guy was taking photos through the trees, Nikki had to stay sharp. It would put her at a slight advantage to have him dumbstruck over meeting Goldy. Most reporters and photographers had a glazed look in their eyes when face to face with her for the first time, and Pete Bayer was no exception. She understood the celebrity thing. He’d be used to seeing her on TV, hearing her referred to as a rock goddess. Hopefully he’d report that she’d been gracious and approachable. They often were unnecessarily cruel.
    If he was writing a book about her or a magazine piece, then his visit wouldn’t have been simple curiosity. Meeting her would add credibility to his story. He’d say he’d lived next door, knew her well enough to say hello, and was perfectly qualified to write the dirt about the star’s withdrawal from the world. She hoped she was wrong.
    Placing a call to her security people, she came up empty on the name Pete Bayer. “Sorry, Ms. Burnside. I’ll keep working on it. Maybe I should send someone out there.”
    It was standard for them to offer security, but if she consented to having a bodyguard at Louisa Lake, then the whole purpose of this retreat was shot down. Another person at the house to watch her every move would be horribly intrusive. She might as well be back in L.A.
    “No thanks, Steve. I’m safe here, as long as you haven’t traced my call.”
    He didn’t laugh. “Don’t worry about us.”
    ****
    Nausea moved into Nikki’s body in full force. She’d felt slightly woozy for the last few weeks, but not this bad. After eating a few bites of dry toast, she climbed the stairs to the loft that overlooked the great room and sat down at her piano.
    Most of Goldy’s hits had been written at that baby grand, and Nikki cherished it, not only because it had made her a lot of money, but because it made music. With eleven platinum CD’s and twice as many hits spun from them, it had served her well. Many of her fourteen Grammy awards owed their existence to her time at that piano.
    With her hands drifting lovingly over the keys, Nikki remembered the lyric she’d written months before. Now the song needed music. The first melody that trickled off the keyboard was wrong for the sentiment of the song. Too sweet, too mushy. She added some minor notes, more staccato. The music would have to be forceful, warlike in its message.
    “Danielle, you took me for a fool,
    Danielle, I sympathized with you,
    And now, you have him back with you,
    Is this what you wanted me to do?”
    She recalled writing these words in the Goldy deluxe touring bus in the middle of the night, driving from Chicago to St. Louis. Nestled in her chair, she plucked away on the guitar, as they headed toward their next concert.
    By then, Burn was sleeping in a single bunk, probably dreaming of the