The Talk of Hollywood Read Online Free PDF Page A

irritated glance before once again turning to walk away, this time in the direction of the horses grazing in a corner of the meadow that adjoined the garden. One of those horses, a beautiful chestnut stallion, ambled over to stretch its neck across the fence, so that Stazy could stroke absently down the long length of his nose as she continued to consider the options available to her.
    There really weren’t any.
    She either agreed to help Jaxon Wilder in his research or she refused, and then he’d go ahead and makethe film without any input from her grandfather or Anastasia’s private papers.
    Her uncharacteristic physical awareness of this man was not only unacceptable but also baffling to Stazy, and even now, standing just feet away from him as she continued to stroke Copper’s nose, she was totally aware of Jaxon’s disturbing presence. Too much for her not to know that spending a week in his company was simply asking for trouble.
    It was all too easy for Jaxon to see the riot of emotions that flashed across Stazy Bromley’s expressive face as she considered what to do about this situation: impatience, frustration, anger, dismay—
    Dismay …?
    Jaxon raised dark brows as he wondered what
that
was all about. Obviously Stazy would rather this situation didn’t exist at all, but she didn’t appear to be the type of woman who would allow anything to get the better of her. And exactly
why
was he even bothering to wonder what type of woman Stazy Bromley was? Jaxon questioned self-derisively.
    Her physical resemblance to her grandmother had aroused his interest initially, but this last hour or so of being insulted by her—both for who and what he was—had surely nullified that initial spark of appreciation?
    Jaxon studied Stazy from beneath lowered lids. That wonderful hair gleamed fiery-gold in the sunlight, her eyes were a sultry and luminescent green, and there was a slight flush to her cheeks from walking in the sunshine. Her full and sensuous lips curved into an affectionate smile as the stallion nudged against her shoulder for attention.
    He drew in a deep breath. ‘It must have been a difficult time for you after your parents died—’
    ‘I would rather not discuss my own private life with you, if you don’t mind,’ she said stiffly.
    ‘I was only going to say that this must have been a wonderful place to spend your teenage years,’ Jaxon murmured as he turned to lean his elbows on the fence and look across at the mellow-stoned house.
    ‘It was—yes,’ Stazy confirmed huskily. She looked up at him curiously. ‘Whereabouts in England are you from?’
    ‘Cambridgeshire.’
    ‘And do you still go home?’ she prompted curiously.
    ‘Whenever I can.’ Jaxon nodded. ‘Which probably isn’t as often as my family would like. My parents and younger brother still live in the small village where I grew up. But it’s nowhere near as nice as this.’
    It really was idyllic here, Jaxon appreciated, with horses gently grazing behind them, birds singing in the trees in the beautiful wooded area surrounding Bromley House and the coastline edging onto the grounds. The slightly salty smell of the sea was just discernible as waves gently rose and fell on the distant sand.
    ‘I had forgotten that places like this existed,’ he added almost wistfully.
    ‘Nothing like it in LA, hmm?’ Stazy mocked as she turned to look at him.
    He shot her a rueful smile. ‘Not exactly, no.’ The place he had bought on the coast in Malibu several years ago was too huge and modern to feel in the least homely. ‘Although I do own a place in New England—very rustic and in the woods—where I go whenever I get the chance.’ Which, he realised, hadn’t been all that often during recent years.
    He had been busy filming and then editing his last film most of the previous year, then caught up in attendingthe premieres and numerous awards ceremonies since—including those that Stazy had mocked earlier! All of that had left him