Pulling her against him, he tightened his grip on her. “Baby, I love you more than anything or anyone in the world. I couldn’t love you more but I can’t let you loose for a minute, can I? Not without you getting into a fix.”
“Sara said you wouldn’t be happy, which I already knew, and Amanda just got more and more jittery, oh, and then told me that she would always choose doing the right thing by you over me,” said Tasha as Jim arched a brow.
“One fearful, obedient wife out of seven is something I suppose,” he mused. “So, was that what the strange texts and calls were about?”
“Mmm,” she replied in a hushed tone.
“Oh come on, Tasha, let’s have it all.” He huffed.
“She came back over and asked me to give you her number, but I stopped short of telling her to go and fuck herself and just said if you wanted her number you’d have it and I corrected her claim that you were her husband, then I called you and offered her my phone to speak to you directly. An offer she declined.”
“I bet she did.” He shook his head.
“Oh, and I may have inadvertently revealed my numerical referencing of your wives to Sara, Amanda and Abby.” She winced as she awaited another reaction, undoubtedly a negative one.
“Tasha! Why? Why would you do that? For fuck’s sake!”
“I’m sorry, again, but when I explained it they were okay. Really they were,” she assured him.
“Do I even want to know what the four of you talked about?” Jim was almost thinking aloud.
“Probably not, although they all believe I’ll take your name after we marry,” she told him making him smile a little.
“But not you?” he asked seriously now.
“We’ll talk about it,” she said sincerely.
“Yes, we will,” he agreed. “But not tonight. Now go to sleep,” he ordered as he wrapped himself around her and held her close.
Chapter 30
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome one of the brightest Hollywood stars of the future and a genuinely nice lady, Natasha Winters,” boomed Katy Myer’s voice around the studio and as Tasha emerged from the wings she was surprised, but very pleased with the applause from the audience.
She stood and greeted Katy with an embrace and a kiss to each cheek before offering a little bow and a curtsy to the audience then took her seat on the sofa that was angled next to Katy’s chair.
Jim, who was now seated in the front row of the audience was right, Katy was very good at her job, but as she liked Tasha she would be fine, and she was. After the first couple of questions about her being English and the sort of work she’d done previously, Tasha relaxed and allowed the young, beautiful, funny and charming lady she was to come out.
She answered the questions put to her while Jim watched on and smiled. She charmed Katy further and the audience too. By the end of the interview she really did have them all eating out of her hand. They loved her, and he could certainly understand why. He had become concerned when Katy had raised the subject of her family and the stories of her estranged parents, but she’d answered them with just enough honesty that the audience had empathy with her, but stopped short of pity. Then she’d talked about her siblings, grandparents and friends back home with obvious love and affection which had won over everyone watching even further. Then there had been some VT of her work in the U.K. and some stills of the modelling shoots she’d done over the last couple of years. She really was very beautiful and she was his. He smiled to himself as he looked from the images on screen to the woman sat before him.
Katy had eventually worked up to discussing her recent engagement to movie mogul and head of studio,bachelorJim Maybury. Tasha had even managed to blush as Katy forced her to admit that although their romance had been very much a whirlwind she was completely head over heels with him and was very excited at the prospect of marrying him.
When Katy asked about having children, he’d held his breath but needn’t have worried.
“I’m sure when the time is right and if we are blessed with children we’ll become the biggest baby bores the modern world has ever known, but if it doesn’t happen, then Jim already has two children that I am incredibly fond of, so I guess we are already blessed,” she replied.
The audience had lapped that one up and applauded loudly. Katy ended the interview with an invitation to return anytime, which Jim knew would be genuine and as Tasha stood to take another bow and the audience applauded he decided she really could be a big star, with or without him. She turned towards him and their eyes locked, she smiled at him, a smile just for him, exclusively his, like her. He smiled back and watched her wander off set and backstage again.
She had got everything spot on tonight, including the dress and shoes she’d teamed together; she’d fished a dress out of the back of the wardrobe that had turned out to be a Stella McCartney she’d left there, a dark grey/brown jersey dress that had a deep V-neck to the front and back with cropped bat sleeves and a wrap effect hem. She had added a new pair of grey, suede five inch heeled Christian Louboutin open toe peep toe shoes with a knotted detail on the top she’d bought earlier that day when she’d been out visiting Gail’s salon and Kayla.
He found her back in the green room where he put an arm around her and kissed her temple gently. “You were amazing tonight, Tasha. Everyone loved you.”
She smiled appreciatively at him. “And yet you were the only one I loved in return.”
“Precisely as it should be, Miss Winters.”
Jim smiled before Katy appeared behind them. “Thank you so much for coming on Tasha. I think that went really well,” she said sincerely.
“Thank you,” replied Tasha as Jim’s phone rang and he moved away a little to take the call leaving Tasha and Katy alone.
