With that, she was gone.Jace scratched his head, shook from it the fog that was settling in to replace the void left behind when the mystery woman all but evaporated.
He sighed, walked back to his car, and grabbed his cell.Something the woman said grated at the periphery of his thoughts, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.So he was planning to level his dad’s old farmhouse and barn?They needed it.But that didn’t make them monstrosities.
There was something else.As far as he knew before he got on the plane yesterday, his being here at all was as close to a state secret as he could pull off.He didn’t use his dad’s last name in Hollywood, so being back shouldn’t ruffle any feathers there.But if this woman had recognized him, who knew who she’d share his arrival with.
Damn.If he’d only been more careful driving, he wouldn’t be in this mess.There’d probably be a story on the front page of every damned tabloid in America by the time the sun came up about him, the famous movie star hiding out in rural Montana, driving like a frat kid in his daddy’s Porsche.It would only be half wrong, too.
The other half, saying goodbye to his father and his past, was actually the juicier story, not that anyone here would hear it.
With the touch of a button, he had his agent-slash-publicist on the line.
“How was your trip, Jace?”the light voice on the other end asked.Even from here, Jace could picture Cammie’s never-absent smile, the way she tilted her head to the side every time he spoke.It reminded him of his golden retriever, Max, when he was waiting for a treat.
She was sweet and often seen on the arm of non-client celebrities, thanks to her brilliance and savviness at her job paired with starlet good looks.She wasn’t his type, though.Blame it on his upbringing, but he liked his women more…authentic.
Unbidden, a flash of the woman he’d just encountered flitted across his vision like a ghost.A very sexy ghost.She, on the other hand… Now, she might be just his type, that is if she didn’t want him to dry up and blow away on the spot.Which was why he needed Cammie’s help.
She kept him out of the news in all the ways that mattered, which, after his breakup with Harley last fall, was nothing short of a Herculean task.
“Trip was fine.Thank the studio for the car for me, but let ’em know I’m gonna just rent a truck.I’ll drop the Porsche back off at the airport on the way.”
“Sounds good, boss,” Cammie said.“I’m sure it’ll feel like being back on set in a truck, won’t it?Playing another role?”
Jace pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes.That was truer than he’d like to admit, but not many people outside Cammie knew his roots were dug deep in Montana soil.On set was more a reminder of that than the other way around.
“How are you doing otherwise?”she asked.“With, you know, everything.”
She was the only one who knew why he was there, at least the on-paper reason.No one outside the walls of his heart knew he was doubling up on the time away to reassess.God knew she’d only try to talk him out of leaving acting, and right now, he was vulnerable enough to let himself be talked into damn near anything.
“I’m okay,” he answered.It was mostly true.“But I do have a question for you.Have you seen any leaks about the house or my trip up here?”
“Not one.Why?Is something wrong?I mean, I heard from Anna that there’s already interest in the property out there.”
“I’ll talk to her tomorrow, but you’re sure nothing else?”
His realtor and Cammie were a rockstar team.Maybe he wouldn’t need to worry too much about renovating the farmhouse if the right buyer was interested.He wanted to offload this place from his heart more than anything, but he also didn’t want just anyone coming in to snatch it up.His father had built more than a ranch; he’d built a legacy for someone.
Jace had always wished he’d had the fire to take that on when he was younger.It would be perfect for someone, though.
“I don’t think so.Just a weird interaction with a woman I met here.A local, I think.”Though now that he had some distance between him and the mystery woman—hereallywished he’d gotten her name—he wasn’t at all sure she was from here.She was walking along the road alone in the middle of the afternoon, the first clue that she didn’t belong, since everyone else had trucks, SUVs, practical vehicles built for the terrain and the weather.Besides, based on her looks and the sexy-as-hell accent, he was pretty sure she hadn’t grown up around here.He didn’t know much about Montana nowadays, but generally, everyone was generationally connected to the place.He was pretty damn sure the woman he met wasn’t, though.So, where was she from?
“I’ll look into it and get back to you.But speaking of women, Jace, there’s something I wanted to run by you.I was going to wait for you to get back, but…”
Something in the pit of his stomach told him to hang up, to not follow through with this line of discussion, but against his better judgment, he found himself exhaling.
“Shoot.”
“Well, you’re aware you’re developing a reputation in Hollywood,” she began.
“I know,” he said, “damn typecasting.”He was pretty sure that wasn’t the type of reputation Cammie was referring to, but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was getting into his dating life with his agent.
“Well, yes, that, too, but the more unfortunate thing is that you are starting to have the reputation of a Hollywood lothario.And this time, it’s getting in the way of a role.A big one.”
Jace froze.
“Which one?”
The silence on the other end said all he needed to know.He’d been vying for the lead in a superhero franchise that had been whispered about in Hollywood back channels, but like Cammie had just said, no one saw him as anything other thanthe heartbreaker cowboy.No one who mattered in Hollywood anyway.
