CHAPTER 4

          Calling herself every type of fool for indulging in such useless memories, Gloriana swiftly removed his jacket and handed it back to him. Then she sat her tote bag on the stool behind her and pulled out her favorite oversized black knit cardigan. She put it on. Found her black-and-white baseball cap and pulled that on too.

          Turning back, she couldn’t see much beyond Griffin’s broad shoulders, but the last thing she wanted was to be stopped on the way out by fans or, heaven forbid, any lurking paparazzi.

          She noticed his condescending glance and decided to ignore it. Gloriana was getting more and more agitated by her own memories and his snippy attitude. Logically she knew he had every reason to be put out, but she hadn’t done anything wrong.

          Would it really hurt him to be civil? After all, it wasn’t as if he had just been interrogated for hours on end over something he hadn’t done! Gloriana tried to smile as she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder.

“So… anyway, thank you for helping today. I can see that you didn’t really want to, that Emeline must have pushed and pushed quite a lot for you to accept helping me, but I appreciate it all the same.”

“I don’t give a damn what you appreciate,” Griffin grated. “I just wonder how can you be so… stupid. I can’t believe you would have the gall to try something like this, given your history with drugs. What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? I bet you thought that you could go braless and swish your long brown hair around and no one would care what you had in your bag… Am I right?”

          Gloriana’s eyes flew to his. Did he just call her stupid? Did he seriously think she was guilty?

“First of all, I’m not stupid, so you, mister, just back down a little and watch your mouth and your tone. And second… Of course, I wasn’t thinking that!”

“Well, since I bailed you off that little cell, I can use whatever words and tone I damn please. And… Whatever you were thinking it didn’t work.”

“How dare you?”

          She felt angry tears spring into her eyes at the injustice of his comment and blinked them back.

“I didn’t know that stuff was in my bag, and I’ve already told you these are my travel clothes and I look perfectly respectable. It’s not like I’m going around naked… God!”

          His eyebrows arched.

“That’s debatable. But I suppose I should be thankful that right now, you’re not displaying as much skin as you usually do on your billboards.”

          Gloriana didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. Movie billboards were often more provocative than they needed to be, and most of her fellow actresses found it just as frustrating as she did. Not that Griffin would believe that.

          It was clear he still thought the worst of her, just as he always had, and the sooner she was on her way the better. Gloriana looked up to suggest exactly that but was startled when he leaned in close, invading her space.

“Tell me… Glow… Have you ever been in a movie that required you to actually keep your clothes on and really act using other parts of your body besides your breasts and your behind?”

          Gloriana bristled. He kept calling her ‘Glow’… She hadn’t been called Glow since she was seven, and she’d been fully clothed in all but her first film.

“Would you stop calling me that?! My name is Gloriana, as you well know, and your comments are not only insulting and incorrect but completely outrageous.”

          Griffin cast her a bored smile and Gloriana’s blood boiled. Of all the rude, insensitive, arrogant, annoying…

“Whatever! Now, just finish the damned drink, would you? I have work to do. Some of us are actually working these days… Really working.”

          She felt so tense that her toes curled into her boots until they hurt. Enough was enough! Thankful or not, Gloriana didn’t have to put up with his offensive remarks.

“You drink it! Because I don’t want your damned drink,” she returned icily, angling her chin and readjusting her cap. “And I don’t need your revolting presence in my life for a second longer. Thank you for your assistance with my…unfortunate incident, but don’t bother coming to say hello at the wedding. I assure you I won’t be in the least offended.”

          Gloriana gripped her bag tightly and would have marched out with her head held high if Griffin hadn’t made a slight move to block her. She hesitated and looked at him uneasily.

“What the hell…”

“Pretty speech, Glow, but your behind is mine,” he drawled. “Your ‘unfortunate incident’ has landed you in my custody, and I give the orders now… not you. Understand?”

          Her eyebrows shot up. What was he saying?

“Your… custody? Are you kidding?”

          She nearly laughed at the thought. Griffin evidently didn’t like her response, because he leaned in even closer, his voice deadly soft.

“What? Did you think I would just ignore the conditions of your release and let you waltz out of here by yourself? Oh, you poor thing… You really did… Well, this proves without the shadow of a doubt, that you don’t know me very well.”

          Gloriana edged back and felt the barstool behind her thighs, a tremor of unease bumping down her spine. She hadn’t read the release form at all and had a feeling she was about to regret that.

“Oh… the release form… I didn’t read it,” she admitted, sucking on the soft flesh of her upper lip, a nervous childhood gesture she’d never been able to master.

          Griffin frowned down at her, and then must have realized she was serious because he had the gall to laugh.

“You’re kidding?! Wow, really?”

“I’m glad you find it funny,” Gloriana snapped, staring him down when his grim smile turned into a snarl.

“Now, funny is probably the last thing I think about this situation, and here’s why. You just signed some important documents that place you under my protective custody until you’re either released…”

          And Griffin paused for a second, his tone implying that was about as likely as buying property on another planet, then he continued.

“Or charged with possession of narcotics.”

          Gloriana felt dizzy and leaned heavily on the barstool at her back.

“What you’re saying…? I… I d-don’t understand…” she asked shaking her head.

“You thought the evidence might up and magically disappear? I’m good, Glow, but I’m not that good.”

“No...”

          She waved her hand in front of her and briefly closed her eyes.

“The custody bit…”

“It’s a form of house arrest, if you like…”

“Oh… I didn’t know.”

“Well, now you do. And now I’m ready to leave, so…”

“No!”

          Her hand hovered between them and her voice quavered.

“Griffin, wait… Please. I…What does that mean, exactly?”

          He looked at her as if she was a simpleton.

“It means that we’re stuck with each other 24/7 for the foreseeable future… That’s what it means.”

          Gloriana blinked.

          ‘What? 24/7 with this gorgeous, angry man…? No way in hell!’

          She pressed her fingertips to her aching forehead and ordered herself to think.

          ‘Surely there was another solution. It has to be…’

“I… I can’t stay with you!”

          She blurted out before her thoughts were properly in order. His eyes sparkled into hers, as hard as polished gemstones.

“Oh, trust me, little Glow, the thought couldn’t be more abhorrent to you than it is to me. I can assure you!”

“But you should have told me!”

“No, YOU should have read the paperwork,” Griffin dismissed.

          Damn it! He was right, and Gloriana hated that. Only it was because of him that she hadn’t read it in the first place.

“But you crowded me and told me to hurry.”

“Oh! So, now it’s my fault?” Griffin snapped.

“No, I wasn’t blaming you…”

          Gloriana swiped a hand across her eyebrow. This was terrible…

“But if you had warned me about what I was signing, I wouldn’t have done so!”

          Griffin went still, his over-long tawny mane and square jaw giving the impression of a fully grown male lion that had just scented danger.

“‘Warned you?’”

          Too late Gloriana realized he’d taken her comment as an insult.

“And, humor me, just for argument’s sake, what exactly would you have done, hmm? Just amaze me... I’m all ears.”

          Gloriana pressed her lips together at his snide tone and tried not to notice how imposing Griffin was, with his hands on his hips drawing his shoulders even wider. If she’d thought he hated her six years ago, it was nothing compared to the contempt he clearly felt for her now.

           And she wasn’t so much looking to put the past behind her anymore as she was in burying it in a six-foot-deep hole!

“I don’t really know… I… I would have looked for an alternative,” she stuttered. “Maybe come up with other options.”

“‘Come up with other options?’”

          He snorted and shook his head as if the very notion was ludicrous.

“We’re not in a movie rehearsal now, Glow!”

          Gloriana’s heart thudded heavily in her chest. If he called her ‘Glow’ one more time… she might actually hit him. She took a deep, steadying breath and tried to remember that Griffin felt he had a right to be angry and that maybe if their situations were reversed, she would feel the same way.

          No, she wouldn’t. She’d be too worried for the other person to treat them so… so… indignantly.

“Griffin, listen…” Gloriana began, only to have her words cut off when he pushed off his barstool and crowded her back against her own.

“No! YOU listen!” he bit out softly. “You don’t have a choice here. Do you understand that? You’re no longer in charge of your fate… because as if right now, I am. And if you don’t like it, I’ll give you another option. It’s called a prison cell. You want it? Well, don’t let me stop you! It’s back that way.”

          Griffin jerked his chin towards the entrance of the bar, his eyes never leaving hers. Gloriana blanched. God, he was arrogant…

“I didn’t do it, Griffin. I’m innocent… Please, you have to believe me,” she uttered, trying to keep her voice low.

“Tell it to the judge, sweetheart, because I’m not interested in hearing your declaration of innocence.”

“Don’t patronize me, Griffin Blackwood-Carter! I’m not a child… not anymore!”

“Really? Then stop acting like one!”

“Damn you, I have rights, you know?”

“No, little Glow… You HAD rights.”

          His tone was soft but merciless.

“You gave up those rights the minute you waltzed through Heathrow carrying a bag full of narcotics. Your rights belong to me now, and when I say jump, I expect you to ask how high.”

          Gloriana froze. He had some nerve!

“Really, Griffin? In your dreams!” she scoffed, now just as angry as he was.