Against the Night. Kat Martin

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СКАЧАТЬ At the bar, Dante filled the orders and she returned to the table to deliver the drinks, setting the right order in front of the right customer, which wasn’t as easy as she would have guessed.

       Waitresses earned their money, she had learned in a very short time, more so when they were only half dressed.

       Babs walked past just then, wearing a pale blue wig tonight. “Far left corner. Kyle Bennett just walked in.”

       Amy’s gaze swung in that direction. She was getting used to the dimness, getting to know her way around the tables and chairs, better able to work in the low light than she had been when she had first started.

       She spotted Kyle Bennett, a regular customer and one of the men her sister had been dating in the weeks before her disappearance. He was sandy-haired, lean and elegant, almost effeminate. She might have thought he was gay except for the lascivious look in his eyes when he watched the girls onstage.

       “Thanks,” she said to Babs. Babs had tried talking to Bennett after Rachael first disappeared, but as soon as he found out she was Rachael’s roommate he’d clammed up tight. Amy knew she couldn’t tell him her real name, or her connection to Rachael.

       She took a breath to steady herself and started in Kyle Bennett’s direction. There was no one else at the table, which would make things a little easier.

       “Hello, Mr. Bennett, what can I get you this evening?”

       He looked up at her and smiled. “Tanqueray and tonic, doll, and a little conversation.” He wasn’t handsome but he was attractive, and so far whenever she’d talked to him, he’d been polite.

       Entertaining the customers was part of the job, and it gave her the chance she needed to dig for information. “Let me get that for you and I’ll be right back.”

       She hurried to the bar, waited for Dante to fill the order, then walked back to the table. “Here you go.”

       Kyle stirred the drink with the plastic swizzle stick, tipped his head back to look up at her. “You know, Angel, with a face and figure like yours, you could be a whole lot more than just a dancer.”

       She managed to look surprised. “You really think so?”

       “Sure I do. Hollywood is always looking for the next big name. Angel Fontaine could be it.”

       Amy figured that was probably the line he had used on Rachael, who had come to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star. He was rumored to be a movie producer but no one really knew if it was true.

       Fortunately, she and Rachael looked nothing alike, Rachael being several inches taller, with softly curling dark brown hair and green eyes. Amy took after her mother’s side of the family, Norwegians who had immigrated to Michigan during the past century to work in the logging industry.

       She gave him a bright, interested smile. “I’ve always dreamed of being famous. Do you really think I might have a chance?”

       “You’d have to do a screen test first, but I could arrange that for you. In fact I’m working on a film right now that might have just the right part for you. What do you say?”

       She knew where this was leading and her nerves kicked up. “What…what would I have to do?”

       “When’s your next day off?”

       She moistened her suddenly dry lips. “Thursday.”

       “All right, then. We’ll do it Thursday. You just come to my house and I’ll have everything set.”

       She swallowed, knowing she had to say yes. Then she thought of how Rachael had just disappeared as if she had never existed, how there was a chance this man might have had something to do with it, and a chill slipped down her spine. “I need to check with Tate…see if that will work in my schedule. If I had your number, I could give you a call and confirm.”

       “Sure, sweet thing.” He took out his wallet and handed her a business card. It was too dark to read what it said, but she had what she needed to find him.

       “Just remember,” he said, “opportunities like this don’t come along very often.”

       She nodded, smiled. “I’m really grateful, Mr. Bennett, truly, I am.”

       His lips curved. “Keep my tab open, will you? I may stay for a while.” His gaze ran over her, ended up on the cleavage pushed up in her blue satin top.

       Amy kept her smile in place. “No problem.” She started walking, grateful to escape. She would call Kyle Bennett and set up the screen test, but she wasn’t a fool. If she went to his house, she wanted to be sure Babs knew the address and time she was going to be there.

       She had almost reached the next table when she caught sight of a dark-haired man sitting in the shadows a few feet away. He was staring at her with intense brown eyes and she felt the impact in every pore in her body.

       Babs breezed past her just then. “You owe me five bucks.” Babs grinned as she hurried off with a tray of drinks propped on her shoulder.

       For several seconds, Amy just stood there, her gaze locked with his. Even in the dim neon light, she could see the outline of his muscular body, see the faint glint of the eagle tattoo on his biceps just below the sleeve of the tight black T-shirt he wore with a pair of black jeans.

       “Hello, Angel.”

       His voice was rough and sexy and just hearing it made her stomach quiver. He was even better looking than she had thought.

       She managed to smile. “Hello. May I get you a drink?”

       One of his dark eyebrows went up. She had slipped and used proper grammar, may instead of can, the way everyone else did.

       “I suppose you can. How about a Bud Light?”

       Most of the guys drank microbrews, which were the vogue these days. No one drank light beer—not in here. Except for John Riggs. She wondered if he was working.

       “Certainly. I mean…no problem. I’ll be right back.” He unsettled her, this man. Just looking at him made her heart pound and her mouth go dry. And when his eyes moved over her the way they were now, she could barely breathe.

       She headed for the bar and gave Dante the order. The handsome Latino tipped his head toward the man in the shadowy darkness.

       “That guy over there…his name’s Johnnie Riggs. You be careful, querida. That one is out of your league.” Dante didn’t know she wasn’t really Angel, but he had been in the business long enough to recognize a novice.

       “I will. Thank you, Dante.”

       He just nodded. She returned to the table with the beer, wondering if the bartender could tell how attracted she was to Johnnie Riggs.

       Crazy as it was.

       She was a schoolteacher, for heaven’s sake! Riggs was an ex-soldier, a hard, dangerous man who clearly thought she was something she wasn’t, interested in her for only one reason.

       On the other hand, she was attracted to him for the same exact reason. She СКАЧАТЬ