Free Fame by Karen Kingsbury

that?”
    She ran her tongue along her lower lip and shot furtive glances out the window, squinting at the dusky shadows around his SUV. “Did you hear something?”
    “Relax, Kelly.” He drew her close again and kissed her once more. “Just the crickets.”
    But even as he tried to convince her, even as he leaned over, opened her car door, and told her to hurry inside where their 54
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    catching up would certainly continue into the early morning hours, he heard the sound again. A series of rapid clicks. This time he couldn’t convince himself it was crickets or rustling leaves or anything but the obvious.
    The sound of a camera.
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CHAPTER FIVE
    THE INSiDe OF the old yellow Honda Civic was stuffy, but that didn’t matter.
    Her windows were already cracked an inch, and that’s all she would allow.
    Anything more and he’d see her, hear her. Sense her heart beating across the street from Ruby’s. And that was something that absolutely couldn’t happen.
    Otherwise the whole plan would fall apart.
    As it was, she was having trouble following him. He stayed at the studio long hours lately and spent way too much time at his beach house in Malibu. It was better when he went clubbing. Then she could dress up and work her way inside.
    Sometimes she’d sit at the bar for hours, sipping the same glass of Sutter Home burgundy.
    The conversation there would keep her interested, and she would never take her eyes off him. Sure, she’d look in other directions so people wouldn’t catch on.
    But even when her back was to him, she could see him, sense him. He could be twenty feet away surrounded by women, but still she could feel his 56
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    breath against her face. The breath of the man she was married tO.
    Dayne Matthews.
    “Are you sure you should wait here?” Anna tapped her on the shoulder and stared at her. “If he’s your husband, he’ll come out and find you and the two of you can go home.”
    “He is my husband, okay!” Chloe hissed the words at her sister. “He’s my husband, and I’ll sit here as long as I like.”
    Anna laughed, a long, cackling laugh. The laugh of a witch. “Hey, there he is, Your dream boy.” She pointed. “Take a look.”
    Chloe spun around and glanced out the window. Anna was right. Dayne was leaving Ruby’s with that prostitute on his arm, that no-good Kelly Parker. She tightened her hands into fists and slammed them against the steering wheel. A string of expletives fired through her lips at the image they made, two of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars, sneaking out of Ruby’s, believing that for a single moment maybe people weren’t watching. “Stupid people,” Chloe spat. “Of course we’re watching.”
    “You might be watching.” Anna laughed again. “But I don’t believe he’s your husband. Not for a minute.”
    Chloe jerked herself around and glared at her sister. “He is my husband. I told you that before.”
    “Then where do you keep him? Why haven’t I seen you together?” She flicked her finger at Chloe’s arm, “It’s because you’re a liar, Chloe. A crazy liar.”
    Her mouth felt dry, so Chloe ran her tongue along her lower lip. “Where do I keep him?” Inside her, a pounding started up, loud and strong and steady. A familiar pounding, one that made her want to reach out and-“There they go, the lovebirds!” Anna’s laugh grew more wicked than before.
    “You’re a nutcase, Sister. Anyone ever tell you that? A nutcase.”
    Chloe turned once more and watched Dayne and Kelly Parker disappear around the corner. “I know where he’s going. I could
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    be there before him.” She started the engine of her car and pushed the gas pedal. Again and again she pushed it, but the Civic didn’t move a bit.
    “Wine,” she said. “Anna, give me a glass of wine.”
    “Not till you tell me where you keep him. Where does this husband of yours live?
    I mean—” she brushed a piece of lint off her shoulder—”I’m always with