Free Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea by Iris Johansen

over?” she asked defiantly, lifting her chin proudly. “If it is, I wish you'd leave.”
    There was disappointment and a reluctant admiration in Donovan's face as he watched her with narrowed eyes. “I almost had you, sweetheart,” he said thoughtfully. “I wonder where I went wrong.”
    “Your mistake was forgetting that I am my own person,” she said coolly. “Not some sort of slave for your amusement. You won't get another chance.”
    His smile was mocking, and his eyes flashed recklessly. “Bad move, darling,” he said gently. “Haven't you heard I can't resist a challenge?” Then as she stiffened defensively, he shook his head. “Not tonight. I think I've made enough progress for one night, don't you?”
    A scarlet flush dyed her cheeks at the memory of how easily Donovan had brushed aside her defenses as if they didn't exist, leaving her so humiliatingly subservient to his passion and her own.
    “Don't worry, Brenna, my promise still stands,” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “Though I imagine I'll be taking a hell of a lot of cold showers in the near future.” He grimaced. “It wouldn't be at all a bad idea right now.”
    He strolled back to the bar and picked up his half empty glass and finished the drink in one swallow. When he turned back to her, his demeanor was coolly impersonal.
    “Tomorrow morning you'll be free to go over your lines. I'll have Monty pick you up at noon to take you to Sound Stage B. You'll need to be fitted for costumes and meet the director, Jake Dominic.”
    She should have been relieved at his return to a businesslike attitude, but she was conscious of an illogical resentment that he could so easily turn off his emotions when she was still a mass of quivering butterflies inside. With no little effort she succeeded in masking her discomposure.
    “I'll be ready,” she said icily, then the last part of his sentence struck home. “Jake Dominic is directing?”
    Donovan nodded, his mouth twisting cynically. “I'm surprised you didn't know,” he said dryly. “I thought everyone in the business kept up with Jake's activities. In bed and out.”
    That was a patent understatement, Brenna thought wryly. The entire world displayed an interest in the antics of filmdom's bad boy. Jake Dominic was totally brilliant, and the most sought after director in Hollywood. His success had closely paralleled the meteoric rise of Michael Donovan, and the two men were known to be good friends. His personal life was as attention getting as his career image. Fabulously wealthy in his own right, film success and his satanic good looks proved irresistible to women. Even in an industry where morals were notoriously loose, Dominic's reputation was scandalous. Though Donovan's affairs were legion, he guarded his privacy closely. Dominic, on the other hand, had a reckless disregard for publicity, and was constantly in the gossip columns.
    “Jake Dominic,” she repeated musingly. She wondered idly if she had fallen from the frying pan into the fire. Surely one rake of Donovan's calibre was enough to contend with.
    Donovan's eyes narrowed dangerously. “He interests you?” he asked silkily. “I'm afraid you'll have to forget any aspirations in that direction. I've already told Jake that you're off limits.”
    She flushed with indignation at the thought of Donovan discussing his strictly dishonorable intentions toward her with his equally dissolute cohort. How dare he stake her out as if she were some kind of property! There was no way that she would admit that her interest in Dominic was less anticipatory than wary.
    “From what I understand, Mr. Dominic doesn't take kindly to restrictions of any kind,” she said coolly. “So we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?”
    Donovan's eyes flickered. “Don't make the mistake of trying to score off me through Jake,” he warned tightly. “He might be my best friend, but I'm not about to share you with him.”
    Brenna shrugged insolently, and