Genuine Lies

who’ll want to get a look at you, maybe dig out a couple of hints as to what Eve’s telling you.”
    “I know my job,” Julia said between her teeth.
    “Oh, Jules, I’m sure you do.” The comfortable drawl made her blood simmer. “But there are people who enjoy chewing up proper young women and spitting them out.”
    “It’s been tried.” She wanted to shake off his arm, but thought it would look undignified, particularly when she saw two reporters making a beeline for them.
    “I know,” Paul murmured, and deliberately took her other arm to turn her to face him. “I’m not going to apologize for prying, Julia, but you should know that what I found was admirable, and more than a little fascinating.”
    The contact was too intimate, almost an embrace, and she wanted to be free. “I don’t want your admiration, or your fascination.”
    “Regardless, you have both.” Then he turned a very charming smile toward the camera.
    “Mr. Winthrop, is it true that Mel Gibson’s been signed to play the lead in the screen version of
Chain Lightning?”
    “You’d do better to ask the producers—or Mr. Gibson.” Paul urged Julia along while the reporters circled.
    “Is your engagement to Sally Bowers off?”
    “Don’t you think that’s an indelicate question when I’m escorting a beautiful woman?” As more reporters crowded in, Paul’s smile remained friendly, though he felt Julia begin to tremble. “That engagement was a product of the press. Sally and I aren’t even the proverbial good friends. More like passing acquaintances.”
    “Can we have your name?”
    Someone stuck a mike under Julia’s nose. She tensed, then struggled to relax. “Summers,” she said calmly. “Julia Summers.”
    “The writer who’s doing Eve Benedict’s biography?” Before she could answer, other questions were hurled and kicked in her direction.
    “Buy the book,” she suggested, relieved when they moved into the ballroom.
    Paul leaned down to speak quietly in her ear. “Are you all right?”
    “Of course.”
    “You’re shaking.”
    She cursed herself for it, then stepped aside, out from under his protective arm. “I don’t like being crowded.”
    “Then it’s a good thing you didn’t come with Eve. You’d have been hemmed in by more than half a dozen of them.” After signaling to a passing waiter, he took two glasses of champagne from the tray.
    “Shouldn’t we find our table?”
    “My dear Jules, no one sits yet.” He touched his glass to hers before sipping. “That’s no way to be seen.” Ignoring her shrug of protest, he slipped an arm around her waist.
    “Must you always have a hand on me?” she asked under her breath.
    “No.” But he didn’t remove it. “Now, tell me, whom would you like to meet?”
    Since temper didn’t make a dent, she tried ice. “There’s no reason for you to entertain me. I’ll be perfectly fine on my own.”
    “Eve would have my hide if I left you alone.” He steered her through the laughter and conversation. “Particularly since she’s decided to try her hand at heating up a romance.”
    Julia nearly choked on frothy champagne. “Excuse me?”
    “You must realize she’s got it into her head that if she throws us together often enough, we’ll stick.”
    Julia looked up, inclined her head. “Isn’t it a shame we have to disappoint her.”
    “Yes, it would be a shame.”
    It was obvious his intentions clashed with Julia’s. She saw the challenge in his eyes, felt the sudden charge in the air. And hadn’t a clue how to respond to either. He continued to smile as his gaze lowered to her mouth, lingered there, the look as physical as a kiss.
    “I wonder what would happen—” A hand clamped Paul’s shoulder.
    “Paul. Son of a bitch, how’d they manage to drag you out here?”
    “Victor.” Paul’s smile warmed as he grasped Victor Flannigan’s hand. “It just took a couple of beautiful women.”
    “It always does.” He turned to Julia. “And this is one of them.”
    “Julia Summers, Victor Flannigan.”
    “I recognized you.” Victor took Julia’s offered hand. “You’re working with Eve.”
    “Yes.” She remembered clearly the devotion, the intimacy she’d witnessed in the moonlit garden. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Flannigan. I’ve admired your work tremendously.”
    “That’s a relief, especially if I manage a footnote in Eve’s biography.”
    “How is Muriel?” Paul asked, referring to Victor’s wife.
    “A