bulleted up the charts. "Got everything you wanted."

d.a.m.ned if he'd let her make him feel guilty because he'd made something

of himself "That's right."

"Some of us get more than they want." She tossed her long hair back. The

paint on the swingy gold b.a.l.l.s she wore at her ears was chipped and

peeling. She smiled again, posing a moment. At twenty-four she was a

year older than Brian, and considered herself much more savvy. "I'd

offer tea, but I wasn't expecting a party."

"We didn't come for tea." Brian stuck his hands in the wide pockets of

his low-riding jeans. The sulky look he'd worn throughout the drive

over had hardened. True, he was young, but he'd grown up tough. He had

no intention of letting this old, gin-soaked loner make trouble for him.

"I didn't call the law this time, Jane. That's for old time's sake. If

you keep ringing, keep writing with all your threats and blackmail,

believe me I will."

Her heavily lined eyes narrowed. "You want to put the hobbies on me,

you go right ahead, my lad. We'll see how all your little fans and

their stick-in-the-mud parents like reading about how you got me

pregnant. About how you deserted me and your poor little baby girl

while you're rolling in money and living high. How would that go over,

Mr. Page? Think you could get Bri and the boys another royal command

performance?"

"Miss Palmer." Pete's voice was smooth and calm.. He'd already spent

hours considering the ins and outs of the situation. One glance told

him he'd wasted his time. The answer here would be money. "I'm sure

you don't want to air your personal business in the press. Nor do I

think you should imply -desertion when there was none."

"ooh. Is he your manager, Brian, or your blinking solicitor?"

"You weren't pregnant when I left you."

Didn't know I was pregnant!" she shouted and gripped Brian's black

leather vest. "It was two months later when I found out for sure. You

were gone by then. I didn't know where to find you. I could have

gotten rid of it." She clung harder when Brian started to pry her hands

off. "I knew people who could have fixed it for me, but I was scared,

more scared of that than of having it."

"So she had a kid." Johnno sat on the arm of a chair and pulled out a

Gauloise which he lit with a heavy gold lighter. In the past two years

he'd gotten very comfortable with expensive habits. "That don't mean it

was yours, Bri."

"It's his, you freaking f.a.g."

"My, my." Unperturbed, Johnno drew on the cigarette, then blew the smoke

lightly but directly into her face. "Quite the lady, aren't we?"

"Back off, Johnno." Pete's voice remained low and calm. "Miss Palmer,

we're here to settle this whole matter quietly."

And that, she thought, was her ace in the hole. "I'll just bet you'd

like to keep it quiet. You know I wasn't with anybody else back then,

Brian." She leaned into him, letting her b.r.e.a.s.t.s press and flatten

against his chest. "You remember that Christmas, the last Christmas we

were together. We got high and a little crazy. We never used anything.

Emma, she'll be three next September."