Liar's Moon by Heather Graham Page B

several seconds, her tension brewing, since it seemed the room had grown much much smaller with just the two of them in it.
    “You’ve just wrecked my life, you know,” she told him.
    He started, turning to her. “I beg your pardon?”
    “I didn’t want to go out on that stage.”
    He shrugged. “You’re rather dramatic, I’d say. One appearance can’t wreck your life.” He leaned against the dressing table, staring at her as he crossed his arms over his chest in a dry manner. “You did all right out there. You’ve done your father’s things before—with your father, I imagine.”
    “That’s different—”
    “Tracy, you loved him, but you’re down on him. Being out there was the only way for you to understand him."
    She shook her head vehemently. “No, Leif. I’ll admit —it is a power trip. All those people screaming. But it’s no excuse for a man to live with a total lack of consideration—”
    “You loved him anyway.”
    “Yes! But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t despise his life-style. He hurt people, Leif. He—oh, never mind! I don’t have to explain this to you. And thanks to you, I have lost my privacy, my secrecy! I didn’t want to go out there—and I damn well don’t want to go to Connecticut! I haven’t done anything that I wanted to do since you walked back into my life. Damn you, Leif! I’m not going to go to Connecticut. I’m not going to be manipulated any further.”
    She sped toward the door and started to open it; it slammed shut before it had opened more than an inch.
    He’d closed it.
    She spun, pressing her back against it. He was right there, his palm still flat against the door as he held it and probed deep into her eyes with his own, his ever-knowing gray gaze intent upon her.
    “I thought you wanted the truth, Tracy.”
    “I do! But I don’t see where you’re going to get it for me. I might as well be on my own. I was before—and we came to the same conclusions.”
    He shook his head. “We take it together from here on out, Tracy.”
    “Why?” she fumed. She hadn’t the strength to push him aside. “Leif, my God, you’re using me!”
    “Maybe that’s fate. You used me.”
    She didn’t finish—the door was suddenly pushed open from outside. Leif frowned and moved back—just in time for Tracy to come catapulting into his arms from the pressure outside. Instinctively she threw her arms around him to keep from toppling to the floor. Instinctively, he steadied her, his arms around her waist.
    “What the hell—” Leif began, cutting himself off when he saw that it was Jamie. But right behind Jamie was the group of photographers that had sent him rushing to his dressing room for a safe haven.
    Five of them, at least, were crowding in the doorway, and Leif had his hands at Tracy’s waist, Tracy’s fingers curled around his nape.
    Flashbulbs started going off, blinding the three of them. “Hey, wait a minute!” Leif snapped. Then he caught sight of Tracy’s startled and furious eyes and he began to laugh, setting her from him and walking to the door.
    “Excuse us, will you, guys? You got your pictures.”
    “That’s her, huh, Leif, isn’t it?” One of the men called out. “Jesse’s girl! How long has—”
    “Tracy Kuger, George. And—none of your business. Good night!”
    He closed the door firmly, grinning in a rather pleased fashion.
    Tracy stared at him furiously. “You just made that man think that—that—”
    “That something was going on. Yes, precisely.”
    Tracy swore at him in no uncertain terms. Jamie uncomfortably shuffled his feet.
    Leif ignored them both, stating it was time for them to head back to the hotel.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    L eif’s late-night “private” dinner turned out to be quite a fiasco to Tracy’s way of seeing things—there was nothing private about it. Jamie had invited six dates and the guys in his band had invited another twenty, so it seemed. The dates had invited friends, and