Fire and Ice - Anne Stuart [91]
Jilly resisted the impulse to growl. “Whatever makes you happy, Lianne,” she said.
Her mother smiled brightly. “I had Consuela make up some meals for you, and you can have any kind of food in the world delivered. By Monday you’ll have company.”
“All I intend to do is watch TV and sleep.”
Her mother beamed at her. “Oh, and there’s one more thing. Just a tiny little favor.”
Jilly had infinite patience with her self-absorbed mother, but it was wearing very thin indeed. “Of course,” she said, stifling a sigh.
“I was supposed to do an interview with a young man from the Times. He wants to hear about the Lovitz Foundation. I thought he might be a nice distraction for you—he’s supposed to come by tomorrow afternoon.”
“I don’t think so…”
“He’s young and Asian, sweetie. I thought you might enjoy it. I can always do the interview by phone but you can imagine what a pain that would be with the time difference. You know as much about the foundation as I do, and it might help get you over whoever it was in Tokyo that’s made you so mopey.”
“He can wait until you get back. I don’t need any young Asian men in my life, thank you very much. And nothing happened in Tokyo—I’m just tired.”
Lianne managed an ineffectively long-suffering sigh. “It would really set my mind at ease if you…”
“I’m not meeting with your reporter, Lianne,” Jilly said in a dangerous voice. “Go to Prague and leave me alone.”
Her mother actually pouted, something she did quite effectively with her collagen-enhanced lips. Her mother was the epitome of a trophy wife, married to a man who was twenty-five years older than she was, surgically enhanced to look half her age, with all her energy and attention centered on Ralph Lovitz. She genuinely loved her fourth husband enough to stay with him for the last twenty years, which still amazed Jilly. She had no illusions that either of her parents was particularly faithful, but at least they were discreet, and their affection for each other was undoubtedly real.
“I don’t know why you have to be so difficult,” Lianne said with just the trace of a whine. “I’m just asking for a little peace of mind.”
Jilly had spent most of her adult life protecting Lianne. “You’ll have to find it on your own, Lianne,” she said wearily, closing her eyes.
She knew her mother stood there for a while, trying to outlast Jilly, but she was no match for her daughter’s stubbornness. Jilly waited until she heard the main door shut, until she heard the distant sound of the limousine starting down the long driveway. And then she opened her eyes, grabbed the remote control and turned on Animal Planet.
Mindless sex and violence, just what she needed, she thought, stretching out on the over-stuffed sofa to watch the lizards dance. To hell with her mother, to hell with Reno, to hell with everything.
As long as it was her and the lizards, things would be just fine.
21
The fires were getting closer. KTLA was covering them with breathless anticipation, and even their usual tongue-in-cheek joviality seemed on the wane. It was late when Jilly dragged herself out of bed, and if anything, she was even more achy. The house was deserted, for maybe the first time in her life. Her mother always kept a skeleton staff on, particularly if her young daughter was at home. But Jilly was a grown-up, and the locked gate was security enough. Who would want to hurt her?
Whoever had shoved her in front of traffic. Whoever had slammed into her with a truck, trying to push her off an overpass, and taken off before anyone could catch him.
She shook herself. Whether she was being paranoid or not, she was safe here. And there was a panic button in the security panel that went directly to the police.
And there was no reason for her to be in any danger. Everything that happened in Japan was resolved—no one would be coming after her. Ojiisan was dead, along with both his men and his enemies. And she’d never been more than a pawn in their entire game—it wasn’t as if she had possessed