Celebration's Bride
Pepper had confided that in her heart she would always believe her father was innocent. Sydney, A.J. and Caroline were all glad to have her back on the show and at Celebrations, Inc., where she had an opportunity for a fresh start. That was part of the reason that Sydney was so ambivalent about telling her friends she was thinking of leaving the show. She and Pepper shared a lot of the same duties. Where Sydney’s official title was public relations director, they all called Pepper the company’s “social connector” because of the incredible social “ins” she possessed that only a Texas debutante could bring to the table.
Before landing the show Catering to Dallas, they’d started Celebrations, Inc., Catering Company, which had been A.J.’s brainchild. During that time, Pepper had lived a cushy lifestyle. Money was the furthest thing from her mind. She came and went as she pleased, bringing in new clients and leaving the bulk of the PR and marketing work to Sydney. She didn’t draw a salary.
Sadly, last year, her financial situation had taken a turn for the worse as a result of the investigation involving her father’s company. Pepper had no part in the scandal, of course, but she had been left holding the bag. Sydney admired the way she’d managed to put her life back together. She’d married a man who had more money than the royal family of St. Michel, but she remained adamant about making her own money. If the crisis had taught her one thing, it was from that day forward, she would make her own way in the world, depending on no one. Not even her husband’s fortune.
She had insisted on distancing herself from Catering to Dallas, so not to taint the show with her family’s bad reputation. Now that everything had settled, Pepper was back. What better way for her to carve out her own place in this world than by taking over the reins of PR for the catering company and reality television show? Especially since the possibility of Sydney getting the St. Michel press secretary position was very strong.
Pepper’s life was in Texas. Sydney wanted to travel. Really, it was time for her to move on. She’d been in Celebration long enough. She had never been comfortable staying in one place too long.
As activity continued to swirl on and around the set in preparation for the next shoot, which, according to A.J., would feature all four of the women in the office and kitchen discussing menus for upcoming events, Sydney continued to study Miles…until, suddenly, as if he’d sensed someone looking at him, Miles glanced in Sydney’s direction. Their gazes locked.
He cocked a brow and smiled.
Sydney couldn’t decide if it was genuine or a so-glad-you-could-join-us look.
Okay. So here we go.
She steeled herself and smiled back at him, forcing warmth into her eyes and refusing to be the one to look away first—even when the voice in her head said, Heavens, he is gorgeous.
Holding her gaze, he said something to Aiden, who slanted her a quick glance. Both men started walking toward the craft-services area.
“Oh. Here he comes,” Caroline whispered.
“Good afternoon, Sydney,” said Aiden. “I’d like to introduce you to your new director. This is Miles Mercer. You’ll be working with him until Bill comes back. I’m guessing that by now you’ve heard that Bill is out?”
“Yes, Pepper brought me up to speed on everything.”
“Good,” said Aiden. “Miles, this is Sydney James.”
“Hello, Sydney,” Miles said. “It’s nice to meet you.” He offered his hand and she accepted it, giving a firm but feminine squeeze. Their gazes locked again—and if Sydney hadn’t known better, hadn’t been forewarned that he was mad as hell at her for being late—she might have imagined that something sensuous had just passed between them because for a split second, it seemed as if they were the only two in the room.
To break the awkward moment, words just started spilling out of Sydney’s mouth. “We’re so happy to have you with us, Miles. I would imagine they keep you pretty busy over on the West Coast. I was surprised when I learned that you were willing to take a break and come work with us—and on such short notice, too. How in the world did Aiden tempt you away from Hollywood to come to Celebration, Texas? It must be somewhat of a culture shock for you.”
Miles shook his head. “Actually, I grew up in Celebration, but it’s been ages since I’ve been back. It’s nice to have the opportunity to come home and visit my family.”
A-ha. That’s why. It made sense.
“We’re all from Celebration,” Pepper volunteered hesitantly. “Well, except for Sydney. She’s our British import, but we love her like a sister. I suppose we’ve never met before this because we were a few years ahead of you in school.”
His gaze was back on Sydney as if he hadn’t heard Pepper’s comment. “I thought I detected an accent. When did you come across the pond? Or do they still say that?”
He smiled and she noticed that he had the slightest gap between his two front teeth. Just enough of an imperfection on an otherwise-perfect face to make her sigh inwardly.
Then she realized he was actually waiting for her to answer. “Of course we still say across the pond. No worries.”
Well, no worries for him. She, on the other hand, was trying to play it cooler than she felt. She was such a bad actress. It was a good thing she simply had to be herself on the set. Even so, she needed to center herself as quickly as possible. To do that, she reminded herself that no matter how dark and interesting Miles was, technically he was her boss. At least for the interim. She needed to maintain a modicum of professionalism, especially since she’d already made a bad first impression by being late.
“Well, we’re behind schedule,” Miles said. “We should get back to work. Ladies, Debbie has the shooting updates. Why don’t you go take a look?”
He nodded at A.J., Pepper and Caroline. Sydney knew the unspoken message was for them to get lost for a moment. And they did just that.
“We’ll start in five,” he called over his shoulder.
As soon as they were out of earshot, he said, “We missed you this morning. Was there an emergency?”
At least he had the good grace not to reprimand her in front of the others. Actually, his tone was quite professional…nice, even. Not at all what she expected after the monstrous buildup her friends had given him. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person? A grouch until the caffeine was coursing through his veins? Whatever the explanation, Sydney was grateful for his civilized manner.
“I was out of town this weekend and my return flight was delayed. I apologize if I inconvenienced anyone.”
He nodded, letting the pregnant silence hang between them for a moment.
“I’m glad it was nothing serious. We’re all professionals and from here on out, I’m confident you will be on time and ready to work when you’re scheduled.”
She might have been tempted to challenge him, or at least defend herself because normally she was on time. However, there was something about the way his sexy gaze bore into her in silent expectation that gave her a strange sense of déjà vu.
Chapter Two
If Miles had had any trepidation about coming back to Texas, the risk was certainly worth the reward, he thought as he made a concerted effort to keep his eyes from wandering back to Sydney James.
She was sitting in a director-style chair, getting her hair and makeup touched up—last looks—before they began shooting.
He walked over to the coffeepot, helped himself to a cup and stood back. He wanted to get a feel for how the cast members interacted without the glare of the lights and the intimidation of the camera.
Now that he’d met Sydney, he got the same vibe from her in person that he’d gotten as he’d watched the dailies from recent shoots and footage from the first season. His instincts were right. She looked as fabulous in person as she had on screen.
Even though he was only here for a short time, he was considering spotlighting her a little more by working in an interesting story line that featured her, but he needed to figure out how to best do that before he announced this plan to the rest of the cast.
He needed to gather his thoughts before they resumed shooting. Aiden had asked him to be creative, to put his unique stamp on the episodes he shot. He had no idea what that meant for Bill Hines when he returned to Catering to Dallas after this personal leave. But hey, it wasn’t his place to ask. He had a job to do and he intended to do it well.
Now that the whole cast and crew was together, instead of shooting right away, it would serve everyone well to have a meeting and talk about possibilities for the show and the progress he wanted to make while he was there.
He probably hadn’t made the most favorable impression right out of the starting gate. But one of the problems he could see right off the bat was that the cast and crew sort of came and went as they pleased. That was hell on the budget. He was used to professionals adhering to a set schedule and giving their all to get the job done.
That wasn’t too much to ask, especially since Aiden had voiced concerns over the show’s future. If they couldn’t streamline the budget and get the ratings up, the show might not be renewed for another season. It was easier to come in like a hard-ass and lighten up than the other way around.
He’d had his reservations about filling in as interim director on a reality television show. But the timing had been right. Negotiations for his latest movie had fallen through. So the plea from Aiden had come at the perfect time. Plus, he also liked the irony that reality television seemed like a first cousin of the horror genre.
When Hollywood had crowned him the king of horror for Past Midnight’s success, no one had been more astounded than Miles. He’d never intended to make a horror film, and he’d certainly never dreamed of making a career out of scaring the hell out of people. Midnight had been his final college project. It had started as a documentary he’d wanted to make, debunking a legend that had haunted his family for five generations. In the end, the project had driven a wedge between him and his father—because his father claimed he’d sold out his family. That so-called sell-out film had morphed into a career that continued to haunt him.
This sojourn in Texas would give him some time to think over his next move while he was helping out a friend. Maybe he could even start the healing process with his father. Regardless, he was going to see his mother and five siblings while he was in Celebration. He could only hope for the best with his father.
Miles joined Aiden by the camera, which was set up in the kitchen. “When do you want to get started?” Aiden asked.
“Now?” Miles said. “But let’s start with a short meeting.”
Aiden nodded and clapped his hands. The buzz on set stilled and the twenty-odd-member cast and crew looked at him. “Boys and girls, let’s all gather ’round for a short production meeting before we get started with the next scenes.”
As soon as everyone had assembled, Aiden began again.
“We’re happy to have Miles Mercer with us while Bill is away on leave. While Bill is gone, the powers that be and I thought it might be a good idea to try some new approaches. As you know, Catering to Dallas’s first ratings aren’t where we’d hoped they’d be. Since it’s crucial that we have as little interruption to the shooting schedule as possible, Bill is completely on board with Miles’s new vision for the show.”
New vision? That might be a bit of a stretch at this point, Miles thought. He had some ideas, such as featuring Sydney, but he wouldn’t necessarily classify what he’d come up with so far as a vision. After he’d accepted the gig, he’d done some boning up on reality TV, since it wasn’t the type of program he usually watched. He’d studied some of the popular reality shows and reviewed the Catering to Dallas dailies and episodes that had already been produced. So he felt like he had a pretty good handle on the show, but he’d decided he needed to meet the cast before he could come up with a vision and determine the direction in which he’d lead them.
He had to hand it to the ladies. They all had class and style. But he also had to admit that he had a particular leaning toward the brunette with the stunning green eyes: Sydney James. In her role as the marketer and publicist for Celebrations, Inc., she was the most unassuming of the cast members. Yet, as he’d watched the footage that Aiden had sent him, she was the one who stood out. He was drawn to her, and always found himself wanting to see more of her on the screen.
“So without further ado, I will turn the floor over to Miles.”
There was a smattering of applause, which caught him by surprise and pulled him out of his thoughts. Before, though, the old adage about faking it until you make it flitted through his head. “Thank you. I hope you’ll still applaud once you hear my ideas.” He laughed, and everyone chuckled along with him.
That was a good start.
“First, I want to apologize if we got off on the wrong foot this morning,” he said. “I realize that I’m the new guy on the set, but I do like to run a pretty tight ship. All I ask is that you’re prompt and professional and we will all get along just fine.”
He didn’t want to single out Sydney. So he didn’t look at her. When they’d talked earlier, she’d been a good sport. Now, as he addressed the group, she wasn’t making his request for punctuality personal like so many Hollywood starlets he’d worked with might have done. He detested people who caused drama for drama’s sake. He got a completely different vibe from Sydney. It was refreshing.
“So what are we cooking up this afternoon?” he asked, changing the subject.
That time he did direct the question to Sydney, but A.J. answered.
“We have a wedding we’re prepping for next month. It’s a pretty big deal among Dallas society. The only daughter of cattle baron Rick Ronstead is getting married. Everything has to be first class all the way. So we have a lot of work to do to get ready for the event itself, in addition to shooting the footage for the show.”
“The television show has added an interesting dimension to our work,” Sydney chimed in. “Because even though we’re filming for television, we still have to keep our clients’ best interests at heart. Celebrations, Inc. is a catering company first. We’re television personalities second. We have to keep in mind that this event is Tasha Ronstead’s wedding and we must make sure that we do our part to make her day—and every event, for that matter—as special as it can be. We can’t sacrifice our clients for the sake of good TV.”
Miles found himself nodding and thinking that she was smart as well as beautiful, and judging by how protective she was of Celebrations, Inc.’s client base, she was obviously passionate about her work.
Who could argue with passion? Maybe he wouldn’t argue, but he could test her a bit.
“That makes sense, but the challenge we face is balancing the need to create interesting TV and remain true to your clients. Surely they realize what they’re signing up for when they agree to be part of the show?”
He held her gaze as he had when he’d glanced up and caught her looking at him across the room before they met. Only this time her eyes flashed in a way that kept his gaze from dropping down to her lips.
“Our clients do understand what they’re getting themselves into,” she said. “Believe me, the show has added an entirely new element to my job. Not only do Pepper and I have to publicize the company and book our events, but it’s our duty to make sure clients know precisely what they’re getting themselves into when they agree to be on the show. We could never ruin a special event all in the name of making a scene that would be interesting for television.”
“And have we filmed you in that capacity?” Miles asked. “In the client-relations arena?”
The question, which he’d delivered in all sincerity, seemed to take her by surprise. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Well, no…. Not directly, I suppose,” she said as if the possibility hadn’t occurred to her before now. “I’m support staff, and I’m perfectly fine to remain in the background doing my job.”
He loved her accent, but he refrained from asking her what part of the U.K. she was from. That seemed too personal—
“Do you know about the cookbook idea Sydney came up with?” asked Pepper, pulling Miles out of his reverie. “It’s called Single Ladies. It’s all about single-serving recipes. That might be a fun reason to bring her into the spotlight.”
Sydney shot Pepper a scathing look and shook her head.
“Well, really, it’s a collaborative effort,” Sydney said. “A.J. and Caroline are reconfiguring the recipes and Pepper and I are writing them up and putting everything together in publishable form. It would be nice if we could feature the cookbook on the show, but it’s not simply about me.”
That wasn’t something that would spike the ratings, but it was fresh and different. An idea he could run with for a start. “How close are you to publication?”
“We have publisher interest,” Sydney offered. “But we’re still developing new recipes—even if they don’t make it into this edition. I foresee a Single Ladies empire.”
“Is that so?” Miles asked.
“Absolutely,” Sydney insisted. “A Single Ladies empire could only help the show. Don’t you agree? It will speak to a segment of the population we’re trying to attract as our audience.”
“Absolutely,” Miles said. “We could do something with that.”
“As long as you don’t solely attribute it to me,” she warned. “This is a four-way partnership.”
He nodded rather than pointing out that the current split of airtime wasn’t at all equitable with her mostly in the background. Now wasn’t the time to drive home that point. Not in front of everyone. He would use much more subtle means to accomplish that goal.
“But I do have an idea I’d like to share,” she said. “If you will permit me to do so?”
“Of course,” Miles answered. When she talked it gave him a valid excuse to stare at her unabashedly, at her wide-set green eyes and the way her full lips formed a perfect cupid’s bow.
“Perhaps it would be a good idea if Celebrations, Inc. and Catering to Dallas could do something where we give back to the community. That’s always a win-win situation. The community benefits and we get good press.”
“Did you have something special in mind?”
“Actually, I do.” Sydney looked at her friends. “The girls and I have already tossed around this idea. So Pepper, A.J., Caroline, feel free to jump in at any time.”
“You’re doing a great job,” said A.J. “Run with it.”
“We were talking about giving away wedding catering services to a bride and groom. Perhaps we could film the selection process—choose a handful of finalists and narrow it down to one lucky couple. Maybe we could even get the public involved by allowing them to vote on the winners.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Miles said. It was a slight departure from what they’d been doing, but it still remained true to the feel of the show. Plus, anytime there was a contest, it always drummed up new viewers. “Good ideas, everyone. I’d love to hear more about it now, but we’re already behind schedule. So we need to get back to work. But, Sydney, let’s you and I schedule some time to iron out the details. Sound good?”
Miles certainly hadn’t turned out to be the monster her friends had portrayed him to be earlier that day, Sydney thought as she drank the last sip of her wine.
Given that Catering to Dallas’s twenty-six member cast and crew had gathered at Murphy’s Pub to welcome Miles to the team, it was proof that no one harbored resentment or other issues from the morning.
Since Sydney hadn’t seen exactly what had transpired and liked him well enough to go out on a Monday night to toast his arrival on the show, the only conclusion she could come to was that this morning had probably just been a misunderstanding…possibly perpetuated by the not-so-minor detail that no one had known where to locate her in the midst of the director-change storm.
Looking back on it from this vantage point, it probably hadn’t been the wisest move to leave the country without telling anyone where she was going.
Oh, well, what was done was done. There was no need to fret over it now. And there was no need to tell anyone about the job interview just yet. Not unless she made it to the next level of the process.
Time would tell.
In the meantime, there was a welcome party going on and she fully intended to enjoy it. Especially when Miles came back from the bar with a fresh beer and a glass of white wine, which he placed in front of Sydney. He planted himself in the seat beside her and took a long draw of the beer. When they’d first arrived a couple of hours ago, he’d been sitting at the opposite end of the table with Aiden and some of the other crew members. She’d been talking to the girls. Every once in a while she would glance up and catch him looking at her. The first couple of times she’d looked away. Then she’d decided to join him in his game, cocking a brow, raising her glass to him. If she hadn’t known better she might have thought he was flirting with her.
And now he was bringing her wine.
“Thank you,” she said.
He nodded and touched his beer bottle to her glass.
“Good to see that this is still a pretty happening place for a Monday night,” he said, glancing around the bar. Sydney followed his gaze, trying to see Murphy’s through his eyes and then remembering he grew up in Celebration. It was probably more familiar to him than it was to her.
“Did you come here a lot before you moved away?”
The corner of his mouth quirked up into a half smile. “Well, not as much as I would’ve liked to since I was underage.”
Murphy’s was one of Celebration’s best-loved spots. It was a casual place where anyone could drop in for a drink or a respectable offering of pub food.
A long wooden bar, staffed by bartenders who had been there since the beginning of time and could mix any drink known to mankind, ran the length of one wall. People were dancing to songs from the sixties, seventies and eighties that drifted from the jukebox in the corner. A couple of pool tables occupied the left side of the room. They always seemed to be in use. Booths and tables filled in the rest of the room.
Sydney spied Aiden shooting pool with Caroline’s husband, Drew, who was the editor-in-chief of the Dallas Journal of Business and Development. For a split second, she wondered if she should go over and see if Aiden was pitching Drew a story about Miles’s arrival. Public relations and dealing with the media was her area of expertise, after all. However, she was off the clock and a little looser from the wine. Even though his arrival would make a good news story—Hometown Boy Who’s Done Well Comes Back to Work on Locally Filmed Show—Aiden could handle it…or it could wait until tomorrow.
She turned her eyes on Miles.
Maybe it was the combination of the wine and exhaustion, but she suddenly felt very relaxed sitting there. Miles had just sat down and she didn’t want to be rude getting up to talk to the press, especially when the press in question was her good friend’s husband. “Did you leave for college right after high school graduation?”
He shook his head. “I joined the army right after I left Celebration.”
“You were in the service?” Sydney asked. The e-encyclopedia hadn’t mentioned that.
He nodded as he took another long draw of his beer.
“How did you go from soldier to scary filmmaker?” The place was noisy and she leaned in a little closer to hear what he had to say.
“I’ve always loved film,” he said. “I even shot when I was on active duty, but then I was injured.”
She thought she’d noticed him walking with a subtle limp. “So, you’re a war hero?”
“That’s stretching it a bit,” he said. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
He didn’t strike her as the type to fake modesty. “What do you mean?”