That meant one of two things. Either Amber had done a complete about face in the week since hed seen her at the last shoot or
Or this was Ambers twin sister.
What had Amber called her-Queen Emma? Yes, that was it. Queen Emma. He tried to remember why, but as hed long ago learned to tune out Ambers long, meaningless, selfish ramblings, he couldnt recall.
Nor could he think of one good reason why Amber would send her sister in her stead, when this calendar was a huge career-boosting deal for her. Shed campaigned every bit as long and hard to get it as Stone had.
Amber, he said, testing, figuring Emma would speak up any moment now and tell him why she was here instead of her pain-in-his-ass sister.
Her gaze darted to his. Umyes?
Shit. He was right. This most definitely was not Amber. Change, he said in a low, controlling voice that would have had Amber flipping him off. Now.
He watched in disbelief as she nodded.
She really wasnt going to tell him the truth? Ah, hell, this was bad. He didnt need this. He glanced at Stone, who again simply lifted a broad shoulder. Clearly still as mystified as Rafe.
Okay, fine, Rafe thought. Amber and Emma were identical twins; no one could tell them apart. As long as he could get his shot and have no one the wiser, he honestly didnt care why the hell either of them were playing switcheroo.
Besides, Queen Emma couldnt possibly be any more difficult than the notoriously difficult Amber.
Do it, he said with another nudge toward the changing area. The rain is good, but with you just standing there, were wasting the little light we have left.
Seemingly, reluctant, she moved toward the bamboo poles and sheets, dragging her feet in a way Amber never would have.
Stone came up to his side, holding a light meter and a clipboard that was getting waterlogged. He was as blond as Rafe was dark, with a tough, medium build that reminded Rafe of a boxer. Stone looked as irritated as Rafe felt as they watched her go. Whats the problem? he asked.
Hopefully nothing.
Stone snorted his opinion of that, which made Rafe smile a bit grimly. With Amber there was always a problem, but how about with Emma?
The sheets shifted as she moved within them, and grumbling sounded on the stormy air, but she didnt call out or reappear.
She probably needs help, Rafe said on a sigh, looking at his watch.
Stone clasped him on the shoulder. Ill go. Youll just be tempted to kill her.
And you wont be?
Stone flashed a white grin. Shes in there naked. Im never tempted to kill a naked woman.
Rafe listened to the muttering, watching the wild movements of the sheets. Amber never muttered. Nope, if that woman ever had an issue of any sort-and there were at least a million of those a day-she screamed them out for the world to deal with.
But not today.
Because it wasnt Amber, but Emma who was currently ruminating about the thin material of the costume, which, in itself, was just another dead giveaway.
Amber had a body to die for, and she lived to show it off. What did she care about the thinness of the material? All the better to expose herself.
Stone waggled a brow at him, then ventured closer to the sheets. Need any help? he called out, reaching with one hand to peek in.
No! Imfine. Ill be right there.
Stone glanced back at Rafe in surprise, because he also knew it was extremely unlike Amber to not require an entire posse, a minimum of ten people hovering around her, jumping to her every whim.
Then again, as apparently only Rafe realized, they werent dealing with Amber.
Hell if hed lose time over this. Emma would suit his purposes just fine-his purpose being to get this shoot over with.
Assuming she came out of the dressing room sometime today.
2
EMMA WILLIS STOOD NAKED, surrounded by a few flimsy sheets and bamboo poles, somewhere on the northern tip of Kauai, all courtesy of her sister Amber.
It was unbelievable that she, a known anal-retentive workaholic, had landed herself in this position. But she had and shed have to deal with it.
It was unbelievable that she, a known anal-retentive workaholic, had landed herself in this position. But she had and shed have to deal with it.
Just as shed dealt with every other Amber emergency over the years. And thered been far too many to count.
Emma looked at the little triangular patch of white silk in her fingers that made up the bottoms of the costume. Just put the thing on, she told herself. But how did it go on? There was no way this would come anywhere close to covering her. Hoping against hope, she shook it out and held it up, but nothing changed.
It wasnt meant to cover her.
She could see now that the thin strap of silk was actually a thong.
A thong.
She was sure Amber Willis, actress, model and all-around hell-raiser, would love wearing such a contraption, but Emma Willis, lowly soap-opera scribe and all-around pansy, hated thongs.
Amber was going to owe her big.
She had to laugh at that. Amber always owed her big, and hadnt paid up once. What did that say about her, Emma wondered wildly, that she just kept saving her sister, no matter what? Far too much to contemplate at the moment, she decided, and reached for the top.
Which turned out to be even worse than the bottom.
Shed had high hopes for the filmy material because there was a lot of it, but when she placed it against her skin, she might as well have been as naked as a newborn. She supposed that was the idea of the thing. Virginal sacrifice was the theme of this shoot and she was about to look the part.
She certainly felt it. The rain drummed the sheet around her, soaking through so that water ran down the sides of the changing area. Still, the air felt refreshingly cool, not cold, and in an odd contrast, the ground beneath her bare feet was warm.
Amber had called her two days ago from some island in the Caribbean, where shed been lounging for a few days with her latest boy toy. This guy can give me an orgasm from the next room, shed exhaled dreamily over the thousands of miles to Emma. I think hes The One.
Right. The One.
There was no The One and after years of watching Amber make a fool out of herself over and over again, Emma just wished Amber would realize it as well and stop falling in love at the drop of a hat.
Or a nicely filled-out pair of Levis.
But before Emma could sing that old refrain and remind her sister how many times love had turned out to be sheer lust, the kind that always faded, Amber had begged Emma to take on this job, the one that Amber had already signed to do and had been paid for, because this calendar was going to launch her as nothing else had.
There had been many such declarations over the years from Amber, but Emma still had such high hopes for her sister, who despite all her wildness was still her sister.
Who couldnt handle responsibility to save her life.
But Emma could, even if she couldnt see how parading half nude in filmy white material would boost Ambers acting career, when not even a bunch of real acting jobs had done that.
But love and stupidity kept Emma wishing. And hoping.
And helping.
Besides, maybe this job would be the one to launch Ambers career, maybe this guy would finally be The One. Who was Emma to decide they werent?
And, anyway, how was this any skin off her nose? She was in Kauai, a place shed seen only in pictures, getting drenched by the daily rain shed wanted to see so badly. In Los Angeles, she could only dream about daily rain. And for once, she wasnt holed up in her small office, fingers cramped from all the pages shed produced for the soap opera she wrote for.
How many times had she promised herself shed do something fun for herself? This could be that fun. Yes, she was worried about missing two days away from her script, but they were weekend days and, theoretically, her own.
Theoretically because the soap opera and the studio who owned it had taken complete advantage of her over the years, and shed let them. She worked directly beneath the head writer-a coup for any twenty-six-year-old-but the head writer was a tyrant who worked her people to the bone.
And still Emma did it, week in and week out.
Well, it was time for a little break. Hard as it was to believe, she really was going to put this itty-bitty costume on, and use her beauty instead of her brain. Just because the design was everything she wasnt, and just because being in front of a camera made her nervous, and just because she was shaking in her bare feet, didnt mean a thing.
In the name of Amber, in the name of having some of her own fun, shed do this.
Lets go, came the forceful, impatient voice from the other side of the sheet.
At the sound of him, her heart leaped into her throat. She didnt have to see him to remember how potent hed been upon first sight. He was everything Amber had said he was-tall, imposing, with a set of dark, dark eyes that she had a feeling saw just about everything. Though hed looked unhappy to see Amber, Emma supposed she couldnt hold that against him. She knew exactly how difficult Amber could be, and imagined he had braced himself for a nightmare shoot.
He wouldnt take lightly to being fooled-if he found out. Telling him now was out of the question. Her sister had been clear on that. If Rafe knew Amber had bailed, hed bail, too, and then the calendar would be cancelled and shed be back to square one.
This job was a coup and she needed it.
Emma had agreed, so she stepped into the thong. She tried to adjust it, but there was no adjusting to be made. The thing was going to ride up her butt no matter what-and it did-and yetnot so bad.
Laughing at herself now, she held up the top. Looking at it, thinking about how it would look on her, made her feel-this was such an embarrassing admission, even to herself-sexy.
Bring on the fun, she thought. She was on an island far from home with no one she ever planned on seeing again. She might as well enjoy it.
Come on, damn it, Rafe growled from the other side of the curtain, apparently out of patience. The sheets ripped apart, leaving her staring one irritated, wet photographer in the face. All six feet two inches of him. His hair was slicked back from his forehead, his lean jaw tense as more than a few drops of water ran off his cheeks and down his throat. His plain dark blue T-shirt stuck to him like a second skin and was tucked into a pair of faded Levis, both of which exhibited a body in its prime.