Read Genuine Lies for Free Online

that the woman was older than she’d first thought. Nearer fifty than forty but with a sleekness that age rolled off. “I’ll warn you, you’ll need more than mineral water if you work with Miss B. long.”
    “If Ms. Summers has done her homework, she already knows I’m a professional bitch. And this is my own true love, Paul Winthrop.” Eve all but purred as she traced fingers down his arm. “A pity I married the father instead of waiting for the son.”
    “Anytime you want to take a shot, gorgeous.” His voice was warm for Eve. His eyes were cool for Julia. He didn’t offer his hand. “Have you done your homework, Ms. Summers?”
    “Yes. But I always take the time to form my own opinions.”
    He lifted his drink and watched as Julia was immediately drawn into small talk. She was smaller than he’d pictured her, more finely built. Despite Darla’s flash and Nina’s elegance, she was the only woman in the room who could compete with Eve’s beauty. Still, he preferred the redhead’s blatant show of wares and wants to Julia’s cold composure. A man wouldn’t have to dig deeply to learn all there was to know about Darla Rose. The aloof Ms. Summers was another matter. But for Eve’s sake, Paul intended to find out all there was to learn about Julia.
    Julia couldn’t relax. Even when they went into dinner and she accepted a single glass of wine, she couldn’t force the muscles of her neck and stomach to loosen. She told herself it was her own nerves that had her imagining hostility. There was no reason for anyone in the little group to resent her. Indeed, Drake was going out of his way to be charming. Darla had stopped moping and was packing away stuffed trout and wild rice. Eve was cruising on champagne, and Nina was chuckling over some comment Paul had made about a mutual acquaintance.
    “Curt Dryfuss?” Eve put in, catching the end of the conversation. “He’d be a better director if he’d learn to keep his fly zipped. If he hadn’t had the leading lady bouncing on him so often during his last project, he might have gotten a decent performance out of her. Onscreen.”
    “He could have been a eunuch and not gotten a decent performance out of her,” Paul corrected Eve. “Onscreen.”
    “It’s all tits and ass these days.” Even skimmed a glance over Darla. Julia took time to hope that she was never on thewrong end of that coldly amused stare. “Tell me, Ms. Summers, what do you think of our current crop of actresses?”
    “I’d say it’s the same in this as in any generation. The cream rises to the top. You did.”
    “If I’d waited to rise, I’d still be making B movies with second-rate directors.” She gestured with her glass. “I clawed and chewed my way to the top, and I’ve spent most of my life in a bloody battle to stay there.”
    “Then I suppose the question would be, is it worth it?”
    Eve’s eyes narrowed and glittered. Her lips curved. “You’re goddamn right it is.”
    Julia leaned closer. “If you had it to do over again, would you change anything?”
    “No. Nothing.” She took a quick and deep drink. A headache was beginning to play behind her eyes, and the dull pain infuriated her. “To change one thing is to change everything.”
    Paul put a hand on Eve’s arm, but his eyes were on Julia. Because he didn’t bother to disguise it, Julia now could see the source of the hostility she’d been feeling. “Why don’t we let the interview wait until working hours?”
    “Don’t be so snotty, Paul,” Eve said mildly. With a laugh, she patted his hand. She turned to Julia. “He disapproves. I’m sure he thinks I’ll spill his secrets along with mine.”
    “You don’t know mine.”
    This time her laugh took on an edge. “My dear boy, there is no secret, no lie, no scandal I don’t know. At one time it was thought that Parsons and Hopper were the ones to worry about. But they didn’t know how to hold on to a secret until it had ripened.” She drank again,