Diva by Jillian Larkin Read Free Book Online Page A

apartment if it meant she could fall asleep each night in the circle of Jerome’s arms.
    She hadn’t intended to stay longer than a day at Forrest’s villa. But without even asking her permission, Forrest and the girls had sent a telegram to the prison to request that Gloria’s things be sent to Great Neck. “What do I even have this huge house for if I can’t fill it with talented young things in need of a place to stay?” Forrest had remarked.
    Gloria had been shocked when a huge steamer trunk arrived on Forrest’s doorstep a day later. In the privacy of her room, she opened the chest to find the most resplendent dresses she’d ever seen. One silver sheath dress looked like it was woven out of moonlight, and there were high, sparkling heels to match. Another was short, black, and had a generous slit in the back. It was maddeningly sexy in its simplicity. Gloria looked at the labels and felt she was reuniting with a troupe of old girlfriends: Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Paquin, and the Boué Soeurs.
    Along with the chest came a note in annoyingly neat handwriting:
Here are your weapons, kid. Now go knock ’em dead .
    —H
    And so here she was, until she found out whatever she could that would satiate Hank and the FBI about Forrest.
    Speaking of Forrest … Gloria looked up as he walked across the lawn and onto the patio. Surely he must have been the best-looking Broadway producer in the business—not that she cared whether he was handsome, of course.
    He wore a gray seersucker suit with a crisp white shirt. His tie was dark blue, and a white handkerchief peeked out of his pocket. His cheeks were freshly shaven. “Good morning, ladies! I expected to find you enjoying the pool in this heat.”
    Glamour rolled over onto her stomach. “The water would ruin my tan. And you’re one to talk in that heavy jacket. How about you throw on your swim trunks and join us?”
    “I’d love to, but just now I’m off to the bookstore to stock my library.”
    “Ugh, that big empty room is so gloomy,” Glitz observed.
    “Oh, but it’ll be much less gloomy once the shelves are filled!” Forrest’s brown eyes glinted under his trilby hat. “Any of you ladies care to take a break from sunbathing to come along?”
    Glitz cocked her head to the side. “That depends. Will there be drinking?”
    “Only the drinking of knowledge,” Forrest answered with a smile free from irony.
    “I like my knowledge with a side of schnapps,” Glitz said.
    “But bringing liquor into a bookstore—that’s like carrying a flask into a church!” Forrest exclaimed with a playful curve to his lips but sincerity in his eyes. “Actually, it’s worse.I’d probably do that second thing. I plan to enjoy these books for a good long time. If we pick them out zozzled, I’ll probably end up with a library full of terrible books with hilarious titles.”
    Gloria smiled. She’d never seen a man so excited about books. Forrest should’ve been a complete contradiction—a man with a serious love of literature who also had a mansion full of dissolute young things with names like Glitz and Glamour. But he managed to walk the tightrope between intellectual and playboy beautifully, and be all the more likable for it. Gloria leaped out of her lawn chair. “I’ll go! I haven’t got much of a tan to work on anyway.”
    Forrest offered his arm. “Then we’ll head back to the house so you can get changed.” Once they were out of earshot of the two blondes, Forrest said, “Between you and me, I’ve always found pale skin far more attractive.”
    Gloria blushed. “Ruby has lovely skin,” she said quickly. “Will she and her husband be coming along, too?”
    “I wish she could—she always has some new author or poet to recommend to me.” The words tumbled out of Forrest’s mouth. For all his usual self-assurance, Forrest shifted into an overeager boy whenever he spoke of Ruby. “Like that T. S. Eliot fellow! I’d never heard of him