Heart of Dixie - Tami Hoag (1) by Tami Hoag Read Free Book Online

acquaintances good night with a nod of his head and followed her out. FOUR

    "I TAKE IT you're not a big Devon Stafford fan," Jake said evenly as Dixie slammed the Bronco into drive and hit the gas. He watched her carefully for even the slightest reaction as he braced himself with one hand on the dash. When they made a hard right, debris slid along the length of the dashboard and drifted to the floor like snow. There was the briefest show of something like pain and uncertainty in her eyes, then it was gone, forced out by annoyance.

    "I don't have anything against Devon Stafford."

    "Except that she's the perfect woman."

    "Perfection is in the eye of the beholder," she said. The Bronco pitched and bucked over the rough narrow road. "Personally, I don't believe in perfectionism. It's unrealistic."

    "Not in Devon Stafford's case," Jake argued. Dixie sniffed and shook her head. "A lot you know."

    Before Jake could comment, she took the offensive and slanted him a look. "Why are you so interested in her anyway? You planning on writing about her or something?"

    "Just a fan," he said. "Like most of America, I'm curious about her disappearance. Why would a big star just run off like that? Was it over money? A sex scandal? A drug problem?"

    Dixie turned into the driveway of a big blue-gray beach house and pulled in front of an old garage that was full of junk. She turned off the engine and stared out the windshield.

    "Maybe she just wants to be left alone," she said quietly. "Has anybody thought of that? Maybe she just wants some peace. Maybe she don't want all and sundry chasin' after her like a pack of coon hounds on huntin' night."

    Jake watched the play of shadows across her face. He could sense that she was fighting to keep a shield up, maybe fighting to keep from saying too much. Her reaction certainly wasn't that of someone who was completely detached from the subject. Dixie La Fontaine knew something and he wanted to coax it out of her. More than that, he wanted her to confide in him. But he had the feeling that getting the story wasn't his only reason. He may have come here with the intention of unlocking Devon Stafford's secrets, but he found some of that curiosity directing itself in Dixie's direction. She seemed upset and he wanted to understand why. He wanted to comfort her, not question her, but he tried to push the feeling aside.

    "Do you know something the rest of us don't?" he asked, his tone soft and silky as he leaned a little closer on the excuse of gauging her response.

    "No!" Dixie snapped, a little too quickly. She took a deep breath and sighed, leveling a scowl at him. "It just galls me, is all. Whose business is it why she left Hollywood? Why did people hound Greta Garbo? Why won't anyone just let Elvis be dead? Just because they're celebrities folks think they have some right to know every little thing about them. Stars are just people under all that glamour. They should be able to have secrets and private lives just like everyone else."

    Jake leaned even closer, close enough to catch the faint scent of her perfume. The corners of his mouth turned up in a quizzical little smile and he lifted a finger to trace the slope of Dixie's nose. "Know a lot of stars, do you, Dixie?"

    Dixie had to tilt her head back to look at him. He was too near. She could feel the power of his male aura pressing in on her, but, heaven help her, she didn't want to escape. Sexual electricity hummed around them like an overloaded power line.

    "No," she whispered, just barely resisting the urge to reach up and brush back the tumble of golden hair that had spilled over his forehead. She almost forgot to breathe, he was so handsome, the look in his eyes so intense. "I know a lot of people. Just people."

    Maybe he should have asked her if she knew Devon Stafford. Jake knew he could press the issue now and probably get an answer. She was off balance, rattled. But he couldn't do it. Something in her eyes touched him, something