Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)

Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)

Susan Elizabeth Phillips




To all my old friends in La Leche League. Thanks for being the first ones to tell me that you liked what I wrote.





1




'A bodyguard! I don’t need any damn bodyguard!”

The silver toes of Bobby Tom Denton’s purple lizardskin cowboy boots flashed in the sunlight as the ex-football player stalked across the carpet and planted the heels of his hands on his attorney’s desk.

Jack Aikens regarded him cautiously. “Windmill Studios thinks you do.”

“I don’t happen to care what they think. Everybody knows there isn’t a single person living in all of Southern California who’s got a lick of sense.” Bobby Tom straightened. “Well, maybe some of the ranchers do, but not other than that.” He folded his lanky frame into a leather chair, propped his boots on the desktop, and crossed his ankles.

Jack Aikens observed the man who was his most important client. Today Bobby Tom was dressed almost conservatively in white linen trousers, a lavender silk shirt, his purple lizardskin boots, and a light gray Stetson. The former wide receiver didn’t go anywhere without a Stetson. Some of his girlfriends swore he even made love wearing it, although Jack didn’t quite believe that. Still, Bobby Tom was proud of being a Texan, although his professional football career had forced him to spend most of the last decade living in Chicago.

With his magazine cover good looks, woman-eating grin, and imposing pair of diamond-studded Super Bowl rings, Bobby Tom Denton was pro football’s most visible glamour boy. From the beginning of his career, television audiences had loved his country boy manner, but those who’d played against him weren’t fooled by good ol’ boy charm. They knew that Bobby Tom was smart, driven, and as tough as they came. He’d not only been the most colorful wide receiver in the NFL, he’d also been the best, and when a disabling knee injury five months earlier in last January’s Super Bowl had forced him to retire at the age of thirty-three, it was only natural for Hollywood to be interested in making him the newest hero of their action adventure movies.

“Bobby Tom, the people at Windmill have a right to be worried. They’re paying you several million dollars to make your first movie with them.”

“I’m a football player, not a damn movie star!”

“As of last January, you became a retired football player,” Jack pointed out. “And it was your decision to sign a movie contract.”

Bobby Tom whipped off his Stetson, plowed one hand through his thick blond hair, and shoved the hat back on. “I was drunk and looking for new direction in my life. You know better than to let me make important decisions when I’m drunk.”

“We’ve been friends for a long time, and I have yet to see you drunk, so that’s not going to work as an excuse. You also happen to be one of the smartest businessmen I know, and you sure as hell don’t need the money. If you didn’t want to sign that contract with Windmill, you wouldn’t have done it.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve changed my mind.”

“You’ve been involved in more business deals than I can count, and I’ve never known you to break a contract. Are you sure you want to start now?”

“I didn’t say I was going to break the damn contract.”

Jack rearranged two file folders and a roll of Tums. They’d been friends for a decade, but he suspected he didn’t really know Bobby Tom much better than the barber who cut his hair. Despite his affability, the former football player was a deeply private person. Not that Jack blamed him. Everybody in the world wanted a piece of Bobby Tom, and the athlete had learned to protect himself. In Jack’s opinion, he didn’t always do a good job of it. Every ex-jock, shapely female, or hometown buddy with a hard luck story had come to regard Bobby Tom as an easy mark.

Jack peeled the silver foil coin off the end of the Turns roll. “Just out of curiosity, you know anything about acting?”

“Hell, no.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“I don’t see what difference it makes. Movies like this, all anybody has to do is kick ass and undress women. Hell, I’ve been doing that since I was eight years old.”

That sort of comment was vintage Bobby Tom Denton, and Jack smiled. Regardless of what his client said, he had to believe Bobby Tom planned to make a success out of his movie career. He’d never known the ex-football player to take on anything he didn’t plan to do well, from acquiring land to buying into new businesses. On the other hand, he certainly was taking his time about it.

Jack settled back in his chair. “I talked with Willow Craig from Windmill a couple of hours ago. She’s a mighty unhappy lady, especially since you’re the one who insisted that all the location shooting be done in Telarosa.”

“They needed a small town in Texas. You know how bad the economy’s been down there, and this’ll help out.”

“I thought you were doing your best to stay away from your hometown for a while, especially with all this craziness over that big festival they’re planning to rejuvenate the town.”

Bobby Tom winced. “Don’t remind me.”

“The fact is, you have to get down there. Windmill has already moved in their equipment and personnel, but they don’t have you there so they can start shooting.”