Tarzan & Janine (21 page)
Authors: Elle James,Delilah Devlin
Tags: #Romance, #delilah devlin, #Texas Billionaires Club, #Humor, #romantic comedy, #Adventure, #billionaire, #Myla Jackson, #comedy, #Texas
“This is terrific. Your ship finally came in.” His throat tried to close but he pushed out the words. “It’s what you’ve always wanted and worked for. You deserve it, Janine. I guess this means you’ll be going to L.A. soon...”
His words took the starch out of her full-blown sails, and she stopped bouncing to look up into his eyes. The glow in her face faded and tears welled up. “Oh, Tanner,” she said. “How am I going to make it without you?”
“You don’t need me to make your star shine. Like I always said, you’re a natural, they just finally got around to recognizin’ it.”
“But I don’t want to go without you.” She wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his shirt.
“Honey.” He eased her back far enough to stare down into her eyes. “You’ve got to follow your dreams. I would only slow you down. And L.A. doesn’t need another used car salesman. Besides, my father just offered me the dealership.” He crossed his fingers behind his back. Janine didn’t have to know he’d turned down the offer.
“He did?” She stared upward, blinking tears from her eyes.
“Yes, he did.” Tanner brushed the hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her nose. “So you see, I’ll have my work cut out for me here while you’ll have a few hearts to break in Hollywood.”
Janine’s tears stopped and a stubborn look descended on her face in a frown. “I’m not going. I’m staying here with you,” she said, increasing the strength of her hold around his middle as if to say
just try to stop me
.
“Janine, Janine.” Tanner clucked his tongue. “It’s the way it has to be—”
“Hey, Tanner, phone call.” Scott stood in the doorway of his office.
“Take a message.” He glared over Janine’s head. ”Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“The guy says it’s urgent,” Scott replied.
“Nothing is as important as what I’m doin’ right now.” Tanner never took his gaze from the woman he loved. He had a mind to kiss her and his lips were halfway down to hers when—
“Tanner, the guy is adamant. I think you need to take this call. It’s on line two,” Scott insisted.
Tanner frowned at Scott then looked down at Janine. “Don’t go away, I’ll be right back.”
Striding to the information desk, Tanner punched in the line number and answered tersely, “Tanner, speaking.” His gaze remained on Janine, afraid she’d leave when he wasn’t watching.
“Tanner, you don’t know me, but my name is Monty Duet,” the man began.
“You’re right, I don’t know you,” he said impatiently. “What do you want?”
“I’m a talent agent working with a company out in L.A. interested in starting a wildlife series. They want you and Janine to be the co-hosts of the series.”
“Huh?” Tanner’s gaze slipped from Janine to stare at the phone. Was this guy for real? “Is this is a joke?”
“No, no, I’m dead serious. Have you seen Janine yet?”
Tanner looked over to where Janine stood staring out the window of the showroom. “Yes,” he answered.
“Did she tell you about the offer to play the lead in a series?”
“Yes,” he repeated.
“This is the series I’m talking about. I just didn’t have a chance to tell her what it was all about. She hung up on me before I could. Which is probably just as well. I really would rather you break the news the series involves working with wildlife up close and personal. Based on her experiences, I wasn’t sure if she’d be as thrilled.”
“I understand.” A slow smile spread across Tanner’s face.
“Well, are you interested?”
“Do I get to think about it?” he asked. Think? Why did he need to think? This was the answer to all his prayers of self-realization. He loved the camera, he loved Janine. He’d have a job he loved, for heaven’s sakes. So why was he stalling?
“I need to tell them today, if possible. They want you two out here in two weeks ready to get started.”
“Then I have to say...yes. Yes!” Tanner’s face split into a huge grin as he hung up. Life couldn’t get better. Now all he had to do was break the news to Janine.
“Janine?” He walked up beside her and slid an arm across her shoulder. “Have
I
got a deal for you.”
Epilogue
“Can you believe it? My son and daughter-in-law on national television. Who’d have thunk it?” Joe Peschke adjusted the footrest on his chair.
“I always knew he had it in him.” Beans stretched out in the other recliner, sipping his beer straight out of the bottle.
“You?” Joe snorted. “If I recall, you were the one bettin’ against his success.”
“I was bettin’ against his success in the car business. I didn’t say anything about the film industry.”
“Yeah, sure. Now you change your tune, when—”
Beans interrupted. “Turn up the volume. Show’s about to begin.”
Joe adjusted the volume, and the two men leaned forward.
Tanner, dressed in khaki shorts and a safari hat, stood beneath a huge tree surrounded by vast grasslands that stretched as far as the camera could project.
“Hi, I’m Tanner Peschke, here with my lovely wife, Janine, coming to you direct from the plains of Africa. Welcome to
Animals of the World
. In today’s show, we’ll discuss the mating rituals of the giraffe and show you the most poisonous snakes of the African continent.”
“Snakes?” Janine struggled to keep a smile glued to her face as she hissed out the side of her mouth. “No one said anything about snakes.”
“It’s okay, Janine, they’re just little snakes.” He patted her hand and grinned at the camera.
“Honey,” Janine said through clenched teeth. “No one said anything about snakes.”
About the Authors
DELILAH DEVLIN
Until recently, award-winning erotica and romance author Delilah Devlin lived in South Texas at the intersection of two dry creeks, surrounded by sexy cowboys in Wranglers. These days, she’s missing the wide-open skies and starry nights but loving her dark forest in Central Arkansas, with its eccentric characters and isolation—the better to feed her hungry muse! For Delilah, the greatest sin is driving between the lines, because it’s comfortable and safe. Her personal journey has taken her through one war and many countries, cultures, jobs, and relationships to bring her to the place where she is now—writing sexy adventures that hold more than a kernel of autobiography and often share a common thread of self-discovery and transformation. To learn more about Delilah Devlin, please visit
http://www.delilahdevlin.com
.
ELLE JAMES
aka
MYLA JACKSON
spent twenty years livin' and lovin' in South Texas, ranching horses, cattle, goats, ostriches and emus. A former IT professional, Elle is proud to be writing full-time, penning intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edge of their seats. She has 29 novels or novellas with Harlequin, one self published novel under pen name Elle James, 36 books or novellas with other publishers including Samhain, Elloras' Cave, Kensington and Avon and eleven novellas or short stories self-published under pen name Myla Jackson. Now living in northwest Arkansas, she isn't wrangling cattle, she's wrangling her muses, a malti-poo and yorkie. When she's not at her computer, she's traveling, out snow-skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Please visit Elle James at
http://www.ellejames.com
Table of Contents
Table of Contents