HOT SET: Playing with Fidelity (A romantic suspense novel) by Kerry Northe

sassy stylist much needed for Rhys’s lazy dress sense. Lucy was a single mother of two young children who’d recently left her philandering husband. For most of Rhys’s fittings, Daisy and Rosy came along and were quickly ‘adopted’ by Rhys, Mira and a seemingly-brusque Sal who’d hand over little gifts with a wink.
    These people were Rhys’s Hollywood family and he treated and paid them well. In return, they protected and loved him, making sure his life moved smoothly with little disagreement.
    Rhys purchased a property in L.A., a big house in the hills where all the other stars kept their pads and was swept into the bright world of Hollywood with his two best mates as company. ‘The Triplets’ were a hit in L.A. and in Rhys’s wake, both Michael and Dean were soon also in the movie industry making a killing. Soon, Michael and Dean moved out and for the first time in years they lived separately; while still keeping up their usual antics of women and parties.
    It was at this time that Michael, at the threat of his mother’s eternal exasperation, went to Italy and there reacquainted himself with his now grown-up childhood sweetheart, Nicki, whom he’d had several summer flings with on his regular trips back to the homeland. Much to the heartbreak of thousands of adoring fans, they married 18-months later in a semi-secret wedding with Rhys and Dean as his only attendants. Nicki was a tiny, fiery lady who had her tall husband wrapped around her little fingers.
    Rhys , now truly successful, had managed to keep his head through most of his stratospheric rise to fame but the attention was starting to encourage his ego. He started to play the star both on and off set and in order to fit in to the L.A. hierarchy, talked rough, walked rougher and never turned up to an event without a different gorgeous and hopeful woman on his arm. Then, much to that woman’s disgust, she got little more than a kiss that turned her skin inside out and Rhys disappeared into the sunset, only to turn up the next night with yet another optimist.
    Rhys ’s reputation as a womaniser and a party man started to precede his reputation as a great actor but despite the largeness of the party, despite his headache the next day, Rhys would always turn up on time, sometimes red-eyed and grey-skinned, but there.
    And here he was, five years at the top and now he had an opportunity to go home . It had been two years since he was last there and even that was a quick passing through. He liked what he’d read of the Media Pictures Australia script and made a mental note to call Sal first thing in the morning to accept the role. He smiled a genuine smile into the darkness.
    Amelia rolled away, her stirring breaking his reverie .
    W hat he was going to do with her now?

Chapter 5
LOS ANGELES
    Amelia turned off the hot tap with her foam— flecked toes, the dimmed bathroom lights making her French pedicure sparkle like pink diamonds. She sank down into the deep water of the enormous upturned kidney-shaped bath, her jaw only just above the warm foam, her knees poking out of the fragrant froth like two creamy islands in a misty-white lagoon. She had her blond hair piled high on her head and held precariously in place with a large, black clip. She’d washed off her make-up and her face looked like a teenager’s in the low light; softer and not as stunning.
    The large, white hotel bathroom turned cream and peach in the flickering candle light that shadowed the room’s recesses and highlighted the white tiles and huge mirrors, relaxing and enchanting her. Amelia breathed a big, contented breath and closed her eyes, absorbing the delicious heat.
    She had to admit it; she had a huge crush on Rhys Bradford. The control freak in her couldn’t term it obsessed, although it bordered so close it shared the same frequency. It had only been a week and strangely, for the first time for as long as she could remember, the cold ambition which had always driven her was