of drama at the now infamous premiere, had been forced to miss her first red-carpet appearance due to food poisoning, but any publicity attached to her absence was swallowed in the aftermath of Lana’s story. When she had confided the reasons for this to Cole, Kate and the rock star Nate Reid had both received letters by private courier informing them that if either went within fifty yards of Chloe French again, they could rest assured that they had already seen their last sunrise.
Cole and Chloe were an institution, and as such they were invincible.
He took Chloe’s chin in his hands and kissed her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Michael Benedict looking on, a hunched figure over his stick as he was interviewed by TV crews. The old man was shaky–this had to be his last Awards, thought Cole, he surely couldn’t survive another year. Surely he couldn’t.
Chloe gazed up at him as the crowd hollered her name, adoring his handsome grin and sparkling eyes. With Cole there would be no lies, no secrets, no heartache; no bitter vengeance; no hidden pasts. A new start.
Theirs would be the perfect marriage. She’d show the world it could be done.
Kate diLaurentis stepped out of the limousine to a cacophony of screaming fans. Her husband, last month voted Comedy’s Sexiest Man by a women’s lifestyle magazine, followed, his arm hooked protectively round her waist.
Paparazzi swooped in on the fresh blood.
‘Kate, look this way! Give us a smile, Kate, that’s beautiful!’
Kate knew she looked beautiful, she didn’t need these leeches to tell her. Fashion magazines, now touting her new range as cutting-edge style, praised her chic, fresh-look wardrobe; critics fell on her performance in George Roman’s new movie as ‘inspired’ and ‘extraordinary’; gossip rags loved nothing more than to pick over her appearance, hoping to find traces of surgery, fillers, enhancers, anything that could account for her looking so good. But she’d given all that up a long time ago–along with the prescription drugs. She’d seen what they did, the tragic, too-young deaths they were responsible for. Now, just returned from a promotional tour in Europe, Kate diLaurentis was right back in the spotlight, where she belonged.
Cole and his new accessory were at the other end of the runway, clinched in an elaborate PDA for which the cameras were going wild. It was amusing, really. The girl imagined it was the best thing that had ever happened to her–they all did at first. With Cole she got fame, a stellar career, protection. but getting looked after was a double-edged sword. Cole’s threatening letter made Kate suspect that he’d watch this new acquisition with a fierce eye, and something told her that Chloe French wouldn’t like it one bit.
For this reason their partnership pleased Kate. The Vegas stunt had failed to glean the negative publicity she’d been hoping for–the whole thing had been overshadowed by Lana Falcon–and Cole’s abominable note had put an end to any further plans she might have harboured. It was neat, therefore, that Chloe had walked right into her own bespoke punishment.
Kate felt for Lana, especially since her divorce united them as members of an exclusive, two-woman club. How on earth Lana had ended up pregnant was something even she couldn’t work out.
Jimmy Hart squeezed his wife’s waist.
‘Careful with the dress, Jimmy,’ she instructed, not letting her smile falter for a second. Hers was one of Hollywood’s stable families and Kate wanted the world to know all about it. She wanted to be the envy of every woman in town who suspected their husband was doing the dirty. Kate was testament to the fact that, with a little careful planning, a Hollywood wife could do anything.
Jimmy Hart relaxed his grip on Kate. That cute little backing dancer he’d been shagging certainly had no qualms about being handled rough. He grinned into the cameras and delivered a playful thumbs-up, a gesture everyone liked to see accompany a comedian.
OK, so he’d stayed away from women for a while–Kate had returned to the bedroom with enthusiasm and it had kept him occupied for a record amount of time. But at the end of the day, he liked girls. What could he do about it? So long as he was discreet, and he’d learned that he really had to be, then he didn’t see the problem. He’d hurt Kate before and he didn’t want to do it again–after all, he loved her–but what she didn’t know couldn’t harm her. As long