Jeopardy in High Heels (High Heels #12) - Gemma Halliday Page 0,1

exclusive salon called Ralph's (or Hoggington's for that matter), so he'd reinvented himself as the European hair sculptor, Fernando. His new persona included a fake Spanish ancestry, regular spray tans to keep the Midwestern farm boy out of his complexion, and black hair coloring to complete the exotic look.

Last month, Faux Dad had been chosen out of dozens of celebrity candidates to appear on the iconic game show, and being a huge fan, he'd jumped at the chance. The fact that any winnings he amassed would be donated to a charity of his choice was the cherry on top.

I crossed one brown suede boot over the other and smoothed out the olive pencil skirt that I'd worn with a sleeveless white lace blouse. "Do we know who he's competing against yet?" I asked.

Mrs. Rosenblatt stretched out her arm, which contained several plastic bracelets that formed the color of a rainbow, and pointed at the stage. "I overheard someone mention that Angela Gold's in Contestant Row tonight. But I'm not sure who the other celebrity is."

"I just love Angela," Mom gushed. "Her character has already been in a coma three times. She's so believable in the role." Mom squeezed my hand. "I hope your stepfather can get her autograph for me."

Angela Gold played the character of Kaley Kingston on All My Husbands, a long running soap opera. Kaley was rich, ruthless, and deliciously devious. Like Dana's pilot, All My Husbands also aired on the same network as Jeopardy!, probably a contributing factor to Angela's addition to the show.

A murmur went through our row as Dana, as promised, arrived through the side door and made her way toward us. Thanks to her last couple of movie roles, most notably as the star of the Lord of the Throne fantasy films, people were starting to recognize her in public. In fact, Mohawk Man at the end of our row asked for her autograph as she passed by. Dana flushed and smiled as she obliged, but I knew that she was secretly loving the attention.

Dana and I had been best friends since middle school, and we'd grown close enough through the years since that we were more like sisters than just friends. A former aerobics instructor, it had always been Dana's dream to be an actress. And while it hadn't been an overnight success for her, she'd worked hard and was finally starting to see her career take off. Much the same way my business designing women's shoes had taken some time to grow but was now finally at a place where I could spend half the day designing, half the day with my preschool aged twins, Max and Livvie, and still have enough in my husband's and my bank account to pay the bills. And even take an occasional day off to support the extended family, like today.

Dana settled in the seat between Mrs. Rosenblatt and me, her strawberry blonde ponytail swishing back and forth. She was wearing a cropped pink shirt with designer jeans that were probably a size zero. Dana had about one percent of total body fat, and if I didn't love her so much it would have been easy to hate her.

She tucked her purse under the chair in front of her. "I saw Alex Trebek this morning arriving on the lot. He smiled at me."

"Aren't you the lucky one," Mrs. Rosenblatt sighed. "I simply adore that man. I ever tell you about my third husband, Alf? Died on the living room sofa watching Jeopardy! Peaceful as could be. I didn't even notice until Pat Sajak came on. Had Trebek not been so handsome, I mighta noticed sooner."

I blinked at her. I had no response for that, so I turned to Dana. "How's the pilot coming along?" I asked.

Dana popped a breath mint into her mouth. "It's going well, but geez, I'm beat. I had to be on the set at four o'clock this morning. These long days are killing me."

Dana's pilot was an updated take on the original 1970s Charlie's Angels series called Charlotte's Angels. Only, with the girls in charge, these women were at least ten times tougher than Charlie's threesome had been. Dana portrayed Charlotte Benson, a private eye with a checkered past trying to make good by cleaning up the world of bad guys. She kicked, punched, and clawed her way through every scene until she got her man. It had to be difficult taking on six-foot, three hundred-pound guys while in skintight jeans and