LITMIR.BIZ

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is bigger in Texas pretty much sums up this show. We like to show off our stars.”

      Denny didn’t look happy. “So you’d be exploiting us?”

      Clint gave her a warning look. Denny sent back a daring look.

      “We don’t want to exploit anyone,” Victoria replied. “But we do want good ratings. Good ratings mean better sponsors and more dollars and not getting canceled. So I get to keep my job.”

      Susie shot Clint a greedy glance. His ambitious little sister would be all over this like a duck on a June bug. “Well, I am unemployed right now and I do have some acting experience. I’m available.”

      “We haven’t reached that part,” Clint retorted. “And you know I’ll take care of you while you’re looking for work.”

      “I don’t want to be taken care of,” his sister said on a hiss of breath. “I can take care of myself. But I would benefit from being featured in this show.” She shifted her gaze to Victoria. “Of course, I don’t come cheap.”

      “Susan,” her mother said, a hand on her daughter’s arm, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is your brother’s house, but we all have a say in this since we live on the property.”

      “It’s your property, Mama,” Denny said. “He could have asked before he allowed these people out here.”

      “He didn’t allow anything,” Victoria said. “I came looking for him because he didn’t return my calls.”

      “And why exactly did the powers-that-be send you?” Denny asked, a killer glare in her brown eyes.

      Victoria didn’t skip a beat. “My boss is Samuel Murray and he is both the producer and director of Cowboys, Cadillacs and Cowboys. He sent me—his production assistant and story producer—because I’ve done every job on the show from camera work to hair and makeup to just being a gofer for food and drinks. He trusts me to scout out people who will be able to handle being on a reality show.”

      For the first time since her hissy fit earlier, Tater spoke up. “And do you think we’re those kind of people?”

      Victoria shot Clint a glance that reassured him and terrified him. “Yes. Yes, I certainly do.”

      * * *

      “I’LL WALK YOU to your car,” Clint told Victoria after they’d cleared away the dinner dishes.

      They were alone now and at least she’d survived the scrutiny of his overly protective family. They’d all listened, intrigued and repulsed in turn, and she believed they were curious enough to want to try this. Susie obviously wanted to be a part of things and was ready to sign tonight. Denny refused to even discuss it. But Victoria wasn’t sure she’d convinced his mother, or Tater for that matter, to open up their lives to the world. And honestly, Victoria couldn’t blame them. There was a reason she stayed on the other side of the camera.

      “Thanks,” she told him now, putting her guilt and her own reservations out of her mind. “That was a great dinner.”

      His self-deprecating smile sizzled with charm. “I almost burned the steak.”

      “The steak was just right but I was talking about the undercurrents around the table.”

      “Oh, I see. You’d like to get that on the screen?”

      “That’s the kind of family interaction we dream about getting on TV.”

      “Keep dreaming then, darlin’.” He strolled her to her car then leaned back against it to stare down at her. “I don’t think my girls are quite ready for prime time.”

      Victoria didn’t want to lose this chance, especially after meeting his family. At first, she’d only been intent on showing Clint Griffin in his worst light because she wanted to reveal him for the player he’d always been. She’d wanted nothing more than to expose his shenanigans to the world because viewers loved to see others in misery. But she had a gut feeling that showing him interacting with all of his female relatives would send a new message and make the ratings skyrocket. Women loved a man who knew how to handle women. It was a bit sexist but true. Clint’s handling of his many girlfriends would contrast nicely with how he interacted with his family. Plus, everyone loved watching notorious people having meltdowns. It was a sad paradox, but it was there. She had every reason to want to cash in on that.

      “What can I do to convince you?”

      “I’m almost in,” he said, nodding. “But even before you showed up tonight, I was gonna explain it to all of them and ask them to let me work around them—not include them, unless they agreed to it.”

      “Susie seems interested,” she pointed out. “And she does have an impressive acting résumé from what she told me.”

      “Yes, that and an ego the size of our great state,” he said on a guarded chuckle. “I’ll have to think about bringing her in but she just might work out and she does need some means of an income.”

      “We could start with you,” Victoria replied. “We’d just coordinate scenes with you, doing your thing. Nothing too hard. Then we’d ease into the family stuff.”

      “Me?” He puffed up. “Well, that’s what you came for, right?”

      Right. But she was getting more than she bargained for. Just being in the same space with him upped her ante and made her have interesting, dangerous daydreams. “You don’t seem too worried, either way. Your picture is in the papers a lot and you make the local news on a weekly basis. This would just be another day at work for you.”

      “With one infraction or another, yep.”

      She tried another tactic. “Maybe you don’t want people to know that you’re really a decent man who’s trying to hold his family together, a man who takes in his sister and niece because they’re going through a rough patch. A man who takes in his other unemployed sister to save her pride. Or a man who makes sure his widowed mother has a home when she needs a place to get away and be by herself.”

      “You got all of that from dinner?”

      Victoria couldn’t deny what she’d seen with her own eyes. “I got all of that from watching you and your family and asking you questions. I think the viewers would be surprised, too.”

      His gray eyes turned to silver and swept over her with a liquid heat. “Well, I like to surprise people.”

      She wondered about that while she tried to shield herself from that predatory gaze. “So, what if we just go with taping you first and then see how everyone else feels?”

      “How ’bout I think it over and call you tomorrow?”

      Victoria needed more than that. She’d like to march triumphantly into Samuel’s office first thing in the morning and tell him she’d nabbed the infamous Clint Griffin for their show. But that would have to wait. “Okay. Call me early. I have a busy day tomorrow.”

      “I have your card,” he replied. “I’ll get back to you.”

      How many times had she heard that from a man?

      Victoria left knowing she’d never see him again unless she subscribed to all the papers and magazines in town. He’d go on being him and she’d miss out on getting it all down on tape.

      A shame, too. She really liked his mother.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      “OKAY, I’M IN.”

      Victoria held her cell to her ear and rolled over to stare at the clock. Five in the morning? “Clint?”

      “Yeah. I’m in. I’ve thought about it and I like this deal. But at the price I named and with the stipulations I requested.”

      Victoria sat up and pushed at her hair. Greed didn’t seem to stop this man, but who was she to judge.

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