THE CRITIC Page 2

  “Ms. Rose, if you come back, I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. You can even punch me again. The audience went crazy when you hit me.”

  “No,” Toreas answered. “I don’t want to be anywhere near you.” This time she meant it. The man was making her forget the reasons she had appeared on his show in the first place. He was the enemy. He hated her, hated her entire gender. She had to remind herself of that little fact as she felt her body swaying in his general direction. She couldn’t keep her mind off his kiss and wanted another.

  “If you don’t come back I’ll sue you for assault.”

  “And I’ll sue you for sexual harassment,” Toreas retorted. “You did kiss me without my permission.”

  “Then give me your permission for the next kiss, only give it to me on the next show.”

  Jared was grinning at her as if thinking she kissed strange men every day of her life. He was crazier than she was.

  “You’re nuts,” she answered.

  Toreas glanced over at Liz who was still staring at her as if she’d lost the last few marbles she possessed. She glanced toward Elysa, Barb and Wendy. Yep, they were all eyeing her with a strange look on their faces. She could tell her friends were wishing they were anywhere but with her at the moment. Instead of helping their cause she’d single handedly lit a keg of dynamite with one well aimed but badly delivered punch.

  Toreas walked out the heavy green doors, praying her friends would follow and that she would not be arrested before she could leave the building.

  She stood next to Elysa’s van, wishing she had come alone. But she hadn’t. Elysa was the driver for the group. Toreas had no choice but to wait. So she waited for them to come out, wondering why it was taking so long.

  The heavy metal doors finally opened and Toreas breathed a sigh of relief. At least now she could get in the van and start to forget this horrible day.

  Darn! Her mouth dropped open in astonishment and she rushed to close it. Her friends were not alone. Jared Stone was tagging along, standing strategically behind Liz as though he didn’t trust himself to be too near Toreas.

  “Ms. Rose, won’t you please reconsider? I think you owe me that much.” Jared grinned. “That punch hurt.”

  “Why would you want me back on the show? You didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.”

  “You didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  “You had sixty minutes. It was up to you to use them wisely.”

  Toreas could only stare at the man, the sight of him making her weak in the knees. Her former crush was battling with her new dislike. Was it any wonder she was a bundle of nerves, of contradictions? Jared Stone was making her crazy.

  “Will you do it?” Jared asked again.

  “For ratings?”

  “Of course,” he answered, then frowned. What was wrong with the woman? She was in the business, she had to understand how things worked.

  “You want me to come back on your show and be humiliated again so the ratings on your show will go up?”

  “Yes. Besides, I was the one humiliated. The audience loved you.”

  “I will not come back on your show and punch you again.”

  “Then come back and apologize.”

  Toreas’s head tilted just a wee bit and she knew once again she was going to act without thinking of the consequences. “One should only apologize if one is sorry.”

  “And you’re not sorry?”

  “Are you sorry for the way you treated us on your show?”

  Jared moved a bit closer to the woman, hoping his towering height would at least intimidate her. It didn’t. He saw the sparks flying from her eyes straight at him. At first he thought it was a trick of the sun, then looked again and blinked. Toreas Rose had beautiful eyes. Jared blinked as he looked into her eyes, eyes that flamed when she was angry.

  He felt a lump appear in his throat and a throb begin in his groin. He couldn’t want this little bitty woman; it must be the punch. Maybe she’d somehow damaged his mind as well as his pride.

  Jared wanted more contact with the woman, another chance to prove to himself that romance writers were evil, that this little woman standing in front of him held no interest for him, that he wasn’t getting a hard-on as he stared at her. He shook his head as if trying to shake away the lie.

  “Ms. Rose, please come back on the show. You would really be doing me a favor and you would help your group as well.”

  “Are you crazy? What just took place in there didn’t help my group. It made us look stupid, as though the things you’d said were true.”

  “But there is always interest in controversy. What just happened today between the two of us will be great for both of our careers. Think about it. This thing can really get big if we work it right.

  “I have no plans to work it right,” Toreas said indignantly. “I don’t want to do you any favors. I don’t like you.”

  “I don’t like you either. That’s what would make it so great. Every week you could come on, hit me, flip me, kick me, I don’t care, and every week I’ll grab you and kiss you.” He smiled. “Think about it, the sizzle.”

  “Let me get this straight. You want to trash us on television every week and you now want me to be a part of this ridiculous plan.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re on every weekday. Why don’t you want me on every day?”

  “Overkill. Why do you think I only talk about romance writers for a small segment of the show, sometimes not at all? Too much and the viewer would become bored. If you came on the show once a week they would be excited. This could get really big.”

  “You are crazy, aren’t you?”

  “If you don’t come back I can guarantee you that things will get worse.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You’re lying. You care or you never would have called the station to complain.” This time there was a definite pulling in his groin and Jared couldn’t deny that it was in direct response to the fire coming from Toreas’s eyes. He groaned inwardly with the realization. And with that realization he knew he’d do anything to see her again, to dispel his body of the notion that it was attracted to this itty bitty romance writer. Yuck, perish the thought. Jared took a step back, grounding himself in the reasons for his feud in the first place. He hated romance writers. He sent a message to his libido. Snap out of it. We have work to do.

  “Ms. Rose, if you don’t reappear, I’ll…I’ll…”

  “You’ll what, Mr. Stone?”

  “Until this job I worked in advertising, then public relations.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean to me?”

  “I was very good at my job.” He narrowed his gaze. “I have never failed to get extensive press. Generally it was for a client but in this case I’ll be my own client. I made big bucks putting the spin I wanted on things. Your coming back on the show would work for both of us and for your entire organization. Not to accept my offer is selfish. You can’t put your dislike of me before what could be good for your friends.” He smiled. “Now will you come and help me milk this feud?”

  “No.”

  Jared stared at her for a moment, not believing she’d really said no again. He’d given her plenty of legitimate reasons why she should come. He rubbed his chin, thinking of a new tactic. “I’ll sue your chapter.”

  It was a bluff. It had to be, but the panic on Liz and Elysa’s faces told Toreas they didn’t think so.

  “I’ll tell you what, Mr. Stone, the three viewers who were probably watching you, if they complain, send me their addresses and I’ll apologize to them. As for the people in your audience, I don’t think anyone would waste their time coming to watch your show live, so they’re probably plants. If not, tell them to write me and I’ll apologize to them as well.

  Now she’d done it. She’d gone and insulted the man.Toreas’s head was beginning to pound. She’d been too nervous to eat breakfast and the need for some protein was evident
.

  That had to be it, or maybe she simply had low blood sugar. Sure, that would explain it. She didn’t normally go around punching people or being nasty.

  Jared was staring at her. She had the feeling he was undressing her and she resisted the urge to cover her body with her hand. He was probably deliberately trying to unnerve her. If that was his game, it was working.

  Toreas wanted to beg Elysa to unlock the van. From the look in his eyes, she had the distinct impression that Jared Stone was preparing to kiss her again and she couldn’t believe it. Yet part of her was wishing he would. She needed to get away from him, from those beautiful brown eyes. He was the enemy.

  Toreas walked to the opposite side of the van, away from the man and the scorching looks he was sending her way. She couldn’t understand why her friends were still talking to him, trying to pacify him.

  She was wishing they would all start pummeling him with the books they’d brought, the same books he’d sneered at and refused to read. He’d treated them the same as he had the last groups of writers who’d braved his vindictive remarks.

  At long last Elysa opened the door and Toreas scampered inside, making sure to keep her head turned away from the building and away from Jared who stood outside watching them drive away.

  Liz peered at her from the front. Toreas was crouched down, almost into the cushions.

  “What was that all about? Why did you hit him?”

  “I don’t know. When he got in my face, I thought about what Kelle taught us last night and I just reacted.”

  “Did Kelle tell you to hit the host of a TV show that we’re trying to turn around?”

  “But we weren’t turning him around, he was being nasty.”

  “Then why didn’t you speak up? You’re the one who started it, remember? We only came to back you up. Then you sat there frozen, that is, until you decided to play Bruce Lee. You should have ignored him.”

  Liz was right and Toreas knew it, but darn, they were her friends. Shouldn’t they be on her side? “Look, it’s just a local show. There’s a good chance no one we know is ever going to hear about this. Besides, I asked for his permission before I hit him. Didn’t you hear me?”

  “Oh, we heard you alright, but judging from the look on your face, you would have hit him with or without his permission.”

  Toreas did her best to keep the smirk from her face. Of course she would have hit him. She’d wanted to, if for no other reason than the fact that he’d ruined her fantasy. Of course there was the more realistic issue of his treatment of them as a whole. Toreas found herself grinning as she looked to the front of the van toward her friends. Sure, she’d wanted to hit him because of the readers. Yeah, right. “I am sorry I hit the guy so hard.”

  “Then why can’t you go back on the air and apologize to him? It would be easy to just pretend that the two of you staged it. Jared told us his plan. We all think it will work for all of us. I don’t understand why you won’t do it.”

  “Would you go along with his plan?” Toreas couldn’t believe what she was hearing. And these were her friends.

  “I wouldn’t have hit him,” Liz said with a smug look on her face.

  “You know,” Elysa chimed in, “you had better be glad that this is real life and not some story in a book.”

  Toreas turned her attention from Liz to Elysa. They were both giving her a headache. She was wishing now she had ridden in the car with Barb and Wendy.

  “Why should I be happy that this horrible day is my life?”

  Elysa smiled before answering. “If this were a book, the readers would not accept the heroine losing her temper and slugging someone on television. The least they’d want to know is what motivated her to do it. She’s supposed to be an adult and have control of her temper.”

  “You’re right.” Toreas glanced out of the window. “What happens in real life would never be accepted by either an editor, or a reader, but, then again, I’m not a heroine. I don’t always have a reason for what I do.”

  She sighed heavily, deciding to give it one more try. “Why are you putting all the blame on me? Kelle’s responsible also. I didn’t even want to learn karate.”

  She was pouting like a child but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “What about Jared kissing me? I should have slugged him again.” She wasn’t going to mention the attempted kick. Toreas could feel her face getting hot and knew without a doubt she was blushing and turned her head toward the window.

  Still, she saw the looks that passed between Elysa and Liz, could even hear the gears grinding in their little writer heads. “Romance writer falls in love with romance critic.” Never in a million years. But she could bet they were both writing their first drafts in their heads.

  “Listen, whatever the two of you are thinking, forget it.” She laughed. “I’m a writer too, remember. I can see where you’re headed.” This time her friends joined her in laughing, their anger at her for possibly damaging their careers forgotten.

  “Well, it was an interesting day. We have to say that much. It’s a lucky thing only a few of us came with you.”

  “But the entire group knew we were coming. I told them,” Toreas said looking at Liz and knowing she was trying to figure out a way to help her.

  “You know how everyone is. They’re not going to even remember what you or anyone told them if they’re not reminded a thousand times. I asked Jared when the show would air and he said there would be a week delay. Maybe we shouldn’t mention the air date to the rest of the group.”

  Good old Liz. Toreas knew she would come through in a pinch. She was her angel, her confidante, her friend. She couldn’t blame her for being angry over a chance to have their genre featured in a good light. Now Toreas was angry with herself for screwing up the chance to educate the public on the hard work that was involved in writing romances. Now she could only console herself with the fact that she hadn’t punched out a supporter. That would have been worse.

  “What about Barb and Wendy? What if they tell someone what happened today or tell them when the show will air. How are we going to keep them from reminding the group that we came on Jared’s show today.” Toreas was smiling, knowing the answer to her question, just wanting Liz to say it.

  “I’ll call them. You knew that, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” Toreas answered, then closed her eyes and leaned back to begin forgetting.

  Chapter Two

  Toreas popped in her microwave TV dinner for one, poured herself a glass of seltzer water and sat down to watch the evening news. A picture of a man with his arm in a sling came up on the screen. It was Jared Stone.

  “Toreas Rose, a member of American Romance Writers, has been accused of attacking Jared Stone the popular host of Straight Up, No Chaser. The show is the flagship of the independently owned Chicago land television station KGB. The station reported that while he was hosting his regular show, Toreas Rose, a romance writer, had attacked him for no apparent reason. Jared Stone has vowed that this incident will not stop him from expressing his honest opinions on the show.”

  Toreas listened to the announcer in disbelief, her glass slipping from her hand and landing near her feet. Thank God it was only seltzer. She stared at the cracked glass and frowned. If she didn’t do something about Jared Stone she’d soon have to switch to plastic.

  Without bothering to do more than throw down a towel, Toreas turned her attention back to the TV. She almost laughed at the pitiful look on Jared’s face as he smiled wanly for the camera. He attempted to move his arm, which was in the sling, then grimaced and allowed a look of pain to cross his handsome face.

  That fake, she thought. I didn’t punch him in the arm, it was his stomach. But she began to feel alarm as he mentioned not only the name of her local chapter but Liz, Elysa, Barb and Wendy as well. Only three days, she thought. How did Jared manage to get so much coverage in such a short span of time? She groaned as she remembered his threat. Dang, he must have been really good at his public relations job. />
  She turned to another channel to see if anybody else was carrying the ridiculous story. Apparently they were. This time she listened closely as she heard the announcer asking, “Do you plan to sue Ms. Rose, Mr. Stone?”

  Toreas glared at her screen as Jared turned toward the camera and smiled. “I never wanted this to happen.” He glanced at his arm. “I won’t sue. Not if she’s willing to come back on my show and say she’s sorry. After all, I thought romance writers wrote about love, not violence.”

  The nerve of him. She’d rather die first. Was that a dimple she saw? Actually it was two dimples, one on each cheek.

  Toreas shook her head. What was she thinking of? She didn’t care about Jared Stone’s dimples.

  She closed her eyes against the flecks of gold dancing in his brown eyes. Somehow she knew this act was for her. He was grinning at her from her television, making it personal. Toreas inadvertently rubbed her finger along her lips, remembering his kiss.

  No, no, no. She couldn’t possibly want him to kiss her again. It had been way too long since she’d had a man in her life. This was too unbelievable, something she wouldn’t even write. She hated sappy, predictable romance stories and sure as heck wasn’t going to allow her real life to become one. She would avoid the man like the plague.

  Go back on his show? No sir, no way. If she did, this time she might carry a gun and she might use it. Nope, give it another week and this story would die down.

  Toreas thought about an Ex-President. Hardly anyone even mentioned him using the White House for his little tryst anymore. Heck, she was a long way from being famous.

  A week at most, then it should have run its course.

  The phone rang and without even checking her caller ID she knew it would be Liz. Still, from force of habit she looked and groaned.

  “Did you see him on the news?”

  Toreas could feel herself beginning to squirm. “Well, we can still be thankful that it’s not national.”