Once Burned (28 page)
Northstar Holidays, Book One
(Northstar Romances #5.5)
Two years ago, Ty Evans stole a kiss under the mistletoe from his friend, Shannon O’Neil while she was in Northstar visiting her brother. Since then, she has become a starlet of the Seattle theatre scene, and it looks like that kiss will be the only Ty ever gets. Then, after Shannon’s first brush with the hassles of fame costs her her relationship with her boyfriend, she decides to take another trip to Northstar. It looks like Ty might have another chance to convince her to stay in Northstar… with him.
Chapter One
“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?”
Shannon had to step back to see the tabloid Chris thrust in her face. When he shoved it toward her again, she snatched it and pushed past him through the front door of his house. She walked into the kitchen and dropped the paper on the counter. He followed her and leaned back against the island with his arms folded tightly across his chest and dark scowl pinching the features of his usually handsome face. She had really hoped he would see the article for what it was. Outright lies. Obviously, if the fury snapping in his rich brown eyes was any indication, her hope had been misplaced.
She lowered her gaze to the cover of the tabloid. There it was, her first brush with the darker side of fame. Nearly a year and a half she’d been acting and singing on stage without a single
hint
of scandal, and now, less than forty-eight hours after being offered a role in a movie—albeit a local, low-budget Indie film—and she had been targeted by the media. The title proclaimed,
Quid pro quo? Theatre insider claims actress/singer Shannon O’Neil offered part in film after affair with producer Kevin McNamara.
Shannon slowly and methodically shrugged out of her jacket, hung it on the peg by the pantry, and walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.
“Are you going to answer me?” Chris asked.
“Not when you’re acting like this.”
“How should I act, Shannon?”
“You actually believe this?” She jabbed the bottle toward the tabloid.
“You know, I used to think you were this sweet, innocent girl, but… now I know you’re just a lying, cheating whore.”
“Can we talk about this when you’ve had time to calm down and think and realize it’s a fabrication?”
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, Shannon. And you know what? A lot of things are starting to make sense. Like how an entirely unknown fourth grade teacher was miraculously offered a starring role in a musical.”
“The director was a friend of my drama professor. You know that, Chris.”
He continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “No, not one starring role… role after
starring
role. There are a lot of things I’ve been willing to overlook, Shannon, but I can’t forgive this.”
“Forgive what, Chris? It’s not true! They took the picture and wrote a lie about it. And what ‘things’ are you willing to over look? There is
nothing
.”
“How about your obsession with that Montana college football team? I always wondered if there was something more to it than what you kept telling me. You’ve got a thing for the quarterback, don’t you? The blond kid, your brother’s friend. Then there was that kiss with what’s-his-name from Northstar—the cowboy—when we visited your brother for Christmas that year. Makes me wonder what you do on your solo trips out to Montana.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Chris! Luke is a friend of my family’s and that kiss with Ty under the mistletoe was two years ago. It meant
nothing
. I apologized for it, and Ty apologized for it.”
“Nothing? I know what I saw, Shannon. And your face and your eyes right now betray you.”
Her hand twitched with the uncharacteristic urge to slap that smug, vicious sneer off his face. Tears burned her eyes, but flaring anger held them back. “It was an
accident
. He didn’t mean to—”
“Bullshit, Shannon.”
“Three things,” she said. Her voice cracked. “Three
misconceptions
. That’s all you can come up with and you call me a slut?”
“That’s more than I
need
to come up with. More than I should be
able
to come up with. You slept with another man. A married man at that.” He let go of her gaze for a moment to stare into the distance. The muscle in his jaw twitched as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. Finally, he returned his eyes to her and said very softly, “Get out of my house.”
“Chris, please don’t do this.”
“I said… get out of my house. I’m done with you.”
“Can we please talk about this?”
“There’s nothing more to talk about.”
“Yes, there is. You’re being a jealous idiot and there’s no reason at all for you to be jealous.”
“I’m not. I am well over being jealous. Now, please leave.”
The quiet, firm resolve with which he spoke those final words cut more deeply than any amount of fury.
“I hope you feel like crap when you realize how wrong you are.”
With her tears spilling over, Shannon yanked her coat off the rack and ran to the front door without looking back. She slammed the door behind her as she stepped back out into the black November night. Rain pelted her as she dashed to her car, but she didn’t care. It was fitting, really, as if the sky was crying with her.
She and Chris were supposed to have had a quiet, romantic dinner after her meeting with her agent. Instead, when she’d walked into Marcie’s sleek apartment overlooking the Seattle waterfront after spending her day off with her mother doing a little early Christmas shopping, the tabloid had been waiting for her. How she had missed it after spending all day in the mall with her mom, she had no idea, but she had and seeing her smiling face on the cover had taken the wind out of her. She recalled falling into the cushy chair across the desk from Marcie, unable to take her eyes off the image or the headline. Marcie didn’t believe it and said she’d already begun the damage control process, but Shannon had barely heard her agent’s voice.
Her first thought had been of Chris, and of what he would think. With the naïveté she still somehow managed to cling to, she had believed he loved her enough to trust her and to know it was all a hideous fallacy, but there had been a voice in the back of her mind that remembered how he’d reacted to the way Ty Evans had kissed her in Northstar. The memory of that kiss was, two years later, still as sharp as if it had happened yesterday.
“Come on, Shannon, it’s my birthday. And look,” Ty had said. “We’re standing under the mistletoe. You have to kiss me.”
Sure enough, hanging from the branded beam in the restaurant of her brother and sister-in-law’s inn was a sprig of mistletoe. She had intended to give him only a simple kiss on the cheek, between friends, but Ty had had other ideas and when his lips touched hers, she had meant to pull away and teasingly chastise him. Instead, she’d lingered, intrigued and surprised by the flare of heat and the way her heart had jumped erratically in her chest. When they’d pulled apart moments later, she’d caught a brief glimpse of vulnerability and desire in his blue eyes.
Chris had returned from the restroom just in time to see the kiss. He’d been angry but had soon slipped into sulking jealousy. Ty had apologized the next day, saying that he’d had a little too much to drink that night, which Shannon knew was a lie. Ty didn’t drink. Still, Chris had acted like he was appeased, and she had thought he had forgiven the incident. Clearly not. Tonight was not the first time he’d brought it up, and Shannon momentarily thought of her brother’s deceased ex-fiancée. The fact that she was even remotely reminded of that abusive bitch was enough to stop her tears. If Chris didn’t trust or believe her and wouldn’t give her the chance to prove her innocence, she had no room in her life for him. Perhaps it was only a brief resolution, but something was better than nothing.
When she pulled into Bainbridge Island ferry terminal and parked to wait for the next boat, she picked up the copy of the tabloid she’d left sitting on the passenger seat. The article was accompanied by a picture of her with Kevin McNamara, who had directed five of the seven plays in which she’d starred. She counted Kevin among her close friends, and the idea that they’d had an affair was preposterous, but she couldn’t tell Chris or anyone else why because it wasn’t her secret to tell. She sighed. The photograph was almost a month old and showed her and Kevin embracing outside the theatre after the overwhelmingly successful opening night of their most recent production. He had kissed her on the cheek, but the photographer had snapped the shot half a moment before, and with the angle and poor lighting, it looked like Kevin was going in for a full-on-the-mouth kiss. The caption below it read,
Silver-voiced Shannon O’Neil and philanthropist theater mogul Kevin McNamara stealing a quick kiss after the sold-out opening performance of “Stars Over Seattle”.
“They can all rot,” Shannon muttered.
She pushed the article and every other thought out of her mind for the time being. The gentle rolling of the ferry as it crossed the stormy Puget Sound was soothing, and she let herself be lulled into a half-sleeping stupor. Disinclined to be around any people at all, she took the less traveled, winding rural roads home, and the darkness was as calming as the ferry ride had been. The peace she found lasted until she parked in front of her Kingston house. She climbed the stairs, and when she stepped inside, she leaned against the closed door for a moment.
“You’re home early,” her roommate remarked from her customary reading bench beside the big bay window overlooking the harbor.
“Yeah,” Shannon replied and tossed the tabloid at her friend.
“I already saw this, and I’m assuming Chris took it like an asshole.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“Then he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Thanks.”
Shannon wandered into the kitchen, thinking that she should eat something, even if she only heated up leftovers. Not that she was hungry. Celeste joined her and regarded her with worried brown eyes that always reminded Shannon of a doe.
“You all right?”
“I don’t know what I am. My boyfriend of three years just broke up with me over a lie. I know I should either be angry or heartbroken or
something
, but really, I just feel… empty.”
“Oh, honey.” Celeste hugged her. “Well, this might cheer you up. Your brother called about twenty minutes ago.”
The corner of Shannon’s lips lifted in a hint of a smile. She could use a trip to Northstar right now, even if she only visited in her mind. So, while Celeste set about cooking dinner for them both, Shannon took the cordless into the living room and dialed her brother’s number.
“I didn’t expect you to call me back so quickly,” came Pat’s cherished voice. “How are you?”
There was a note of concern in his voice that told her that he wasn’t asking a general question, which meant he knew about the article and that was the purpose of his call. Their parents must have called him and told him already.
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out. How are you? Tired yet of being happy all the time?”
“Nope. Aelissm wanted me to tell you to kick the writers of the article in the balls if you get the chance. I tend to agree with her.”
Shannon let out a bark of laughter. “If that’s all it would take to solve the problem, I would. Unfortunately, I don’t think that would change Chris’s mind.”
“He believes this garbage?”
“It seems so.” She repeated her conversation with her now ex-boyfriend, and Pat listened quietly.
“You don’t seem too upset.”
“Maybe I’m in shock, but his attitude tonight…. Sorry to dredge up old memories, but he reminded me a little of the bitch.”
“It’s been eight years and you still call her that.”
“If the name fits….”
“True enough. Well, I just wanted to call to make sure you’re okay.”
“I think I’ll be all right, once the dust settles.”
“If you need to get away for a while, you’re always welcome here, and we’d love to see you.”
The offer was very tempting, but she politely declined. She had the film deal—though, at the moment, she wanted to turn it down—and a couple of upcoming plays she was very interested in. Plus, there was the possibility of breaking into the music industry, which she really wanted. Like her father and his father, music was in her soul, and while the stage had a tantalizing pull, it was songwriting that appealed to her.
“I know Mom and Dad are heading to Northstar for Christmas this year. I may have to shuffle some things in my schedule around, because I’d really love to see you guys, too.”
“That would be wonderful. I’ve gotta run. The Conners just arrived for cards.”
“Don’t have too much fun.”
“Not possible. I love you, Shannon.”
“I love you, too, Pat.”
She ended the call and turned to find Celeste standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, holding two plates of food and staring at her with a quizzical frown.