Read Online The Price of Fame by Anne Oliver - Free Book Online

bought it several years ago as part of an ageing hotel. Then hehad negotiated with the owners to bring the whole resort into the twenty-first century by becoming a silent partner.
    It had been a gamble, sinking his first million into something he knew little about, but it had paid off, providing an ongoing income for locals. He hadn’t done too badly out of it himself. He didn’t get involved with the day-to-day business but he spent time at the resort when he wasn’t working, knew the staff, attended festivities, checked on its overall efficiency.
    But his private home was a sanctuary he guarded fiercely with high walls and monitored security. He didn’t entertain here and no woman ever came within these walls. Not since Angelica. If he wanted female company while he was in Fiji, he found it elsewhere at another resort, preferably away from the main island.
    The car stopped and Nic stepped out, leaving Malakai to park it undercover and bring in his luggage as he always insisted on doing as part of his job.
    Luxuriant foliage and tropical flowers lined the path. He noticed a couple of recently planted hibiscus bushes and one of Tenika’s personal touches—a Fijian carving, the equivalent of a garden gnome.
    Over the next few hours he caught up with Malakai and Tenika over refreshments, admired the new kitchen garden they’d planted in his absence.
    Later, refreshed from a swim and a shower, he checked his computer. Twilight settled over the bay with purple and vermilion hues. The smell of the resort’s kerosene torches wafted through the window. The nightly traditional
Meke
on the lawns down by the sea was in full swing. Distant singing and drumming throbbed on the air. Nic sat back, satisfied the five massive screens reflecting a three-dimensional wrap-around image of the Utopian world he’d created were ready to work on.
    Utopian Twilight
had been his first major success, written—inspired—after The Angelica Incident. It had taken three years in the courts to reclaim the earlier works she and her lover on the side had plagiarised. Retreating from real life’s raw deal into his alternative world had saved him.
    Chameleon Twilight
had followed a couple of years later.
Chameleon Council
, the final in the trilogy, was almost finished. He needed a break to revitalise his creativity, but online gamers were clamouring for more of the Onyx One’s adventures. So … Leaning back, he tapped his fingers on the edge of his desk … Bring in an unexpected new love interest for the Onyx to keep the female players on board …?
    From his upstairs office window, his gaze drifted to the exclusive club bures. Maybe his last-minute heroine would be a woman with a quirky penchant for personalised accessories … with a mysterious past …
    After checking in to the resort, dinner in her room and an early night, Charlotte spent the first day lazing by her pool and catching up on a novel she’d been meaning to read for ever. She also enjoyed the warm tropical air on her winter-pale skin, the wide blue Pacific view from her balcony, the friendly room service.
    It was because she needed some alone time—not because she didn’t want to bump into Nic.
    In fact, she didn’t think of Nic at all. And she did
not
look at that fifty-dollar note burning a hole at the bottom of her bag. It was illegal to deface money, wasn’t it? She ought to report him.
    He was reminding her that he was here somewhere. Available. A phone call away.
    On the second morning she threw back the sheets at six a.m. She would not allow him to dictate what she couldand could not do on her first precious vacation in more than two years. Why should she feel like a prisoner in such a luxurious resort with the balmy breeze tickling her skin and beckoning her outside for an early morning walk?
    So after a quick breakfast in her room, she pulled on a pair of skinny white pants and a shell-pink T-shirt. She piled her pad and pencils and a bottle of water in her holdall,