One of Those Malibu Nights Read Free

thought, sighing, Pirate was willing to be friends. Tesoro was not. And rather than have his dog harassed, Mac had departed, leaving the tamales uneaten. “Next time I won’t bring the dog,” he’d said, shielding Pirate from the marauding Chihuahua.
    And that was how things now stood. She went to his Malibu house without Tesoro. He came to her Marina apartment without Pirate. “And never the twain shall meet” was Mac’s motto. Which of course left them in their current uncertain limbo.
    Sunny checked the time. It was after midnight in Malibu and Mac still wasn’t home. She should get off this bedright now. Get out there in the vibrant bustling streets of Rome, pick up a charming handsome Italian and let him sweep her off her stilettos.
    Heaving a sigh that this time came from her gut, she decided that she would call Mac no more. The hell with the diet. She could practically smell sugar and cinnamon as she ran her hands hastily through her long dark hair, pushed her feet into black patent sandals and headed for the door.
    The phone rang. She swung round, staring at it.
    It rang again. Of course it wouldn’t be
him
. How could it? Hadn’t she been calling him for the past hour, damn it?
    She picked up the phone.
“Pronto?”
she said sulkily.

C HAPTER 4
    “Sunny?” Mac said.
    “This is Sonora Sky Coto de Alvarez.”
    Mac felt a sudden frost in Malibu. She was giving him the full-name treatment. He was in real trouble. Only thing was, he didn’t know why.
    “You sound so Italian,” he said. “Maybe I should be calling you Signorina.”
    “How would you know I’m not already a Signora now? Neglected as I am by you.”
    He grinned. “Okay,
Signora
, who popped the question?”
    “Certainly not you. Where were you, Romeo? I’ve been calling for the past hour.”
    “Would you believe the beach? Just me and Pirate. Gazingat the stars and wondering whether you were looking at the same stars, all those miles away in Rome.”
    “Huh. Some story. Anyhow, it’s breakfast time here. There are no stars, except the ones out at Cinecittà Studios, where I expect to be spending the day surrounded by the cream of Roman manhood.”
    Mac’s grin widened. “Don’t let it go to your head, honey. Hang out with me and I’ll introduce you to the cream of Malibu manhood.”
    “Like yourself, you mean? Thanks, but I can do without it.”
    “Listen, Sunny, something odd just happened … .”
    “Don’t even bother to tell me.” She sank back onto the bed, legs crossed, dangling one black patent sandal on the end of her toe, contemplating it as though it were the only thing of interest in her life.
    Her indifference permeated the telephone miles, registering like the knell of doom in Mac’s brain. “Aw, come on, Sunny, honey…”
    “And don’t call me by that ridiculous rhyming name.”
    It was Mac’s turn to heave a sigh. “Okay, so you don’t even want to know that somebody took a shot at me.”
    Unbelieving, she swung the sandal back onto her foot, uncrossed her legs and stood up. She was heading out that door right this minute. Espresso and sugar buns awaited.
    “I’ll bet it was a woman,” she said.
    Mac was genuinely astonished. “How did you know that?”
    “Just call it feminine intuition. And I have no doubt you deserved it.”
    “Well thanks a lot for that vote of confidence. Really, Sunny, I expected more from you. Y’know, like a little concern for my well-being, a touch of compassion, or at least an inquiry as to whether I might be bleeding to death from my wounds.”
    “She
wounded
you?” Sunny’s knees were suddenly shaky. She sank back onto the bed. “Oh, Mac, darling, are you all right?”
    Mac was laughing as he said, “Well, actually, no, she didn’t get me. But she had a darned good try, I can tell you. And it was a Sigma .40 handgun I was facing.”
    Sunny gritted her teeth. “You rat,” she said shakily. “Setting me up like that.”
    “How else was I to get your