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Jackie Collins

Lady Boss

PROLOGUE:

September 1985

"Kil her," the voice said.

"Who?"

"Lucky Santangelo, that's who. "

"It's as good as done. "

"I hope so. "

"Don't worry--the lady is already dead. "

Chapter 1

From the very beginning they were destined to be a lethal combination--Lucky Santangelo and Lennie Golden.

Two stubborn, crazy, smart people.

Lennie was tal and lanky, with dirty-blond hair and ocean-green eyes. He was good-looking in an edgy offhand way. Women loved his looks. At thirty-seven, he'd final y made it as a movie star. He was the new breed--a comedian of the Eddie Murphy/Chevy Chase school.

Cynical and funny, his films made big bucks--the bottom line in Hol ywood.

Lucky Santangelo Richmond Stanislopoulos Golden was the thrice married daughter of the* notorious Gino Santangelo. In her early thirties, she was darkly, exotical y beautiful, with a tangle of wild jet curls, dangerous black eyes, smooth olive skin, a ful sensual mouth, and a slim body. She was a fiercely independent, strong-wil ed woman who never compromised and always took chances.

Together they generated blazing heat. They'd been married for nearly a year, and both looked forward to their wedding anniversary in September with a mixture of delight and amazement.

Delight, because they loved each other very much. Amazement, because who'd ever thought it would last?

Currently Lennie was in Los Angeles shooting Macho Man for Panther Studios. The film was a comedy takeoff on al the Hol ywood superheroes--Eastwood, Stal one, and Schwarzenegger.

They'd rented a beach house in Malibu, but while Lennie was filming, Lucky chose to stay in New York where she headed a bil ion-dol ar shipping company--left to her by her second husband, Dimitri Stanislopoulos. She also had wanted Bobby, her six-and-a-half-year-old son by Dimitri, to be educated in England, and being in New York meant she was closer to his English school.

On most weekends she either visited Bobby in London or Lennie in Los Angeles. "My life is one long plane ride,"

she joked rueful y to friends. But everyone knew Lucky thrived on activity, and to sit by Lennie's side playing movie star's wife would have bored her. As it was, they had a volatile and passionate marriage.

Macho Man was causing Lennie nothing but problems.

Every night he cal ed Lucky with a litany of complaints. She listened patiently while he told her the producer was a jerk; the director was a has-been lush; his leading lady was sharing her bed with the producer; and Panther Studios was run by money-mad grafters. He wanted out.

Lucky listened, smiling to herself. She was working on a deal that--if al went according to plan--w6uld free him from the restrictions of answering to a director he didn't respect, a producer he loathed, and a studio run by people he never planned to do business with again--even though he'd foolishly, against her advice, signed a three-picture contract with Panther.

"I'm about ready to walk," he threatened for the hundredth time.