Sandra's Classics - The Bad Boys of Romance - Boxed Set (69 page)

‘Don’t tell me we’re back to that?’

‘That’s not what I meant. You know I’ve already admitted you’re a pretty good actor.’

‘Pretty good?’

‘Look, you’re not what I expected, OK? But you’ve got to admit you wouldn’t have this part if it weren’t for Jerry throwing us together.’

‘Crawford’s not responsible for what we feel.’

‘
I’ve seen this kind of thing before,’ she said. ‘People meet during a play or a film, they have some kind of stage relationship and...’

‘Dam
mit, is that all you think this is?’

‘You’re new. You  don’t know how easy it is to get trapped inside a part.’

‘Don’t tell me you think what we feel is mixed up with the parts we’re playing.’

‘I’m telling you that it’s easy to confuse fantasy and reality.’

Cade’s eyes searched hers. ‘Some guy did a number on you, didn’t he?’ he asked softly.

‘If you mean have I been through this myself,’ she said, taking a deep breath, ‘the answer is yes. When I was in my first summer stock company. I played Juliet and I...I...’

‘I knew it,’ he said. ‘Listen, I’m not that bastard, that—that two-cent Romeo.’

‘What he was,’ she said tightly, ‘was a  lesson well learned.’ She forced a smile to her face. ‘You and I are lucky, Cade. We’re able to bring something special to our scenes together.’

‘And that’s all it is?’ He clasped her shoulders and stared at her, his eyes that indigo mystery that she feared. A thin smile crossed his face. ‘That’s all you want it to be?’

No, she thought suddenly, and her heart thudded against her ribs.

‘Time to go back,’ she said, scrambling out from beneath him.

At first, she thought he wasn’t going to let her go.

The thought was as exciting as it was terrifying.

Then he rolled away and sat up.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Time to go back.’

Back to reality, she told herself.

Although, all at once, reality seemed a dangerous place to be.

Shannon turned slowly in Cade’s arms, nestling her head on the hard plane of his naked shoulder. Some
where in the distance, music was playing, soft violins swelling as Cade’s mouth ravaged hers.

‘That’s wonderful, darling,’ she whispered softly, smiling up at him through half-lidded eyes. ‘Wonderful.’

‘Wonderful!’ Jerry echoed from the sidelines. ‘OK, kids, you were great. Wrap it for the day.’

Thank God, Shannon thought desperately. She pushed Cade away from her and sat up quickly. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, swinging her legs to the floor.

He smiled at her. ‘Sure.’

Her eyes met his briefly and then she looked past him, towards the perimeter of the set. She could see her robe lying across an unused camera. But to get to it, she’d have to let go of the sheet she was clutching and then walk across the set in her bodysuit while Cade sat and watched.

He rose and stretched lazily. Shannon looked away from him. Think about something else, she told herself. Think about all you have to do when you get home tonight. The laundry and the cleaning and...

And, he was gorgeous. He wore jeans, nothing else. His shoulders, his chest were bare. All that hard, beautiful muscle, that tanned skin…

‘Here’s your robe.’

She looked up in surprise. Cade was holding her robe out to her.

‘I...thank you.’

She scrambled into it just as the director reached them.

‘You guys were terrific,’ Jerry said, beaming at them. He slapped Shannon on the back and grinned. ‘Fan-effing-tastic! ’

Shannon avoided Cade’s eyes as each of them murmured their thanks. Crawford had been complimenting them all week, telling them and the network publicity department that he’d never seen such chemistry before. He’d been delighted ever since the day they’d finally played that first love scene together.

‘Spontaneous combustion,’ he’d said, and Shannon had avoided Cade’s eyes then, too, because she knew he’d figured out the truth, even if Jerry hadn’t.

It hadn’t been spontaneous combustion. The sparks Jerry had wanted were there, but they were phonies.

She’d given the best performance of her life and she’d gone on doing it every day since.

She’d only lost her concen
tration once, only let herself feel Cade’s arms and Cade’s body and Cade’s mouth one tim,e and that had happened today, damn it, today, and she didn’t know how she’d let herself slip into that trap…

‘I want you in early Monday. The network wants to get some publicity stills of you two.’

Shannon nodded. ‘Yes, OK, Jerry. I’ll be here. Uh, if we’re done for the day... ?’

‘No problem. Uh, Cade? Can I have a minute?’

‘I’m in a bit of a hurry, Jerry.’

‘I’ll make it fast,’ the director promised.

Not too fast, Shannon thought, risking a quick glance at Cade as he reached for his shirt.

His head swung towards her, his eyes catching hers for an instant. His slow smile brought a momentary rush of confusion and she swiveled sharply on her heel and hurried towards her dressing-room, de
termined to be in her street clothes and out the door before he could stop her.

Her shoulders sagged with relief as she slammed the dressing-room door behind her. Well, she thought, an
other day and she’d survived. She sighed as she peeled off her bodysuit. At least there were no-gawkers standing around the set any more.

Cade had seen to that  after their afternoon at the beach.

‘I want the set cleared,’ he’d said to Jerry. ‘We don’t need anybody watching but the technicians.’

His voice had been soft, but there was no doubt in Shannon’s mind that it was a command, not a request.

‘That should make things easier,’ he’d said to her with a quick smile, and she’d nodded, for once in her life grateful that stars had certain prerogatives denied to mere mortals.

And it had made things easier. The cleared set, the tiny but private dressing-room—all of it helped her get through the day. And when Cade became persistent, when he tried to talk to her about what was happening each time he took her in his arms, she pretended ignorance.

‘You’re one hell of an actress, Padgett,' he’d said the day before. ‘You’ve even got Jerry convinced—he asked me if we’re seeing each other.’

‘You told him the truth, I hope,’ she’d said quickly.

‘I said I wished we were. Nothing more.’

‘There isn’t any more.’

‘Sure there is. I could have told him you’re the amazing mechanical woman. You walk and talk and you even breathe heavily on cue. You’ve made everybody a believer. Even him… but then,  he’s  not in bed with you.’

‘Dam
mit, Cade, don’t talk like that! I’m not—we’re not—‘

‘That’s a hell of a trick, you know. I reach for you and I end up with Alana Dunbar.’

Shannon had taken a deep breath. ‘I tried to tell you but you wouldn’t listen. The woman in that bed is Alana Dunbar.’

His fingers had curled around her wrist. ‘Prove it. Spend an evening with me. Let me take you to dinner.’

‘No.’

‘
For drinks.’

‘I’m busy.’

‘Then we’ll make it tomorrow night...’

‘I’m busy then, too.’

‘You’re afraid,’ he’d said softly.

‘That’s crazy,’ she’d answered. ‘I’m just doing my job.’

Well, at least it was Friday. That meant two days away from this pressure cooker.

She sighed as she slipped into a pair of old cor
duroys and an oversized sweater. She’d sleep late and soak in the tub and maybe even indulge herself in cooking up a real meal—linguine with clams or chicken Kiev, and to hell with the calories and what an extra pound or two would look like through the camera’s critical eye—and then on Monday, she’d be in control again.

Wearily, she slumped into the chair before her dressing- table and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Alana Dunbar stared back at her, with her crimson lips and gilded eyelids.

So long, Alana,
Shannon thought, reaching for the cold cream.
You can rest over the weekend, but I expect you to be ready for work first thing Monday morning. And you can do it, Alana. I know you can. You’ve done fine all week, ever since that day at the beach.

That day had sent her home in a state of panic. She’d masked it from Cade, turning down his suggestion of dinner, maintaining her poise until she was up the stairs and safely in her apartment. Then she’d let go, flying to the telephone and dialing Claire’s number before she was out of her jacket.

‘What would happen if I quit the soap?’ she had asked without preamble.

‘Nothing much,’ Claire had said carefully. ‘We’d get sued for breach of contract, but don’t worry about it. I’ve always had this burning desire to manage a troupe of trained fleas, and I’m sure you can land a great job demonstrating pots and pans at Macy’s. What’s the problem, sweetie?’

‘Problem? Did I say there was a problem?’ Shannon had snarled, slamming down the phone. ‘Why should there be a problem?’ she’d demanded of the high- ceilinged room.

Anyway, quitting was out of the question. You didn’t toss aside a career because you couldn’t handle one stupid love scene.

Love scene?
One
love scene?

Try multiplying that by a zillion.

Not that she’d seen the story-board—it was guarded like a state secret—but only a simpleton would believe that the writers were going to suddenly turn Alana Dunbar and Johnny Wolff into celibates.

If only she’d carried off that dumb love scene with Tony. Those damned laundry lists dancing through her head had done her in. Why had she let her mind drift to such mundane things? That had never happened to her before...

Well, yes, once a long time ago, but then it had been deliberate. She’d had a part in an off- Broadway play and had to strip down to her teddy.

‘I’ll die of embarrassment,’ she’d moaned to Eli, and he’d taught her an exercise that required thinking about something dull to help maintain concentration while separating yourself from the actions of your character. And it had worked; thinking about laundry had got her through.

Was it really that simple? Had the solution been there all along? Shannon had taken a deep breath.

Yes. Yes, it was. If she kept half her mind occupied with trivia and the other half busy with camera angles and cues and lines, there’d be no part of her left to think about... about whatever Cade was doing.

Reach into yourself, Eli always said, and use what you find.

She’d made a pot of strong coffee and sat up half the night, gulping the bitter black liquid and reviewing everything she knew about acting technique and control.

And it had worked. Nobody suspected a thing. Nobody but Cade...

‘Shannon? Are you there?’

She blinked as the light tap on the door was repeated. That’s what she got for wasting time, day dreaming.

Cade had caught her. But not for long.

‘I was just leaving,’ she said, grabbing her jacket.

T
he door swung open and she stared into his scowling face.

‘What’s the matter?’ she said, because instinct told her something was.

‘Have you seen the script changes for Monday?’

She shook her head as he handed her a thin sheaf of papers. ‘I know Jerry said there would be some. Is something wrong?’

Cade laughed, but it wasn’t a good sound.

‘Not unless you find fault with a graveside seduction. And before you ask, Jerry thinks it’s great.’

‘Graveside sed... ? What are you talking about?’ she demanded, leafing through the pages he’d given her. ‘I thought we were going to do the Dunbar funeral, the cemetery scene—complete with fog machines—and then the reading of Alana’s father’s will.’

‘Oh, we are. But take a look at page four, Padgett. How am I supposed to deliver those lines? “I’ll take you home and kiss the sadness from your beautiful eyes...” Jesus, who’s kidding who? I know Johnny Wolff is supposed to be the sexiest SOB in the world, but even Alana Dunbar would spit in his eye if he came on to her at her father’s funeral.’

‘Ours not to reason why, Cade, ours just to do...’

‘Or die. Yeah, and that’s what I’m afraid of—dying out there on coast-to-coast TV. This is supposed to be the start of the new Cade Morgan, not the finish. What comic wrote those lines, anyway?’

Shannon shuffled through the script. ‘My God,’ she muttered, ‘have you seen Alana’s answer? You’re getting off easy. I have to smile from behind my black veil and whisper—where is it again?—I have to say, “Yes, Johnny, yes, make me fly away, make me forget this awful place.” Can you just hear Alana saying that with daddy lying in the grave at her feet?’

Cade groaned softly. ‘Are you sure this isn’t some
body’s idea of a joke? Dammit, by the time we get to the reading of the will, I’ll be so sick that I’ll wish I were in old man Dunbar’s casket.’

‘Look, I think this sucks, too, but you have to work with it. You have to become Johnny—you’ve got to believe in him just as he’s written.’

‘I just don’t think I can.’ He drew in his breath, exhaled a gusty sigh. ‘But I don’t want to drag you down with me.  I thought I’d drop by the workshop and talk to Eli...’

‘You can’t. He’s still on the road with the Shepherd play.’

‘Damn, I forgot.’ He took the script from her. ‘What the hell, I’ll do the best I can. It’s my problem, not yours.’

‘I admit it’s a bad scene, but we’ll manage. Stop worrying.’

‘I wish I had your confidence.’ Cade’s shoulders slumped. ‘I suppose you’ve got a million appointments to keep, right? I mean, I guess you don’t have time to waste time, cheering me up..’

He looked terrified. She felt awful for him.

‘That’s all right,’ she said gently. ‘I’m not in any particular rush.’

‘
You mean, you haven’t got any appointments today?’

‘No,’ she said without thinking, ‘none at...’ The words caught in her throat as a triumphant grin flashed across his face. ‘Now, Cade...’

‘Gotcha fair and square, Padgett. You’ve had something or other to keep you busy every day for the past week.’

‘I have a crowded schedule.’

‘Yeah, I know. If there were twenty-five hours in a day, you’d be busy twenty-six of them. Day and night classes, night and day appointments...’

‘I can’t help that.’

‘Busy, busy, busy. Except for today.’

‘Of course I’m busy today—I’ve got to work on my part.’

‘Amazing,’ he said softly. ‘So do I.’

‘Cade. Listen, okay? There’s no benefit to our practicing together.’

‘Oh, absolutely right,’ he agreed solemnly. ‘What possible use could there be if two people who are going to play a scene together studied it together?’

‘All each of us has to do is memorize some lines,’ she said helplessly. ‘There’s nothing much to that.’

‘Right. We wouldn’t want to risk finding some way to get the damned lines make some kind of sense. It’s much better to handle this separately.’