“I swear to God, nothing
happened!”
Kayla spun away from the
shiny Formica counter, impatiently kicked her left crutch out of the way
when it didn’t move smoothly with her, and stalked over to the pristine
padded chairs circling her new kitchen table.
Literally overnight, the
script hut had been transformed from Skid Row to Saville Row.
Comfortable beds beckoned along the walls; they had real dressers
instead of makeshift packing crates. Decorative privacy screens
had replaced the thin sheets hanging from their ceiling. The table
no longer needed a book wedged beneath one crooked leg.
Brigit had been
overwhelmed by the startling change. And even though she’d been
expecting it, Kayla could privately admit that she’d been stunned, too.
Once Jerry had finally decided to do the right thing, he’d done it in
high style. Living here for the remainder of the filming would be
a pleasure.
She couldn’t evade little
gnawing rumbles of guilt, though, as Brigit avidly described crossing
the ocean in a roaring MedEvac helicopter, and gushed over the mainland
hospital’s gleaming facilities. Was she being selfish, keeping the
energetic young nurse isolated on this remote island, when she was so
rapidly regaining her independence?
“Don’t be silly, darlin’,”
Brigit laughed, when she hesitantly broached the idea. “First
thing when I got back, Bob cornered me an’ asked if I’d consider helpin’
him with medical detail on the set. Cleared it with Jerry an’
everything! ’Course it’s mostly only handlin’ bug bites, poison
ivy, the odd scratch or bump. But it’s a good salary. An’
I’m comin’ to love it here. I don’t want to go back just yet.”
Neither did Kayla, and
she was dreading the day when they finished filming.
It wasn’t always a happy
family. God knew they had a wild mix of personalities.
Everything from Marty Levitz, the scrawny little Bronx misfit who manned
the booms, to long-haired Daffyd who saw himself as a modern day Robert
Plant. Louisiana-born Jimbo who stood head and shoulders over
every other man on the set, and bench-pressed three hundred pounds each
morning for fun. Shy Roland, who spoke with a lisp because of a
childhood jaw injury, but was one of the industry’s finest set wizards.
Paddy O’Reilly, who’d missed his calling as a professional Irish
step-dancer. (Probably had been, in another life, he liked to joke
after showing off a few incredibly intricate steps--but he preferred
being behind the camera, not in front of it.)
There were squabbles and
arguments and even the occasional brawl. Any half-witted
psychiatrist could tell you it was inevitable, when you packed that many
strong-willed men, and only five women, in one small place for several
months, with no external outlets for their energy. There were as
many differing opinions on any given subject as there were stars in the
sky.
But family they were, and
Kayla had grown to love them all.
She hated to look forward,
to envision life without their boisterous company around the evening
campfires.
You survived alone
before. You can do it again.
She had. She could.
And she would.
But oh, how she’d miss
these golden days and nights when they were gone!
“C’mon now, darlin’.”
Brigit drew her back, away from those painful introspections, with a sly
chuckle. “Give us the truth. You were out with Mac for
hours last night! What really happened?”
Kayla gritted her teeth,
and sank down into her chair with a fluid grace she hadn’t exhibited
even a few days ago. She was still exhausted from last night’s
wild emotional roller coaster. How could she explain to anyone
else what she didn’t even understand herself?
Best to keep things
short, precise, strictly factual. It made her feel like Perry
Mason. Or Detective Joe Friday on that old 60's cop show,
“Dragnet.”
“He took me out to see
the lower cave. We sat on the beach for a few hours, and talked
about the new script I’m writing. Then he brought me back.
And that’s all.”
Not even to Brigit or
Allie could she divulge those last few terrifying moments, when sheer
mind-numbing panic had swallowed her whole, and made her ruin
everything! Better to pretend they’d never happened, and erase
them from her memory entirely. They were just a figment of her
warped imagination.
God, what an incredible
imagination she must have!
Allie leaned back in her
chair, and eyed Kayla’s flushed cheeks with veiled amusement. “It
was a lovely warm night, full of bright stars and budding romance.
If I’d gone on a long walk with a handsome man, I’d have done
more than talk about plots. And considering his behavior with
Tommy yesterday...”
Was that only yesterday?
So much had happened since then, it hardly seemed possible.
Kayla quickly interrupted
her. “Trust me, Allie. Seducing me is the last thing
on his mind. He was quite happy to ferry me out there, and discuss
script twists for half the night. But beyond that, nothing.”
Forget the end!
Concentrate on the happier moments, when you laughed and talked together
like old friends.
Brigit’s green eyes
twinkled. “Disappointed?” she teased.
“Hardly!” Kayla
spoke without thinking. The panic was suddenly back full-force,
sizzling her nerve endings. “I don’t need that kind of
complication.”
Both women burst out
laughing at her instinctive denial. “Who does, darlin’? But
myself, I’d still take the chance! He’s so...well, you
know!”
Gorgeous.
Intelligent. Witty. Talented. Charismatic. Sexy.
Single.
Kayla soberly nodded.
She knew exactly what Brigit meant. That was half the problem.
Or maybe all of it.
Forget, forget!
Quickly she marshaled her
thoughts into a safer arena.
“Actually it was nice,
the way I could talk to him about the script, and how he took me
seriously. And it was really fun bouncing ideas back and forth.
Patrick and I used to do that all the time, and I hadn’t realized how
much I’d missed it.
“Between us, we came up
with some really good complications that should keep MacAllister and
Conners on their toes--and the audience on the edge of their seats.”
Allie’s eyebrows rose.
“Care to share your secrets, or do I have to wait for Jerry’s official
seal of approval?”
Kayla grinned at her.
“Oh, you can see it, as soon as I get it all typed up. I’m
counting on you to convince Jerry that it’s brilliant!”
The amused actress
grinned right back. “If it’s on a par with this script, that’ll be
the easiest sell I’ve done in months.” Then she hesitated, and
thoughtfully narrowed her eyes. “Planning to let Mac share the
credit for writing it?”
That hadn’t occurred to
her, but it was something Kayla would have to consider. A lot of
the new ideas she hoped to use had been his. Fair was fair.
“He’s hoping to try his
hand at directing a few segments,” she slyly informed Allie. The
panic was receding, now that she’d managed to turn the conversation
toward safer topics. “If Jerry and Paul will allow it.
Trying to round out his skill set, I suppose, for when the series truly
does end.”
“Aye,” Brigit chuckled, a
malicious gleam in her eyes. “He won’t be young an’ handsome
forever!”
Kayla refused to take the
bait. “Neither is Sean Connery. And he’s still the sexiest
actor alive. Now tell us about Dale,” she urged. “Is he
really going to be all right?”
Brigit gave up needling
her, and nodded. “The bones snapped neatly back together, without
any complications. They’re keepin’ him for a day or two, but he’ll
be back on the next transport. The two of you should make fine
bookends.”
Kayla was silent for so
long that Brigit wondered if she’d inadvertently offended her.
Then she tilted her head to one side, a bemused look on her face.
“Last night, Mac said he didn’t think I needed the crutches anymore,”
she murmured. “It’s only been a few weeks. But I’ve come so
far, so fast, Brigit. How will I know when he’s right?”
Allie and Brigit
exchanged quick glances. They both understood how crucial moral
support was right now, while Kayla hovered on the brink of full
recovery. And Mac had provided the impetus? That was
fascinating, and something to explore in greater detail later.
I think he’s right,”
Allie ventured. “You use them for balance, and when you’re getting
tired. But otherwise, you could get along perfectly well without
them, for short periods of time.”
Brigit nodded her
cautious agreement. “There’s nothin’ really holdin’ you back,
darlin’. All the exercises you’ve done have strengthened your
body, so you’re strong enough. An’ the nerve endings are kickin’
back in, so you can feel your legs an’ feet more fully. In time,
the muscle spasms’ll stop, too.”
Silence filled the small
hut, but it was charged with growing excitement. Finally Kayla
whispered, “If I could walk without them, I could go anywhere I please.”
“Aye. An’ walk out
with whomever you please,” Brigit softly added. Then she tossed
Kayla a saucy wink. “An’ if himself’s still playing coy next time,
next time you should take the lead! Do him good to see a
woman can go for what she wants, same as a man!”
Vivid color rose in
Kayla’s cheeks. Forget!
“Even if I wanted to, you
know I can’t,” she scowled. “I won’t! I’m not going to start
something I can’t finish. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
“Ah, but think,
mauvereen,” Brigit countered with a meaningful grin. “The rest
of your body’s comin’ back alive more every day. What’s to say
that part of you isn’t, as well?”
• • • • • •
“You are an idiot!”
The moment that day’s
filming was done, Allie rounded in on Alex, and jammed an irate finger
against his chest bone. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Startled crew members
stopped in their tracks, and turned to stare. Alex quickly grabbed
her arm and jerked her toward the thick forest. “Dammit, Allie,
this is not the time or place,” he muttered, glaring indiscriminately
around the sun-dappled clearing. Everyone instantly turned away
again, pretending nothing unusual was happening.
Her emerald eyes flashed
with barely suppressed fury. “Then when and where are?” she
demanded, jerking free. “Dammit, Mac, you’ve got that poor girl so
turned around, she doesn’t know what to believe anymore!”
That caught him up short,
and he blinked down at her in confusion. She wasn’t flaming
because he’d nearly slipped and fallen off the steep shale cliff
earlier? If not for the safety rope hooked around his waist, he’d
have taken a one-way trip to oblivion the fast way. Everyone else
had taken great satisfaction in chewing him out for being so clumsy.
Knowing that they were right had only added fuel to his churning temper.
It had been a hellish
afternoon, and his nerves were shot. All he wanted was a nice
cool, dark hideaway where he could brood in private for a few hours.
A man deserved that, when his emotions were all tumbled topsy-turvy, and
he’d nearly gotten himself killed because he was thinking more about a
woman than about his job.
“I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”
Even he couldn’t possibly
be that dense! Scowling, Allie prodded him back into a thick
cluster of palmetto bushes. “Then you’re blind as well as stupid!
Kayla’s so crazy about you, she’d crawl through fire if you asked!
Everyone else can see it, why can’t you?”
Alex’s heart flipped
over, then settled back in his chest with a rapid staccato beat.
How he wanted it to be true! “She told you that?”
Allie favored him with a
disgusted look. “Of course she didn’t tell me that. She
never tells anyone what she feels! But you only have to look at
her, and see the way she watches you, to know it’s true. So I want
to know what the hell you were thinking of last night, treating her like
some kind of platonic big brother! I know you better than that!”
The first stirring of
anger kindled in his own veins. “Look, you told me to get her out
of camp for a few hours. I did! Who’s more angry that I
didn’t tumble her in the sand, her or you?”
Allie stopped cold, and
stared up at him in blank disbelief. Tommy was right, he was
in love with her! Did he even realize it?
Her righteous fury
drained away. “She’s not angry, she’s terrified! And I think
you’re more angry than either of us could possibly be,” she marveled,
gently reaching up to brush back the dark lock of hair falling across
his forehead. “What happened out there, Alex? Talk to me.”
Her sudden shift from
rage to compassion was almost his undoing. Bubbling resentment
faded back into oblivion, and he turned away with a heartfelt sigh.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know how to read her,” he confessed in
a low voice. “One minute, I think it’s me she wants. Then
she shifts away, and I feel like I’ve lost her. I don’t know what
to say, what to do. You know I’ve never been good at that sort of
thing. And this time...”
Alex slowly shook his
head. Through the waving branches, he could see down to the beach
where he’d laid beside Kayla under the stars, talking for hours,
listening to the surf whisper on the soft warm breeze. He couldn’t
have conjured a more magical, romantic setting if he’d tried.
Oh sure, he’d botched
things at first. But a good actor knew how to roll with the
punches, and turn a disastrous scene back around. So he’d followed
her cues. When she’d impulsively kissed him, then withdrawn so
suddenly, he’d kept things light and easy. As if she hadn’t just
turned his whole world upside down, and made him ache with a surging
hunger he’d never felt before.
“Brigit said to be her
friend. It’s what she seemed to need most. So I did, and it
made her happy.” He stared blindly out over the endless ocean,
seeing only a pair of deep sapphire eyes gazing up into his.
“She’s brilliant, you know. The things she wants for the next
movie are incredible, but she makes it all seem so believable!”
The set crews were all
gone now, scuttling down the mountainside like lemmings. Allie
would never have embarrassed him with a public display of affection, but
now they were alone. His fumbling admission wrung her heart.
And he needed a comforting touch. With a wistful smile, she moved
close enough to lay her head on his broad back, and wrapped her arms
around his lean waist.
“And after the talking?”
she prompted. “What happened then?”
He could tell Allie
anything. But even with her, his closest confidante, the words
stuck in his throat. “I don’t know. It was late, so I was
bringing her back. We’d had a good time, everything was going so
well. And then I ruined it all. She was relaxed, laughing at
one of Mac’s jokes. And it was so natural to lean over and kiss
her.
“For one brief moment I’d
swear she wanted it. But then she panicked, Allie!” He
turned to face her, and his eyes were haunted. “She jerked back so
fast that she nearly fell off the ATV. And she was terrified! I’ve
never seen anyone that scared before. I swear I didn’t mean to
scare her!”
He looked so lost, so
forlorn, that Allie had to fight an urge to gather him close and rock
him like a child.
“I tried to calm her
down, to find out what was wrong. But she just kept saying ‘I
can’t!’ And then she grabbed her crutches and took off. She
wouldn’t even let me help her back to the script hut.”
He sighed again, and
rested his cheek on Allie’s soft auburn hair. “I’ve never felt
this way about anyone before, Allie. And I don’t even know what I
did wrong! What the hell am I going to do?”
She’d known, beyond
instinct, that Kayla hadn’t told them everything. Now she knew
what--and even more importantly, she knew why.
She could intercede.
It was in a good cause. But confiding privileged information was
miles apart from hinting that he take Kayla for a long midnight romp
down the beach.
They love each other.
And they’re good for each other. More than that, they’re right
for each other! If sex is all that’s holding them apart, I’ll
do my time in Purgatory with a happy heart.
Still she hesitated.
She loved Alex enough to want him happy. But did she have the
right to meddle?
They were already
developing a healthy friendship. Sex might strengthen the growing
bonds--or it might destroy them entirely.
If things went wrong,
could she bear knowing she was responsible?
