Hot Surrender

As the day wore on she was so engrossed in the scene they were shooting that her mind never wandered from the usual problems of making sure the technical machinery was working perfectly. In filming, there was always something going wrong. The sound man kept complaining about traffic noise in the distance, about a plane flying overhead, about a flock of wood pigeons that flew into the trees and began cooing to each other. Will was groaning because although the sun was bright at times there were clouds passing overhead which kept the light changing every minute or so. A filter he used didn't help much, either. Then one of the cables suddenly started giving off sparks and burst into flames. Will rushed to grab a fire extinguisher, sprayed the burning cable with bubbling, white foam. The fire was put out, but that area of the location was then full of floating foam, and had to be cleared up before they could start filming.

Before that, however, they broke for lunch—the catering van had thin slices of ham with salad, or spaghetti with tomato, red pepper and broccoli sauce for vegetarians. There were sandwiches, too, wrapped in plastic film. Zoe had a salad sandwich and an apple. She ate with Will, who had a huge plate of spaghetti, eying her sandwich with disapproval.

'That won't give you much energy! You're too thin. A woman should have a few curves.'

'Mind your own business and eat your own lunch. Now, listen, in the call sheet I noticed that…' She broke off, green eyes narrowing as she spotted Hal Thaxford peering at her from behind a group of other actors clustering around the food wagon. 'So he is here!' she muttered to herself.

Giving her a surprised look, Will picked up his pink schedule, flicked an eye down the cast list pinned to it. 'Hal? Isn't he supposed to be working with us this week? He's on my list—we should get to his scene this afternoon, if we're lucky. At the rate we've been going so far! I thought we might have finished shooting Scene 43 by now.'

'It's been one of those days,' she absently murmured, becoming aware that Hal was sidling towards them. Had Connel said anything to him when he arrived back at the party? Or had Hal gone by the time Connel got there? It must have been late. Half past eleven? She felt hot colour creeping up her face and bent her head over her script. She would know the minute she met Hal's eyes, but she was in no hurry to find out. If Hal did know what had happened last night he would have started spreading the gossip by now, and she would hear the echo of it sooner or later.

Will gave her a sideways look, eyes concerned. 'Certainly has. What's wrong, Zoe? You've been snapping like a crocodile since you arrived.'

She didn't deny it. 'Sorry. Just an off day, I guess.'

'Private life or is it one of those female things?' grunted Will without looking at her again, concentrating on his spaghetti, which was disappearing at an amazing rate. For someone who was so thin and wiry, Will ate large amounts. He used up so many calories in his work; cameras were pretty heavy, although as Will often gratefully said they were much lighter today than they had been when he trained. Some of them were feather-light, in fact, but Will had developed enormous muscles from carrying cameras and equipment about when he was younger.

She admired Will. He was good. Very good. He had worked with some amazing people: directors she respected, actors she would love to work with herself.

'I have a personal problem,' she muttered.

He looked up, watched her. 'Anything you can talk about?'

She shook her head. 'No, too private.'

'It helps to talk these things out Helps you think more clearly. I care a lot about you, Zoe, you know that.'

She knew, and was sad. Will had teen chasing her for a long time but she would never see him as anything but a buddy.

'Thanks, Will,' she said softly. 'You're one of my best friends, too.'

He grimaced 'Just a friend, though?'

She put a hand on top of one of his. 'What do you mean, just a friend? How many really good friends have you got? I know I haven't got many.'

Will looked at her hand, took it into both his, looking at her soberly. 'You've changed lately. You're different. Gentler, sweeter…are you in love, Zoe? Is that it?'

She flushed, then went white, pulling her hand free, but before she needed to answer someone else joined them.

'Hi.'

Hal's voice made her stiffen. She summoned up a cool smile, lifting her head to meet his eyes.

She knew the second she looked into them that Connel hadn't yet told him. Hal couldn't act well enough to hide such knowledge. That handsome wooden face hid nothing.

'Hi, Hal.' Her voice was rough with relief. She felt Will's attention. He had picked up on her tone, but he thought she was simply irritated by Hal, as usual. Out of the corner of her eye she caught his suppressed, amused smile.

Hal was looking reproachful. 'I came over to tell you I managed to talk to Connel…' His expression glowed with self-satisfaction. 'And he will let us use the rose garden, so long as there's a written contract guaranteeing him against damage or expense.'

She had forgotten all about that idea, and after last night was no longer sure she wanted to go ahead with it.

'I'll talk to the company about a contr

act,' she slowly said, then smiled at Hal, deliberately using charm. 'Thanks, Hal. I'm very grateful.'

'That's okay, my pleasure,' he said, then hesitated. 'When do you think you'll get round to my scene?'

She waved a hand at Will. 'Ask the master.'