‘It’s not my fault you jumped to the wrong conclusion,’ he insisted. ‘Will you look at me, damn it?’
‘Just get away from me.’
‘Shannon, please... ’
‘Mr. Morgan...’
‘Can’t you call me Cade?’
‘I know what I’d like to call you,’ she said, the words exploding from her with fury. ‘I know what you deserve to be called. You egotistical bastard!’
Was that loud, cracked voice hers? she thought in horror. Yes, it had to be, because there wasn’t another sound in the room.
And every eye was on her, including her teacher’s.
‘Sorry,’ she said, closing her eyes as she heard herself. The word had come out sounding as if she were being strangled. She cleared her throat and tried again. ‘Sorry,’ she repeated, this time in tones that approximated the normal range of the human voice.
She forced a smile to her lips; it was almost physically painful to maintain it for the next couple of minutes, but finally people looked away and, after what seemed hours, everybody’s attention was back on the actors reading their scene at the front of the room. She took a deep breath and then reached down to retrieve her script.
‘I’ll get that,’ Cade whispered, bending at the same instant. His hand accidentally brushed hers and she pulled back, startled at the sudden heat that enveloped her at the contact.
‘I don’t need your help!’
‘Come on, Shannon, I said I was sorry.’
‘Sorry? Sorry? You could walk on burning coals and I wouldn’t accept your apology.’
The girl in front of them turned and stared at them and Shannon bit her lip.
‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured.
Cade shook his head in disbelief. ‘Terrific. When you say that word, you expect people to accept it as an apology. When I say it, you just get angrier. Maybe you’d like to explain that to me.’
‘Look, just let me be, will you? You managed to make a fool of me again... ’
‘I had nothing to do with making a fool of you,’ he said, and then he began to laugh softly. ‘I didn’t mean that the way it came out, Shannon. Really, I didn't even know you were in this class.’
‘I bet.’
‘It’s the truth. I panicked when Crawford gave me a script and told me you and I would be starting rehearsals tomorrow...Now what? My God, woman, must you always look at me as if you wanted to murder me?’
‘Crawford said what?’ Shannon gasped. ‘You and I...?’
•Yeah,’ Cade said slowly. ‘Didn’t anybody tell you?’
Shannon shook her head. ‘Nobody said a word.’
‘Damn! He said your agent spoke to you about it.’
She shook her head again. ‘Why should she?’ she asked in a harsh whisper. ‘My opinion isn’t worth anything.’
‘Look, it’s worth something to me. I...’
The teacher cleared his throat loudly. ‘We don’t engage in personal chitchat here, Cade,’ he said, peering at them over his reading-glasses.
It pleased Shannon no end to see a crimson blush spread across Cade’s face.
‘Uh—sorry about that,’ he said quickly. ‘I—uh—I was asking Miss Padgett—Shannon—what page we were on.’