Brand of Possession

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU can keep your job!’ Green eyes blazed at the man sitting behind the desk. ‘I don’t sell myself for any price.’

‘Miss Adams, if you will just calm down I will—’

‘You won’t do anything,’ Stacy interrupted angrily. ‘You’re just as weak as the rest of them. Whatever Paul Forbes decides he wants he has to have, and woe betide the poor girl if she isn’t interested. Keep the star of your film happy at any price, that’s your motto. Well, here’s one girl who isn’t going to keep him happy. I loathe the man!’

‘Miss Adams! You have completely the wrong impression of what I was trying to say. Mr Forbes merely expressed a wish—’

‘I’m well aware of what he wanted, Mr Payne, and he isn’t getting it from me. Being the director of this film you should have better control over your actors!’

‘Now you’ve gone too far!’ The little man rose indignantly to his feet. ‘You have a part that lasts about fifteen minutes of the film and you think that gives you the experience to tell me how to do my job. I’ve been directing films and placating actors for thirty years and I—’

‘Then perhaps it’s time you had a rest,’ Stacy told him rudely, her green eyes flashing, her long red tresses like fire down her back, softly waving down to her slender waist. She was still wearing the costume for her part in the film, the garb of a eighteenth-century peasant girl in rugged Cornwall. ‘Things have changed since you started out,’ she continued angrily. ‘The casting is no longer carried out on the studio couch.’

‘Miss Adams, you’re fired!’ His face had reddened almost to bursting point.

‘Don’t worry, I’m going. I like the part of Kate, but I’m not willing to sleep with Paul Forbes to keep it.’

‘I asked you to go to a party with him, not go to bed with him.’ The director sighed. ‘I don’t know why you have to read so much into a simple invitation—’

‘If it’s so simple why didn’t he make it himself?’ she challenged.

‘I understand that he did—and you turned him down.’

‘Because I don’t like him!’ Stacy said fiercely. ‘I’ve seen him in action the last couple of weeks, and he’s nothing but an egotistical, pompus, overbearing—’

‘That’s quite enough, Miss Adams,’ he told her coldly. ‘I think you’ve made your feelings concerning Mr Forbes very clear. And I think I’ve made my feelings about your future employment here equally clear.’

‘Oh, you have. Don’t worry, I’ll leave. I think the rape scene I have to go through with him could turn out to be too realistic.’

Martin Payne shifted some papers about on his desk. ‘Your cards and money will be ready for you first thing in the morning.’

‘No earlier?’ she sneered. ‘I would have thought you would have wanted me away from here as soon as possible.’

‘That isn’t possible, I’m afraid. It’s after five now and what meagre office staff we have down here will have returned to their hotel for the night.’

‘To get ready for the party this evening.’

He nodded. ‘Exactly. The party you’ve refused to attend.’

If the poor man thought she wasn’t going to be there tonight he had another think coming! She had every intention of going—and with a partner of her own choosing. But she wasn’t going to tell him that, he might try to prevent her. After all, it would be a slap in the face for Paul Forbes when she turned up with someone else. But it was a slap in the face she knew she would never physically be allowed to administer.

‘Then I suppose the morning will have to do,’ she accepted with ill grace, marching to the door of the caravan that passed as the director’s office while they were on the location site. ‘Goodnight, Mr Payne.’

‘Goodbye, Miss Adams,’ he answered pointedly.

She gave him an impudent grin. ‘Oh, surely not goodbye, Mr Payne. After all, I have to wait until tomorrow before I can leave.’

‘I doubt we will meet again, Miss Adams,’ he said in a stilted voice.

Stacy left the caravan with a defiant flick of her head, an amused curve to her full mouth. Mr Payne was right, most of the staff had already left, but there were still some of the cast left. Matthew Day was one of them, and he had been a good friend of hers for the past three years. She linked arms with him as they walked over to his car to drive back to the hotel.

Matthew was tall, dark and rugged, very handsome, and making quite a name for himself in films and television. Stacy had no doubt that within a couple of years Matthew would be landing leading roles in major films, but for the moment he only had a supporting role like herself—like she had had.

‘You’re looking pleased with yourself,’ he remarked on the way back to the hotel.

‘I’ve been sacked!’

His foot momentarily jerked on the accelerator. ‘You’ve been what?’

‘Sacked,’ she repeated happily.

‘But why? And why do you look so happy about it? I thought this job meant a lot to you. The part of Kate may not be a large one, but it is a crucial one.’

‘I’ve been sacked because of Paul Forbes. He’s decided that I attract him now.’

‘God, that man’s incredible!’ Matthew exclaimed. ‘Last week it was Jan in Make-up, the week before that Cindy Davies, and now you. I take it you refused to play his little game?’

‘Yes, so he went straight to Payne and used all his egotistical power to try and get me to change my mind.’

‘Which you didn’t,’ he stated knowingly.

‘Did you expect me to?’

‘No,’ he grinned ruefully. ‘I have first-hand experience of your moral principles.’

‘I thought you’d got over that long ago.’ The two of them had dated for a few months a couple of years ago, but they had finally decided to end things when it became apparent that they wanted different things from the relationship. Luckily they had managed to remain friends.

Matthew squeezed one of her hands as it lay in her lap. ‘I have, Stacy,’ he assured her. ‘I was only teasing you. But if Forbes got you the sack why are you looking so pleased?’

‘Because Paul Forbes wanted to take me to the party tonight being given for Jake Weston’s arrival, and I’m going to enjoy turning up there with you.’

‘You mean you’re still going, even after being sacked?’