The Girl From Summer Hill (Summer Hill 1)

“Tell me, do you come on to all women as you’re doing to me?”

“No.” His face turned serious. “The truth is that since I was a teenager I’ve just stood still and women have come to me. Being the predator is a new experience.” He smiled at her in a very sweet way. “As much as I hate to say it, we better go back. Jack wanted to go over lines for tomorrow.”

“Don’t mention the play! If I hadn’t been so angry at you, I wouldn’t be stuck doing something I’m no good at.”

Tate jumped down off the log and held up his hands to her. He caught her by the waist and swung her down. “Ha! The way you shot Mean Girl barbs at me shows you have a lot of talent. And don’t kid yourself about Kit. I think he meant for you to have the role from the beginning.”

“I don’t think so. Last winter Stacy and I helped him write the script, and we talked about who could play the parts. Neither Stacy nor I was ever considered as an actor.”

They were walking back to the picnic area, Casey in front.

“Stacy again!” Tate said. “She and my sister became friends.”

“I know. I used to hear them on the phone. We knew Nina was related to Kit and that she was overseeing the decorating of the house, but we didn’t know her family used to own the place. You bought it back because…”

“Mom loved Tattwell so much. When she was a kid, she spent summers there with her family. She and a little boy were inseparable. They used to shower on the back porch of the house Mom’s family stayed in.”

“I guess that’s my house,” Casey said. “So you wanted to do that too?”

“I did.” They had reached the picnic area. Gizzy was sitting on the quilt, her back against the boulder, and Jack was stretched out, his head on her lap. She had a copy of Kit’s script of Pride and Prejudice in her hands.

Jack turned to them. “Here they are. You two look too happy. Lizzy and Darcy are supposed to hate each other.”

“No,” Tate said. “She hates me but I love her. Most true-to-life role I ever had.” He sat down on the quilt and picked up a bottle of water. “Is there any lemonade left?”

“No,” Jack said, “but I found some beer in the bottom of a cooler. Casey, it wasn’t nice to hide that.”

“There’s a difference between hiding and saving. If you’d drunk it with lunch, you wouldn’t have it now. Did you find the green-chili crackers? No? I’ll get them.” She opened a plastic container that she’d hidden under some empty ones. “Did you two settle your argument?”

Gizzy smiled, but Jack grimaced. “I lost,” he said. “Completely and totally lost. So which scene are we doing first?”

“The opening one?” Casey sat down near Tate.

“No,” Tate said, “we have to do ours out of order. Jack and I will have to go back to L.A. for a few days, probably next week, so we’ll miss some rehearsals. He needs to reshoot some scenes and I have to be fitted for armor.”

“Really?” Gizzy said. “What’s the movie?”

“It doesn’t have a name yet,” Tate said. “The final script isn’t done and there’s a big argument about the title. I’m playing

an Elizabethan knight who comes forward in time, meets a pretty lady in distress, and we fall in love. Then I go back to my time and she follows me, but I don’t remember her, so we have to fall in love a second time.”

“Who’s the lead actress?” Casey asked.

“No idea. So what scene should we rehearse first?”

Gizzy looked at the script. “At Netherfield, when Darcy is writing to his sister. I’ll be Miss Bingley, who is mad about Darcy. Casey, you have to quit smiling at Tate and look at him as though you can’t stand him.”

“I’ll try,” Casey said. Her lips weren’t smiling, but her eyes were.

Tate picked up one of the scripts and found the scene. “Jack, do you have the number of that blonde we met at Marty’s party? I thought I’d suggest her as the lead for my next movie. I need to do something to make the sex scenes enjoyable.” With a smile, he looked back at Casey.

She knew what he was doing and she wanted to say that his words had no effect on her, but damn it, they did! “Okay, you got it. I am in Darcy-is-a-jerk mode.”

Jack stayed seated while the other three got up. Since she had helped write them, Casey knew the lines, and Tate demonstrated his ability to quickly learn them. For a while, Gizzy held the script, but Jack took it from her.

Gizzy was good. She batted her lashes at Tate so convincingly that Casey was astonished. The realism of Gizzy’s performance spurred Casey so that by the time she delivered her line to Darcy that she’d never heard of so many accomplished women, there was venom in her voice.

At the end, Jack and Gizzy applauded and Casey took a bow. She glanced at Tate, who seemed to be gazing at her in speculation.