Lovescenes

‘I guess you can’t turn me into an Olivier, huh?’ Cade asked. Shannon wondered if anyone besides she could hear the anguish under the teasing question.

‘No, I don’t think you’ll ever be a threat to Larry,’ the teacher laughed. ‘But I must tell you I think we can turn you into a good actor by the end of the semester.’

Cade’s pleasure was instant and obvious. ‘All right!’ he said with a grin, getting to his feet and extending his hand to the instructor. Immediately, the other members of the class were on their feet, crowding around him, until finally he was surrounded.

Only Shannon hung back. She stood in the rear of the room, clutching the doorknob, staring thoughtfully at a Cade Morgan who had somehow escaped from the pigeon-hole in which she’d placed him.

CHAPTER FIVE

Shannon remembered her lines as Alice in Children’s Theatre. Curiouser and curiouser, Alice had said, and that was the line that sprang to mind now.

She had expected to laugh at Cade’s lack of ability. Instead, she had been stunned, even moved. She stared at him a moment longer, and then shook her head.

His unex­pected talent wasn’t the point. The point was that she didn’t like him. The point was that she was going to have to play opposite him. Someone should have told her about the casting change.

The first thing to do was call Claire. Claire could have warned her. And then she’d call Jerry. He could have told her...

Her fingers slowed in their frantic search. OK, they could have. But Cade would still have the part. And she’d still have to make the best of things.

‘Shannon?’ Cade’s voice carried clearly across the room. ‘Wait, please.’ The babble of voices died away as she turned towards him. ‘Please,’ he repeated, ‘give me five minutes.’

An hour earlier, she’d have cut him down with a sharp look and a sharper tongue. But the memory of the per­formance she’d just seen lingered. It made her hesitate, and when she turned and looked at him, his eyes held the same searching need that had so transfixed her a short while before. It took an effort of will to tear her eyes from his and shake her head.

‘I... I haven’t the time,’ she said quickly.

‘Please.’

‘I can’t,’ she insisted. ‘I... I’ She looked past him, the color rising to her cheeks' as she caught sight of her classmates watching them with open curiosity, their heads turning from Cade to her and back again as if they were spectators at a tennis match. Make the best of things, she thought wearily, and she let out a sigh.

‘All right,’ she said finally, ‘I guess I can spare five minutes. I was going to stop for coffee but we can talk out in the hall instead.’

Cade smiled as he walked towards her. ‘Are you kidding?’ he asked in a husky murmur meant for her ears alone. ‘We’d have to assign seats to keep the crowd down. Look, I could use a cup of coffee myself. Why don’t we head uptown and I’ll buy you some lunch?’

Give an inch, take a mile, she thought as they stepped into the hall. ‘No thanks,’ she said. ‘I never have lunch.’

‘OK, just coffee, then. You name the place.’

His body brushed hers lightly at hip and thigh. She felt an electric tingle and it made her want to strike out at him.

‘All right,’ she said, ‘there’s a place just around the comer that I stop in sometimes. Of course, it isn’t the kind of place you’re used to, so if you’d rather just go o

n your way...’

‘You’d be amazed at the kind of places I’m used to. I’ll bet I know every diner and truck stop from here to California.’ He pulled a pair of dark glasses from his pocket and put them on as they reached the street.

Shannon glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. ‘Don’t tell me wearing those really keeps people from recognizing you.’

‘It helps a little,’ he said, tucking his hands into the slash pockets of his leather jacket and adjusting his long stride to hers. ‘I guess there isn’t much to worry about in this neighborhood. The streets are pretty empty.’

‘Yes, this is an industrial area. I should think you’re used to creating a stir, though. You’ve been a celebrity for a long time, haven’t you?’

He smiled tightly and shook his head. ‘Lord, but I hate that word,’ he said. A truck rumbled past them and slowed. The driver leaned out the window, his brow fur­rowing as he stared at them. ‘Just keep walking,’ Cade murmured, his long legs moving more quickly. ‘New Yorkers are pretty good about things like this. If you don’t make eye contact, most of them leave you alone.’

‘I thought celebrities were used to..

‘Is that what you want? he asked sharply. ‘To be a celebrity?’

‘Me? I want to be the best actress I can,’ she said, looking up at him as if he’d accused her of an immoral act.