Lovescenes

‘Do you feel safer in the make-believe world where emotions are always under control? Is that it?’

‘Just listen to you! I hate to spoil your dime-store psy­chology, but I also refuse to let what we do at work spill into real life.’

His chair squealed in protest as he kicked it back. ‘What we feel for each other is real life,’ he said gruffly, pulling her towards him.

‘You’re confusing Johnny and Alana with us. I told you, it happens all the time—you just haven’t been around the theatre long enough to understand.’

‘Then kiss me,’ said Cade quickly. ‘Kiss me, and then tell me you feel nothing.’

‘That’s insane.’

‘What are you worried about, Padgett? You’ve been pretty smug about the way you’ve handled our love scenes.’

‘Cade, damn it...’ '

The fingers encircling her wrist tightened as she tried to pull away from him, and the shadow of a smile touched his lips.

‘You’re right. I’m an amateur when it comes to the theater. Maybe what happened between us the first time I took you in my arms was a fluke. Maybe you were acting, even then. Hell, you accused me of auditioning for this part by kissing you. Maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe you used me to get Crawford to notice you and give you a bigger role.’

‘That’s the craziest thing I ever heard!’

‘The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. You were afraid Jerry was going to hand you your walking papers because you weren’t carrying your weight with Tony, and then I came along...’

‘I didn’t even know you were going to be on All Our Tomorrows, ’ she sputtered. ‘Damn you, Cade, let go of me!’

Cade cocked his head to the side. ‘Come on, Padgett. I may be new to the theater, but I’m not new to show business. Sure, you knew. There must have been a million rumors floating around. Yeah,’ he said, ‘yeah, it makes sense. You goaded me into kissing you and then you pretended that sudden burst of passion.’

God, she thought, the audacity of the man! He was exactly what she’d thought he was the first time she’d laid eyes on him: six feet two inches of over-inflated celebrity.

‘Mr. Morgan,’ she said with icy precision, ‘I did not goad you into anything.’

‘You can admit the truth now, Padgett. You baited me, and then you pretended you felt something when I kissed you.’

The insolent tone of his voice infuriated her as much as his words, and she wrenched herself free of his grasp.

‘Pretend? I didn’t have to pretend anything, Cade Morgan. You...’ The angry accusation caught in her throat as a triumphant grin spread slowly across his face. Shannon flushed and tilted her chin up. ‘I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.’

‘No?’

‘No! Certainly not. I never—‘ She threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘Look, there’s no point to this. Just—just go away.’ She started past him, but he moved so rapidly that she was in his arms before there was time to react. ‘What... what are you doing?’

He threaded one hand in her hair.

‘I’m giving you a chance to clarify things,’ he said softly. ‘All you have to do is kiss me.’

‘I certainly will not kiss you!’

‘Kiss me and then step back and smile politely and say, what was it you said that first time? That you hadn’t been missing much?’

‘This is ridiculous.’

‘If you can do that, Padgett, I’ll leave you alone from now on.’

She stared at him in stony silence. ‘Why should I be­lieve you?’ she asked finally.

Cade’s gaze fell to her lips, then rose to her eyes.

‘You don’t really have much choice. One way or another, you’re going to be kissed. Strictly to make a point, of course.’