A Holiday Fling Read Online Free PDF

probably what will happen if it’s sold."
    The stage contained a rugged, evocatively designed set with several levels. He walked to the edge and squinted up at the rafters. "The lights look pretty primitive."
    "They are. That’s why we need a lighting genius like you."
    He snorted. "Even genius can’t get great results with bad equipment. We need to get something that doesn’t date back to the reign of Victoria."
    "Be grateful we don’t make you use torches." She ran lightly up the steps onto the stage. "The Ad Hoc Upper Bassett Players have been rehearsing for weeks. We’ll have performances starting this weekend, up through Christmas Eve. We’ll do whatever you need for your filming. I hope you’ll have enough time."
    "Sounds fine." With radiant Jenny in front of him, he’d agree to anything. "I’ll bet you were a cute little angel."
    "All five-year-old angels are cute, just as all brides are beautiful. It’s a law of nature. Did you get a chance to read the script I sent?"
    "I skimmed it." He followed her onto the stage, evaluating the space and making mental notes about lighting and camera placement. "Dragons, knights, and resurrection."
    "Plus a choir of adorable little children underfoot. With them in the production, naturally all their parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts will come."
    She dropped into a fencing posture, Errol Flynn style. A crisp lunge with an imaginary sword showed her lithe figure to advantage. "Traditionally a mummers’ play had a resurrection plot, a wooing, a sword dance, or some combination of the above. Saint George slaying the dragon is popular, too. Our version has a romantic young knight, Sir George, before he became a saint, plus the dragon, a courtship, and a resurrection, interspersed with lots of music and dancing."
    "Are you playing Sir George? You look qualified."
    "No, I’m Lady Molly, the romantic object. I don’t do much but look decorative." She laughed and thrust again with her imaginary sword. "Being in the tithe barn takes me back to the days when the only thing on my mind was acting. No worries about career or finances or where the next role is coming from. I once played D’Artagnan in an all-girl production of The Three Musketeers , and never had a qualm about the miscasting."
    "Turning an obsession into a career is a mixed blessing. I love working the camera, but now that I’ve reached the exalted heights of director of photography, I’m supposed to let my camera operator have all the fun." He studied her face with professional thoroughness, thinking she looked hardly older than when they had first met. But now she was secure, comfortable in her own skin. Lovelier than ever.
    He felt a curious duality. On the one hand, they’d been lovers, and very compatible ones, too. When they were in bed together, she wasn’t crying over her treacherous boyfriend.
    Yet they were near strangers as well. Though they worked within the same sprawling industry, their lives had touched only once for a handful of days. There was no reason for him to feel that they belonged together.... "Do you ever think about the time we spent together making that movie?"
    Her imaginary sword stilled. "Often. You were so kind, and I was so... needy."
    "Maybe. But that’s not all I remember." He moved toward her, driven by an impulse stronger than common sense. Her chin was silky soft against his hand when he raised it so he could look into her eyes. She regarded him steadily, neither inviting nor retreating. Blue eyes so deep a man could drown...
    Children’s voices piped into the room, accompanied by the banging of small feet. Jenny jumped away from Greg like a scalded cat. Belatedly, he remembered that she had a boyfriend. He was in England for a little creative R & R and to help a good cause, not revive an old affair. No matter how much he might want to do just that.
    "Miss Jenny’s here!"
    Swiftly composing her expression, Jenny turned toward the entrance and waved a greeting.