Golden Threads Read Online Free PDF Page B

most of this on his own. I just happened to notice one day. He's a bit... unusual."
    Ching began purring.
    "I'll say," Nick muttered, staring at the cat. "There's a—that's a definite tune. Isn't it?"
    "I think so," Lara admitted. "But I've never been able to identify it."
    They all listened intently for a few moments while Ching purred and gazed at them beatifically.
    "Beats me," Luke said finally, and hearing a call from one of his men on stage, he wandered away.
    Lara glanced at Devon, who had taken a chair at the table and was frowning slightly as he looked at Ching. The frown gave his handsome face a hard look of danger, and she felt unsettled by it. Then he seemed to feel her gaze, and the frown vanished as he looked at her and smiled.
    The smile unsettled her even more.
    "I can't get the tune," Nick said with a shrug. "Maybe one of us'll get it eventually. In the meantime let's run through the rest of the script, and then Susie wants to measure you for costumes. Sonia, Pat, you two go ahead, since you aren't in this act."
    Ching remained where he was on the end of the table, seemingly paying close attention as the remaining actors went over their lines with Nick. He continued, to purr until the director spoke firmly to him.
    "Ching, we can't hear ourselves over your music."
    The cat studied him for a moment, then stopped purring and began washing a striped forepaw.
    "Damn," Nick muttered, then cleared his throat. "Fine. Okay—um—Lara, it's your line."
    The reading continued without incident. They finished with this first run-through less than an hour later. Susie commandeered Devon for measurements and took him back to the dressing rooms, and Lara wandered out on stage. She'd left Ching to be petted and talked to by Sonia and Pat while a wary Melanie watched and Nick frowned over the notes on his script.
    "How'd it go?" Luke asked cheerily, approaching where she stood near the wings.
    "Fine, I guess." Lara slid her hands into the pockets of her denim skirt and shrugged. "I've never been in a play before, so I'm not really sure. The stage is looking good." She studied the garden scene, where the witch was to make her evil bargain with Rapunzel's father.
    "I'm waiting for Nick's approval," Luke confessed. "I've never been involved with a play either."
    "You haven't?" She looked up at him. "I thought community theaters would use the same stage crews every time. I don't know why I assumed that, but—"
    "They usually do, I understand," Luke agreed. "But Nick's foreman was out of town or something, and he advertised. I happened to be passing through town—I'm sort of a gypsy at the moment—and I answered the ad. Which is why I'm here losing my heart to Rapunzel. "
    "Blarney," she scoffed, accepting his words as lightly as they were uttered.
    Luke assumed a hurt expression. "Now, is that any way to treat a man who lays his heart at your feet? Of course, I realize that I'll have to win over Ching first, but I have plans."
    "Good luck."
    He eyed her. "You don't think I can do it?"
    "I imagine you could," she said politely. "And I imagine the sun could rise in the west, given a slight change in the earth's orbit."
    Luke winced, but rallied quickly. "Tomorrow, I'll come armed with tuna. In the meantime, have dinner with me tonight."
    She smiled. "Sorry. I have plans."
    "Tomorrow night then?"
    "Why don't we wait until tomorrow?"
    He sighed heavily. "I know what it is. Somebody else got here before me, damn him. No ring, so it can't be a husband. Fiancé? Boyfriend? Just tell me the scoundrel's name, and I'll beat him to a pulp."
    "I don't approve of violence," she said, still casual.
    "Lara, Susie's ready for you," Devon said, emerging from the shadows of the wings.
    "Thanks." She smiled apologetically at Luke, who shrugged cheerfully and went back to work. She walked past Devon, giving him another smile, which he returned, then headed backstage toward the dressing rooms. Wondering suddenly how much Devon had heard of her