Wild Action. Dawn Stewardson
at the moment his conscience was telling him to straighten her out about his newly unemployed status. But she’d think he was an idiot for quitting his job so rashly. And since he’d be out of her life again in only a few weeks, there was no real reason she had to know.
Besides, telling her at this late date would be a little tricky. She’d been sitting right there when he’d phoned and supposedly arranged for time off.
When Hilda answered, he explained that he was going to be away for longer than he’d expected and that Ben would be looking after moving his things.
“Well, don’t you worry about your mail,” she said. “I’ll keep taking it in. But what if there’s anything important looking? Or letters? If there are, I should forward them, shouldn’t I?”
“That would be great,” he told her, although he doubted there’d be anything except junk mail and bills.
He gave her the address just in case. Then he hung up, tossed the salad and carried it over to the table. Carly dropped a handful of spaghetti into the boiling water, then came and sat down across the table from him.
“I want to say something,” she told him after a moment
“Say away.”
“I want to tell you how much I appreciate your helping out. Aside from anything else, I know this has to be vacation time you’ve given up to stay here. And the fact that you’re willing to inconvenience your friends to help me…”
He smiled uneasily. There was gratitude written all over her face, and his conscience started in on him again. He really should tell her he wasn’t quite as terrific as she figured, that he was motivated by a lot more than a desire to help her.
But before he could make himself say anything, she went on.
“And I can imagine how nervous you must be about working with Attila.”
“I’m sure that’ll fade.” Unless, of course, the bear did something to make him even more nervous. Or to make him dead.
“I’m sure it will, too.” Carly gave him one of her terrific smiles. “At any rate, I just wanted you to know I really appreciate what you’re doing—especially when keeping Wild Action afloat can’t mean anywhere near as much to you as it does to me.”
He managed another smile of his own, but keeping the agency afloat meant a whole lot more to him than she realized. It would keep him out of the poorhouse.
WHEN HE’D PHONED YESTERDAY, Jay Wall had told Carly he’d be arriving with the cast and crew well before noon. By eleven-thirty, sitting on the porch and still waiting for them to appear, she was a nervous wreck.
She glanced over at Nick, who was reading her copy of the Two for Trouble script, and reminded herself that his morning session with Attila had gone fairly well. But that was no guarantee things would go smoothly during the shooting. And if they didn’t, Jay would want her head on a platter.
She’d never met the man, but Gus had. He’d spent a week in L.A., working out the details of the contract with Jay and the producer. And he’d come home referring to the wunderkind director as “that obnoxious young snot.”
According to Gus, Jay was charming one minute, explosive and demanding the next, and drove everyone he worked with crazy.
He was also, she knew from the phone conversations she’d had with him, extremely annoyed that Gus had had the audacity to die before Two for Trouble was in the can. And he was not pleased that he’d be stuck working with the “understudy,” as he’d called her yesterday.
Sight unseen, he’d decided she was second rate. “You’re certain,” he’d demanded, “the bear’s performance will be up to scratch if you’re working with him?”
Naturally, she’d assured him it would be, but she suspected he’d have tried to back out of their contract if he’d been able to line up another trained bear on short notice.
“What’s with this scene where Attila chases the boys?” Nick asked.
“Oh, that’s the pivotal one I mentioned yesterday.”
“No, I mean what’s with him chasing them? You told me people should never run away from bears. You said it excites their predatory instincts.”
“Well, the boys won’t really be running away from Attila. I know the notes call it the scene where he chases them, but Jay will do separate takes of them running and Attila running. Then they’ll edit the sequences so it looks as if he’s chasing them.”
“Ahh.”
When Nick went back to his reading, she sat watching him, still not quite able to believe that he was actually helping her. Of course she realized it was to his benefit, as well as hers, if things worked out with Jay. But most men would never have stayed when they’d been in the midst of looking for a place to live.
Even fewer would have agreed to work with a bear, no matter how much it might prove to be worth to them financially. Especially when they already had a good job. Which added up to the fact that she felt very, very grateful. And despite her resolve to keep their relationship strictly business, she was aware of feeling more than simple gratitude.
As hard as she’d tried to fall asleep last night, she’d lain awake for a long time, extremely conscious that Nick was in the bedroom right across the hall—and that both their doors were open to allow what little breeze there was through the house. Then, at breakfast this morning, before he’d shaved, it had been impossible to ignore how sexy he looked.
Just as she was ordering herself to think about anything other than him, he tossed down the script and glanced over at her. “Here they come.”
Trying to quell a fresh surge of anxiety, she rose and looked across the clearing. Sure enough, there they were, just rounding the curve in the road.
Three black stretch limos led the way, followed by a convoy of trucks, trailers and RVs that would be home to the cast and crew while they were on location here.
The noise sent the rabbits scurrying under the safety of the porch, and in the house the Marx brothers began barking. They hated being shut inside, but she couldn’t chance letting them out until everyone was safely parked. All in all, there was such a commotion that she half expected to see Rocky Raccoon peering down from the porch roof—even though it took a lot to rouse a coon from his day’s sleep.
“Looks like an invasion,” Nick said.
She glanced at him and forced a smile, hoping he couldn’t tell how nervous she was. It would do nothing for his self-confidence.
The trucks began turning off into the field where she’d told Jay to set up camp, while the limos pulled up in front of the house.
The third one had barely stopped before the back door flew open and two boys leapt out
“I guess those would be our ten-year-olds,” she murmured as they headed for the porch.
“Hi, I’m Kyle,” the blond one said, grinning at her. “And this is Brock,” he added, pointing at the dark-haired one.
Brock produced a grin of his own.
“Well, hi. This is Nick and I’m Carly.” She glanced at the two frazzled women who’d hurried after the boys—their mothers were on location with them, she knew.
“They’ve been sitting in the limo too long,” one of the women said. “Would you mind if they looked around a little? Burned off some of their energy?”
“We’ll keep an eye on them,” the other woman promised.
“Sure. Go ahead. Just don’t let them stick their fingers into the aviary.”
By the time Carly turned her attention back to the limos, the drivers of the remaining two had opened the back doors. A couple