Angel at Dawn (24 page)

Read Angel at Dawn Online

Authors: Emma Holly

Tags: #Ghost stories, #Vampires, #Horror, #Paranormal, #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal romance stories, #Motion picture producers and directors, #Occult fiction, #Ghosts, #Occult & Supernatural, #Love stories

He supposed he didn’t, seeing as he’d burst out that he loved her in the middle of having sex.
“You’re not so different from Joe,” she said after a moment’s thought. “You’re hoping to fall in love, but at the same time, you don’t really believe in it.”
Christian stopped in his tracks, and she did as well. He wondered if he ought to be insulted that she’d announced this so casually—and never mind her implication that those words he’d accidentally blurted were a delusion. “You think I’m hoping to fall in love?”
“That’s how it seems to me.” Grace’s shoulders hitched in a shrug. “Just imagine feeling that way and then meeting Mary. She’s pretty. She’s sweet. She needs protecting. You can be a man for her. You can be the opposite of the people you grew up with. You can be for her what you wish your father had been for you. All you need is to let those feelings rise far enough to show.”
Christian felt himself gaping.
All
he needed was to let his most painful feelings rise? As if every tragedy in his life had no higher purpose than to help him be an actor? She couldn’t know what she was saying. She couldn’t be that insensitive. With a conscious effort, he shut his mouth.
“You can do it,” Grace said. “The only thing that might hold you back is your fear of looking foolish.”
The door to the trailer behind her opened. Andy Phelps, the head of wardrobe, stuck out his head to see if they’d arrived. He must have sensed Christian and Grace were caught up in their conversation, because he didn’t call out to them.
“What holds
you
back?” Christian retorted, the openness of his anger surprising him.
Grace jerked her head back from him. “Me? I told you why I can’t be with you.”
He held her eyes, doubting her, until she wet her lips nervously. “You did tell me. I just didn’t believe you.”
 
 
C
hristian’s parting words weren’t what Grace wanted in her head. She clutched her hands together at her waist, one thumb rubbing the knuckle of the other. Her duties taken care of for the moment, she was on the sidelines, behind an array of moonlight-simulating lights. Any discomfort she felt at being back in suburbia was blotted out by hoping Christian would do all right.
She’d upset him too close to shooting. She wasn’t totally sure how, only that she had—when the last thing she’d wanted was to throw him off balance. They’d already burned through one take, and Christian looked worryingly stiff as he stood a ways down the glistening asphalt street with Viv.
Just let go,
Grace prayed silently.
Whatever I did to bother you, let it go.
She watched him push his arms out to crack his knuckles. When they fell, Wade signaled that film was rolling.
“Action,” Miss Wei called for the second time.
And then the magic happened, what everyone in their crazy business dreamed about. Joe nudged Mary’s arm with his elbow as they moved forward, everything but the story falling away. The couple’s steps were dawdling, just like they were supposed to be—two young people bumping sides together as their hearts formed a fragile bond.
“That was some tree I caught you staring at back at school,” Joe said. “Like somebody spray painted its leaves scarlet.”
Mary smiled shyly, darting a sidelong look at her escort. “I l-liked the way that tree made me feel. It was big. And dramatic. Oh, I wish I owned a good camera.”
“A camera,” Joe repeated, the scorn of a self-styled cool boy warring with interest.
“If I had a camera, I could take pictures, and if I had pictures, I’d never forget when nice things happened.”
Joe laughed and began dancing backward in front of her. The move was so natural, so seemingly unaware of the camera being pulled alongside them on the dolly, that tingles swept Grace’s scalp. Joe was controlled exuberance in action, a strong young male showing off his grace for a girl.
“You could take pictures of me,” he said, flapping his black jacket open. “I’m a nice thing.”
“Oh, like I’d take time on a waste like—Crap,” Viv said, aware that she’d flubbed her line.
“ ‘Oh, like I’d waste film on you,’ ” the script supervisor fed to her.
“Cut,” Miss Wei called, patiently enough. “Back to the beginning, kiddies. I’d like this stretch of dialogue to roll as one shot. Christian, you’re doing good.”
He was better than good. Grace knew that from the way the crew was exchanging glances and perking up. The table read hadn’t revealed his unexpected flair for physical acting. Christian had walked like she’d always imagined the character would, preened like him, spun like him, every muscle under his control. If he could keep this up, they’d be cooking.
Christian’s gaze found hers as he and Viv returned to their starting marks. Strictly speaking, it was the director’s place to offer comments, but Grace couldn’t resist giving him an on-the-sly thumbs-up. Hopefully, whatever their differences, he’d accept the encouragement.
She thought she saw the glimmer of a return smile before the next take was slated with the clapper board.
Everyone held their breath for Viv to get through the line she’d messed up before.
“I’ll get you a camera,” Joe boasted when she did.
Mary shot him a dubious look.
“I wouldn’t steal it. I’d buy it with my own money.”
Both Christian and Viv remembered to stop as the camera operator panned to Joe’s face. Grace wished she could see if Christian was pulling this moment off, but her line of sight wasn’t right for it. Though Miss Wei was following the dolly closely enough to judge, Grace couldn’t decipher her expression.
“Maybe I’ll be a fireman,” Joe said. “Or a pilot. I bet I’d be good at that.”
“I bet you’d be good at anything,” Mary said.
“Let’s take that again,” Miss Wei interrupted. “Christian, I want more defensiveness from you, more awareness that you’re trapped by the fate your father has planned for you. You’re saying you could be a fireman, but what you really think is that you’re destined to be a killer. Viv, more dreaminess from you.”
“Do you want it sappy?” Viv asked. “Mary
is
naive.”
“Maybe,” Miss Wei said, “but think of it more as her faith being very pure, so pure she can infect Joe with it.”
“Still rolling,” Wade warned her.
Miss Wei waved for them to proceed.
“Better,” she said when they’d gotten through it. “Let’s go again and give me more intensity for the stare. You’re looking into each other’s souls, without the guards you usually put up. This is the moment you realize you could fall in love with each other. If that isn’t scary, I don’t know what is.”
They did two more takes before Miss Wei called a break. Her tiny frown said she wasn’t getting what she wanted.
“Ten minutes,” she instructed. “Christian, go jump around or something.”
Grace knew very well he wasn’t going to do that, though he did walk off into the shadows shaking his head. She didn’t go after him, not because she didn’t want to, but because she suspected Miss Wei didn’t truly want him to loosen up. As long as he wasn’t boardlike, tense was good for this last exchange. The more Christian’s nerves wound up, the more authentically it would play. When Miss Wei had the crew start setting up for a close-up, Grace knew her guess was correct.
“Hit him with both barrels,” Grace heard the boss lady say to Viv. “Even if the camera isn’t on you, I want you fully engaged for his coverage. Make him feel it’s really happening.”
“Tears?” Viv offered.
Miss Wei grinned at her. “Go ahead and give him a glimmer. If he’s like most males, worrying they’ll spill over ought to scare him the right amount.”
T
hat’s a wrap, kiddies,” Nim Wei called. “Good work, everyone.”
A little cheer broke out from the crew, though whether from relief at the night’s ordeal being over or actual enthusiasm he couldn’t say.
Christian didn’t know if he’d been awful or all right, only that he felt terrible. His shoulders were as tight as if an iron brace were screwed to them. The crew was already beginning to break down their equipment, undoubtedly eager to get home. The best Christian could manage was to hang his neck and attempt to wag the kinks from his spinal cord.
His head ached from the unfamiliar task of coordinating his glamour with the application of fake color on his face. This was one more ball he’d needed to juggle while also trying to emote opposite an old pro like Viv. Her eyes had dewed on cue—repeatedly—as if her tear ducts were attached to a bloody switch. Really, if he’d crashed and burned, it was no wonder.
“Grace,” Viv said, causing his neck to snap up and look for her.
Excitement flooded him when he found her. Grace resembled a glamorous gal Friday as she walked to them in her narrow knee-length tweed skirt.
“Good job,” she said to Viv. “I loved how your eyes welled up at the end.”
“Miss Wei liked my idea to do that. She thought—”
Grace laid her hand on the sleeve of Christian’s leather jacket. He’d turned toward her as she approached. Only when she touched him did he realize he’d also pressed his palm to his heart. Disconcerted, he forced it back to his side.
“You did good,” she said softly. “You kept up with Viv just fine. Wade got some great footage.”
Her approval shouldn’t have meant so much, but it warmed him unbearably.
I didn’t want to let you down,
he almost said into her beautiful shining eyes.
“Viv!” a crewmember hailed from behind them. “One of your gentlemen callers is pulling up in a white limo.”
“Crap,” Viv said, causing Grace to laugh.
“Must be hard. Juggling dates with famous movie stars.”
“More like famous movie farts,” Viv grumbled.
“Well, have fun,” Grace said. “You’re making all the other ingenues jealous.”
Viv left with her bow lips pursed in distaste. Christian and Grace were alone.
“Well,” Grace said, beginning to pull away.
Christian succumbed to impulse and caught her hand. “I’ll drive you home tonight.”
“Miss Wei—”
“—will have no shortage of volunteers to chauffeur her if she decides she can’t drive herself.” Abruptly happy, and for no better reason than that her fingers were twined with his, he smiled coaxingly. “I survived my first night of filming. I’m officially an actor. Don’t you think your boss would approve of you buying me a drink?”
“You want to have a drink with me?”
He wanted a good deal more, but he’d settle for a drink and keeping an eye on her. The corners of his lips curved higher as she regarded him warily.
“One drink,” he promised. “Then I’ll disappear like the wind.”
“No trying to make me change my mind about anything?”
He crossed his heart and grinned outright. He liked knowing she doubted her ability to stand firm.
“Come on, Grace,” he said, giving her hand a tug. “I think you deserve to be taken care of for a change.”
Eleven
G
race was practically purring as she circled his black T-Bird. When she trailed her hands around the headlamps, Christian’s groin tightened. There was no denying she was fondling his car.

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