Merlyn's Magic (10 page)

Her eyes widened apprehensively as the door opened and
Christopher came in, a jubilant expression on his face, seeming not to
notice as she dived back beneath the bedclothes to hide her nakedness.
Merlyn paled as she saw the nightgown she had worn to go to bed in
earlier lying on the floor beside her.

'Ah, you're awake at last,' Christopher exclaimed
excitedly. 'You—'

'What do you mean, "at last"?' she questioned warily,
swallowing hard, her nakedness now when she had gone to bed in a
nightgown putting a completely different light on her 'dream'. It had
happened!

'I looked in on you earlier,' he dismissed. 'You
were—'

'You did?' she pounced sharply. Oh my God, it
had
been Christopher!

He nodded impatiently. 'You were sleeping like a
baby—'

'I was?' Her voice was doubtful.

'You were,' he confirmed with an angry frown. 'Would you
mind letting me complete a sentence every now and again, I have
something important to say!'

Oh no! Merlyn closed her eyes as giddiness washed over her.

'It's fantastic! Wonderful—'

'It is?' She opened her eyes to look at him uncertainly,
wondering how she could tell him she had been responding to another man
and not him at all. 'Christopher—'

'Merlyn!' He glared her into silence. 'And you told me you
hadn't used your feminine charms on him,' he chastised.

Her expression sharpened suspiciously. 'Christopher, what
are you talking about?'

'Well, if you would let me finish, I'd tell you.' He gave
an irritated sigh. 'While I was having dinner with the
Bentons—incidentally, that was why I came over to see you;
Anne took to heart your sergeant-major comments and decided a change of
scenery might do you good, and—'

'Christopher, please!' Her nerves were completely on edge,
and she just wanted a straightforward explanation of what he was
talking about.

'Carmichael arrived just as we were sitting down to
dinner,' he announced triumphantly.

Merlyn swallowed hard, sure her face was devoid of all
colour. 'He did?' she said faintly. Rand had been at the hotel this
evening; had he also been in her room?

Christopher frowned his impatience with her. 'You could
show a little more enthusiasm.'

Her eyes flashed angrily. 'Do I have anything to feel
enthusiastic about?'

'We all do; he's agreed to let
you
star in the film,' Christopher told her excitedly. 'Now tell me again
that you didn't go to bed with him!' He looked at her challengingly.

Three days ago Merlyn had been in no doubt about the fact
that she and Rand had made love. It was this evening she wasn't too
sure about…

She
still wasn't sure about that two weeks later when the whole of the film
crew descended on The Forest hotel with the intention of using the
actual location for any of the outside shots, a convincing replica of
the inside of the house Suzie and Rand had shared being built in the
studio.

Neither was she any nearer finding out why Rand had
changed his mind and agreed to let her be in the film.

As soon as she had been well enough to venture out of the
hotel after she had the flu, she had borrowed the Range Rover and
driven over to the house to see Rand. The housekeeper, a tall woman
with iron-grey hair and an indomitable disposition, had very politely,
but firmly, informed her Mr Carmichael had gone away on business. Anne
had confirmed it when Merlyn had explained where she had been, and Rand
hadn't returned by the time she left two days later.

Why
had
he changed his mind about
the film being made and with her starring in it? She didn't believe for
one moment that it had anything to do with their making love. Although
Christopher didn't agree with her. He had remained convinced that she
had seduced Rand, and nothing she said could persuade him to think
otherwise.

And she had tried. The two of them had continued to see
each other occasionally once she returned to London shortly after he
had, although their main topic of conversation had obviously been the
film they were going to work on together. And Christopher had refused
to believe she had just spent the night at Rand's house and then left.
Maybe she hadn't been too convincing in her repeated denials of
intimacy between them; after all, they weren't true.

She had thought a lot about that totally real dream,
although it hadn't returned, and she had decided that she could, in her
fever, have thrown off her own nightgown. That would certainly explain
its presence on the floor. She was clutching at straws, she knew, but
there was no other way she could live with the memories that haunted
her.

She felt anticipation mixed in with her apprehension at
returning to the Lake District.

She drove the whole way up in her own car this time,
wanting the use of it for the weeks she would be there. Thankfully it
wasn't raining this time, although the sky was overcast.

Anne was her usual warm self when she came to see Merlyn
in her room shortly after she had arrived. 'Do they really need all
those people and equipment?' she grimaced after hugging Merlyn. 'I know
our busiest part of the season is over, but I feel like we've been
invaded the last few days!'

Merlyn chuckled. 'We really need all those people and
equipment.'

'James is in his element,' Anne groaned. 'Although I'm not too sure about his interest in the
actress who's supposed to be playing me!'

Merlyn could see the other woman wasn't really concerned
and, considering the closeness she and her husband had, that wasn't
surprising. 'It must be a little weird meeting your double,' she nodded.

'Not at all,' Anne grinned. 'Oh, she has my colouring, but
she's a lot slimmer than me, and one thing James does like about me is
that I'm cuddly. Or so he tells me,' she added dryly.

'I'm sure he means it, too,' Merlyn laughed.

'So am I,' Anne nodded, completely confident. 'I grew up
thinking all men wanted a woman that looked like a beanpole and, within
a few minutes of meeting James and deciding I didn't stand a chance
with him, he turned around and told me he likes to know he's holding a
woman in his arms, not a matchstick with bumps!' She laughed huskily.
'I became a woman that very night—and it's been that way ever
since.'

'I can see that,' Merlyn smiled.

'Talking of good-looking men—'

'Which we were,' she acknowledged teasingly.

'Which we definitely were,' Anne rejoined. 'The man who's
going to play Brandon is absolutely gorgeous!' She rolled her eyes
expressively.

'Gary Parker is handsome—'

'Gary Parker had to back out at the last minute,' Anne
frowned. 'Didn't Christopher tell you?'

'He didn't say anything…' Merlyn frowned her
own puzzlement. 'Who has he got instead?'

'His name is—Do you know, I can't remember it?'
Anne realised with some embarrassment. 'He isn't a big star, like Gary
Parker is, but with his looks he certainly should be!'

'Careful, or James will be the one getting jealous,'
Merlyn teased, although the replacement of Gary Parker at this stage
unsettled her. The last two weeks had been spent engrossed in her part,
and in all the scenes Suzie had with Brandon she had imagined being
opposite Gary Parker. She would have to rethink them all.

'Never,' the other woman laughed off the idea.
'Christopher is by the pool, he said for you to join him as soon as you
arrived.'

'He's working hard already, I see,' she derided, searching
through her case for her bikini.

Anne took her remark seriously. 'Actually, he's working on
the screen-play, something about it seems to be bothering him.'

'I was only joking,' Merlyn told her. 'Everyone in the
business knows he's a workaholic.'

'Oh, I see.' Anne gave a self-conscious laugh. 'You'll
have to excuse my ignorance; my sister may have been a star but my
contact with the business has been very limited. Suzie always kept this
part of her life completely separate from her career.'

Merlyn nodded, familiar with the habit of maintaining some
privacy in her life. 'I'm surprised you dared to write the book.'

'Because of Brandon,' Anne nodded. 'He was all for my
telling people how strong and determined Suzie had been, until he
realised there was going to be a film too!'

'He's publicity shy, isn't he?' Merlyn acknowledged
ruefully.

'Only about those last years with Suzie,' the other woman
excused. 'He doesn't give a damn about any other aspects of his life
appearing in newspapers.'

'Why is that, do you suppose?' asked Merlyn softly.

'You would have to ask him that,' Anne dismissed briskly.
'But I would say he just considers that part of his life too private to
become public knowledge.'

Merlyn would say she was right, and to give Anne credit,
although she had written quite extensively about Suzie and Rand's early
married life together, she hadn't given any intimate details of their
life together after Suzie became ill, had concentrated the rest of the
book on Suzie's fight for life. Although that hadn't stopped a few
intimate scenes being included in the screenplay, purely fabrication
and guess-work on the part of the person who had written it with the
help of Anne's book, but Merlyn was going to have to play those scenes
anyway.

'Is Rand back from his business trip yet?' She feigned
casualness.

The other woman nodded. 'You know, I've never been able to
get over the way you call him Rand,' she frowned. 'He—Oh
damn,' she muttered as the bleeper attached to her dress-belt
interrupted her. 'I have to go,' she apologised. 'I'll see you later.'

Rand was back. She might even get to see him in the near
future. But dare she ask him the questions that had been plaguing her
the last weeks? She doubted she would have the nerve for that, and
there was no guarantee he would put in an appearance; he had given them
permission to film in the grounds, with the strict proviso that none of
them was to go near the house.

And she wanted to see him. It had been so long, and she
hungered just for the sight of him.

'Can I come in or would you rather be alone?' queried a
cheerful voice.

Merlyn gave a guilty start as she turned to face Liza
Benedict, the actress, only a year younger than herself, who was to
play the part of Anne in the film. Small, and blonde, and a very good
actress, she and Merlyn had worked together in the past; she was
perfect for the role.

'Isn't this a super place?' Liza added before Merlyn could
answer her earlier question. I've just got back from filming in Africa;
this beats the dust and flies any time!' She made herself comfortable
on Merlyn's sofa.

Merlyn liked the other woman, the two of them having kept
in touch after they finished working together last time, pleased they
were going to work together again. 'You'll have to lose some of that
sun-tan before we start filming,' she teased, the other woman's tan
very attractive against the blonde of her hair, but too deep a bronze
for the English climate.

Liza grimaced. 'I'm sure make-up will take care of that.'

'Yes,' acknowledged Merlyn. 'Well, get your bikini and
let's go,' she encouraged lightly. 'Christopher will be doing his realistic impression of a
slave-driver soon enough!'

A speculative gleam entered the deep blue eyes. 'Talking
of Christopher Drake—'

'Which we weren't,' Merlyn cut in firmly.

'We
were
.' Liza wasn't to be put
off. 'I've heard several rumours about the two of you since I got back,
and—'

' "We're just good friends",' Merlyn cut in decisively.

'From what I've heard of the dynamic Mr Drake, he doesn't
have women friends!'

'I just told you he does,' Merlyn mocked. 'I'm the very
first one!'

Liza gave a disappointed grimace and stood up. 'I hope you
aren't going to be this close-mouthed about all the gossip circulating;
I've been depending on you to tell me who's sleeping with whom!'

Merlyn smiled to herself as Liza went along the corridor
to her room to collect her bathing costume. Maybe working on this film
wasn't going to be so bad after all—Liza could certainly be a
lot of fun to be around.

She didn't look up from slipping on the bottom half of her
green bikini as Liza returned. 'Doesn't the fact that Christopher and I
have separate rooms at different ends of the building tell you
something?' she teased.

'What do you want it to tell me?'

Her fingers crushed the material of her bikini top into
her palm as she straightened to look Rand Carmichael in the eye. Her
first instinct was to put her hands over her bared breasts, but the
idea was lost in a maelstrom of other emotions as she looked at a Rand
she had never seen before. His hair was shorter, although still
slightly over his ears, and the beard had gone completely, revealing a
hard, uncompromising jaw and a mouth that still appeared sensual
despite its mocking twist.

He didn't look younger, just different, and as Merlyn
continued to look at him, she realised the man in her dream, that
realistic dream that still haunted her, hadn't possessed that rasping
beard she had known with Rand Carmichael! How long ago had the beard
been removed?

His mouth quirked with hard amusement. 'This seems to be
becoming a habit,' he drawled.

'What does?' she breathed softly.

'My walking in on you when you're half-undressed,' he
mocked, his gaze raking over her contemptuously.

Whatever he was doing here, his opinion of her hadn't
changed in the last two weeks. 'Maybe if you tried knocking for a
change…?' she challenged, putting the bra to her bikini on
with unhurried movements. After all, he had seen it all before.

He shrugged his broad shoulders, the navy-blue shirt taut
across their breadth. 'The door was open, I took that as an invitation
to walk in.'