To Catch a Star: A Royal Romance to Remember!. Romy Sommer

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СКАЧАТЬ how he made her feel. One minute all intense, those seductive blue eyes making her feel like prey in the hunter’s sights, the next minute prickly and combative.

      “He’s fine,” she said.

      “He shared any confidences yet?”

      If only. But since she didn’t know how much Lee knew, she simply shook her head. He leaned closer, dropping his voice. “You know that the quickest way to get him to reveal whatever you want to know is to seduce him? You’re sure to catch him unwary in the throes of passion.”

      Her entire body stiffened in horror. “I couldn’t do that!” Even if she wasn’t engaged, it was unthinkable.

      “Pity.”

      She followed Lee’s gaze across the room to where Christian had just entered, flanked by Robbie, Christian’s stylist, his make-up artiste, and the man Tessa had already gathered was the director. She wasn’t the only one who turned to look. A flutter swept around the room. Christian seemed oblivious. With those looks, he’d no doubt had people falling at his feet his entire life. Add the athletic build and the attitude, and he was very hard to ignore.

      Lee laid a dramatic hand over his heart and sighed. “If I were in your shoes, I’d so do him. He’s even sexier in person than up on the big screen.”

      She didn’t dispute that. She’d never met a man who made her skin prickle with awareness like Christian did.

      Christian was joined by a young woman Tessa vaguely recognised, and this time it certainly wasn’t from any late-night crime report. She was a brunette, at least a head shorter than Tessa, with an exotic Mediterranean colouring, slender yet with curves in all the right places, and a cleavage that needed no accentuation. Especially in her heavily embroidered Baroque ball gown.

      Scarlet. It suited her.

      Tessa pursed her lips as Christian bent to kiss the woman’s cheek and whisper in her ear. The woman blushed and giggled.

      “Nina Alexander, Christian’s leading lady,” Lee said. “She’s not half bad for an actress who it’s rumoured will be an Oscar contender this year. Almost as down-to-earth as Christian and she has a wicked sense of humour. The crew are laying odds she’s going to make him wait until the end of the movie before he gets lucky, though.”

      “What are the odds he doesn’t get lucky at all?”

      Lee laughed. “Nil. As long as she’s not married, she’s fair game. And there isn’t a woman who can say no to him if he sets his sights on her.”

       Want to bet?

      Across the room, Nina laughed at something Christian said. He definitely seemed in a better mood now. Tessa bit her lip. “I hope the poor woman isn’t looking for a relationship. Christian’s attention span seems to be limited to about a week.” Or so said the page and a half of her father’s report that had been devoted to his love life.

      Lee nudged her. “That’s why you’d be so good for him. What you want from him is unique. It’s not like you want to marry the man.” He rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. “Might even be good for you.”

      “I don’t mess around,” she said stiffly.

      The dimple appeared in his cheek. “Not even a last little fling before you settle down to marriage?”

      They’d gotten to know each other well enough over dinner last night for Tessa to be pretty sure that that Lee was only teasing. In spite of the fact he never took anything seriously, she could understand why he and Kenzie were such good friends. And why he and Anna had hit it off so well last night.

      He was a good listener. And he’d become even more excited about her wedding than the know-it-all wedding-planner she’d hired and fired. Certainly more excited than she felt.

      There were days she wished they could just elope and get married on a tropical island somewhere. But Europe’s entire aristocracy expected to be present at the wedding of the last heiress of the noble House of Arelat, the family that had given its name to the island where Christian was born, and noses would be out of joint if she didn’t deliver.

      “Well, if you change your mind, it won’t be hard. We men are such suckers for a pretty face, and you’re definitely a pretty face. And with Christian’s reputation… ”

      As if he’d heard his name, Christian looked up and his gaze connected with hers, clear across the crowded ballroom, knocking the wind out of her.

      He raised an eyebrow and grinned, a look so cocky and sure of his own appeal, that she had to turn away. Even if she were capable of seducing anyone, she wouldn’t give Christian the satisfaction. And she would not let him get any more under her skin than he already was.

      A man like Christian Taylor could not be trusted. People like him, who courted fame and adoration, always after the quick thrill of the moment, destroyed everything they touched. She was not about to be destroyed a second time.

      Now what had put that look in her eye? Christian only listened to the director with half an ear as he stared across the ballroom at Teresa. The dislike in her usually unruffled demeanour startled him. What had he done to upset her? God, he hated mornings.

      It definitely wasn’t the pretty boy next to her causing her to frown, because she laughed as he made some comment.

      Christian’s gut clenched.

      “You got that?” the director asked. “You’re spurned and angry and about to take revenge on everyone in the room who ever slighted you.”

      Which was about right. Christian’s hands fisted.

      There were two reasons he’d signed on for this movie. The first lay beyond his control and he wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he had to leave Westerwald without achieving it.

      But the second lay firmly within his grasp. The chance to visit both the land of the father who hadn’t wanted to own him, and the island that had been his childhood home. The chance to return not as the outcast child but as the victor.

      He was here to show them all the man he’d become, starting with that prissy little PA who turned her back on him as if he was beneath her notice.

      He took the starting position he was indicated and breathed deeply, focusing on the role at hand.

      They walked through the rehearsal a couple of times, following the movements the director had already blocked out with his stand-in. He only gave half his energy to these run-throughs, saving his best for when the cameras actually rolled.

      “Final checks,” the AD called. The make-up and wardrobe stylists fluttered around him like agitated butterflies before hurrying away out of shot. Then “Quiet! Roll sound,” the AD called.

      Another voice called back, an indistinct affirmation.

      “Roll camera.”

      “Camera speed,” piped up the first camera assistant.

      “Mark it.”

      The second camera assistant banged the clapperboard and leapt out of the way.

      “And… СКАЧАТЬ