Shadow Marriage. PENNY JORDAN

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СКАЧАТЬ haven’t introduced myself, by the way. I’m Lois and the others are Anne, Helen and Sue, respectively. Thank goodness you’re human. After all the tantrums we’ve had from Madame Gina we were getting a bit worried about you, especially after this morning’s surprise. We had no idea the boss was married, much less to one of our leading ladies.’

      ‘We’ve been separated for some time,’ Sarah told her, unwilling to discuss her relationship with Ben and yet unwilling to offend by seeming aloof

      ‘We all envy you like mad,’ Lois confided with another grin, ‘and my, oh my, won’t our Gina be surprised! She got him earmarked as her private property, and he must be relieved that she’ll have to back down a little now that you’ve arrived. Anything going on between the two of them was bound to cause unpleasant repercussions if it ever got back to the ears of her boy-friend. He’s one of our backers,’ she added by way of clarification, and Sarah didn’t tell her that Dale had already informed her of this relationship. ‘Guy fought damned hard to get the money for this film, and we’re all relieved that Ben agreed to take over from him. It’s hard enough getting money out of backers these days to produce a film, without having to contend with a director who’s a yes-man and cuts corners and costs at every turn.’

      Sarah could see that the other girl thought highly of Ben, which she knew from past experience was an accolade in itself. The crew were notorious for being ‘anti’ directors, and if a director did command their respect one could be sure that it had been hard won.

      Half an hour later, having accepted the cup of coffee Lois offered, Sarah opened the door of Ben’s trailer. Slightly larger than Dale’s, it was on its own away from the others. Privileges of power, Sarah thought wryly, wondering why Ben had opted for seclusion. So that Gina could visit him unnoticed? She told herself she was being stupid, especially in view of all that she had been told, and anyway, why should it concern her if Gina and Ben had an affair?

      Unlike Dale’s, the living area of the trailer was cluttered with mounds of paper. A typewriter sat uncovered on the table, and Sarah glanced curiously at it. The administration unit was fully equipped with all manner of electronic marvels, including a word processor, and she couldn’t understand why Ben should need a machine in his own living accommodation. Shrugging her shoulders, she investigated the doors leading off the corridor. One opened on to a kitchen very like Dale’s, only larger, with a breakfast bar in it. Next to it was a bathroom, and guessing that Ben would choose the bedroom nearest to it, Sarah pushed open the other door, into what was patently the unused bedroom.

      Most of her luggage was still in Dale’s car, and since she couldn’t unpack she might as well make herself some belated breakfast and then explore the set. A swift glance at the schedule Lois had given her confirmed that she would not be needed until towards the end of the week, but she noticed that she had a wardrobe consultation first thing in the morning, and doubtless there would be many other things to fill in her time.

      Half an hour later, having breakfasted on toast and coffee, and cleaned up after herself, she decided it was time to make her tour of the site, and familiarise herself with what was going to be her home for the next two or three months.

       CHAPTER THREE

      THE film company must have several million dollars tied up in the location site alone, Sarah decided, pausing to marvel at the swimming pool which had been dug in the sand and formed from some sort of plasticised liner. At one end a bar had been erected, complete with a ‘coconut matting’ roof and realistically weathered tables and chairs. To one side of it was a partially open restaurant where she guessed most of the crew and cast would take their meals, although it was possible to be entirely self-sufficient by using the freezer and fridge built into the trailer kitchens. A dozen or so people were seated outside the bar, the men drinking beer and the girls a mixture of the former and lemonade, reminding Sarah that the Spanish climate was a hot one and that she would be wise to protect her complexion from it. She did not need to be told how important it was not to let her skin burn—apart from the undoubted pain of doing so it could have a disastrous effect on any film shot out of sequence—she could hardly appear pale-skinned at the beginning of a scene, and then bright pink halfway through it.

      She ought to have bought herself a sunhat before leaving England, but there had been so much to do she had forgotten it. She did have plenty of sunscreen, thanks to Carew, but she would need a hat if she was not to suffer from sunstroke. It wasn’t even midday yet and the heat was almost suffocating. She glanced longingly at the pool, and then reminded herself that she was here to work, not play. She would go and watch the shooting, she decided on impulse. She had never seen Ben direct and it would be as well to discover what type of method he adopted—whether it was of the ‘stick’ or ‘carrot’ variety. It was a well known maxim in Hollywood circles that the better the director the more his cast loathed him. Suppressing a shiver, Sarah wound her way through the seemingly haphazard arrangement of trailers back to the administration centre.

      ‘You want to know where they’re filming? Sure,’ Lois agreed laconically. ‘Why not come with me? I’ve got to take some stuff out for the boss. We’ll take one of the buggies.’ She glanced at Sarah’s uncovered head. ‘Go ahead and tell me if I’m stepping out of line, but shouldn’t you be wearing a hat, your being a redhead an’ all?’

      ‘I would if I’d had the sense to buy one in London,’ Sarah agreed ruefully. ‘First thing tomorrow I must find someone to take me to the nearest town so that I can buy one. Will anyone be going in?’

      Lois shook her head regretfully. ‘I doubt it. There’s nothing in the can for sending off. We’ve been having problems with one of the cameras, but it’s okay now and the boss said only yesterday that he didn’t want anyone sneaking off to town—we’ve got too much lost time to catch up on. I expect he’ll make allowances for you, though,’ she told Sarah with a sideways grin. ‘He won’t want one of his leading ladies to go down with sunstroke—nor his wife to suffer from a headache!’ She laughed when she saw Sarah’s expression. ‘Honey, you’re going to have to toughen up some if you’re going to survive on location. You haven’t done much film work, I guess?’ she hazarded sympathetically. ‘Some of the guys don’t mince their words. You should have heard them this morning when they found out about you! Word is that you must be some lady to have been able to tie the boss down. I guess it’s not exactly news to you that the fact that he’s one very virile man hasn’t gone unnoticed in Tinsel Town.’

      Sarah smiled and said nothing. Of course she hadn’t expected Ben to live the life of a monk when they separated, so why this curious pang of something that could almost be called pain, slicing through her body, cutting through her defences and leaving her aching and vulnerable to the white-hot pangs of jealousy ripping through her?

      Lois led the way to a beach buggy parked not far away. ‘The film crew have commandeered most of the jeeps,’ she explained briefly, ‘but these little guys are far better than any car in the rough.’

      ‘What are they filming today?’ Sarah asked, trying to remember what she had seen on the schedule. Hadn’t it been some part of the Crusade; just before Richard ordered the execution of his Muslim hostages?

      When she questioned Lois, the other girl agreed. ‘Originally the boss hoped to have it in the can by last week, but with the camera out of action… There’s an old castle out here that we’re using as part of the set. At the moment it’s standing in for the walls of Acre.’

      Sarah knew from the script that in reprisal for refusing to release his Christian prisoners and to pay the ransom demanded of him, Richard had punished the Muslim leader Salah-ed-Din by putting to the sword the Muslim prisoners the Christian forces had taken when they captured Acre. For a Christian СКАЧАТЬ