Her Red-Carpet Romance (12 page)

Hanna was right, he thought. For such a young person, there were times when she displayed a very old mind. He caught himself wondering things about her that had nothing to do with the job she did.

“Tell someone to send Maddox to me,” Lukkas instructed.

Yohanna fairly beamed at him. “You got it.” With that, she took off.

Instead of finding someone to carry out Lukkas's order, she decided to go in search of the actor herself. It took a bit of doing, but she finally found the man sequestered in his spacious trailer.

The actor wasn't alone.

One of the continuity girls was with him. A tray with two full plates sat on the table, but neither party seemed to notice the food. Maddox appeared to be on the verge of seducing a not-so-legal young woman.

That was all the production needed. To be shut down while charges of seducing a minor were brought up against the actor. It had been known to happen, and that sort of Pandora's box, once opened, couldn't be shut again.

“What are you doing in here?” Maddox demanded angrily when he saw her entering his trailer. He waved his hand at her as if he were brushing aside an annoying insect. “Never mind. I don't care. Just get the hell out.”

Yohanna stubbornly ignored the actor. Her attention was completely focused on the young girl instead. “How old are you, Rachel?”

The girl seemed surprised, then immediately became defensive. “How do you know my name?”

“I made it a point to learn everyone's name in the crew,” Yohanna replied calmly. “Just like Lukkas Spader does. Now answer the question, please. How old are you?” She already knew the answer to that, but she wanted to see what the girl would say.

“I'm nineteen,” Rachel informed her with a toss of her head.

“It seems odd that someone who is in charge of making sure the props are exactly in the same place from one take to the next within a scene can't recall what's written down on her own birth certificate.”

Rachel's eyes widened to their maximum capacity. “You've seen my birth certificate?” she asked in confusion.

“Everyone working on this movie set is vetted,” Yohanna informed her. “From the guy who delivers the bottled water every other day right on up to the director—as well as the actors and actresses,” she concluded, looking pointedly at Maddox.

“I will be eighteen—in another month,” Rachel declared nervously, her bravado crumbling.

The next moment, scrambling, she gathered up her shoes and the few items of clothing that had already come off. Clutching them to her, Rachel rushed out of the trailer, leaving the door wide-open because both her hands were wrapped around her clothes.

“I hope you're satisfied,” Maddox growled angrily. “You've ruined my morning.”

“But I saved hers, so it all balances out in the end,” she told the actor glibly.

Getting to his feet, Maddox towered over her by almost a foot. The scowl on his face was practically shooting thunderbolts. “I can have your job,” he threatened.

She was not about to be intimidated by a man who tried to take advantage of a naive teenager. “If you can do it any better than I can, you're welcome to it, Mr. Maddox.”

His scowl intensified. “You think you have such a smart mouth—”

“No, I don't,” she interjected. “What I do have, however, is a smart brain. A brain that tells me if you don't take Mr. Spader up on his offer to generously give you a piece of the film, you are going to be taken to court for a breach of contract—and that's just the beginning.

“People like and respect Mr. Spader. You, however, have a reputation as an impossible actor to work with. If you don't get your act together and start promoting some goodwill, you'll wake up one morning to find that your career is over before you ever hit your prime. And because of your rather lavish lifestyle, which I'm sure you're not prepared to curtail, you'll be in debt before you know it with no way to get back on your feet. This isn't conjecture, this is a sure thing.”

She could tell he was having trouble following what she was saying. She didn't know how to spell it out for him any better than she'd already done. Lukkas was a lot better at dealing with narcissistic walking egos than she was.

“Do yourself a favor,” she told Maddox. “Learn how to get along with people.”

“That's what I was doing with that continuity girl before you scared her away. Getting along,” he told her with a leer.

Yohanna didn't trust herself to reply to the actor's ridiculous statement. Instead, she simply urged, “Go talk to Mr. Spader and see if you can't fix things by making ‘nice' with the man—”

Muttering contemptuously under his breath, Maddox was out of his trailer before she had a chance to finish her sentence.

 

Chapter Twelve

W
ith Maddox gone and presumably on his way back to the set, Yohanna was about to walk out of the trailer herself. She stopped just short of the doorway when she thought she heard the actor talking to someone who was right outside the trailer door.

If she came out of the man's trailer just now it might create an awkward scene, so she remained where she was, waiting for Maddox and whoever the actor was talking to, to leave.

Standing there, it was impossible not to listen. After a second she realized that the other voice belonged to Lukkas. Her boss had probably gotten tired of waiting for someone to bring Maddox to him so he had gone to look for the actor himself.

That still didn't change her feeling that coming out of Maddox's trailer at this point would be awkward, so she continued to wait where she was as patiently as she could until the two men stopped talking.

It wasn't long.

Maddox's last remark to Lukkas made her think the actor was heading back to the set and back to work. Score one for Lukkas.

Yohanna decided that the best thing to do was to give herself to the count of five before descending the trailer steps and heading back to the set.

Counting off the numbers in her head, she'd gotten up to four when she heard Lukkas raise his voice and say, “You can come out now. Unless, of course, you want to continue playing hide-and-seek.”

Yohanna came out instantly. “How did you know I was here?” she asked as she made her way down the steps. Since he was right there at the bottom step, she was all but toe-to-toe with Lukkas.

“Easy. Maddox looked as if he was a hurricane survivor. The only hurricane I know of in the area is you,” Lukkas replied. “And I heard what you said to him in the trailer—the door was left open,” he pointed out in case she'd forgotten. “Nice job. You went a little off book,” he told her, since she
had
strayed from his initial message. “But in general you've got good instincts.”

What had surprised him most of all when he'd listened to her talking to the actor was that she hadn't fawned over the man the way almost everyone else on the set did. “Someone else would have been intimidated by Maddox's fame and personality—”

“I don't like people who abuse their positions—or use it to seduce young, impressionable girls,” she added with a frown. She had a feeling that even if Rachel had been underage and the actor had known it, it wouldn't have made any difference to him.

He grinned as he walked back to the center of the set with Hanna. “I kind of got that impression when you read Maddox the riot act.”

“No riot act,” she denied calmly. “I just gave the man a glimpse of his future if he didn't get his act together and change—like,
immediately
.”

Lukkas was having trouble hiding his amusement. The woman was feisty—and he found that to be very attractive. Just like the rest of her.

“So now you're the ghost of things to come in the future?” he asked.

“No, just somebody trying to do her job as best she can.”

“Well, I'd say that you've succeeded admirably well,” he told her—and then enumerated what she'd accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. “Thanks to you, Rachel's virtue will remain intact—for at least a little while longer—and this film just might get made on time after all.” He spared her a rather long, thoughtful look. He couldn't help thinking that he'd gotten lucky all because of an off-chance remark he'd made to Theresa.

“After we wrap up tonight, I'd like to buy you dinner to show you my gratitude.” The restaurant in town served good, decent food, but he knew of an excellent restaurant in the next city that served the kind of prime rib that most men only dreamed about.

Yohanna shook her head. “You don't have to do that,” she told him.

“You turned Maddox into a human being. Who knows how long that'll last, but I learned in this business to take everything as it comes because things might just fall apart tomorrow. Anyway, after this transformation act with Maddox, it's the least I can do.” He stopped short of the perimeter of the town. “I'm not taking no for an answer,” he informed her.

“Then I'd better not give it,” she replied.

“Smart,” he commented. “Now let's get back to work.” And with that, he walked into the town with Hanna right beside him.

He was getting very used to that.

* * *

It occurred to her as she watched Lukkas in action on the set later that day that the producer was involved in every single facet of the movie. He not only put himself out there to mediate disputes between crew members as well as between the people in the cast when tempers grew short or egos clashed, but Lukkas also made sure he had his finger in every single pie on the set.

Nothing was too large for him to tackle or too small to escape his notice.

Although she considered herself an unharnessed dynamo, just watching Lukkas work made her feel downright exhausted.

But eventually, several would-be crises later, the day finally did come to a close—later than she'd anticipated but still early enough to be within the parameters of the same day.

There were two and a half hours left until midnight as she went to Lukkas's trailer to check for any last-minute instructions he might have for her for the following day.

“There're
always
instructions for the next day,” he told her. “But they can wait until morning.” He powered down his laptop and closed the cover with finality. “Ready for that dinner I promised you?” Lukkas asked.

She'd thought that he'd forgotten. Stifling a yawn, Yohanna said, “I've been watching you all day. Toward the end, you looked as if you could barely put one foot in front of the other. You need to get some sleep,” she advised. “You can buy me dinner some other time.”

“Very little placing one foot in front of the other is involved in eating dinner,” he quipped. “Another lesson I learned some time ago is do whatever you're planning on doing
now
. There might not be a tomorrow no matter how well you plan for it.” There was sadness in his eyes as he added, “So why not celebrate each day as you can before the opportunity is gone?”

He was thinking of his wife, Yohanna thought, wishing there was something she could do to reduce that sadness. But she knew that wasn't possible. Everyone had to work their grief out on their own. The best she could do was to be silently supportive.

Offering him a smile, she said, “I just thought you might be kind of tired after being a superhero all day.”

His brow furrowed slightly, the way it did when he was trying to figure something out. “I'm afraid I don't get the reference,” Lukkas confessed. “How am I a superhero?”

She enumerated the ways. “Having the patience of Job. Tackling one problem after another. Getting people what they want—”

“When it's possible,” he reminded her.

He was the one who decided what could be done and what couldn't. Had they really been in Tombstone, he would have been the marshal of the town, she thought. “You make it possible.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Not that what you're saying isn't really great for my ego, but you're going to have to tone down your image of me just a little. You make it sound as if I have the power of life and death over this little mobile community. You know I don't.”

“Figuratively, then,” she conceded. The next moment she tried to make him understand just where she was coming from. She figured that she'd observed him long enough to make this kind of judgment call. “Just telling it the way it is. And the way it is, Lukkas, is that you're one of the good guys.” She told him in all seriousness, “The world needs more good guys.”

He waved off the compliment. “Well, I don't know about the world,” he said wryly, “but right now, I need to get something to eat before I start gnawing on the trees around here. So how about it?” he asked, looking at her. “Join me for dinner?”

She didn't like eating alone and she
did
like his company. She had no real reason to beg off. But the thought of driving to the next town—which wasn't all
that
close—was daunting.

“As long as we get something to eat here,” she told him. “Because you might be ready to go another round or so, but I'm pretty beat.”

“
Here
it is, then,” he responded.

As it turned out, the building designated to serve as the local brothel in the movie was actually a restaurant geared to feed the tourists who came through the town seeking local color. It was also where the cast and crew ate their meals.

“Nothing fancy,” he told her. “But if you want to stay in town, it's not half-bad.”

“Is that your version of a rave review?” she asked, amused at his choice of words.

“No, that's my version of being honest. I'd rather drive to Scottsdale, but it
is
a bit of a drive, and in the interest of not falling asleep behind the wheel—” he looked at her significantly since he had a feeling that had been her reasoning for remaining in the immediate area “—I thought this was a good alternative.”

Yohanna recalled some of the recent reading she'd been doing on life back in Wyatt Earp's time. “Please tell me the restaurant isn't called Big Nose Kate's.”

Lukkas laughed. “No, that's the name of the brothel in the movie. I don't know what the restaurant is actually called,” he confessed. “Only that so far no one's been rushed to the hospital yet.”

“Always a heartening piece of information to know,” she conceded.

* * *

As it turned out, the restaurant specialized in Mexican cuisine and had several things on the menu that looked appealing to her. She finally decided to get the enchilada ranchero.

“Make that two,” Lukkas told the young waitress as he handed her his menu, as well.

The young woman smiled as she looked from him to Yohanna. “Good choice. It's my favorite, too. I'll be right back with your bread,” the waitress promised as she withdrew.

Lukkas leaned over in the booth to tell her, “Dirk Montelle wanted me to tell you thanks.”

“For?” Yohanna asked.

She couldn't think of a reason why the director would want to thank her for anything. She'd had very few dealings with the director since she and Lukkas had arrived in Arizona this time around.

“Well, Montelle seems to think that you're the reason Maddox is behaving. Maddox is actually satisfied after only a couple of takes of each scene instead of his usual ten or twelve takes. Montelle told me that whatever spell you cast on Maddox, he hopes it's a long-lasting one. According to him, his ulcer has stopped acting up.” Lukkas grinned at her. “You might have a career in medicine ahead of you.”

She was flattered, but she didn't believe in taking credit when none was due. “You overheard what I said to Maddox. I just played on his insecurities. That wasn't magic. It was just using common sense, that's all.”

“I agree,” he told her. “But most people...well, they'd rather believe a little hocus pocus was involved. If you took a poll, I think you'd find out that people like believing that something more powerful than them is watching over the world, making things right.” He smiled at her. “It makes them feel safer,” he told her.

Before Yohanna had a chance to protest again, the waitress returned with the bread and several pats of butter, just as she'd promised. She carried it in on a wooden cutting board and placed it in front of Lukkas.

“I'll be back soon with your orders,” she told them before once more retreating into the background.

Lukkas looked at the bread. It was situated in the middle of the cutting board. A sharp knife was next to it. “I guess she wants me to do the honors,” he said, picking up the knife.

“I can do that if you like,” Yohanna was quick to offer, thinking that perhaps he'd just subtly indicated that he'd rather not do the cutting.

“Not that I don't appreciate the fact that you keep trying to jump in and take care of practically all the details that infiltrate my daily existence, Hanna, but I actually am capable of cutting my own bread,” he assured her good-naturedly.

“I never meant for you to think that I thought that you couldn't,” she told him.

He surprised her by laughing out loud at her statement.

“Now,
that's
confusing, even without any wine to dull the brain,” he joked. “By the way, I'm not offended, I'm amused. I might not have the thickest skin around, but it's definitely thicker than tissue paper,” he assured her.

Cutting two thick slices of the warm bread, Lukkas gave her the first piece and took the second one for himself. When she didn't immediately pick up her piece from her bread plate, he nodded at it, saying, “You have to eat it while it's still warm.”

“It's bread. How much of a difference can it make?” she asked, dutifully breaking off a piece of her slice and popping it into her mouth.

The instant the bread touched her tongue, she found herself smiling. There was something comforting about consuming the warm slice.

“You're right,” she told him.

“It does happen every once in a while,” he told her with a conspiratorial wink.

The restaurant was dimly lit. It was also rather noisy and fairly filled with people. Yet when she found herself on the receiving end of Lukkas's wink, she felt as if they were the only two people in the entire place.

With very little effort, her imagination could run away with her.

Don't get carried away. He's just being himself, nothing personal
, she silently insisted.

Yohanna struggled to rechannel her thoughts.

“How did you find this place?” she asked him. “This town,” she amended. “For the movie, I mean.”