A Touch of Passion (boxed set romance bundle)

by Uvi Poznansky

Betty looked a good ten years older than most of the other women. Charity hoped that they had a good make-up artist on the set, because the older woman was going to need one. Hard living was beginning to show on her face.

  Charity stood and offered her a helping hand. “We should go back to work.”

  She took Charity’s hand and stood. Her tone took on a spiteful edge. “I can out work you any day of the week. I’ve had to work hard to get into this business. No one ever handed me anything on a silver platter. One day, you’ll see how tough this business really is.” Betty turned and headed over to join the others.

  Charity shrugged away the unpleasantness of the encounter and went back to work. By the time Kim called it quits for the night, even Betty didn’t have the energy to bad mouth anyone. Charity met up with her mom and Maria, and they joined David at the limo. He appeared to be a little worse for wear from all of the hard work the men had had to go through in preparing for their roles that afternoon. His hair was wringing wet and was now lying in small curls on his forehead and the back of his neck. Maria still appeared to have her headache and even her mother wasn’t quite as chatty as she had been. All of them slumped into their seats and there was very little chatter on the way to the hotel. By the time the car pulled up to the entrance way of the hotel, Judy had to shake her awake.

  Chapter Three

  Judy had already taken a quick shower and changed into a pale yellow, cotton summer dress and matching sandals when she emerged into the sitting area between their rooms. Her short blonde curls had been washed, blown dried, and combed so that the curls were now framing her youthful but slightly sunburned face. While her own mother’s red hair had skipped a generation, and passed to Charity instead, they had both inherited her big green eyes. In her usual style, she had forgone wearing any makeup. Because of a healthy lifestyle and good genes, she looked at least fifteen years younger than her fifty years.

  She stopped at the bar between the sitting room and tiny kitchen to grab her purse. Once it was in her hands, she turned and noticed Charity, still sitting in the same spot where she had left her earlier. “Why aren’t you ready? I thought you would be starving by now. You haven’t eaten anything all day long.”

  Charity wiggled her toes and let out a long heavy sigh as the cramps in her feet subsided. “I’m too exhausted to join you guys. I’m sure David and Maria will understand. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to get together while we’re here. We will probably be sick of each other before it’s all over with. I just want to lie in that big bath tub and soak for a couple of hours. Then, I’m going to call Johnny before he gets settled in for the night. I know he has had just as long of a day as I have, and then I’m going to order a sandwich from room service.”

  Judy walked over and sat on the edge of the opposite sofa. She leaned mischievously toward Charity. “What was the deal with the big blonde today? The two of you seemed to be in a big powwow at one time. You didn’t look that happy, even though you were smiling ever so sweetly at her.”

  Just thinking about the encounter again set Charity’s teeth on edge. She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Betty had the nerve to suggest I used sex to get this job.”

  Judy frowned and shook her head. “I hope you set her straight.”

  Her mother was very sweet natured until someone tried to hurt her daughter, so Charity decided not to throw any gasoline onto the fire and make matters any worse than they already were. There was no doubt that if Judy thought for a second she needed to step in and fix things, it wouldn’t be easy replacing all of the long blonde hair on Betty’s head when her mom got through with her. “I believe I did, it’s really hard to say though. Betty finally dropped the subject, but she does make her living as an actress. My main concern is Mrs. Bennett. She’ll be here Friday. What if she hears the same rumor?”

  Judy glanced at her watch. “There’s no point in worrying about it now. I’m certain Mrs. Bennett is used to nasty rumors and innuendos. I should go, so I don’t leave David and Maria waiting.” She stood and smoothed the wrinkles out of the skirt of her dress and blushed when she noticed Charity watching her primping. She grinned sheepishly. “I really like Maria. She’s so sweet.” She kissed Charity’s cheek before leaving.

  Because Charity lingered too long soaking in the bath, the call between her and Johnny lasted past midnight. When she realized how late it was, she gave up any notion of ordering a sandwich from room service. She fell asleep straight away and before she knew it the phone was ringing with her wakeup call. She was still too tired to move and was still in bed when her mother came bouncing into the bedroom.

  Judy’s hair was standing up on one side at a crazed angle from sleeping on that side all night. Her voice was set on its usual cheerful level. “Up and at ‘em!”

  Charity peered over the covers and whined. “Do I have to? I hurt in more places than I even realized I had.”

  Judy sat on the foot of the bed and smacked at Charity’s feet. “Get up lazy bones. Stanley will be here with the car in thirty minutes or less. You shouldn’t have stayed up so long last night.” When Charity pulled the covers over her head, Judy tugged at the bedspread until it and the blanket were both totally off the bed and on the floor. She grinned at Charity’s stunned expression and then went happily bouncing out of the room again, as if her job was done.

  Since Charity still needed a shower, she begrudgingly got out of bed and resisted the urge to grumble. Her mother had excellent hearing, so it was better to keep any unhappy thoughts to herself. After she was showered and dressed, she carried her duffel bag out into the sitting room and was surprised when her mother was nowhere to be seen. Charity had been certain her mother would have been the first to be ready and waiting to leave. She waited on the sofa for several minutes before Judy finally emerged from her room.

  As Judy walked over, she eyed Charity’s loose white shorts and tee shirt. “Decided not to wear your cheerleading uniform again today?”

  Just thinking about those shorts being wedged in firmly between each cheek made Charity squirm. She shuddered before saying, “That’s very funny.” Before her mother decided to sit and get comfortable, Charity stood. “The front desk called a few minutes ago to let us know Stanley is out front with the limo.”

  Judy tucked her purse underneath her arm. “I’m ready.” She held up a red binder. “I brought something to keep me busy today. Maria gave me the idea yesterday. She had her sketch pad with her. Did you know she’s an artist?”

  Charity grabbed her duffel bag and headed over to the door. “No. I didn’t. I wondered what was keeping her from going crazy yesterday, waiting on David. I’m looking forward to getting to know both of them better. Maybe we can get together tonight for dinner. I hate I missed eating with them last night.” As soon as they were both out of the room, she closed and locked the hotel room door. “We’ve kept Stanley waiting long enough. How he does everything Mr. Bennett wants him to do, in just a twenty-four hour day, is beyond me. Let’s not make his day any harder by keeping him waiting.”

  The moment the elevator doors opened on the main floor, Charity saw David and Maria near the checkout desk, shuffling through a rack of sightseeing brochures. Charity motioned for Judy to follow her over to them.

  David looked up from the pamphlet in his hand and smiled. “Good morning ladies. I see everyone survived yesterday.”

  Maria hurriedly replaced the pamphlets she had been holding and then slipped an arm through Charity’s. On the way out toward the waiting car, she leaned in to whisper, “You look well rested this morning. I can see being able to talk to your husband has done you a world of good.”

  Charity laughed and leaned in closer too. “It was great hearing his voice and I do feel better this morning. I’m ready to take on the world today.”

  Once everyone was settled in the limo, Maria turned to Charity, “You must be missing your husband. I understand you and he were just married six weeks ago. You must have hated having to leave him for so lon
g to come out here. I just hate it when David and I are apart.”

  Charity shrugged. “When Charles offered me the role to be Kelly in his movie, Johnny wanted us to go ahead and get married. We were going to wait until I graduated from the university next year but things changed. We moved the date up so we could have some time together before I had to come out here. He has known for some time that this is want I wanted to do with my life and he supports me. Even though it isn’t easy being apart, we have both known this was the way our life together was going to be from the beginning.”

  The four of them discussed events from the day before and then everyone agreed to have Stanley find them a nice Mexican restaurant for a late dinner together that night. After that was decided everyone settled into their own thoughts. It gave Charity time to think about Johnny and what was going on in Tennessee in her absence. Had Johnny already gotten up for the day, or had he overslept again? There was so much she was missing. Was this how their entire marriage was going to be? Were they forever going to be separated by her career? She couldn’t ask Johnny to follow her around from movie to movie, or from state to state, like Maria followed David. How was their marriage going to survive the years and years of her picking up and leaving for several months out of every year?

  After several minutes of silence David kissed the top of his wife’s head and looked across to Charity. “Are you ready to do this all over again today?”

  Charity rubbed her tender thighs but managed to sound cheerful in spite of the pain. “I can’t wait! Mom said you mentioned last night that Robert Gregg would be on the set today. Is his wife going to be with him? I would really like to meet her, and get some pointers from her about how I should be portraying her.”

  David rubbed his wife’s shoulder as he spoke, “I don’t think Kelly will be with him today. I understand that she isn’t too far away from delivering their third child. I’m sure that Robert will be glad to answer any questions that you may have about his wife though. Kelly plans on dropping by before we finish shooting here in Dallas. My guess is it will be closer to the end of the year before she ventures out. You can get a pretty good feel of how she is by reading the script.”

  Charity watched the Dallas scenery drift by from the car window before speaking again. “None of this seems real, that I’m here doing this movie.” She turned to face David and Maria again. “A month ago, I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of being in Dallas, much less, being in the same car with the two of you. I was just a normal college kid then. I dreamed of being here, but how many people actually get to see their dreams come true?”

  David laced his fingers through Maria’s. “You’re right. Not everyone realizes their dreams. I never forget that fact. It would be so easy to take all of this for granted. There are times I have to pinch myself too, to see if I’m dreaming, or if this is really my life. It’s good to be us.”

  David and Charity grinned at each other and for the first time since landing at the Dallas airport, Charity felt as if she really belonged in Charles’ production. She had David to thank for that. For some reason he believed she was up to handling the role of Kelly. To have someone of his caliber of acting experience have so much faith in her meant everything. There was no way she was going to screw this up now. She had to prove those reporters wrong. She just had to.

  Time flew by after they arrived on set. Charity and David went over lines until Kim took her away to work with the cheerleading team for a while. Around two-thirty in the afternoon, Charles arrived at the studio with his wife. He immediately brought her over to meet Charity, and Judy came over as soon as she saw them approaching the group of women. At first Charity didn’t notice the paper Mrs. Bennett was carrying, until she opened it, revealing the bold headlines.

  The headline above the picture read Young Actress Seduces Older Producer. Mrs. Bennett grinned as she handed Charity the paper. “So you’re the young lady who has been trying to seduce my Charles away from me?”

  Charity took the offered paper but was too dumbfounded to answer Charles’ wife. The moment was almost like a children’s cartoon where everything dropped into slow motion and the sound of a nearby clock ticked loud enough to cover the uncomfortable silence. Since Charity didn’t answer or move, Judy took the paper out of her hand to get a better look at it.

  After a couple of long moments with everyone standing there just staring at each other, Mrs. Bennett finally walked closer to Charity and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Please don’t be so upset. I know that you are not sleeping with my husband. I was only teasing you about the article. I thought you would have already seen the paper and had a good laugh. I forgot you’re new to show business and what comes along with it. Just about ninety-five percent of what is written is completely made up.”

  When Mrs. Bennett saw the tears in Charity’s eyes she glanced over at her husband for help. “Charles?”

  He took the paper back from Judy. He wadded it up and threw it into the nearest trash can. “What a bunch of rubbish!”

  He slapped his hands together as if he was washing his hands of the whole matter. “Rubbish. It’s all just complete rubbish. Don’t give it another thought. Sonia and I have been married a very long time. We read the article this morning and laughed. She thought you would find it funny too.” He patted Charity’s arm in a fatherly manner and said, “Just put the whole thing out of your mind.”

  Charity’s face was hot from embarrassment. If things weren’t bad enough, she could see Betty off to the side snickering and enjoying the drama way too much.

  Had Johnny seen that paper? Fortunately, he wasn’t into gossip or entertainment papers, but what about his fellow workers? What if one of those guys had already seen it and had said something to him about his wife being unfaithful to him?

  Charity glanced over to her mom and saw she was just as shocked as she was. Could the paper legally write such an obvious lie?

  David walked over to the group with a new guy in tow. Neither man had any clue of the turmoil going on in the midst of the small group, so both were smiling. David patted the other man’s shoulder. “Has everyone meet Robert Gregg yet? His plane was late and Stanley just brought him here from the airport.” He clapped a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “He’s eager to get started. I told him that Charity and I have already been going over the script this morning and how anxious we both are to pick his brain about his and Kelly’s lives together.”

  It wasn’t until his introductions were over that David finally noticed the unusual quiet. He looked around at everyone before finally nodding toward the set, “Charity, why don’t we show Robert around the set? After that we’ll find a quiet spot and pick Robert’s brain until lunch.”

  Since Charity didn’t want Mr. Bennett thinking she couldn’t handle what he obviously considered to be nothing, she smiled casually and nodded. She would call Johnny as soon as she could. She didn’t want to risk being overheard by anyone else. The look on Betty’s face made it obvious that nothing would please her more than having even more juicy gossip to pass around.

  She made a point to smile at Charles’ wife. “Mrs. Bennett, I’m so glad to meet you. I hope you don’t mind me running away like this?” She then made eye contact with Mr. Bennett. “Thank you, Charles. I’m sure you are right, and it’s nothing to be alarmed about.”

  She then turned to Robert. “Mr. Gregg, it’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet you. How’s your wife? I understand your third child is due any day now.” She took the hand Robert Gregg offered. Its size would have been intimidating if it hadn’t been accompanied with a large boyish grin. The smile was framed by deep laugh lines. It was easy to see he laughed and smiled often. Robert’s tie was loosened and pulled away from his collar. A jacket draped casually over his arm, and the back of his white long sleeve shirt was soaked in sweat. He was a big man in size and weight and looked every bit the athlete he had once been.

  Robert’s brown eyes twinkled as he locked eyes with Charity. “Charles was right abou
t you. You do look just like Kelly the day we met. I see now why he chose you to be her in this film.”

  His warm and friendly manner helped to ease the tension in the center of her chest and stomach. “Thank you. You have no idea how good that is to hear." She managed to pull her hand out of his and finally free, she nodded in David’s direction. “We should get started then. It looks like it’s going to be a busy day.”

  Charity glanced over at Betty and noticed the older woman was having a difficult time keeping her mouth shut. It wasn’t going to be very long before she made the rounds of the studio with her version of the morning’s events. Charity wanted Betty to know that she knew what she was thinking. “Hey Betty! I’ll see you at the stadium. We’ll work on those moves we were both having trouble with yesterday. Maybe Kim can give us some pointers.”

  Betty smiled but it did little to cover up the look of evil intent in her eyes. There was very little hope of her not telling everyone on the set what had been discussed between her and Mrs. Bennett. Charity just smiled and offered her arm to Robert. She straightened her spine and held her head up high as she headed off to tour the studio with him.

  Chapter Four

  After everyone grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch, Stanley drove Charity, Judy, Robert, and David back to the stadium. The car ride was filled with the relaxed sounds of idle chit chat. David kept everyone enthralled with his adventures of filming overseas and the trouble he often ran into because he didn’t know the language in some of the countries he and Maria had been to over the years.

  While Charity was just as interested as everyone else, she couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening in Tennessee, with Johnny. She had been so anxious during lunch that she hadn’t eaten but a couple bites of her ham sandwich. It didn’t matter that she had eaten very little over the past two days. She knew she should be eating better but the small bites of sandwich had felt like clumps of sawdust going down, and once in her stomach the food had settled like huge bricks.