Sally Wentworth - Set the Stars on Fire

by Sally Wentworth

  Sally Wentworth - Set the Stars on Fire

  What had she done to make him hate her?

  Lori's arrival in Rhodes was daunting. She'd been so delighted with the chance at a film role that her reception on location was a shock.

  Lewis Brenth, the director, seemed convinced she'd landed the part by means other than her acting ability. Even worse, he doubted her morals!

  Initially, all Lori wanted was his approval of her acting. Then it became vital to have him respect her as a woman. For, foolishly, she was in love with a man who despised her!

  CHAPTER ONE

  `MISS WEST?'

  Lori turned with a sigh of relief at the sound of her name and found a bespectacled young man dressed casually in faded jeans and a tee-shirt looking at her expectantly. The tee-shirt had The Siege emblazoned on it in large red letters, proclaiming to everyone at the airport that he was a member of the film crew. She smiled. `Yes, I'm Lori West.'

  He merely nodded, not returning the smile, and bent to pick up her two largest cases.

  'I've a company car outside. I'll put these cases in .and come back for the rest.'

  Lori watched him go with some surprise; her smile was warm and friendly, and being set as it was in a very lovely face there were very few people-especially men - who didn't immediately respond to it.

  He was back within five minutes and picked up her other two cases-for which she'd had to pay excess baggage charges-while she gathered up her hand luggage and followed him out of the comparative coolness of the airport building into the May sunshine. It had been cold and wet when she'd left Gatwick, but here in Rhodes the temperature was already in the eighties and the sky was a deep, clear blue without a cloud in sight.

  'Mm, lovely,' she murmured, lifting her face to the sun. 'Is the weather always as good as this?'

  The young man glanced up from stowing her cases in the trunk and said briefly. `Yes. It stops raining in April and doesn't start again until October.' He went to open the back door for her, but Lori said quickly, `Oh, I'd much rather sit in the front.'

  When they were both seated, she tried again. `But you haven't told me your name yet, or what your job is in the film crew?'

  This was accompanied by another smile, but the young man seemed to be oblivious and answered rather abruptly. `I'm Bill, and I'm only a production assistant.'

  Lori began to suspect that he was shy and tried to put him at ease. She laughed slightly and said, `Well, I was very glad to see you at the airport. I had to wait so long after the plane landed that I was beginning to be afraid that everyone had forgotten I was arriving to day.'

  Bill turned to her, and to her dismay she saw that his expression was now downright surly. `It was only half an hour or so, and I had some things to deliver for the director first. You can't expect everything else to stop just because a replacement actress has finally turned up,' he added sarcastically.

  Lori stared at him for a moment, completely taken aback by his rudeness. Anger started to mount and she began to retort, `Now, look…' but he was approaching a busy thoroughfare in the centre of the town and using his horn to clear the way so that her words were drowned beneath the noise. Slowly Lori sat back in her seat; although like everyone else- he hated people to think badly of her, there seemed little point at the moment in explaining to this ill-mannered young man that he was entirely wrong about her. It was true that there had been a few days' delay between her acceptance of the completely unexpected offer to replace one of the spars in the film and her arrival in Rhodes, but that was only because she had been in the middle of making a television play which she'd had to finish first. The producer of the film had tried to make her give it up and fly out immediately, but she had insisted on fulfilling her obligation, although she had been very much afraid that by doing so she might lose the film part altogether. Her luck held, however, and they agreed to wait until the play was finished, but even so it had been one mad rush to be ready to fly out here the minute filming was over; they hardly even gave her time to say goodbye to her mother before she was being whisked away to the airport with-she hoped-enough luggage to last her through the three months it would take to produce The Siege.

  A look of excitement came into her eyes as she thought about the film. She still couldn't quite believe her luck. The female lead, an international actress, had backed out of the part after only two weeks' shooting, the reason being kept a close secret, and the whole of the showbiz world was agog to see who would be chosen to take her place. Lori hadn't dreamt in a million years that she would even be thought of for the part, so she had been astounded when the producer had flown to England especially to offer it to her. At first she had been slightly suspicious that her godfather, who had interests in the film world, might have had a hand in her selection, but the producer was the head of his own independent film company and had explained that they wanted someone who resembled the original star so that they could use several long shots that had already been filmed. Production costs being what they were, Lori could well believe it.

  It was only after she had accepted the part that doubts began to hit her; although she was an experienced stage actress and had been in numerous television plays, she had never before taken part in a film, let alone the full-scale epic that The Siege was rumoured to be. She had looked up old trade magazines to find out what she could about it and was dismayed to read that the cast included a big male Hollywood star who was playing a character role, and also a sought-after young American actor-who had made his name in a glossy television serial and been nominated for an Emmy award-as the male romantic Lead. And if that hadn't been enough to unnerve her, finding out that the director was no less than Lewis Brent, who had a reputation for pushing his actors to the extremes of their talent and being a hard taskmaster, had certainly done so. But all his previous films had been superb; Lori had seen them all and every one had been the kind of experience that burned into the mind and seared the emotions. Unforgettable. Exhilarating.

  Whether they were pure escapism or set out to raise question-marks in the mind, they had all been brilliantly executed and brought fame to many hitherto unknown actors. And to her? Lori was afraid to even begin to hope for such a miracle; she could only pray that her work would be acceptable and she wouldn't let anyone down by her inexperience.

  She glanced again at her companion, but he was purposely over-intent on his driving, determined not to look in her direction. Lori sighed inwardly; his churlish behaviour and the wait of nearly an hour at the airport were hardly an auspicious beginning to her new job and could only add to her lack of confidence, but she determinedly shrugged it off; perhaps he had personal problems of his own. But she would have given a lot to be able to ask him all the questions that were bubbling over in her mind: what was the plot of the film, how far had shooting gone, why had her predecessor left, what were the crew like-these, and a host of others, were longing to be answered. And most of all she would have liked an answer to the question she wouldn't have dared to ask in any circumstances-what was the great Lewis Brent really like to work with? But it seemed that she would just have to wait until she found someone more amiable to ask or until she found out for her self the hard way.

  Instead she looked out of the window and was soon lost in the pure enjoyment of this beautiful Greek island. Everywhere there were flowers;, great hanging hedges of purple bougainvillaea and bushes of pink oleander in the gardens of the square, white-washed houses, and the brilliant red of hibiscus growing wild at the side of the road that bordered the sea. A sea that was quite different from her expectations; she had thought it would be the deep, calm blue of the Mediterranean, but this sea was almost grey
with a strong tide that sent quite high waves pounding against a shore of shaley, dull-coloured sand.

  Bill continued to follow the coast road further and then turned off and pulled up in front of a large modern hotel encircled by green lawns and hedges and more banks of flowers. Lori climbed thankfully out of the car; it had been a long, tiring journey and she longed to shower and change her clothes. A porter came to help with her luggage and Bill paused to speak to the receptionist and was handed a key. He went off again without a word, obviously expecting Lori to follow him, which she did in growing resentment at his boorish attitude. She said nothing, though, in the elevator because the porter was with them, but she determined to have it out with Bill as soon as they were alone again. At the seventh floor he led the way to room number 712 and opened the door for her to go in. They brought in her bags and, still simmering with annoyance, Lori turned to Bill, but the porter was looking expectantly at her and as Bill made no move to do so, Lori groped in her bag for a tip. And then she heard Bill say, `So long,' and before she could stop him he had gone. Quickly she pushed some money into the porter's outstretched hand and ran after him, but the elevator doors were already closing before she reached them.

  `Well, really I ' Lori stood with her hands on her hips and glared at the doors indignantly. Of all the nerve! He hadn't even told her when she could expect to be asked to start work, whom she should contact, or any thing.

  Then she realised that she had left the door of her room wide open and hurried back to it. The room was fairly large, a double with two single beds against the right-hand wall. There was also a small bathroom just to the right of the door that was lit by a fluorescent light. Lori looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. The pressure of the last few days and the long journey hadn't done her any good at all, she looked positively haggard. But this was an overstatement, the face that looked back at her was still lovely; heart-shaped, with high cheekbones and a straight nose between long lashed eyes as green and sparkling as emeralds in the sunlight. Her hair, a deep gold with a hint of red, framed a face that would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the slightly determined and obstinate set of her chin.

  Coming back into the main room, Lori crossed to the French windows and opened the door on to the balcony. A surge of disappointment hit her as she saw that the room was at the back of the hotel and looked out, not over the sea as she had hoped, but over the rather untidy concreted yard of the hotel and an area enclosing tennis courts. Beyond them a hill covered in rather scrubby-looking bushes rose quite steeply, bisected along its width by a narrow road. Soon she turned back into the room, her feeling of disappointment growing. She knew that the cast and crew of a film had to pay for their own accommodation while on location and that it usually worked out cheaper if the company took over part or the whole of a hotel, but she had certainly expected something more pleasant than this. But she had no right to complain; she was only a very new, very inexperienced Johnny-come-lately, and all the rooms on the lower floors with sea views were bound to have been snapped up when the crew first arrived, so she would just have to make the best of it. But she couldn't help wondering just what accommodation an international star like her predecessor had been offered and what had happened to it when she left.

  She started to unpack, but the thought of a shower was still uppermost in her mind, and after a while she remembered catching a glimpse of a swimming-pool as they had arrived at the hotel. The sun beckoned with irresistible fingers and she impulsively decided to go for a swim before she finished unpacking. Quickly she opened another case and pulled out a yellow bikini that had slits up both sides of the bottom half, joined by thin laces. It took only two minutes to change and put a long, kaftan-style robe over her costume, but before she left the room she hesitated. Perhaps she had better check with the reception desk first in case there were any messages for her. But the operator assured her that there weren't, so she picked up her bathing cap and took the elevator down to the ground floor. For a moment she stood undecided, wondering which way to go, but then she saw several people in beach clothes going down some wide marble steps and followed them to glass doors leading out to the gardens and the pool. There were lots of loungers set around the edges of the pool and Lori dropped her robe on to one while she

  .pushed her hair under the cap. Her long-legged, slim figure attracted a great many glances from the other guests, the men's openly appraising, many of the women frankly envious, but Lori ignored them; it was something she had got so used to over the years-especially since becoming an actress-that she had become thick skinned and was now almost oblivious to it.

  The water in the pool struck cold at first and she gasped and shivered, but then turned and swam in a fairly competent crawl down the length of the pool to warm herself up. But after only a couple of lengths her muscles began to ache and she realised she was too tired for anything that energetic and rolled over to float on her back and rest for a while. Almost immediately a head appeared in the water beside her and a grinning young man who spoke to her in first German and then

  Drench tried to get to know her. Lori shrugged resignedly and headed for the side of the pool. She had also become fairly thick-skinned about men trying to pick her up and could deal firmly enough with them, making sure that she gave them no encouragement and letting them know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't interested. This worked with all but the most persistent cases, and it did now as she simply turned her back on the young man and walked away, but sometimes the men wouldn't take no for an answer and this had led to rather nasty little scenes before she had got rid of them. Her swim had left her skin tingling, but her muscles still ached. The lounger looked overwhelmingly comfortable and inviting; surely it wouldn't do any harm to rest for a minute and let her swimsuit dry off a little? She settled herself in the lounger and wondered why, when the film company had been in such an all-fired hurry to fly her out here, they hadn't bothered to contact her or give her any instructions on arrival. Perhaps they just liked to have everyone on hand ready to be called on when needed. She knew so little about filming, but had got the impression from talking to other actors that compared to stage and television work it was usually organised chaos with everyone at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather. Although the weather in

  Rhodes must surely be ideal, Lori thought dreamily as she gazed up at the pure blue of the sky. It was so hot; she could feel it soaking deep into her skin, drying her swim suit and warming her like a softly enveloping duvet. Her eyes closed and within seconds she was asleep.

  A shadow falling across her face woke her and she moved lazily, still half asleep and reluctant to surface. 'Lori! Lori, wake up!'

  She blinked and lifted a hand to shade her eyes from the sun. Then she gave a little gasp of surprise and sat up, fully awake now. 'Why, Tony! What on earth are you doing here?'

  The young man reached down a hand and pulled her to her feet. 'The same as you-I've got a part in The Siege.'

  'Oh.' Lori received this piece of news with some misgivings. She had first met Tony Rodgers eighteen months ago when they were both doing a winter season with a Shakespeare company in the Midlands, and they had dated steadily for a few weeks, but then Tony had wanted to take the relationship further and had asked her to live with him, getting really nasty when she had steadfastly refused. This wouldn't have mattered so much if he hadn't brought. his frustration and resentment at her rejection into the theatre with him, creating a strained, tense atmosphere that had affected his performance. As a result he had been asked to leave. That night he had got very drunk and after the show had tried to force himself on her, then shouted abuse, and blamed her for what had happened when she'd screamed and some of the cast had pulled him off her.

  So she looked at him now uncertainly. He was extremely good-looking, tall and slim, his face as hand some as a Greek god's under his well-cut fair hair. Too handsome for his own good really; he had come to expect every woman he wanted to jump into bed with him whenever he crooked a
finger, and he just hadn't been able to accept the fact that Lori wouldn't do the same.

  He regarded her now with one eyebrow slightly raised, his eyes running over her in sardonic .appraisal before he said with a slight trace of irony in his voice,

  `Quite a coincidence, isn't it''

  Lori picked up her towel and began to pat herself dry. `Not really. As we're both in the same profession we were bound to run into each other again some time. Have you been busy?' she added rather stiltedly, still thrown by his unexpected appearance.

  He gave a somewhat wry grin `Oh, I've managed to keep the wolf from the door, although things got pretty tight after you got me thrown out of the Shakespeare season.'

  Lori straightened up. 'Let's get this straight, Tony. You got yourself thrown out. You let your personal feelings affect your work, and it was your unprofessionalism that lost you the job, not me,' she retorted sharply. For a moment his eyes appeared to Lori to be full of something approaching hatred, but it was quickly gone as he gave her one of his most charming smiles. 'Ah well, that's all water under the bridge now. And I'm very glad to see you here; I don't know anyone else in the cast and it will be good to have someone from the theatre world to talk shop with.' His smile became warmer, sensual. 'And you haven't changed a bit. Still as lovely as ever. Although perhaps you've filled out just a little in the right places,' he added, letting his eyes run slowly over her, stripping her.

  Lori stepped back as from a physical touch. Her voice. cold, she said shortly, 'You're right, I haven't changed in any way,' she emphasised.

  Tony's smile tightened, but then he shrugged. 'All right, I get the message, but you can't blame a chap for trying. No hard feelings, okay?'

  She looked at him searchingly for a moment, wondering if she could trust him, but he seemed genuine enough and she was more than willing to meet him halfway; she was sure that she was going to need a kindred spirit in this strange new environment, even if it was only to reminisce on earlier times with. And she would be grateful for any advice and guidance he could give her, of course, but at the same time she didn't want to create a situation where she would be in his debt in any way. She would just have to try and handle things very delicately. But she couldn't help giving an inner sigh of exasperation. Of all the people she knew in show business, the one who was working on the same film just had to be Tony Rodgers!