Even before she spoke, he felt it: a wave of cold antagonism that was startling. So strong he could almost see a sheet of ice in the air between them.
Ice...andfire.
She seemed even more perfect now that she was standing before him. Her hair was a shade that was not quite mahogany, not quite red--something deeper than either, making him think of the hottest, most inner flame of a raging blaze. It was caught at her nape, and just a few straying tendrils curled about her forehead. Her eyes were lime-green and tilted slightly, like those of a sleek and mysterious cat. And like her hair, despite the aura of coldness about her, they hinted of fire.Deepest, hidden fire.
When she did speak, her words were soft, well-modulated, but they sent another gust of cool wind into the air between them, and no matter how softly spoken her words were,they were blunt and blatantly rude.
Her attitude made him want to slap her.
He smiled.And replied quietly. He wasn't sure what he had said, or even what she had said. It didn't matter. She still made a perfect Lorena. She was welcome to dislike him as much as she chose as long as she didn't let it interfere with her work.
But as he turned away, he was more bothered than he wanted to admit. Did she dislike him because he was a rock performer?Or because she had a hang-up about heritage? Maybe she was Custer's great-great-granddaughter or something, he thought with impatience. Well, he wasn't going to let it get to Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
him. He would just leave her alone.
Lee smiled suddenly as he climbed the staircase. He could hear Tony explaining the entire concept of the video to her. It was obvious that she was going to stick--he was paying nicely.
A streak of mischief deepened his smile.
She was in it strictly for money. Well, she would get a chance to earn her money.
The traffic was bad getting back into town, and with each bumper-to-bumper snarl she came upon, Bryn cursed Lee Condor and his endless filming anew.
Tony Asp had explained it all to her; the song "Lorena" was a ballad written and made popular during the Civil War. Scenes had already been filmed in which the blue met the gray. In her scenes, theFulton place would be the site of a ball to which the soldier returned to find that his Lorena had met and married another.
A dream sequence followed in a field of mist, the soldier imagining what he would like to do: take Lorena and force her to remember her vows of love.
In reality, he would walk away, understanding that circumstances had changed everything for them both.
The main scene with Lorena would take place on the stairway. She would try to flee his wrath, but he would whirl her back and into his arms and carry her into the mist.
"It won't be more than a minute and a half of film time," Tony had told her, "but there can't be a misstep in it. And if it isn't entirely graceful, the full effect will be lost. You'll be in authentic period costume, so you need to get the moves down pat. And the main responsibility will be on you. Lee is something of a gymnast, but he's not a dancer. You'll be part of the group doing the Virginia reel first, so go ahead and get back with the others now, and we'll start rehearsal with the group. During their break, we'll work on your stuff."
And so there had been the rehearsal with the group, four hours of getting down the moves. And going over and over them until they began to synchronize...
"You look tired, Miss Keller," Tony had called her when they had broken. "Take five minutes."
Five minutes had meant five minutes--to the second. And then she had begun with Tony on the staircase.
Foursteps, whirl, fall. No, try it a little higher. Oh, don't worry about Lee. He'll definitely catch you....
Then it had been back to the group and another three hours of back-breaking rehearsal....
She hadperspired so much that now she felt like a salt lick for a whole herd of cattle.
And to make it worse, he had been there the entire time.Watching.Quietly making suggestions to Tony.
He had stood out of the way, arms crossed over his chest, or hands stuffed into his pockets. He had worn blue jeans and a blue, button down work shirt. But if he had just tied a bandana around his forehead, she could easily have imagined him on a flashy pinto, shrieking out a war cry and bearing down on the town to burn it out....
Brian and Keith's schoolbused them to Adam's day-care center when she was late, so at least she only Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
had one stop to make. But all three boys were bickering.
"Keith stepped on my toe!" Adam wailed loudly.
"He hit me!" Keith protested.
"Did not!It was anax -see-dent!"
"That was no accident."
"I saw you!" Brian butted in. "And it was no accident!"
"Stop it!" Bryn snapped. "Stop it, all three of you. Get in the van!"