A Holiday Fling Read Free

fending off their good intentions. Mostly it was fun.
    But Jenny’s job sounded like fun, too. How long had it been since he’d done any filming purely for the pleasure of it? He had been working like a lunatic for years, first taking any project he was offered to build up his credits, then, as his reputation grew, doing movies back to back to consolidate what he’d achieved.
    It would be wonderfully relaxing to do a project where multimillion-dollar budgets weren’t resting on his shoulders. On the minus side, working with Jenny would be a mixed blessing. He loved being around her, and unless she had changed—and she didn’t seem to have—she didn’t have a snobbish bone in her.
    Unfortunately, he liked her a little too well. Prom queens—did they have them in English schools?—didn’t pair off with oddball technogeeks like him no matter how many years had passed.
    Hell, she was a friend and former lover of Kenzie Scott, superstar and possibly the handsomest man alive, while Greg was Joe Average at best. Their brief affair had been a fluke. She had made it clear that he was being offered a guest room, nothing more. If he recalled his trade gossip correctly, she was currently involved with some rich international businessman. Unavailable.
    But he was good at what he did, and quite capable of working with a woman he wanted and couldn’t have. Shooting Morris dancers—what were Morris dancers?—and Christmas in England would be a nice change from his real life. Afterward he could fly home to Ohio. There was always leftover turkey when his mother was in charge of a kitchen. "Okay, Jenny, you’ve got a deal."
    "Wonderful!" The enthusiasm in her voice was enough to banish his regrets over more jet lag. "Do you have personal video equipment you’d like to use, or shall I rent some here? And if so, what would you like?"
    "I’ll bring my digital camera, but are you sure you want to use video? Film is probably better from a commercial point of view."
    "True, but we can’t afford the extra time and money film would take."
    "If I use 16mm instead of 35mm, the shooting time will be about the same as video. Don’t worry about renting anything—I’ll take care of getting the equipment. It’s true that postproduction will take longer with film, but you’ll have a finished product that will be easier to sell to TV, and will look good on DVD as well as video."
    "I defer to your professional judgment. After all, that’s why I wanted you." Her rich voice warmed. "Thank you so much, Greg. You shan’t regret this."
    He was sure she was right. To have regrets, there had to be a significant stake. This was just a little charity project. No consequences. Right?
    Right.
    * * *
    Jenny hung up the phone. "I can’t believe he agreed," she said to her companion.
    "Mrowrrrr."
    "Don’t look so smug, Plato. You may be a philosopher who always knows what’s going to happen, but I’m not. It’s a miracle Greg is even available, and I thought for sure he’d turn me down. He won an Oscar, for heaven’s sake." Absently she stroked the gray cat’s short plushy fur. "You think I’m idiotic. Right again. Why else would I be talking to a cat?"
    Plato gave a lofty flick of his tail that said clearly that he was in perfect harmony with himself and simply couldn’t understand human nerves.
    Restlessly Jenny began to pace her living room. An actor’s life was odd and irregular by normal standards. The good parts were very, very good. The bad parts were horrid. One of the worst bits was having many friends, yet too often being alone. She had achieved a fair amount of success as a television actress, and was generally considered by the British viewing public to be quite the glamour girl. Her appearance on a man’s arm at a public event would enhance his reputation.
    But being a famous man’s wrist ornament didn’t offer much for her. She stared out at the quiet West End street, where lights were beginning to shine mistily in the dusk.