Microsoft Word - Rogers, Rosemary - The Crowd Pleasers Read Free Page A

darkly beautiful to watch, but just as deadly and dangerous.
    I'm being silly! Anne tried to tell herself. He's just an actor, like all the others. She suddenly remembered seeing him in a TV movie some time ago. He'd played a young medical student, hooked on drugs, and she'd been caught by his intensity, thinking that he was really good; but seeing him today, in person, he impressed her even more. Not just impressed her-that was too shallow a word! He fascinated her, forcing her to keep watching him, not wanting to miss any little gesture or motion, like the way he would occasionally rake his fingers through his shaggy dark hair, or let the comers of his mouth lift in a menacing-sarcastic smile.
    Caught up, Anne forgot why she had come here in the first place. She hadn't even thought to glance around the darkened theater for Carol until the lights came back on abruptly, shaking her out of her trance.
    "Webb's damn good when he wants to be, isn't he?" The man's voice came from behind her, and then, as Anne involuntarily turned to look, his voice changed. "Hey-who are you? Don't you know you're not supposed to be here during dress rehearsal?" He seemed to 100m over her, a big, burly man in a checkered wool jacket. "How in hell did you get in here any-how? I could have sworn I locked those blasted doors!"
    Her first reaction was to turn and run. Oh, God! Now every-one must be watching her! Anne heard her own stumbling words as she stood up quickly.
    "I-I'm sorry-I didn't realize-the side door is never locked, you see, and I just wandered in when I saw the poster ..."
    She blundered out into the aisle, and suddenly felt a strong hand close over her arm.
    "You're not going to let Mike scare you off, are you?" said a man's voice. "He shouts a lot, but he doesn't bite. It's okay, Mike, this little gal is a friend of mine."
    Stopped short in her headlong flight, Anne looked up unwillingly, and amber-gold eyes raked over her, making her want to pull away from his possessive grip.
    "Hi, baby. Thought you'd never get here." His voice was warm, just as if he had been expecting her after all. The man he'd called Mike seemed to melt somewhere away into the background, grumbling sourly in an undertone.
    Webb Carnahan. Anne remembered his name, and she felt that she might never forget his face as he smiled down at her; the smile seeming to lighten his otherwise somber face, etching lines at the corners of his eyes.
    "Well, now. Seems like I caught myself a wide-eyed country gal." His voice, deliberately soft and drawling, rasped across her nerve ends. "What's your name, country gal?"
    He might have rescued her, but he was making fun of her now.

    "Anne. And I'm not .. ."
    He would be, of course, the kind of man who ignored what he didn't choose to hear.
    "Annie, huh? It suits you. Annie Oakley!" He had not let go of her arm, in spite of her efforts to tug it away. And now, as Anne felt her face flush with embarrassment, she heard him laugh softly.
    "My name is Anne Hyatt, and please-let me go! He-that man was right, and I shouldn't have come in here at all. It was good of you to rescue me, but I .. ."
    She wished she had the presence of mind not to stutter and stumble over her words.
    But everyone was watching them now, and she felt isolated in the spotlight of their curious looks.
    His eyes squinted down into hers, making her feel mesmerized in spite of herself.
    "Who said anything about rescuing?" He laughed softly, just as if he felt the sudden racing of her pulse under the hard, determined grip of his fingers. "I'm capturing you, little scared
    Orphan Annie! You were a bad girl, sneaking in through that side door to watch us, just like Mike said. And you're like the fresh air outside. Just what I need. Come sit with me and watch the next scene, huh?" His smile curved wickedly, and the curiously helpless feeling that had come over her ever since he put his hand on her persisted-making his hand on her arm stronger than her will.
    Front row