Phoenix Falling Read Free Page A

him. Reminding herself that soon they'd be rolling around on a mattress together, she asked, "What did Gomolko mean about the deal?"
    He smiled, tanned skin crinkling around his eyes. "I told him I wouldn't take the part unless you were cast as Marguerite."
    No wonder the director had regarded her with misgivings—he'd been afraid he might have to choose between the actor he wanted and an actress he didn't want. "Then I owe you quite a thank-you. Why did you want me in particular? We've never even met."
    "I've seen most of your work, and knew you were right for Marguerite."
    She groaned. "Please don't tell me you saw Biker Babes from Hell ."
    He laughed. "That movie proved you could handle Marguerite's adventurous side. But I was already convinced. You should have won that Oscar for Home Free ."
    She thought of the awards ceremony wistfully. Attending dressed to kill and not showing a shred of disappointment when she didn't win had been a major test of acting skill. "There was a strong field of nominees."
    "You were the best." He touched her hair with gossamer delicacy. "This red-gold is your natural color?"
    She shivered, a little breathless. "Yes, but usually I play drab, worthy brunettes."
    "The time has come for you to play a glamorous woman of the world, Raine."
    "People who know me well call me Rainey."
    He repeated that in his beautiful deep voice. He'd trained at RADA—the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London—which gave him an unfair advantage, she thought dizzily. Earlier he'd been Sir Percy admiring Marguerite, but his expression now made it clear he hadn't insisted on her for this movie solely because of her acting.
    So be it. She'd attained success through discipline and unrelenting work, not wasting her time on high-profile affairs to get her name into the gossip columns. But a life without occasional recklessness wasn't worth living. Kenzie Scott was gorgeous, likable, and attraction crackled between them like a high-voltage current. If they had a fling, it would be by mutual choice.
    How much simpler life would have been if he'd only wanted an affair....

 
     
     
    Chapter 2

     
    Kenzie warmed up in the gym as Rainey changed in the dressing room. He was insane to listen to her proposal, but when she'd marched into his bedroom, cool as an ice queen, he'd been struck with such longing that he'd have agreed to anything to keep her there a little longer.
    He was on the elliptical cross-trainer when she joined him. Her lovely apricot hair tied back, she was dangerously attractive in a spangled green leotard and tights that revealed every inch of her slight, elegantly proportioned and toned figure.
    They'd shared countless exercise sessions in the last three years. An actor's body was a primary tool of expression and required relentless work to maintain. The grueling fitness regimen had been a lot more fun when Rainey shared the sessions, bantering, discussing the news of the day, and improving the scenery. Now and then discipline had gone out the window and they'd exerted themselves differently, teasing and laughing until they ended up in a sweaty, relaxed tangle of limbs.
    As she began her warm-up stretches, he said, "Tell me about your movie."
    "It's based on an obscure Victorian novel that I fell in love with years ago." She bent over and placed her palms flat on the floor. " The Centurion was written by a fellow called George Sherbourne who'd been an army officer in strange comers of the British Empire. It was considered strong stuff when it was published, practically treasonous, so it never became well-known."
    "What's the book about?"
    "Torture, guilt, and despair. The high price of empire for the soldiers who do the dirty work in distant, dangerous places. The saving power of love."
    "What's the storyline?"
    She sat, then locked her hands around her ankles and laid her forehead on her knees for a slow stretch. "John Randall is a British Army captain in the 1870s. Your classical hero—strong,