Silverbridge Read Free

delay?” Tracy asked. “I should think he would want to get us out of his way as quickly as possible.”
    “These old houses cost a ton of money to maintain,” Sidney explained. “Every country house owner in England wants to have a movie shot at his home. It helps to pay for the upkeep.”
    “Oh,” Tracy replied.
    “Lord Silverbridge is one of Britain’s own celebrities ,” Sidney went on, still addressing himself solely to Tracy. “One sees him photographed all the time at horse shows, dances, nightclubs, with the royal party at Ascot—that sort of thing.” From the tone of his voice it was clear that Sidney would adore to be a part of Lord Silverbridge’s world.
    “I’ve never heard of him,” T r acy said.
    “He’s a celebrity because he’s an earl,” Jon explained, also speaking s olely to Tracy. “Even at the be ginning of the twenty-first century, the British still worship the aristocracy.” The tone of his voice made it clear that he did not consider himself part of this monumental delusion.
    Sidney did not look at Jon as he informed Tracy, “Not surprisingly, the fact that the Earl of Silverbridge is an unmarried, good-looking young gentleman, who happens to own some of the loveliest property in the country, contributes to his celebrity. But”—he shot a triumphant glance at Jon—“he also won the bronze medal for Britain in the dressage competition at the last Olympics.”
    “Did he really?” Tracy said with genuine interest. “I know that the American dressage team did not do as well as we had hoped, but I just assumed that the Germans had won all the medals.”
    Sidney’s straight back became a little straighter, and he stood a little taller. “No. Britain won the bronze.”
    Jon said, “Not all of Silverbridge’s press has been as positive as Sidney makes it out to be. Last year a model he was seeing committed suicide when he dumped her.”
    Sidney made a noise that sounded like harrumph. “It was a terrible tragedy, my dear Tracy, and I’m certain Lord Silverbridge deeply regretted the young woman’s hasty action.”
    Jon said conversationally, “Actually he was cool as a cucumber about it . ”
    “If you will excuse me, I must speak to someone for a moment,” Sidney said courteously to Tracy. Then, in a very different voice, he said to Jon, “Your costume is in that room.”
    As he watched Sidney walk off, Jon said, “I shouldn’t let him bother me, but he does.”
    “He seems harmless,” she replied.
    Jon shook his head, as if to clear it, then said, “Do you realize that we are going to have a day off? We leave for Wiltshire on Sunday, but Dave has left us Saturday free.”
    “He must have made a mistake. I thought he was ethically opposed to days off.”
    Jon laughed. “I was wondering if there was anything in London that I could show you, anything you haven’t already seen.”
    Tracy hid her surprise. Jon had been friendly over the past six weeks, but he had never attempted to ask her out.
    Not that there’s been time to do anything but film, she thought.
    She hesitated, then said slowly, “I would love to see the Tower of London. I’ve been here at least a dozen times, but I’ve never managed to tour the Tower.”
    He smiled. “One of my favorite places. Let’s go to the Tower then.”
    Tracy had not lost any of her initial awe of this English actor; in fact, her respect had increased the more she worked with him. She did not want him to have an unpleasant experience in her company. So she said half-humorously, “I must warn you that if you are seen in my company, the American gutter press will assume that I’m carrying your baby. It will then plaster this news all over the scandal sheets so that every person in America who buys groceries will be sure to see it.”
    “Surely we can manage to elude the press for one day,” he protested.
    “There is one reporter who seems to have made me his mission in life. If I were an ordinary person, I could have