Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea Read Free

convincing reading.”
    Hernandez opened his mouth as if to protest, but, at a lightning glance from Donovan, he subsided with a shrug.
    Donovan continued, “What we need for Angie is someone with more experience.”
    “Professional experience?” Brenna asked, thinking she understood. Though Donovan didn't have the reputation ofplaying it safe by hiring box office draws, it was logical that he would not want to gamble a multimillion-dollar movie on an unknown.
    But Donovan was shaking his head. “I don't give a damn about professional experience,” he said swiftly. “I'm talking about personal experience. You gave a nice surface reading, but I want more than that for Angie. I want the actress who plays the part to reach down and bring up real gut feelings.” He gestured toward the clipboard in his hand. “You're only twenty, and you've had no formal theatrical training, so perhaps you're unfamiliar with Stanislavski and sense memory?”
    “Stanislavski? Method acting?” she asked dazedly.
    “Precisely. I forgot for a moment that you are a protégée of Wilkes'. You're aware that method acting endorses using your own emotions and experiences as the basis for your performance. Angie Linden is a woman who has lived life to the fullest, despite her youth. She's had lovers by the score, and has suffered disillusionment and cruelty.” His eyes lingered on her face. “You look as if you still have the morning dew on you, Miss Sloan,” he said. “Angie Linden is definitely midnight lace and French perfume.”
    Brenna could feel a slow anger beginning to build. “Let me understand you, Mr. Donovan,” she said carefully. “It's not because I'm not a good enough actress to play the part. You're refusing to give me the role because I don't have a torrid past to draw on for Angie's character?”
    His vivid blue eyes were curiously watchful. “That's quite right,” he said silkily. “I'm sure you would do very well in ingenue or Juliet roles, Miss Sloan.”
    “That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life,” she said flatly, ignoring Hernandez’ hastily drawn breath at her insolence. Her anger had leaped to full blaze, and the usual limpid brown eyes were sparkling with feeling. In just a few minutes, she had been moved from hope to bewilderment to disappointmentby this arrogant dictator, and now he was denying her a chance that might mean her whole future… and denying it on the flimsiest pretext imaginable!
    “You think so?” Donovan asked idly, his eyes still observing her as if she were an interesting new specimen at the zoo. “I take it you don't agree with Stanislavski, Miss Sloan?”
    “An actress can work with any number of tools that help her perfect a characterization. Theories, like method acting and sense memory, are just that—tools. But they are far from the only tools, if you're to be any good at all. A creative imagination, sensitivity, and just plain hard work are much more important. To subscribe so fanatically to one aspect of a complex whole is utterly absurd.” She tossed her hair back from her face, and said emphatically, “To deny me the part because you think I lack sex appeal is totally and completely asinine.”
    Donovan's eyes were amused as they moved over her lazily, causing a flood of heat to envelope her body. “I never said you lacked sex appeal. Merely experience.” Blue devils gleamed in his eyes as he continued softly. “A lack that I would be more than happy to supply.”
    She could feel the blood rush to her face in a burning blush that was due as much to anger as embarrassment. The knowledge that he was toying with her increased her rage. Donovan's affairs were legion. He was reputedly as sexually active as a tomcat, and with some of the most sophisticated and beautiful women in the world, if the gossip columns were correct. The possibility that he would find a twenty-year-old “ingenue-type” attractive was ludicrous. No, he was merely revenging