Her Red-Carpet Romance

by Marie Ferrarella

  What had surprised him most of all when he’d listened to her talking to the actor was that she hadn’t fawned over the man the way almost everyone else on the set did. “Someone else would have been intimidated by Maddox’s fame and personality—”

  “I don’t like people who abuse their positions—or use it to seduce young, impressionable girls,” she added with a frown. She had a feeling that even if Rachel had been underage and the actor had known it, it wouldn’t have made any difference to him.

  He grinned as he walked back to the center of the set with Hanna. “I kind of got that impression when you read Maddox the riot act.”

  “No riot act,” she denied calmly. “I just gave the man a glimpse of his future if he didn’t get his act together and change—like, immediately.”

  Lukkas was having trouble hiding his amusement. The woman was feisty—and he found that to be very attractive. Just like the rest of her.

  “So now you’re the ghost of things to come in the future?” he asked.

  “No, just somebody trying to do her job as best she can.”

  “Well, I’d say that you’ve succeeded admirably well,” he told her—and then enumerated what she’d accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. “Thanks to you, Rachel’s virtue will remain intact—for at least a little while longer—and this film just might get made on time after all.” He spared her a rather long, thoughtful look. He couldn’t help thinking that he’d gotten lucky all because of an off-chance remark he’d made to Theresa.

  “After we wrap up tonight, I’d like to buy you dinner to show you my gratitude.” The restaurant in town served good, decent food, but he knew of an excellent restaurant in the next city that served the kind of prime rib that most men only dreamed about.

  Yohanna shook her head. “You don’t have to do that,” she told him.

  “You turned Maddox into a human being. Who knows how long that’ll last, but I learned in this business to take everything as it comes because things might just fall apart tomorrow. Anyway, after this transformation act with Maddox, it’s the least I can do.” He stopped short of the perimeter of the town. “I’m not taking no for an answer,” he informed her.

  “Then I’d better not give it,” she replied.

  “Smart,” he commented. “Now let’s get back to work.” And with that, he walked into the town with Hanna right beside him.

  He was getting very used to that.

  * * *

  It occurred to her as she watched Lukkas in action on the set later that day that the producer was involved in every single facet of the movie. He not only put himself out there to mediate disputes between crew members as well as between the people in the cast when tempers grew short or egos clashed, but Lukkas also made sure he had his finger in every single pie on the set.

  Nothing was too large for him to tackle or too small to escape his notice.

  Although she considered herself an unharnessed dynamo, just watching Lukkas work made her feel downright exhausted.

  But eventually, several would-be crises later, the day finally did come to a close—later than she’d anticipated but still early enough to be within the parameters of the same day.

  There were two and a half hours left until midnight as she went to Lukkas’s trailer to check for any last-minute instructions he might have for her for the following day.

  “There’re always instructions for the next day,” he told her. “But they can wait until morning.” He powered down his laptop and closed the cover with finality. “Ready for that dinner I promised you?” Lukkas asked.

  She’d thought that he’d forgotten. Stifling a yawn, Yohanna said, “I’ve been watching you all day. Toward the end, you looked as if you could barely put one foot in front of the other. You need to get some sleep,” she advised. “You can buy me dinner some other time.”

  “Very little placing one foot in front of the other is involved in eating dinner,” he quipped. “Another lesson I learned some time ago is do whatever you’re planning on doing now. There might not be a tomorrow no matter how well you plan for it.” There was sadness in his eyes as he added, “So why not celebrate each day as you can before the opportunity is gone?”

  He was thinking of his wife, Yohanna thought, wishing there was something she could do to reduce that sadness. But she knew that wasn’t possible. Everyone had to work their grief out on their own. The best she could do was to be silently supportive.

  Offering him a smile, she said, “I just thought you might be kind of tired after being a superhero all day.”

  His brow furrowed slightly, the way it did when he was trying to figure something out. “I’m afraid I don’t get the reference,” Lukkas confessed. “How am I a superhero?”

  She enumerated the ways. “Having the patience of Job. Tackling one problem after another. Getting people what they want—”

  “When it’s possible,” he reminded her.

  He was the one who decided what could be done and what couldn’t. Had they really been in Tombstone, he would have been the marshal of the town, she thought. “You make it possible.”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “Not that what you’re saying isn’t really great for my ego, but you’re going to have to tone down your image of me just a little. You make it sound as if I have the power of life and death over this little mobile community. You know I don’t.”

  “Figuratively, then,” she conceded. The next moment she tried to make him understand just where she was coming from. She figured that she’d observed him long enough to make this kind of judgment call. “Just telling it the way it is. And the way it is, Lukkas, is that you’re one of the good guys.” She told him in all seriousness, “The world needs more good guys.”

  He waved off the compliment. “Well, I don’t know about the world,” he said wryly, “but right now, I need to get something to eat before I start gnawing on the trees around here. So how about it?” he asked, looking at her. “Join me for dinner?”

  She didn’t like eating alone and she did like his company. She had no real reason to beg off. But the thought of driving to the next town—which wasn’t all that close—was daunting.

  “As long as we get something to eat here,” she told him. “Because you might be ready to go another round or so, but I’m pretty beat.”

  “Here it is, then,” he responded.

  As it turned out, the building designated to serve as the local brothel in the movie was actually a restaurant geared to feed the tourists who came through the town seeking local color. It was also where the cast and crew ate their meals.

  “Nothing fancy,” he told her. “But if you want to stay in town, it’s not half-bad.”

  “Is that your version of a rave review?” she asked, amused at his choice of words.

  “No, that’s my version of being honest. I’d rather drive to Scottsdale, but it is a bit of a drive, and in the interest of not falling asleep behind the wheel—” he looked at her significantly since he had a feeling that had been her reasoning for remaining in the immediate area “—I thought this was a good alternative.”

  Yohanna recalled some of the recent reading she’d been doing on life back in Wyatt Earp’s time. “Please tell me the restaurant isn’t called Big Nose Kate’s.”

  Lukkas laughed. “No, that’s the name of the brothel in the movie. I don’t know what the restaurant is actually called,” he confessed. “Only that so far no one’s been rushed to the hospital yet.”

  “Always a heartening piece of information to know,” she conceded.

  * * *

  As it turned out, the restaurant specialized in Mexican cuisine and had several things on the menu that looked appealing to her. She finally decided to get the enchilada ranchero.

  “Make that two,” Lukkas told the young waitress as he handed her his menu,
as well.

  The young woman smiled as she looked from him to Yohanna. “Good choice. It’s my favorite, too. I’ll be right back with your bread,” the waitress promised as she withdrew.

  Lukkas leaned over in the booth to tell her, “Dirk Montelle wanted me to tell you thanks.”

  “For?” Yohanna asked.

  She couldn’t think of a reason why the director would want to thank her for anything. She’d had very few dealings with the director since she and Lukkas had arrived in Arizona this time around.

  “Well, Montelle seems to think that you’re the reason Maddox is behaving. Maddox is actually satisfied after only a couple of takes of each scene instead of his usual ten or twelve takes. Montelle told me that whatever spell you cast on Maddox, he hopes it’s a long-lasting one. According to him, his ulcer has stopped acting up.” Lukkas grinned at her. “You might have a career in medicine ahead of you.”

  She was flattered, but she didn’t believe in taking credit when none was due. “You overheard what I said to Maddox. I just played on his insecurities. That wasn’t magic. It was just using common sense, that’s all.”

  “I agree,” he told her. “But most people...well, they’d rather believe a little hocus pocus was involved. If you took a poll, I think you’d find out that people like believing that something more powerful than them is watching over the world, making things right.” He smiled at her. “It makes them feel safer,” he told her.

  Before Yohanna had a chance to protest again, the waitress returned with the bread and several pats of butter, just as she’d promised. She carried it in on a wooden cutting board and placed it in front of Lukkas.

  “I’ll be back soon with your orders,” she told them before once more retreating into the background.

  Lukkas looked at the bread. It was situated in the middle of the cutting board. A sharp knife was next to it. “I guess she wants me to do the honors,” he said, picking up the knife.

  “I can do that if you like,” Yohanna was quick to offer, thinking that perhaps he’d just subtly indicated that he’d rather not do the cutting.

  “Not that I don’t appreciate the fact that you keep trying to jump in and take care of practically all the details that infiltrate my daily existence, Hanna, but I actually am capable of cutting my own bread,” he assured her good-naturedly.

  “I never meant for you to think that I thought that you couldn’t,” she told him.

  He surprised her by laughing out loud at her statement.

  “Now, that’s confusing, even without any wine to dull the brain,” he joked. “By the way, I’m not offended, I’m amused. I might not have the thickest skin around, but it’s definitely thicker than tissue paper,” he assured her.

  Cutting two thick slices of the warm bread, Lukkas gave her the first piece and took the second one for himself. When she didn’t immediately pick up her piece from her bread plate, he nodded at it, saying, “You have to eat it while it’s still warm.”

  “It’s bread. How much of a difference can it make?” she asked, dutifully breaking off a piece of her slice and popping it into her mouth.

  The instant the bread touched her tongue, she found herself smiling. There was something comforting about consuming the warm slice.

  “You’re right,” she told him.

  “It does happen every once in a while,” he told her with a conspiratorial wink.

  The restaurant was dimly lit. It was also rather noisy and fairly filled with people. Yet when she found herself on the receiving end of Lukkas’s wink, she felt as if they were the only two people in the entire place.

  With very little effort, her imagination could run away with her.

  Don’t get carried away. He’s just being himself, nothing personal, she silently insisted.

  Yohanna struggled to rechannel her thoughts.

  “How did you find this place?” she asked him. “This town,” she amended. “For the movie, I mean.”

  Great. You keep talking and you’ll really convince him that you’re a blithering idiot.

  “The usual way,” he told her. Then, seeing that she was still at a loss as to what had happened, he elaborated, “I sent out my location scout. Hank usually knows just what I have in mind and he’s pretty good about nailing down what I’m looking for.

  “We were lucky this place was here,” he admitted. “But even if it hadn’t been, I would have had sets built on the studio’s back lot. With the wonder of CGI available these days, almost anything can be dressed up to look like what you have in mind.”

  She saw a basic contradiction in that. “If that’s what you think, why bother with a location scout?” She would have thought that going with computer-generated imagery first would eliminate the hunt for a perfect location.

  Her question brought a smile to his lips. “Because like a lot of people, I like the real thing rather than having to deal with a fake—or worse, dealing with nothing at all, having to pretend that it’s there. A lot of actors don’t act so much as they ‘react.’ Having an actual location helps them with that part,” he concluded. “Make sense?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  He could see right through her. “You’d say that even if it didn’t, wouldn’t you?”

  “I’m not on the clock right now,” she reminded him. “I don’t have to answer that.”

  He grinned. Her nonanswer was an answer. “You just did,” he told her.

  Ignoring that, she took a different direction. “Why this story? This picture?”

  “Why all these questions?” he asked. “Are you planning on putting out a book about working on this film after we wrap up?”

  “You mean like an exposé?” she asked.

  “That’s exactly what I mean.” Had he misjudged her? Was she someone who ultimately gave her allegiance to the man or woman on top, everyone else be damned?

  He didn’t like entertaining that thought.

  “I’m just being curious, that’s all,” Yohanna admitted. “If you don’t want to answer my question, that’s okay.”

  “Who said I didn’t want to answer?” he asked. “I was just curious why you wanted to know, that’s all. But to answer your question, I’ve always loved Westerns—what little boy growing up in Texas doesn’t?” he challenged, prepared to listen if Yohanna had a contradictory piece of information. But she didn’t. If anything, she looked as if she agreed with him. “Anyway, I had so much fun making my first Western a couple of years ago, I decided to do it again.”

  “Hoping that lightning will strike again?”

  It was a referral to the fact that he had won his first film award for the Western he’d just mentioned.

  “I’d be lying if I said that it hadn’t crossed my mind. But I’m not backing this movie because I’m actively hoping for another award or even another nomination. I’m making this film because I like the story and I believe it’ll make a good movie.

  “Besides, I really do enjoy the whole process, every step of the way. Especially when I have someone exceedingly competent I can rely on working for me.” He could see that her inherent modesty wasn’t allowing her to realize he was referring to her.

  “In case I’m being too vague about the matter, I’m talking about you, Hanna,” he told her, and then got a kick out of the surprised expression on her face. “You’re a godsend and I intend to send Theresa Manetti all my catering business from here on in.”

  She’d already made the connection between Cecilia and Theresa. As far as she was concerned, she owed the latter a debt herself. “I’m sure that’ll make her very happy.”

  Seeing that the waitress was heading in their direction with a large tray, Yohanna quickly cleared the table, stacking the small bread plates on the cutting board. The waitress arrived at their table and distributed the two plates. Since their orders were
identical, there was no effort necessary to match the customer with the proper order.

  The young woman looked from Lukkas to the woman sitting opposite him.

  “Please be careful when you’re touching the plates. They’re very hot. Should you burn your hand anyway, just ask for me. I’ve always got something with me to take the pain away.”

  “Prescription drugs?” he asked, not quite able to cast her in the role of someone who distributed drugs, however innocuously.

  “Over-the-counter spray,” she corrected. “Where would I get prescription drugs?” she asked.

  “No clue,” he answered, and then confessed, “That was just a wild guess on my part.”

  Yohanna focused on the conversation. She’d first thought of Lukkas as being exceedingly closemouthed, but she now realized that he only spoke to someone on a regular basis if he considered that person worth the effort.

  She promised herself that he would always find her worth the effort he put in.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I want you to know that I appreciate everything that you’ve done.”

  They were halfway through the meal when, out of the blue, Lukkas said that to her.

  Yohanna felt her nerves kick up a notch.

  This was the way her last boss had begun the last conversation they’d ever had, the one about how her position had been terminated—as had she.

  Taking a deep breath, she told herself that this time around she wasn’t going to just be a stunned victim who disappeared quietly. This time, if she was being terminated, she would go on her own terms and with dignity.

  “But...?” she challenged, waiting for the second shoe—or cowboy boot in this case—to fall.

  “But?” Lukkas repeated quizzically, as if he had no idea where the word was coming from.

  “Yes, but...” Since he still wasn’t saying anything, she filled in the blanks for him. “You’ve been very happy with my work, but now I have to go.”