by Webb, Peggy
Today she was going to shed her reliable and trustworthy image. Today she was going to call Michael Forrest’s bluff.
She detoured by the small room that served as her office long enough to call her minister.
“Reverend Donwitty, this is Clemmie. Do you think you can get Miss Cates to come in today to answer the phone?”
She heard him clear his throat. He always did that when he was talking on the telephone. “Of course I can, child. You’re not sick, are you?”
“No. But there is an important matter I need to take care of. If Miss Cates will handle the phone, I’ll type the church bulletin at home.”
“Don’t worry about that, Clemmie. I’m sure Miss Cates can do that, too.”
Clemmie thanked him. She left the house, then climbed into her car and set out to locate the man who had promised her the romance of the century.
He wasn’t hard to find. Nearly everyone in Peppertown had watched the arrival of the movie company, and most of them knew its location.
When Clemmie arrived at the converted pasture, she parked under a large oak tree and went to find Michael.
He was sitting in a chair conveniently labeled Producer. Better yet, he was surrounded by important looking people.
Her audience wouldn’t be as big as Michael’s had been last night when he’d made his startling announcement on television, but she’d have the advantage of seeing their faces. She pressed her hands together for courage; then she lifted her chin and walked into the lion’s den.
“Hello, Michael.”
The look of surprise on his face pleased her. He’d probably thought she’d be cowering in her boarding house, scared out of her wits about what he planned to do.
“Clemmie.” Smiling, he rose to take her hand. “You look... stunning.”
She noticed the small hesitation as he took in her red sweater and the rhinestone earrings. Let him call her reliable now. Clearly she was at an advantage, but she knew she wouldn’t have it for long. Michael Forrest was not a man easily caught off balance. She pressed forward while she still could.
“I saw you on television, Michael.”
Grinning, he lifted one eyebrow. It was the wicked and knowing smile that spurred her on.
“I accept your proposal.”
His smile wavered, then vanished. “What?”
“Your proposal of marriage,” she said, smiling sweetly. “I accept.”
Michael retreated into a stunned silence.
The men, who had been watching their exchange with great interest, exploded into laughter.
Michael’s publicist punched him on the shoulder. “Say, old man, this must be Clementine Brady.”
“Quite a spunky gal, Mike.” A red-haired giant of a man held his hand out to Clemmie. “Richard Love, Miss Brady. And I can’t tell you how delighted I am to meet you. Anyone who can get one up on Michael Forrest has my undying devotion and respect.”
Clemmie took his hand. She hadn’t had this much fun since she’d first met the other Dixie Virgins at summer camp.
“You accept my proposal, do you?” Michael’s roar took some of the edge off her euphoria. “Well, darling, don’t just stand there. Let’s seal the bargain.”
Now it was her turn to be nonplussed.
“Seal the bargain?”
“Naturally.” Without so much as even glancing at their audience, he pulled her into his arms. “You haven’t forgotten how to kiss, have you?”
“In front of them?”
“Of course. Ours is going to be a very public romance.”
Before she had time to reflect that her plan had backfired, Michael’s lips were on hers. His kiss was hungry and very thorough—so thorough that if he hadn’t kept his arm around her waist, her knees would have buckled.
When it was over, they were both somewhat breathless.
“Bravo, Michael, Clemmie. This is going to be quite a show.” The man who spoke leaned over and took Clemmie’s hand. “Jay Wilkins. And you’ve livened up this set more than you can imagine. Michael was a regular lion before you showed up.”
Although she was still shaking inside from Michael’s kiss, she managed to smile. “I’m glad I could help.”
Rick Love hooted with laughter. “Help! Sweetheart, you’ve declawed that old lion and turned him into a regular tabby cat. What I want you to do is stick around this set so everybody can have the pleasure of seeing how you wrap Michael Forrest around your little finger.”
“Watch your step, Richard. I’m still the boss around here. I can always get DePriest to come in and direct.”
There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that Michael was only teasing. The grin on his face was a dead giveaway.
Richard and Jay exchanged significant glances, then made their excuses and faded into the scenery.
“You can let go now,” Clemmie said. “Our audience has vanished.”
“Let go? I don’t intend to let you go, Clemmie. Not while I’m in Peppertown.” Michael’s hold on her tightened. “Surely you didn’t misunderstand me. I thought I made my intentions perfectly clear last night on television.”
“I understand that you intend to play a game with me, Michael. You told me once that women are merely your playthings.”
“And are you playing games with me, Clemmie? Or was that kiss real?”
She knew that if she told the truth, she’d be out of the game before it even started. If she wanted to grab this brief pleasure while she could, she’d have to lie. Although she wasn’t very good at it, she’d give it a try.
“Why, Michael. I’m surprised at you. Don’t you know that I could never take any man seriously? I have obligations to my brothers and to my boarders. I’m committed to my life in Peppertown.” She placed her palm against his cheek. “I have no intention of taking our kisses seriously.”
“In that case, we might as well do it again.”
Clemmie had time to take a deep breath before Michael’s mouth covered hers again.
Chapter Seven
Michael fought for control.
With Clemmie in his arms once more, he had a hard time playing his dangerous game. She smelled like honeysuckle and cinnamon and tasted of mint. The combination of tartness and sweetness almost drove him mad. Unconsciously he crushed her so close the beating of their hearts blended together in a wild, erratic rhythm.
Her lips were soft and yielding and so sensuous he almost forgot his purpose: to prove to himself that she was just another woman in his life, one he could bed and leave at his leisure.
He renewed his assault, and she twisted her hands into his hair and pulled him closer. Aw, Clemmie, he thought. Don’t trust me so.
“Michael.” Half dazed, he lifted his head to look at his director. Richard had a knowing grin on his face. “We’re ready for the first monster sequence. You did say you wanted to supervise.”
“Yeah. Be right with you.” He cupped Clemmie’s flushed face. “Do you want to stay and watch this?”
“I’d love to, if you’re sure it’s all right.”
“It’s more than all right: it’s what I want.” Taking her hand, he led her toward a group of people standing on the fringes of a set that resembled the inside of a science laboratory. Michael patted her cheek. “Stay right here, Clemmie, and remember where we were. After this is over, we’ll take up where we left off.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth and nodded. She couldn’t trust herself to speak. She was afraid of saying something foolish such as “Michael, you make me believe that I’m more than your plaything.”
The sequence Michael’s company was shooting involved the creation of a monster in the laboratory. Clemmie watched with fascination as the actors did the scene over and over again. They never seemed to tire.
Michael was also tireless. She’d never seen a man who generated so much enthusiasm and energy—and so much respect. When he spoke, everybody on the set listened. She was proud of him. It gave her a warm feeling to watch him work.
The director yelled “Cut,” and Michael came toward her, smiling.
“Are you ready for lunch, Clemmie?”
“Lunch? It can’t be that late, can it?”
“Then you weren’t bored.”
“How could I possibly be bored?” She caught his hand and squeezed. “Michael, you create magic. I’m fascinated.”
And she was, too. Michael could tell by the glow on her face and the sincerity in her voice. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fascinated a woman. It felt good.
“It’s all in a day’s work, Clemmie.”
They had lunch with the rest of the company underneath the striped tent. There was a great deal of good-natured teasing and jostling as the actors and the crew vied for places in the line. The aroma of corned beef and cabbage filled the air.
“Sometimes we cater our food,” Michael explained to Clemmie, “but this time we brought our own cooks. They wanted to come to Mississippi and see if they could pick up some first-hand knowledge of Southern cooking.”
“I’d be happy for them to visit me at the boarding house.”
“I knew you would.”
“How did you know?”
“I discovered two things about you: you’re a great cook and you’re generous enough to share your cooking secrets.”
She laughed. “What I do is no secret. I’m merely using the skills my grandmother taught me.”
They sat down at a table that faced the sunlit, color- splashed woods. Michael watched her closely as she bit into her corned beef.
She colored under his steady gaze. Finally she put down her food. “What is it, Michael?”
“You are very tempting.” He reached for her hand and lifted it to his lips. “And you make me very hungry.”
She could hear the sound of her blood pounding in her ears. “Then eat your sandwich.”
“Not for food, my love. Hungry for you.”
She wished she could believe him. She wanted so much for his romantic words to be real. But she knew he was only playing a game. For that matter, so was she. She was playing his game, and then, when he left Peppertown for good, no one would be hurt.
“Are you planning to seduce me in front of an audience?” She nodded toward all the people underneath the tent.
“Would you like that?”
“I’ve always imagined a more private seduction.”
“You’ve imagined us together?” A light sprang to life in the center of his eyes.
“Well, yes.” Without taking her eyes off his, she flicked her tongue over the bottom lip. “I’m afraid I’m very brazen.”
He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Clemmie, you are the least brazen woman I know. Come, love, tell me what you imagined.”
How could she deny him anything when he looked at her like that—with tenderness and good humor and something almost like love?
“Us together in a brass bed.” The look on his face made her feel hot all over. She rushed on to cover her embarrassment. “The first day you came—when I showed you the upstairs room and saw you in the sunlight beside my brass bed, I pictured you there. Us there... together.”
“And?”
“That’s all. I didn’t think about...”
“What?”
“Well, you know... what we were doing there.”
“I did.” His voice was as rich as velvet and as silky as seduction. He lifted her hand to his lips once more. “And I have. Many times.”
“You thought about me?”
Endlessly, he wanted to say. “Sometimes,” he said. “I thought about peeling away all those layers of white cotton you wear until I have you naked in my arms. I imagined what it would be like to make love with an innocent woman. I don’t think I’ve ever had an innocent woman, Clemmie.”
She fought to keep her disappointment from showing. Of course, Michael hadn’t thought about her specifically. She was merely a new plaything for him, someone to provide a little fun while he was in Peppertown. Briefly she questioned why she would settle for that. But she didn’t wonder for long. Her social life was as flat and dull as yesterday’s cold pancakes. Michael Forrest was her big chance to change that, even if the change would be only temporary. She’d take what she could get.
“The bedroom is still empty, Michael.”
Something shattered inside him. He didn’t want Clemmie to be easy. “Don’t rush things, my darling. Half the fun of the game is the chase.”
“Oh, yes. The statement you made on television. You have a reputation to uphold.”
He admired her control. For an innocent woman, she handled herself with great aplomb in this situation.
“Precisely. Our public is expecting the romance of the century. And as much as I want to share your bed, my dear, I’ll just have to wait. I never disappoint the public.” Standing, he helped her up. “Will you stay for the afternoon’s shooting?”
She was tempted. Here on the movie set with this golden man she could pretend that the romance between them was real and the promises he’d made meant forever. But reality was waiting for her back at Brady’s Boarding House.
“I’d love to, Michael, but I have some errands to run, and I want to email my brothers.”
She turned to leave, but he pulled her into his arms. “What’s a romance, without a goodbye kiss?” He spread his palm over her right cheek then slowly moved his hand around the back of her head so her hair could sift through his outspread fingers.
He held her for a small eternity, oblivious of the comments from the people who drifted by. And when he let her go, he was as flushed as she.
“Until we meet again, Clementine.”
“Bye, Michael.”
She didn’t know it was possible to float through space, but that’s what she did, positively floated toward her car. As she slid into the front seat and gripped the steering wheel, she decided that love must give you wings. She turned her key and the roar of the ignition brought a sense of reality. Love? What was she thinking about? She couldn’t possibly fall in love with a man from Hollywood, even if that man was Michael Forrest.
She looked back one last time before she left the movie set. Michael was standing with a group of actors, and the sun was shining on his hair. It was one more memory she would store in her heart and treasure forever.
o0o
Clemmie was already dressed for bed that evening when she heard the commotion beneath her window.
Her bare feet made soft slapping sounds as she hurried across the room. What she saw took her breath away.
“Michael?” she called out the window.
“Yes. It’s me.” The moonlight slashed across his face, accenting his devilish grin.
“Is that a horse?’
Laughing, he stilled the prancing animal. “It’s not canned pickles.”
He urged the magnificent white stallion closer to her window. Dressed in black pants, shiny black boots and a big-sleeved, open-necked white shirt that exposed his chest, he looked like a buccaneer.
Clemmie had never seen such a sight except on the movie screen. She was enchanted.
“What in the world are you doing at my window at this hour?”
“That’s how Romeo courted Juliet.”
“We’re not Romeo and Juliet.”
“No. You’re Sleeping Beauty and I’m Prince Charming.” Sitting atop the horse, he gave her a gallant bow. “At your service.”
She loved this playful mood of his. Leaning her elbows on her windowsill, she smiled at him.
“You’re getting your fairy tales confused.”
“Tonight, love, we’re going to create our own fairy tale.”
“But, Michael, it’s late and I’m dressed in my gown.”
“A gown I’d love to rip apart with my bare hands.” His eyes burned over her then he gave a dramatic sigh. “Alas, we have a reputation to uphold.” He reached into a saddlebag, pulled out a package and handed it through the window. “Here, put this on. We’re going riding.”
<
br /> She stared at the white box. “What in the world...”
“Just a little something I snitched from wardrobe.”
She opened the box and lifted out a green velvet dress with a tight bodice, scooped neck and billowing skirt. It was an enchanting costume. Holding it across her chest, she beamed. “How did you know my size?”
“I’ve studied you, Clemmie.” He paused, watching her. “God, Clemmie, if you knew what those blushes do to me, you wouldn’t keep blushing like that. Get dressed before I change my mind and take you up those stairs to that brass bed.”
“You won’t look?”
He fought a battle with himself to keep from pulling her through the window, throwing her across the saddle and disappearing with her forever.
“I won’t look. I promise.” He flicked the reins and the white horse trotted toward the gazebo.
Clemmie’s hands shook as she slipped out of her gown and fastened the tiny hooks on the green velvet bodice. The dress was a perfect fit. She never doubted for a second that Michael had told the truth about studying her body. The thought made her feel warm inside.
Taking a deep breath, she went outside to join him.
He watched her cross the yard. In the green velvet dress with the moonlight shining on her skin, she looked like every man’s dream come true. She could be so easy to love. Careful, he told himself. Don’t get caught up in your own game.
When she was close enough, he slid off his horse and circled her waist.
“Are you ready?”
“For what, Michael?”
“Romance, Clemmie.”
He swung her onto the horse and mounted behind her. They galloped through Peppertown, causing heads to turn as they passed the ordinary travelers consigned to their functional Fords and serviceable Chevrolets. The wind caught Michael’s laughter and carried it to the ears of a few late-night customers standing outside Woody’s Cafe.
Leaning close to Clemmie, he said, “By morning, the whole town will be telling this story.”
“I hope SO.”
