“I don’t care. I’m not working with him.”
“You have to,” Goodie said.
For a moment, Carly couldn’t see him. Then she spotted his head sticking up from behind a rock.
“I don’t have to,” Jay snapped.
“Oh, yes, you do. In the first place, we’ve got a contract with these people. And in the second place, we can’t waste time finding another bear and another place to shoot. Not unless you want to bankrupt me.”
“We’ll use hot wires,” Carly said.
“What?” Goodie demanded.
“Electric wires, like the ones they use around cattle pastures. We stretch them along stakes between Attila and the crew. Then you spray-paint them to blend in with the background. If Attila starts moving toward them, someone activates the current.”
“If he moves as fast as he did last time, that someone would have to have damn quick reactions,” Jay muttered.
“Never mind about that,” Goodie snapped. “Why the hell didn’t you mention these wires before?” he asked Carly. “Why aren’t they already in place?”
“Goodie, we only have them because some insurance policies require them. But they…” She’d been going to say they weren’t really necessary, then thought better of it. At this point, everyone except her had to believe they were.
“Have you got green and brown spray paint on the set?” Jay asked Barb.
“Uh-huh. I had to spray some patches of grass and tree trunks.”
“Well, how long will it take to get these wires set up?” Goodie asked. “How much more time are we going to waste?”
“It won’t take long,” Carly assured him. “Nick and I should stay with Attila and get him completely calmed down. But if you send somebody to find Dylan—the blond kid with the ponytail who works for us—he knows where they are. Once he brings them out here, we can get them in place pretty fast.”
“Fast enough that we can start shooting after lunch?” Jay demanded.
She nodded. “Oh, and Dylan will need a hand, because he should bring a long length of heavier chain, too—twenty feet or so. I imagine people would feel safer if we chain Attila to a tree between takes.”
“Well…” Jay said.
“Do it,” Goodie told him.
“Nick?” Carly said. “Let’s get Attila out of here.”
“Attila, come,” he ordered, starting for the edge of the clearing.
She followed along, and they walked through the woods for a few minutes, finally stopping beside a narrow stream. After Attila had a drink, Nick looped the end of the chain around a huge log-and sat down on its far end.
Carly joined him, still fighting back tears, while Attila happily began digging under the log for grubs.
“Great beginning, eh?” Nick said.
That did it. The tears started streaming down her face.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “Hey, we’ll redeem ourselves. We’ll give Jay everything he wants and he’ll forget all about this.”
“But it would never have happened if Gus was here,” she managed through her tears. “I should have thought to ask what they were using as a stand-in.”
“You did ask. I remember. But Jay brushed the question aside.”
“Well Gus wouldn’t have let him. Gus would have made sure he knew exactly what was what. Nick, I’m not good enough to run Wild Action without him. Even if we get through this film, once you’ve gone back to Edmonton…” Her throat grew too full of tears to go on.
“Carly…” He edged nearer and tentatively put his arm around her. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured. “We’ll work things out, you’ll see.”
It would be so wonderful to believe him that she almost did. “You really think we can?” she whispered.
“Sure, we’ll make it work.” He shifted a little so he was looking into her eyes, then he put his other arm around her and drew her close.
She melted against him, breathing in his clean male scent. When a spark began to glow in her chest and a river of warmth flowed through her, she knew the way she was feeling was dangerous as all get out. But she didn’t care. At the moment, she wanted Nick to hold her like this forever.
His chest was reassuringly solid, and his arms felt so strong around her that he made her feel he could protect her from all the evils of the world just by holding her tight.
“Know what?” he whispered against her ear.
The warmth of his breath fanned the growing ache of passion within her. “What?” she whispered back.
“From here on, things can only get better.”
That actually made her smile. “Oh, Nick,” she murmured. “Sometimes I really do like your sense of humor.”
He drew back and looked at her. “Only sometimes?”
“Well…” The way he was gazing at her, with an ocean of warmth in his eyes, she doubted she could say another word. Not even if she could think of one.
Then he leaned closer and kissed her, rendering her unable to think at all. His kiss was warm and soft, but not too soft. And when he slowly traced her bottom lip with his tongue, it sent a hot rush of longing through her.
Pulling her closer still, he deepened the kiss. He tasted of coffee and desire, and foolhardy as it would be, she desperately wanted to make love with him.
His body fit perfectly against hers. He kissed like the man of her dreams. And she’d fallen in love with him without even being aware it was happening.
When that last thought fully registered, she stiffened in his arms. As conscious as she’d been of her physical attraction to him, the realization that she’d fallen in love with him had come like a bolt from the blue.
“What?” he murmured against her lips. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything!” an imaginary voice whispered fiercely.
Then Nick drew her lips to his again, and she closed her ears to the voice.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
NICK WAS DOING HIS BEST to keep his mind on stringing the hot wire with Dylan, but his best wasn’t nearly good enough.
Every two seconds his gaze strayed over to the edge of the clearing to where Carly was sitting with Attila. She’d said he’d be upset if someone didn’t keep him company while he was on that chain, and there certainly hadn’t been any volunteers among the crew.
He let himself watch her for a minute, thinking how incredible it had felt to kiss her. He’d never had such earth-shattering kisses in his entire life. They were just…Hell, there weren’t words to describe the way she’d made him feel. Not any words he knew, at least And he was positively aching to get back to the privacy of the house and take her in his arms again.
Then Jay walked into the picture and spoiled it— even though he was staying far enough away from Carly that he was beyond the reach of Attila’s chain.
When the two of them started talking, Nick glanced at his watch. It had taken the fellow who’d gone looking for Dylan a hell of a long time to find him, which meant that these wires wouldn’t be completely strung and painted until far later than Jay had been hoping. But daylight lasted forever in July, so with any luck they’d still be able to shoot a fair bit of footage.
He forced his attention back to stringing the wire, hoping Jay wouldn’t insist they work too late. The sooner the shooting was done, the sooner he’d be alone with Carly.
“Hey, Nick,” a child said from behind him.
He glanced around to find Kyle and Brock eyeing him. They hadn’t gotten to the site in time to see the earlier excitement with Attila—which was probably just as well. And after that, Jay had sent word that they should stay put in the camp until somebody came to get them.
“How are you guys today?” he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
They exchanged uneasy glances, then shrugged. “We’re real stiff,” Kyle whispered. “And Jay’s gonna want us to run. And my mom said he’s gonna freak out if we look stiff on camera.”
“You figure you will?” Ni
ck asked unhappily. If they did, there was absolutely no doubt whom Jay would blame.
“I ache all over,” Brock said.
“Well, we’re getting started so late that maybe Jay will only shoot Attila running today.” If Attila cooperated, of course, which was a mighty big “if.”
Kyle shook his head. “That’s not the way it works. They shoot a sequence of us running, then a sequence of Attila running over the same ground.”
“Or maybe they shoot Attila first,” Brock put in.
“Maybe. But we all gotta do it at kinda the same time. So the light and shadows and all that stuff will be the same when they edit.”
“The word’s continuity,” Brock added.
Nick muttered a few X-rated phrases beneath his breath. Carly had explained about the separate takes, but he hadn’t realized they had to be done at virtually the same time. And since they did, there wasn’t a chance of Jay’s simply not getting to the boys today.
“Why don’t you wander around for a bit,” he suggested. “Maybe that’ll loosen you up.”
“We can’t,” Brock said. “We gotta go get our makeup done.” When they started limping over to where their mothers were standing with the makeup woman, Nick glanced at Jay, hoping he wasn’t watching them.
He wasn’t. But it was only a matter of time before he noticed his ten-year-olds were walking like arthritic old men.
“That should about do it,” Dylan said. “Just attach your end to that last stake and it’s a wrap,” he added, grinning at his movie terminology.
Nick secured the end of the wire, then looked around for Jay—who’d finished talking with Carly and was inspecting a big rock. Reluctantly, Nick called that they were ready for the paint.
While Barb and a couple of helpers hurried over with spray cans, Nick joined Carly and Attila, wishing his nerves weren’t so on edge. But if Attila wouldn’t run, or the boys couldn’t…
“You’ll do fine,” Carly murmured, giving him such a warm smile that he wanted to kiss her on the spot.
Instead, he stood rubbing Attila behind the ear and hoping to hell she was right.
“Nick?” Jay said, coming toward them but stopping a few yards away and warily eyeing Attila. “Don’t worry about trying to keep your verbal commands quiet. This film will need a lot of sound editing anyway.
“Now, I know I told you we’d be shooting Attila’s running scene first, but before we get to it I want a scene of him wandering over to that big rock and pretending to dig around for something under it. I know it’s not in the script, but Carly says he’ll do it okay.”
Nick nodded, wishing Jay weren’t into improvisation. He knew the “dig” command, but they hadn’t practiced it.
“It’s a fake rock,” Carly said. “Made of stucco. So don’t let him smack it or anything.”
He nodded again. But since, as far as he knew, there wasn’t a “don’t smack” command…
Dammit, he really wished Attila was working better for Carly. At least she had experience doing this sort of thing.
“Finished, Jay,” Barb called.
“Finally,” Goodie said, inspecting the virtually invisible wires. “Now can we get going?”
Jay walked out into the middle of the clearing, leaving only Nick and Carly on Attila’s side of the hot wires, and in a voice just loud enough to be heard, said, “Can I have everyone’s attention please? I’ve talked to Carly about the rules when the bear is on the set, and I want you to listen carefully.
“First, no yelling or sudden movements. Keep everything as quiet and calm as possible. Second, do not bring any food on to the set. And third, once I call ‘Action,’ no one off the set may move. Is everyone clear?”
Murmurs of “Yes” filled the air.
“Good. Then let’s all be making the same movie, here.” He looked over at Nick. “Cue the bear.”
While Carly removed Attila’s collar, Nick walked over to the fake rock. Royce and the other two cameramen were already behind their cameras, pointing them in Attila’s direction.
“You’re okay where you are for the moment, Nick,” Jay said. “But when the cameras begin to roll, back up so you’re not in the frame when Attila reaches the rock.”
“Right,” he said, trying to ignore the way his gut was clenching.
“Okay, no one move,” Jay said. “Bells!”
Carly held her breath, hoping against hope they could do this first scene in one take. It would give Nick a world of confidence.
The crew was so quiet she could hear aspen leaves rustling in the breeze. Then Jay said, “Clear the eyeline…and roll it.”
The soundman rolled his tape. “Speed,” he said after a moment.
One of the production assistants lifted a slate in front of Royce’s camera. “Scene eighty-two—Take one.
She slapped the hinged stick onto the slate. The clapping sound made Attila look toward it.
“It’s all right, boy,” Carly whispered.
Royce nodded to Jay.
“Action!” he said.
“Attila, come,” Nick called, giving him the hand signal.
Without even the tiniest nudge from Carly, he started toward Nick and the fake rock.
Good boy, she said silently, breathing even more easily when she saw that Nick remembered to take a few steps backward, away from the rock and out of camera range.
Just as Attila reached the rock, Nick held up his hand in the “stop” signal.
Attila stopped.
Nick pointed to the base of the rock and said, “Dig.”
The bear wrinkled his nose, wiggled his behind, then fiercely butted the fake rock back a good three feet—leaving a mashed-in place where his head had hit.
“Oh, no! He ruined my rock!” Barb Hunt cried.
Carly’s spirits sank all the way to her toes. So much for Nick’s theory that things could only get better.
A second later, she realized Attila was scarfing down something that had been beneath the rock. Grubs was her first thought. But it was a fake rock, just put there for the filming. So how would grubs have gotten under it so fast?
“Cut!” Jay screamed.
When Attila stopped eating long enough to look angrily over at him, Nick grabbed whatever was still on the ground.
“What the hell is wrong with that bear?” Jay demanded.
“Nothing,” Nick-snapped. “Nothing except that somebody planted his favorite treat under the rock.”
His words sent Carly into panic mode. Just because that roast hadn’t been poisoned…
She took off at a dead run for the snack table. “Salt!” she told Raffaello. “I need salt!”
He handed her a salt shaker. She grabbed a second one, too, then raced over to Attila.
“Attila, sit.”
“Okay, boy,” she murmured, unscrewing the tops of the shakers. “You’re not going to like this, but trust me. Now, open up,” she added, tickling him under the chin.
Expecting a treat, he happily opened his mouth. Feeling like a traitor, she upturned both shakers and poured.
By the time he realized it was no treat, she’d gotten most of the salt in. He shook his head furiously and tried to roar—which proved impossible with a mouth full of salt.
He spit out what he could but swallowed the rest. Enough that a few moments later he started to gag and throw up.
Carly’s whole body went limp with relief. If he had eaten any poison, it was in that wet mess on the ground.
“BUT WHY WOULD ANYONE have planted that chicken?” Jay demanded.
Nick hesitated. By now, though, half the people on the set must have figured out that someone was into sabotage, so why not just come right out and tell Jay? “To disrupt the filming,” he said.
“Why the hell would anyone want to do that?”
“I don’t exactly know.” He resisted the impulse to say that someone must be harboring a major grudge, but he wasn’t going to pussyfoot around much longer.
While Jay muttered something to h
imself, Nick slowly surveyed the clearing. Carly was comforting Attila. Most of the crew were packing up equipment. Goodie, looking angry, was getting in people’s way.
Clearly the fact that Attila was too upset to work any more today had both Goodie and Jay fit to be tied.
“But why would anyone do it?” Jay asked again.
“Well…could there be someone working on the film who might want to cause you grief? Someone who might have it in for you?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course.”
Fleetingly Nick thought that he’d love to hear Sarina and Garth’s comments on that.
“If I have problems with people,” Jay continued, “I make certain they get worked out and everybody ends up happy.”
“Ahh. Then I guess it was just because I’d heard about some of the other trouble you’ve been having that I couldn’t help thinking…”
With Jay looking angrier by the second, Nick decided he’d better wrap this up fast “At any rate, I just thought I’d raise the possibility, because that chicken didn’t get under the rock by itself. Oh, and there’s something else I should tell you. The map that got you lost the other day wasn’t the one Gus drew. Somebody replaced his with an inaccurate one.”
With that, Nick turned on his heel and went to have a good close look at the fake rock.
It was far too heavy for anyone to have lifted it up and stuck something beneath it. But given the uneven ground, sliding the chicken into one of the gaps between the base of the rock and the dirt wouldn’t have been tough.
Once he was finished inspecting things, he headed over to where Carly and Attila were waiting. When they walked across the clearing, everyone gave them a wide berth, and he could practically hear a collective sigh of relief as they started off through the woods.
“Nick?” Carly said after they’d gone a few yards.
Before she had time to say anything more, Royce caught up with them. “Boy, you two were sure right about somebody trying to sabotage this film.”
Nick tried to ignore the little stab of resentment he felt, but he was still annoyed that Carly had confided in Royce. Or maybe, he admitted silently, what was really bothering him was the way Royce always seemed to be hanging around her.
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