AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘The viewers would eat it up,’ Harriet drily said.
‘I am not getting into a bed with Mike Waterford, especially if I’m expected to take my clothes off first!’
‘It’s only acting,’ Derek said gleefully, grinning ear to ear. ‘You know how to act, don’t you, darling?’
‘Annie’s a pro,’ said Harriet soothingly. ‘She’s only making a point. She’ll do whatever she has to do, when the time comes.’
Annie was torn between taking that as a compliment, and resenting it. She hoped she did her job professionally – but there were some things she was not prepared to do.
‘You’re wasting your time, Annie,’ Sean said curtly. ‘Give me that key. I’ll get to work on the new scene.’
She handed him the key and he walked away.
‘I’m sorry if you don’t like the new storylines,’ Harriet said. ‘But the public loves them. We’re selling the programme all over Europe and the States, Billy is happy, the whole board of the company are happy – their profits are up a fair bit because of the series, so the shareholders are happy, too. I’m afraid they wouldn’t listen to any complaints from any of us.’
‘You mean from me, don’t you, Harriet? You’re perfectly happy with Sean’s new storylines.’
‘Well, yes – they work, so I’m happy,’ Harriet shrugged. She changed the subject, staring after Sean. ‘He’s really quite something, isn’t he? Look at those long legs, and those shoulders. That’s what I call sexy.’
‘Yes,’ Annie said absently, still brooding over Mike Waterford.
Harriet shot her a look. ‘Been to bed with him, yet?’
Annie did a double-take, hardly believing her ears. ‘What? No, I have not! What on earth makes you think I’d want to?’
‘You’re a woman, aren’t you?’ Harriet teased, but her eyes were sharp.
Is she jealous? wondered Annie. Is she in love with Sean – has she slept with him? She felt a queer little prickle in her chest at the thought. What’s the matter with me? she thought. I’m not jealous over Sean; he annoys me. I hardly know the man outside work. Why should it bother me if he and Harriet have slept together?
‘Have you?’ she asked, and Harriet gave one of her Mona Lisa smiles.
‘That would be telling.’ She wasn’t admitting to Annie that she had never got that far with Sean.
Annie might not be sleeping with Sean, but there was something between them, a charge of electricity in the air when they were together that Harriet picked up every time. She had built her entire career on her instincts, she was rarely wrong about people or situations, and she was sure there was some sort of situation between Annie and Sean, even if Annie was blind to it.
‘I’ll go and try to raise Mike again,’ she added, changing the subject.
Annie noticed the deliberate evasion. ‘You might as well try to raise the Titanic!’ she crossly said.
Harriet walked away, laughing, and Derek Fenn growled, ‘They ought to sack the bastard. He’s past being a joke. Why should we all have to stand around freezing our balls off for him? Marty says he’s sleeping with that new kid, the girl with no tits – he’s welcome to her. I like a woman to look like a woman, not a boy with acne.’
Annie looked sharply at him. ‘Marty?’
‘Come off it, you know Marty.’ Derek gave her a funny, sly smile. ‘A redhead, working in wardrobe, I’ve known her for donkey’s years. I have a lot of time for Marty, she’s a fighter and she’s had a tough life, bringing up those kids on her own.’
Annie felt a shiver run down her spine. ‘I’ve never seen her before. What makes you think I know her?’
Derek’s cynical eyes mocked her. ‘She’s Roger’s wife, darling – don’t pretend you don’t remember him! They sacked him from drama school because of you, remember?’
Remember? How could she ever forget? She had never talked about him to Derek – how much did Derek know about what happened?
‘He couldn’t get another job with that sort of reputation hanging round his neck, so he walked out on his family,’ Derek told her. ‘He ran off to Australia with some barmaid and Marty was left with three kids and no money coming in. She’s pretty bitter about you.’
Angrily, Annie burst out, ‘I’m sorry for her, but it isn’t fair to blame me. It was Roger’s fault, not mine. I wasn’t the first girl he tried to blackmail into bed. If I hadn’t blown the whistle on him he’d still be there, doing it to every promising newcomer he fancied.’
Derek shrugged his narrow shoulders, coughing. ‘Oh, he was a bastard, you’re right, but Marty’s not very logical about the guy. She’s still hung up on him, I think, although she did divorce him because her lawyer persuaded her it was the wisest thing to do, to establish ownership of their house.’
‘And he didn’t contest it?’ Annie asked huskily, on edge to hear whether his wife was in touch with Roger Keats.
