Sally Wentworth - Set the Stars on Fire Read online

  They got through the first day's filming and everyone was hopeful that the rest of the scenes would be finished with just one more day's shooting; no one wanted a third clay on that boat! Things went reasonably well during the morning until they reached the point where Lori had a long scene with the actor who played the part of a priest. They had rehearsed it and were made up and costumed, the cameras ready, the lights and microphones in position, and they were about to begin when there was a shout from on deck and the sound of a motorboat approaching.

  'Oh hell! Now what?' Lewis exclaimed. 'Find out what it is, will you, Bill? All right, everybody, relax for a few minutes.'

  Lori sank thankfully into a chair and watched while Lewis turned to talk to one of the technicians. She tried to look at him objectively, but she couldn't any more; each feature of his face, every characteristic gesture he made, was now a part of her. When they were separated she longed to see and be near him again, and when they were together on the set her heart filled with contentment and happiness. He felt her looking at him now and he turned his head, hesitated in what fie was saying, then gave her the briefest of winks before turning back to finish his conversation. Lori felt herself blushing and hastily looked down in case anyone saw her, and when she had composed herself enough to look up again she found that Bill had come back and had drawn Lewis aside and was talking to him earnestly. Lewis frowned and then they both went on deck together. They were gone for a long time while everyone sat around impatiently, smoking and talking in a desultory way. After about ten minutes Bill came into the cabin again and to Lori's surprise crossed over to her.

  'Lewis wants you on deck,' he told her baldly, his tone and his face full of some inner knowledge. She looked at him in some puzzlement but obediently went out on to the sweltering deck. Lewis was standing alone above where the motorboat was still -tied up at the side with its driver waiting at the wheel.

  Lori smiled and hurried up to him, but then faltered as she saw the grim, set look on his face.

  'What-what is it?' she stammered.

  His eyes, when he Joked at her, had lost all their previous warmth, now they were as cold as winter ice. His tone, too, froze her as he said, `It seems that your lover got so frustrated without you that he just couldn't keep away any longer, so he's flown here especially to see you. But he's a busy man on a tight schedule, so it's only a flying visit. There's a car waiting on the shore to take you back to your hotel now. You'd better not keep him waiting,' he added, his voice sharp with irony. `If you perform well in bed he'll probably get you another film part, just the way he got you this one!'

  Lori stared at him in horror, unable to even think coherently under this barrage. Gropingly she said, `Are you-are you trying to tell me that Nicholas Hayman is here-in Rhodes?'

  `Who else has the power to tear you off the set just as we're about to film, and order you into his bed? Or do you have other men on your string who're likely to turn up and demand your services?' he asked, his voice burning like vitriol. `I'd Just like to know so that we can rearrange the shooting schedule to fit round your more important and lucrative activities.'

  Her face very white under her tan, Lori said desperately, `Lewis, please don't be like this. I can explain;

  Nicholas Hayman isn't my lover, he's my…'

  But he refused to listen, interrupting her harshly. `My God, and to think I fell for that act of wide-eyed innocence you gave me! What did you hope to gain by it? Another useful contact you could use to get into more films? Is that all I meant to you? And did you really think that I was so besotted that I'd turn a blind eye to your other lovers?' His hands suddenly came up and gripped her arms, digging into her flesh so that she winced with pain. 'Well, I've news for you, you little slut. I don't share my women-and I don't handle soiled goods!'

  He let her go suddenly, almost pushing her away from him so that she stumbled against the deck rail. 'Well, what are you waiting for?' he demanded savagely. 'If you satisfy him quickly enough we just might be able to salvage something of today's schedule.' 'Oh, Lewis, please-please! You've got to believe me.' Lori tried to get through his anger, but she was too choked up to speak coherently, too confused and battered to find the words she needed. She reached out to touch him in desperate appeal, but he knocked her hand from his arm contemptuously, as if it was something dirty.

  She became very still then, her eyes wide and wet with tears as she stared into his stony face for a long moment, then she turned and began to climb over the rail and down into the motorboat. Her heavy skirts made her clumsy, but Lewis didn't move to help her. He turned away immediately and went back down to the cabin.

  During the boat trip to shore and through all the long drive back to Rhodes Lori sat numbly, her brain unable to function, her mind filled with the searing contemptuous jibes he had thrown at her. But worst of all was the wound that cut deepest, the knowledge that Lewis really cared so little for her that he wouldn't trust her or even listen to her. The bright dream was gone, blasted out of existence as if it had never been, and she felt an overwhelming sense of loss that was worse than anything she had. ever known.

  She didn't cry during the journey, she was too much in a state of shock for that, and it was only when they arrived at the hotel that it occurred to her to wonder why her godfather had flown out to see her. She found him in the lobby, an open briefcase by his side as he read some papers, but he stood up and came forward as soon as he saw her. He kissed her on the forehead and held her by the shoulders while he looked at her.

  `You look tired. They're not working you too hard, are they?'

  `It's just the heat and this heavy costume,' Lori re plied stiltedly. `Why are you here, Uncle Nick?'

  He frowned. `Let's go to your room where we can talk.' Gathering up his papers, he thrust them haphazardly into his briefcase, an action quite unlike him as he was usually extremely tidy.

  Lori looked at him with growing apprehension. `Is it Mothers Has something happened to herd' she asked sharply.

  For answer he merely took hold of her arm and led her to the desk where he asked for her key, and didn't speak again until they were in her room, the door shut behind them.

  He led her to a chair and then said bluntly, `There's no easy way to tell you: your mother is in hospital and she's to have an operation on her heart tomorrow. It's a major operation, of course, but one that is performed quite often now, and there's every chance that it will be successful and we'll have her up and about again in no time.'

  For a moment the room seemed to sway and dip like a roller-coaster and Lori had to grip the arms of the chair tightly to stop herself from fainting. 'But I-but I don't understand. Has she had a heart attack? Is that why they're going to operate?' Nicholas Hayman shook his head. 'No, but she's been feeling unwell for quite some time and her doctor diagnosed a heart condition.' He hesitated. 'That's why she asked me to send you away for a while. She had to undergo various tests and treatments that unfortunately didn't do any good, and she didn't want you to be worried by it all.'

  'What do you mean-send me away?' Lori asked in a small, tight voice.

  'She asked me if I could find you a job away, preferably abroad, for a few months. I'd almost got you a part in a company that was touring Australia, but then this film part came up instead.'

  Hardly recognising the strangled voice as her own, Lori said, 'So you did get me this part, after all?' Uncle Nick looked uncomfortable. 'I admit I had quite a hand in it, but they wouldn't have agreed to take you if you hadn't been good enough.' And then, :it the look on her face, he added hastily, 'I know I promised never to interfere with your career, Lori, but I didn't do this for you-I did it for your mother.' She seemed to sag within herself, as if her spine, like her pride, had been broken. Blindly she got up and went to lift down her suitcase and started dropping clothes into it anyhow.

  'What are you doing?' he asked.

  'Packing, of course. What time is the next plane?' 'Lori.' He came and put his hands on her shoulders to tur
n her round to face him. 'Listen to me. I didn't come here to take you back with me. Your mother doesn't even know I'm here. I-I'm afraid I broke a promise to her that I wouldn't tell you until the operation was all over. But I thought that you had the right to know, just in case-well, -just in case.' He dropped his hands and turned away, his voice thick with emotion, for he was very fond of her mother.

  `But -I must go back to England,' Lori exclaimed. `My mother's all I have and I want to be with her!'

  All she had now, yes, and her heart grew tight at the thought that she might lose her, too.

  He shook his head. `What good would it do? We're powerless to help her. And right now she's being very brave; she's made up her mind that she's going to get well and she's being very courageous-almost cheerful about it all. But how do you think it will affect her if you go rushing to her bedside as if she was at death's door? Your mother's a very sensitive woman; no matter how you tried to hide it she'd know that you were frightened and anxious for her. And that would under mine her confidence completely. She's kept you out of this because she can't take the additional burden of having you upset and worried.'

  Lori gazed at him helplessly. `But she's my mother. I

  must go to her!' She shook her head helplessly. `Uncle

  Nick, I can't just stay on here as if nothing has happened when Mummy might… might…' Her voice broke.

  'Nothing's going to happen to her,' he put in forcibly. `It's just an operation that's going to make her well again, that's all. That's how she's looking on it and that's how you've got to, if you're adult enough to do it.’

  He sat down with her and talked to her for a long time until he finally convinced her that she must stay.

  He made her a faithful promise that he would phone her immediately he had any news, and to send for her at once if her mother should change her mind and ask for her, and at last she reluctantly agreed to stay in Rhodes. But even when he had gone, hurrying off to the airport to catch a plane that would get to London in time for him to visit her mother that night, Lori was still in half a mind to race after him.

  After he had gone, she sat for a long time, lost in a fit of deep depression and unhappiness. She felt as if she'd been rejected by the two people she loved, and it hurt unbearably. Her mother had always tended to be over-protective with her and treat her like a child, being fiercely independent and never confiding her worries or problems, and even now, when she was very ill, she had turned to Uncle Nick for the comfort and support she needed, instead of to Lori who would have given it gladly if she had been allowed to. And Lewis? Tears came suddenly and she threw herself down on the bed, her body convulsed by great, tearing sobs. Why would he never believe her, never trust her? She gave way to her unhappiness until the sound of the phone ringing jarred through her crying and made her suddenly still. It had to be Lewis or one of his assistants wanting to know when she was coming back to finish filming. Biting her fingertips, she stared at the phone as its ring seemed to become more and more impatient. Then she suddenly came to a decision and sat up. Damn Lewis Brent and damn The Siege! She wasn't going back today for anyone. Let him and the crew think whatever their sordid minds cared to imagine, but not for anything could she go back there and try to act as if nothing had happened, as if her life hadn't been torn apart!

  Going into the bathroom, she removed her smudged make-up and changed into a simple sundress, then grabbed up her bag and sunglasses and ran out of the hotel, in a panic in case Lewis sent someone to look for her. A taxi took her into the anonymous crowds of holidaymakers that filled Rhodes and there she hired a car and drove inland away from the tourist routes.

  The roads weren't too busy and she drove fast, over steering into the bends and skidding round, overtaking the few vehicles that she came upon and leaving a cloud of dust behind her as she tore along the rough country roads, letting the thrill of danger and speed take the place of that raw, bleeding hurt.

  It couldn't last, of course. She took a bend too wide and the back wheels left the road. The car lurched sickeningly and she was thrown against the door as she hit a rock. For a moment it tilted and she gasped in terror as she thought that it was going to overturn, but then it righted itself and landed on all four wheels with a heavy thud. For several seconds she couldn't believe that she was safe, gripping the wheel with hands that were wet with fear. Then she somehow managed to open the door and get out, her legs shaking so much they hardly held her. There was a flat rock nearby and she sank down on it gratefully, and it was quite a while before she was able to take herself to task and mentally berate herself for being so stupid.

  Killing herself wouldn't do any good; that was the coward's way out, and whatever else she was, Lori was no coward. When she at last got back in the car, she drove at a careful pace and didn't arrive back in

  Rhodes until after the blood-red orb of the sun had drowned in the darkness of night.

  The next morning the make-up man had a longer job than usual as he disguised the dark shadows under her eyes and put extra colour in her cheeks. Lori knew that everyone was agog to know what had happened to her yesterday, but she fended off the leading questions that one or two people were brash enough to ask and sat quietly in a corner, overtly studying her script.

  But on the boat there was no getting away. Lewis was waiting when she and the other actors were ferried out to it and his eyes ran over her coldly, coming to rest on her face.

  His voice heavy with irony, he said, 'Welcome aboard. Are you sure you feel up to filming today?

  After all, you must have had an extremely tiring time yesterday.'

  Lori shot him a darkling glance and walked by without answering, but he followed her and said silkily, so that no one else could hear, 'The cost of yesterday's lost production was twenty thousand pounds. I hope your lover thinks you were worth it!'

  Lori rounded on him, her eyes bright with anger in her taut face, but she merely snapped, 'Are we going to start filming or not?'

  He regarded her grimly for a moment, then turned abruptly away and began to give orders to the technicians.

  How Lori got through that day she never quite remembered; somehow the worry for her mother and the hurt that Lewis had inflicted seemed to cancel each other out, leaving her in a state of numb passivity. Somehow she managed to act her part to Lewis's satisfaction, but between takes she went up on deck and stood alone, staring out to sea. By doing so she knew that she aroused a hornets' nest of buzzing gossip, but she couldn't help it and didn't much care any more.

  The last scene that day was where she had to be washed up on the shore and Lewis wanted a shot of her gradually coming closer for a long distance, so they dropped her in the sea quite a long way out and left her to swim in alone. After about twenty yards she began to weaken, already tired from worry and a sleepless night. The shore with all the cameras and crew still looked a very long way away, but she struggled on until the swell caught her and she swallowed water. Gasping and retching, she tried to call for help. On the shore she saw a man with air tanks on his back, who was standing by in case of just such an emergency, start to enter the water and she gave a gasp of thankfulness. But then, incredulously, she saw Lewis catch hold of his arm and deliberately pull him back.

  Rage exploded in her and sent a surge of strength running through her veins. Would he really let her half-drown just to get more authenticity for his film? Sheer, unadulterated fury drove her tired limbs on until she could stagger and then crawl on to the sand that was burning to her touch. She just lay there, too exhausted to move, and nobody came to help her, until she felt a shadow fall across her and looked up, dripping with sea-water, to see Dean, in his costume, standing over her.

  Lewis's voice called `Cut!' and then she heard him say,

  `All right, pick her up and ,dry her off-we need a few more days' filming out of her yet,' as if after that he couldn't care less whether she lived or died That evening her godfather phoned to tell her that her mother had come safely through the operation, bu
t it was too early to tell whether it would be successful. But on the next few evenings the news wasn't so encouraging; her mother had developed a reaction to the drugs she had been given and was making little progress. He still wouldn't let her fly home, again giving the reason that it would only upset her mother, and this too was bitterly disappointing. 'Write to her,' he said. 'A really happy and bright letter, and that will do her more good than anything.' And somehow she managed it, writing several pages of chatty news that she made up in her head and enclosing a gift of a charm of the replica of an eye set in gold which all the natives of Rhodes wore and were convinced was a powerful talisman that warded off evil and misfortune. Her mother's lack of progress worried Lori desperately, but fortunately the American star, Craig Denton, arrived in Rhodes and everyone was busy shooting the scenes in which he appeared, so she didn't have to try to work when she was low.

  When she was first introduced to him she was rather in awe of such a well-known international actor, but he soon put her at ease with his natural charm and good manners, treating her and the other actors as equals and making them all laugh with his anecdotes about his life in the film business, which had lasted over twenty years. He was also unique in that his marriage-his only marriage-had also lasted nearly that long, but his wife had been unable to accompany him on this trip.

  Lori still took her walk along the beach before turning in, needing the solitude more than ever now after the nightly phone call from Uncle Nick with the disappointing news of her mother's continuing lack of progress. It was on one of her walks that she almost bumped into Craig Denton, who had also slipped out of the hotel at night so that he could get some exercise without being recognised and besieged by fans clamouring for his autograph.