Williams says she wants to come down to talk about it with you. Set up some interviews. I think she wants to do that in San Francisco—’
‘Sue Williams?’ Kirsten shook her head. ‘Who—?’
‘She’s in charge of the PR department. Anyway…’ Theo ruffled through the papers on his desk again ‘…they’ve asked me to tell you to play up this angle…this question…that there might be a rekindling of your romance. The publicity will be good; our film will keep getting a plug. Everyone will be happy.’
‘Well, I’m not happy,’ Kirsten said quickly. ‘In fact, I’m furious. There is no truth in that story. Cal and I are not getting back together—’
‘It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not,’ Theo said patiently. ‘It’s just a publicity stunt. If you’ve got any complaints, take it up with Sue…she should be dealing with this, not me. In the meantime they want you and Cal to attend a première together.’ He reached under the papers and drew out an envelope. ‘Here we are. It’s on Saturday night. The studio have asked that you pick Kirsten up at around seven-thirty, Cal, and they want you to attend the party after the film and then take Kirsten home about midnight—’
‘And do we have to go to bed together as well?’ Kirsten asked scathingly. ‘Cocoa at twelve-fifteen and satin pyjamas off by twelve-thirty?’
Theo’s eyebrows rose. ‘They haven’t made any suggestions as to what happens after midnight—’
‘I think that’s when Kirsten turns into a pumpkin,’ Cal put in drolly.
Kirsten shot him a look of annoyance. ‘Well, at least I’m not going to turn into a rat like you—’
‘Now, now!’ Theo interjected warningly. ‘We must have a good working relationship here.’
Kirsten shook her head angrily. ‘Work is here at the studio; this is encroaching on my private life. Besides, I’m already going to that première, but I’m attending with Jason Giles.’
Theo shrugged. ‘That’s up to you. But the people upstairs won’t be happy…there’s a lot of money riding on this film and they will expect you to be co-operative.’
The implied threat hung heavily in the air. Kirsten stared at Theo. Did he mean if she was difficult that the studio would just refuse to work with her in the future?
‘But this isn’t right…’ Kirsten looked around at Cal, hoping that he might support her. ‘We are not going to do this, are we, Cal?’
He met her eyes steadily and shrugged. ‘I’ve had to do worse things for PR. I’ve no real objection to posing for a few photographs or ferrying you backwards and forwards to a première. I draw the line at the cocoa, though…I hate cocoa.’
Kirsten’s eyes glittered a bright, intense green. She might have known that he wouldn’t back her up.
‘OK, that’s settled.’ Theo got up from his desk and put an envelope into Cal’s hand. ‘That’s your invitations for Saturday. Let’s get back to work now.’
Theo strode out of the room, leaving Kirsten staring at Cal with ill-disguised fury. ‘What does he mean…that’s settled? I haven’t agreed to anything.’
‘It’s not really a big deal. You were going to go to that première anyway.’ Cal shrugged.
‘Yes, with Jason—’
‘I’m sure Jason will get over the disappointment,’ Cal said wryly. ‘But it doesn’t sound like the studio will. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty Saturday.’ He turned to leave and then looked back at her. ‘By the way…I was only joking about the cocoa,’ he said with a grin. ‘It’s the pyjamas that I hate. I’d much prefer you in the outfit you’re wearing now.’
CHAPTER THREE
THEY were in Kirsten’s bedroom amidst chaos. The dressing table was cluttered with a wild assortment of jars, make-up and face creams, all in aid of Kirsten’s last-minute effort to look her best, and the bed was strewn with Chloe’s hairdressing equipment.
She’d planned to wear a long red dress to the première tonight. But that was when she had thought she was going with Jason. Her change of escort had thrown her into a total panic, and at the last minute she’d changed her mind about the red dress, rejecting it for being too daring. If it weren’t for Chloe’s kind offer to do her hair and help her get ready she would probably be really on the last minute by now, she thought.
‘Thanks for helping, Chloe,’ she said. ‘I did think, right up to last night, that I’d be able to get out of this ridiculous charade. I’ve tried to ring Sue Williams all week but each time I’ve been told she is unavailable and will ring me back but she never does. Of course, if it had been Cal phoning she would have snapped to attention. But Cal didn’t bother to phone her. Oh, no, Mr Cal McCormick could never be that decent. I swear he’s just going along with all this to annoy me.’
‘Hold still, for heaven’s sake!’ Chloe muttered, pushing Kirsten’s head further forward so that she could stick a few more hairgrips in the back of her hair.
‘The studio wouldn’t want to fall out with Cal. So if he had backed me up I’m sure they would have dropped the idea.’
‘Look on the bright side,’ Chloe mumbled through a mouthful of grips. ‘A lot of women would love to be seen on Cal McCormick’s arm. It won’t harm your career.’
‘No…just my mental health. I’ve had the most awful week with him at that studio, Chloe; you wouldn’t believe how irritating he can be. And tomorrow we have to go to San Francisco together, because the studio has booked us on the same flight. It’s just the last straw having to go out with him tonight as well.’
‘But you used to love him once…didn’t you?’ Chloe said softly. ‘He can’t be all bad.’
‘No…he’s not all bad,’ Kirsten admitted. She could feel her heart slamming against her chest as she thought about that question. ‘I did love him once…but it was a terrible mistake.’
‘So what were his good points?’ Chloe asked, trying to take her friend’s mind off the evening ahead.
‘I don’t know.’ Kirsten frowned; she didn’t want to think about his good points. She glanced sideways at the untidy room. ‘He was fanatically tidy.’
‘That’s not a good point.’ Chloe stuck the last of the grips in Kirsten’s hair. ‘There,’ she said with a certain amount of pleasure, ‘you can look now.’
Kirsten looked up and met her reflection in her dressing-table mirror in surprise. ‘Wow! Is that really me?’ She watched as Chloe lifted up a mirror to show her the back. She had wound her hair up into a very sophisticated chignon, which made Kirsten look extremely stylish and very feminine. ‘You’ve done a fantastic job, Chloe. Thank you. And my make-up is great too!’
‘I should have stuck to being a beautician, shouldn’t I?’ Chloe smiled. ‘At least I can make money out of that, unlike my acting career.’
Kirsten turned around to look at her friend. ‘Didn’t you get that part you auditioned for?’
Chloe shook her head. ‘I start back to work at the beauty shop next Monday.’
Kirsten regarded her sympathetically. ‘I’m so sorry, Chloe.’
Chloe shrugged. ‘I’ve got another audition tomorrow…so, who knows? I might get lucky. And at least I like my job at the beauty shop. It could be worse.’
‘Yes…like the job I got once as a singing waitress on rollerblades.’
‘I remember you telling me about that.’ Chloe laughed. ‘Was that around the time you first went out with Cal?’
‘No, I was successfully established as a