There was no sign of the sweetness-and-light Melissa Sommers who’d been playing to the camera and the media all morning. This Melissa was all business and looked about ready to rip his head off—and Noah was pretty sure it wasn’t out of concern for her friend getting hurt.
‘There’s nothing to tell,’ he said with a shrug. The lie came out easily; he was an actor, after all. But, even as he said it, Noah realised he didn’t want to lie. He wanted to tell the whole world that he was...what? Sleeping with Eloise? Dating her, even?
No, he realised. What he really wanted to do was tell the world that Eloise was his.
Except she wasn’t. At least, not more than temporarily. They hadn’t discussed exclusivity because they hadn’t had to. Their whole love affair was set to run out in forty-eight hours or less. When would either of them have time to cheat?
If he had more time, he thought he could probably talk Eloise into being open about their relationship—into telling the world, if necessary. She was warming to the spotlight, at least, and getting over her fear of being the centre of attention. And if it was a proper relationship rather than a casual fling, then Stefan, the director, couldn’t possibly object—Noah’s romantic life would grow boring to the world’s media the moment he stayed with one person for more than a week. But time was the one thing he didn’t have.
And didn’t want, he reminded himself. Half of the thrill of his fling with Eloise was knowing they had to make the most of every moment. If he had for ever stretching out in front of him to spend with one woman, he’d be running for the hills. That was just who he was.
Even if that woman was Eloise.
Yes, they’d shared some secrets, and the intimacy had been nice. New, unfamiliar but...comforting, somehow. He’d felt lighter, better, in her arms.
He’d gone deeper with her than with any woman since Sally. But deep was one thing—falling the whole way was something else altogether.
‘I saw the two of you this morning,’ Melissa said, her eyes narrow with suspicion. ‘If you expect me to believe—’
His phone rang, loud and shrill, on the table, cutting her off. ‘I do,’ Noah said, picking it up. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me? It’s my agent.’
Even Melissa had to respect the importance of an agent’s phone call. She sat, sulking, in her chair while he got up and paced across the lobby and through the front doors out onto the steps.
‘Tessa? What’s the news?’ The winter air was bitter and Noah huddled against the side of Morwen Hall to stay out of the wind. He figured this weather was still warmer than the chill Melissa was emitting in his direction today.
‘Not your love life, for once. Not a hint of an inappropriate sexual encounter anywhere on social media today. I’m impressed.’
‘I can show restraint when it matters,’ Noah lied. ‘Did you get me the video audition?’
‘Yes, I got you your call,’ Tessa said. ‘But they want to talk early this afternoon—evening for you, I guess. You’re free, right?’
‘Right now, yes,’ Noah said. ‘But it’s the rehearsal dinner for this wedding in an hour or so—’
‘Then you’ll have to be late,’ Tessa interrupted. ‘If you really want this part, this is your one chance to convince him.’
Noah took a breath. This was his career at stake. ‘What do I need to do?’
‘You need to sell it, more than ever before. You need to show them that you get this guy, inside out.’ Tessa paused, and Noah knew she was wondering whether he was really capable of it. Ouch. ‘Should we talk it through now? Get some ideas going? I’ve been making some notes...’
‘No,’ Noah said firmly. ‘I’ve got this. I know this character. I do.’
‘So, convince me.’ When he didn’t answer, she sighed. ‘Noah. If you can’t sell it to me you’re sure as hell not going to sell it to these guys. Then we’ll both be on their blacklist for wasting their time.’
‘Fine. He’s...he’s grieving.’
‘I think we got that from the dead wife.’
‘Yeah, but he’s not just grieving for her. He’s not just lost a woman he loved. He’s lost all hope that he can ever have that again. He’s scared—so damn scared to take any more risks with his heart, now he knows how much it can hurt. How it can destroy you, take you right back to the bone and leave you to rebuild everything. And when you do...you’re not the same. You can’t be. You’re a mass of scar tissue that can’t feel anything any more, and you’re happy about it. Because at least it hurts less that way.’
Tessa was silent on the other end of the phone. Noah grasped for the stone balustrade lining the steps down from Morwen Hall, desperate for something to keep him balanced. Grounded.
Because he hadn’t been describing a character, he realised. He’d been talking about himself, the same way he’d talked to Eloise in bed the night before. The way he never talked.
‘Where did that come from?’ Tessa asked after a minute. ‘Noah, I’ve never... Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ he managed. Then he laughed. ‘Let’s just say I’ve found a new muse.’
‘Are actors allowed muses?’
‘This one is.’ Except he wasn’t, not really. Eloise wasn’t his. She was just a temporary distraction.
‘Well, whoever she is, hang onto her. Sounds like she’s just what you need. As long as you’re not sleeping with her,’ Tessa said crisply. ‘Now, go. Get ready for that call. You’ve got thirty minutes.’
Time enough to get ready for the rehearsal dinner, so that when he was done with his call he could head straight down there and find Eloise. Not because she was his muse, or because she might be mad at him, or even because she was so sexy he couldn’t go another few hours without her again.
Just because he wanted to see her. And because they didn’t have much time left.
But Noah intended to make the most of every second.
* * *
Eloise smoothed down her cocktail dress as the lift doors opened at the restaurant floor. The dress the stylist had chosen—a beautiful silver and black-edged halter-neck—had looked so good in the photo shoot that she’d asked if she could keep it to wear to the rehearsal dinner that evening. Yes, it was a little more showy than she’d usually wear, but she couldn’t wait to see Noah’s face when he saw her in it.
If nothing else, it was definitely not a boring dress.
She might not be as beautiful as Melissa, in her pale pink gown that showed off every curve and slender line of that famous body, and she knew she couldn’t live up to the beauties Noah usually had on his arm. But, in this dress, Eloise felt beautiful in herself. And that was enough for her.
The restaurant floor was already buzzing by the time Eloise arrived. Whereas a more normal wedding might just have a rehearsal dinner for the wedding party and family members, Melissa and Riley had wanted a wedding extravaganza and that was what Laurel and Eloise had given them. For the rehearsal dinner—ignoring the fact they hadn’t actually had a rehearsal of the wedding itself because Melissa said she’d played a bride on screen often enough to know what to do—they were holding another drinks reception in the bar area, then a special dinner for all the guests in the restaurant. The wedding party, along with Melissa and Riley’s families, would then retire to a private room, where they could do the usual speeches and gift presentations.
‘Now that is a dress.’ Noah’s voice, warm and appreciative, behind her, was already so familiar that Eloise smiled even as she turned to face him.
‘Somehow,