Her Determined Husband

She had almost forgotten how very blue his eyes were. They glimmered with amusement now, as if he knew how much effort it had taken her to sound courteous.

‘I’m not much different from when you saw me last,’ he replied easily. ‘But thanks for asking.’

How right he was, Kirsten thought in bewilderment. She had always thought that if she saw him again it would be like meeting a stranger. But it didn’t feel like that at all. Looking at him across this table felt disturbingly familiar; in fact it was as if someone had suddenly rolled back time and the last few years had disappeared.

It was a very odd sensation and Kirsten didn’t like it at all. This was the man who had broken her heart, ripped it out and roasted it, in fact, and she didn’t want to put time back. The road to recovery from Cal had been too long and painful to allow it to be smashed to pieces now.

‘Well, now we’ve got the pleasantries over, would you like a drink?’

I need a drink, Kirsten thought, preferably a large one. ‘What’s going on, Cal?’ she asked him, trying to gather her startled wits together. ‘What are you doing here?’

He frowned. ‘Didn’t Gerry tell you?’

‘Tell me what?’ She had a horrible sensation in the pit of her stomach as if she was on a fairground ride, being hauled up a steep incline with the uncertain knowledge of how huge the drop was on the other side.

‘That we are going to be working together.’

‘Sorry?’ She wondered if she had misheard him.

‘I’ve been offered the lead part in this new film you are signed up for.’

He watched the incredulity in her eyes. ‘Yes, it’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?’ he agreed. ‘We’ll be husband and wife once more…just on the silver screen this time, of course.’

‘This is some kind of joke, right?’ Her voice was very unsteady. ‘Gerry told me that this movie is being made by some company called Sugar Productions and Jack Boyd has been given the lead part.’

Cal shook his head. ‘The name of the production company is right. But I’ve got the lead part, not Jack.’

The fairground ride tipped over the edge and she was given a dizzying, terrifying glimpse down into an interminable abyss. Her finances were shaky, and she needed this job…but she couldn’t work closely with her ex-husband, especially for the length of time it took to make a movie! It was more than mere flesh and blood could stand.

Her mobile phone rang suddenly and unexpectedly, releasing Kirsten from her frozen state of immobility. She reached for her handbag, knocking over her glass of water in her haste.

A waiter materialised by her elbow to wipe up the flood as she pushed her chair back. ‘Sorry…’ She tried to smile apologetically at him as she pushed herself even further away and looked at her phone. The name ‘Gerry’ was flashing in green letters.

She pressed the connect button. ‘Hi, Gerry, where are you?’ Hidden behind the polite words were the more desperate ones, like, Where the hell are you? Come and bail me out of this mess you’ve got me into.

‘Stuck in traffic; Kirsten, I’m real sorry about this.’

Not as sorry as he was going to be, she thought grimly as she met Cal’s calm gaze across the table.

‘You didn’t tell me about the change of co-star.’ She lowered her tone even more, but there was a dangerous edge to it.

‘That’s because I didn’t know until a few hours ago.’

Why didn’t she believe him? Kirsten wondered suddenly.

‘Great news, isn’t it?’ Gerry continued blithely. ‘It’s a real coup for the studio. They can’t believe their luck…I mean, Cal is one of the biggest names in Hollywood, a fantastic actor, a real heart throb, it will boost the film’s ratings no end—’

Kirsten allowed him to prattle on and meanwhile there was this cold, churning sensation in the pit of her stomach. When her agent paused for breath she said very quickly, very coolly, ‘I’m sorry, Gerry, but this isn’t going to work.’

‘Why not?’ Gerry sounded genuinely perplexed.

‘Because he’s my ex-husband,’ she said succinctly, as if she was talking to someone who was quite mad.

She glanced across at Cal and saw the glint of mockery in his blue eyes now. But she was past caring what he thought; she just wanted out of this.

‘You’re not serious, Kirsten!’ Gerry laughed. ‘If everyone in Hollywood decided they couldn’t work together because they’d once had a relationship, nobody would be making any films!’

‘I don’t care.’ Her voice rose slightly and with difficulty she lowered it and forced herself to remain calm. ‘I don’t care what everyone else does—’

‘You’ve already signed the contract.’ Gerry started to sound impatient.

‘I signed, thinking I was acting alongside Jack—’

‘That doesn’t make a difference to the studio. If you renege on your contract they’ll sue us, Kirsten…it will cost fortunes. You’re due to start filming next week.’

Kirsten could hear a tremor of nerves underneath Gerry’s firm tone, but it was nothing compared to what was going on inside Kirsten. She had thought all her money worries were over when she signed this film contract. Now she felt like an animal caught in a trap, waiting for certain death.

‘Look, you go ahead and have lunch without me, talk things over with Cal. He’s a real nice guy and a professional. I’m sure you two can come to a good agreement about working alongside each other. I’ll ring you later.’

The phone went dead.

‘Problems?’ Cal asked innocently from the other side of the table.

Her eyes narrowed on him. She knew full well that he must have heard everything…and the bits he hadn’t heard he was probably able to fill in for himself.

‘Gerry is stuck in traffic. He says for us to go ahead and eat without him.’ She forced herself to remain civil, her mind rushing ahead, working on the problem. If she couldn’t get out of the film, maybe she could appeal to the better side of her ex’s nature and get him to stand down. After all, as Gerry had said, Cal was a big name in Hollywood; he could work anywhere. And possibly the idea of working with her wasn’t too pleasing to him either.

She moved closer to the table. ‘I’ll just have a mineral water, please?’ she asked the waiter with a smile as he finished tidying up the mess she had made. ‘And I’ll try not to knock it over this time. Sorry about that.’

At least to outward appearances she sounded as if she had pulled herself together again, Kirsten thought. She couldn’t let Cal know how traumatised she felt just sitting opposite him. He’d find that very amusing.

She stalled for time, putting her phone away in her bag. ‘So, when did you realise you were going to have to work alongside me on this film?’ she asked him, trying to sound casual.

‘I’d heard something vaguely, but only knew for definite this morning.’

‘I see.’ She glanced across at him. ‘And are you as delighted about the prospect as I am?’ There was an edge of sarcasm in her tone.

‘I don’t know,’ Cal retorted imperturbably. ‘How delighted are you?’

Her smile became overstretched. He knew damn well that she was fizzing. Was he deliberately trying to wind her up?

‘I didn’t even know you were back State-side.’ She tried a roundabout approach. Playing for time.

‘Yes, I got back about a month ago. I’m renting a house in Beverly Hills.’

‘Nice.’ Kirsten thought about the small apartment that she was sharing with her flatmate Chloe. It had two small bedrooms and a living room and a kitchen hardly big enough for three people to be in at the same time.

Cal seemed to have gone from strength to strength since they had divorced, whilst her career had been severely handicapped by her last agent. Robin Chandler had signed her up soon after she had split up with Cal. At the time she had been a successful singer with a string of hits in the American charts. Chandler had promised promotion and world tours, but what she’d got was an agent who took all her money and tied her up in legal jargon that made it impossible for her to continue her singing career for a full two years without lining his pockets even further.