Page 868 of One More Kiss
“Oh, I like her!” Dean Clark echoed Lu’s sentiments.
“She was fine.” Max’s tone was flat. “Beatrice needs more fire, though. You’d have made a superior Beatrice, Miss Danvers.”
Lu opened her mouth to berate him, not only for his veiled insult to her, but also of his dismissal of Frannie. How dare he?
Before she spit the words out at him, though, Johnny Davis, track star and possibly the most handsome student at the school, announced he was trying out for Benedick. His girlfriend June Wyatt stood in the wings and blew a kiss in his direction. Lu suspected she would be auditioning for Beatrice, so they would be together as much as possible. Johnny was not a very good actor, and was usually given the task of helping out backstage. But Lu had to give him credit for his tenacity—at least he kept trying, when others would have backed down.
As expected, Johnny’s turn at Benedick met her expectations, but fell short of what they needed in a leading man. It took more than good looks and significant height, but Lu held out hope the right actor would show.
After a few more auditions for Hero, Claudio, and the brothers Don John and Don Pedro, Lu, Max, and Dean Clark broke for lunch. Dorie was bringing sandwiches and drinks for them, so no need to go to the cafeteria.
After being so close to Max for several hours, though, Lu needed a break and was relieved he walked outside into the gardens surrounding the theater. Now she had at least a few moments to regain her composure. She’d been hiding it well, but Max’s closeness unsettled her, his voice, his scent, and the occasional brush of his arm against hers about to be her undoing. She reminded herself she did not like him—how he was unlikeable, and didn’t deserve her attention or her desire.
But here she was, so in need of companionship, poised to give him both if he’d but ask.
* * *
DidLu comprehend at all how mad she drove him? Just her nearness, the scent of her hair as he leaned in to whisper to her, had his mind and libido racing in circles he wasn’t sure his body could keep up with, if ever given the chance.
Stepping outside into the lush gardens, breathing in the September mountain air, cleansed his senses of her for now. Max would take the respite where available, since he had to go back into the theater and sit with her again after lunch.
He could always take the seat on the other side of Dean Clark, but such an action would seem suspicious, as though being in Lu’s presence made him uncomfortable. Which was true, but he did not want to give her the satisfaction.
He turned into the small maze standing at the center of the garden, thinking it would be a distraction to his lurid thoughts. As he wound his way in, voices rose over the hedge wall. A man—Dean Clark—and a woman. Dorie, the dean’s secretary.
“Come now, Dorie. You don’t say? Lucinda Danvers has a soft spot for Max Fischer? I would never guess. In the two times before today I’d seen them together, she appeared to hold nothing but contempt for him. Today, yes, she did seem a little softer towards him, but in all the years I’ve known her, she’s never loved anyone. Is this really true?”
Max stopped short, nearly tripping over his own feet. How could this be? Did she have the same soft spot for him as he developed for her after their dance? Thoughts of her assailed him relentlessly: her hair, the bright eyes, the tall, lithe body she hid under her proper clothes…But she thought of him that way, too.
Dorie giggled. “Right, sir. It’s hard to believe, but last night after dinner she kept going on, ‘Max this, and Professor Fischer that.’ She seems quite smitten. Betty says she talks of him often in their class planning sessions, as well.”
The older man exhaled heavily. “Does he know?”
“Oh, no sir!” Dorie chirped. “She would be so embarrassed if he caught word.”
“I will not tell, then. Although I’m not sure how to feel about this. He seems a right enough man, or else I wouldn’t have hired him. Good reference from someone I trust and all. I support this. If Max Fischer wants to court Miss Danvers, then so be it. But he best understand I will not have her reputation tattered, as she has worked diligently in the last decade to overcome her troubles.”
Troubles?
Lucinda Danvers seemed so proper—aside from the secret flask—Max could not fathom what troubles she might have had ten years ago.
Never mind that, though. Did she truly have feelings for him, despite her protests and the appearance of anger?
This was all too much like the play, Max thought, but how would Dorie and the dean know he would be in the maze and position themselves to be within his earshot with this news? If it was not true, and was indeed a ruse, they were masterful at the game.
Truthfully, however, Max did not want this to be a game.
He wanted to court Lu.
He wanted to pull off her clothes and kiss every inch of her soft, pale skin.
But he also wanted a respectable relationship with her.
How did this happen?
“Is lunch delivered, Dorie? I’m quite famished and must eat before I go back in for more auditions. I do enjoy the work but it makes for a long day.”
“Yes, yes sir. Delivered to the conference room and being laid out as we speak.’
