Free Judith McNaught by Perfect Page B

Carmel to finalize a joint business venture that Matt Farrell was putting together. Late that night, he went looking for something to
    read and picked up a novel left there by an unknown houseguest. Long before he finished it at dawn, Zack knew Destiny was going to be his next picture.
    The following day, he walked into the president's office at Empire Studios and handed the book to him.
    "Here's my next picture, Irwin."
    Irwin Levine read the blurb on the book jacket, leaned back in his tall suede chair, and sighed. "This 31
    looks like heavy drama, Zack. I'd like to see you do something lighthearted for a change." Abruptly, he swung his chair around, picked up a script from the glass table behind his glass desk, and handed it to Zack with an eager smile. "Somebody passed me this script under the table. It's already got a buyer, but
    if you say you'll do it, we could try to negotiate for it. It's a romance. Good stuff. Fun. Nobody's made a film like this in decades, and I think the public's hungry for it. You're perfect for the lead and you could
    play the part in your sleep, it's so easy. Making it will be cheap and quick, but I've got a hunch the picture's going to be a runaway hit."
    The script, which Zack agreed to read that night, turned out to be a fluffy, predictable romance where true love changes the life of a cynical tycoon who then lives happily ever after with his beautiful new wife.
    Zack hated it, partly because the lead role would require no effort from him at all, but mostly because it
    reminded him of the foolish fantasies about love and marriage he'd quietly cherished as a youth and acted on as an adult. The next morning, he tossed the script for Pretty Woman on Levine's desk and said disdainfully, "I'm not a good enough actor or a good enough director to make this tripe seem believable."
    "You've become a cynic," Levine said, shaking his head and looking aggrieved. "I've known you since you were a kid, and I love you like my own son. I'm disappointed to see it happening to you. Very disappointed."
    Zack responded to that sentimental crap by lifting his brows and saying absolutely nothing; Levine loved
    him like his own bank account, and he was disappointed because Zack wouldn't agree to do Pretty
    Woman. Levine didn't try to force the issue, however. The last time he'd done that, Zack had walked out
    of his office and made a movie for Paramount and another one for Universal.
    "You were never a starry-eyed teenager," he said instead. "You were tough and realistic, but you weren't a total skeptic either. Ever since you married Rachel, you've been changing." He saw the flare of annoyance in Zack's face and hastily said, "Okay, enough sentimentality. Let's talk business. When do you want to start shooting Destiny, and who do you have in mind for the main roles?"

    "I'll play the husband, and I'd like Diana Copeland for the wife if she's available. Rachel would be excellent for the mistress. Emily McDaniels for the daughter."
    Levine's brows shot up. "Rachel's going to have one of her raging tantrums over getting the lesser female role."
    "I'll deal with Rachel," Zack said. Rachel and Levine detested each other, although neither of them ever gave a reason. Zack suspected they'd had an affair years ago that ended badly.
    "If you haven't already made up your mind about the part of the drifter," Levine continued after a hesitant pause, "I have a favor to ask. Would you consider Tony Austin for it?"
    "Not a chance," Zack said flatly. Austin's addictions to booze and drugs were as legendary as his other vices, and he was totally unreliable. His last accidental overdose at the beginning of a picture he was
    making for Empire had landed him in a rehab center for six months, and another actor had to fill his role.

    "Tony wants to go to work and prove himself,"
    Levine continued patiently. "His doctors assure me he's
    kicked his habits and he's a new man. I'm inclined to believe them this time."
    Zack shrugged. "What's