Free Her Red-Carpet Romance by Marie Ferrarella Page B

she responded—only to have Lukkas shoot her a look that stopped her in her tracks.
    Instantly she realized her mistake. “No, Lukkas,” she corrected herself.
    â€œHope you learn the routine faster than you learned that,” he commented.
    â€œOld habits are hard to unlearn,” she told him.
    â€œDidn’t ask for an explanation, Hanna,” Lukkas pointed out. “Just make it happen, starting now.”
    She inclined her head rather than open her mouth. Just for now, Yohanna thought that it might be better that way.
    Â 

Chapter Six
    I f Dirk Montelle had been cast in a movie, Yohanna thought as she quickly followed Lukkas and drew closer to the director, he would have played a college professor. Montelle looked the type—almost stereotypically so—right down to the pipe that she’d read was never out of arm’s reach.
    For the most part, the man didn’t smoke it as much as he kept it around to chew on its stem. According to an interview he’d given recently, it helped him cope with the countless tensions and crises that went along with being in the business of making fantasies come to life for a brief amount of time.
    The longtime veteran director paused for a moment, cutting short his exchange with the person he was talking to, to greet Lukkas. When his steel-gray eyes shifted over to look at her, the affable director grinned broadly and then shook his head, not in a negative way but in apparent admiration.
    â€œSo I see you already heard,” the director said to Lukkas.
    â€œHeard what?” Lukkas asked as he shook the man’s hand.
    â€œAbout our little crisis. She certainly is pretty enough,” the man said appreciatively, taking full measure of Yohanna. “If she can sound believable saying her lines, she’s in.” Appearing exceedingly satisfied, the director put his hand out to her and introduced himself. “Dirk Montelle. And you are...?”
    â€œVery confused,” Yohanna confessed as she glanced from the enthusiastic director to her equally confused-looking boss.
    At least it wasn’t just her, Yohanna thought with relief.
    â€œMontelle, what the hell are you talking about?” Lukkas asked.
    The director’s expressive eyebrows rose high on his wide forehead. “You mean you didn’t bring her here to replace Monica Elliott?” he asked, referring to the actress playing one of the more prominent supporting roles.
    â€œWhy would I want to replace Monica Elliott? The woman’s got the mouth of a sailor on shore leave after six months at sea, but the audiences still seem to love her. All her recent films have been hits,” Lukkas reminded the director.
    Although, in his personal opinion, the egotistical actress was skating on very thin ice and living on borrowed time. Any day now, he expected to see a news bulletin that the twenty-seven-year-old actress had crashed and burned.
    â€œYeah, well, they’re going to have to love someone else,” Dirk told him. “She walked out yesterday, saying that she decided to honor the commitment she’d broken to be in our movie.”
    Lukkas looked at his director. “Monica had another commitment?” This was the first he was hearing about there being another movie, much less that the high-living actress had broken a contract to film his movie instead.
    Dirk nodded. “She said that the first contract predates the one she has with us by fifteen days.”
    â€œAnd what made her suddenly change her mind to switch back?” Lukkas asked.
    Dirk raised his wide shoulders in an exaggerated shrug then let them fall almost dramatically. “With her, who knows? Somebody said something about Monica being angry that Angelica Fargo had more lines than she did.” The director sighed. “Bottom line is that we’re down the second lead.” He turned toward Yohanna. “Sure you don’t want to give it a whirl?” he asked,