Free Altered Images by Maxine Barry Page A

right. The part I’m reading for is a cockney villain, in love with a character who’s blind. She’s a good, salt-of-the-earth type, who’s having nothing to do with him. But I don’t suppose that’ll last for long,’ he finished, grinning.
    Annis managed a tight smile. ‘No, I suppose not. Just so long as the ratings say it’s a popular shoreline.’
    She pushed her plate away, her appetite suddenly gone. She knew she shouldn’t begrudge another actor who was moving up the ladder, except that she did, dammit! She supposed she was old-fashioned, but she didn’t like the idea of a man using a woman to get ahead in life. It stuck in her throat.
    Like his damned crayfish was doing. She picked up her glass of wine and walked with it through to the living room, leaving him without so much as a word. Reeve watched her go, his face a picture of surprise.
    Dammit, now what had he said? She was like mercury—as changeable as a barometer in the Caribbean during the hurricane season. He stacked the dishes in the sink and wandered back into the living room with his own glass. She was standing at the window, looking out over the towering horse chestnut trees, her face pensive. He could see the tension in her shoulder blades.
    He watched her, unsure what to say next. It was a new sensation to him—usually when he was around women, he knew exactly what to say and do.
    â€˜We should be getting back,’ he murmured at last, noticing the way her hair swung just to the top of her arms as she turned and glanced at him. Her face, he noticed with something approaching real despair, was tight and pinched. ‘Annis, what’s the matter?’ he asked, his voice a mixture of frustrated exasperation and mocking anger. ‘You’ve got more prickles than a hedgehog.’
    Annis shrugged. ‘There’s nothing the matter,’ she said loftily. And patently insincerely. ‘Besides, why should it bother you if there were?’
    Reeve grunted. ‘True,’ he said sharply. And yet, it did matter. And he had the nasty feeling that what she thought was going to matter to him more and more as time went on.
    â€˜I just hope you don’t do anything stupid at the audition for the soap, that’s all’ Annis said flatly. ‘But then, men like you don’t make mistakes, do they? I’m sure you’ll be perfect.’ And she was sure too.
    Reeve blinked, surprised by the unfairness of her attack. Then he understood. ‘You think Gale will give me the part just because we’re supposed to be sleeping together, don’t you?’ he asked bitterly.
    Annis’s tawny eyes darkened and she shook her head. ‘It’s none of my business,’ she said, her voice unusually meek. For, suddenly, she realised that it wasn’t her business. What Reeve Morgan did with his life was nothing to do with her. But it should be, a forlorn little voice piped up from somewhere deep inside her. Annis paled, as she was forced to listen to what she was telling herself. Oh dammit, no! The last thing she needed to do was fall in love with Reeve Morgan.
    â€˜No, you’re quite right,’ Reeve said heavily. ‘It isn’t anyone’s business but our own.’
    In truth, he and Gale were not lovers. Gale was, in fact, gay—but she didn’t mind that others thought they were involved. He’d have to tell her to make it clear, from now on, that they were just friends.
    And when Reeve listened to what he was telling himself, he wondered how it was possible for a woman to become the most important thing in his life, practically overnight.
    He stared at Annis’s pinched and unhappy face and shook his head.
    Face it, Reeve, he thought grimly. You’re in trouble.
    Annis turned away. ‘We’d better go,’ she said flatly.
    It was hard to say which of them felt the more miserable as they made their way back to