Free LovePlay by Diana Palmer Page B

feeling well?” he asked mockingly. “I’ll call the proud papa. I’m sure he’ll be only too anxious to look after you. Break a leg tonight, Bett. I want you on that stage if you have to drag yourself onto it, understand?”
    He walked out, slamming the door after him. She thought of every foul name she’d ever heard and used them all, with her head between her knees, until the nausea passed. She was devastated, but she wasn’t going to let that animal know it. She’d go on, all right. And she’d give the performance of her life!
    She got to her feet just as David walked in the door, looking pale and ragged around the edges.
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    “I should be asking you,” she replied, and inside she was numb and proud. “Did he hit you?”
    “No. But he might as well have. My God, is he blind?” he asked curtly. “Why won’t he accept the baby?”
    “He doesn’t want to be a father, of course,” she returned smoothly. She couldn’t tell him the truth, she didn’t have the right. She took a deep breath. “David, I’m sorry.”
    “You have nothing to be sorry about, unless it’s believing that fourteen karat s.o.b.,” he said. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll take care of you. We’ll get married.”
    “No.” She walked close and kissed his cheek gently. “You’re like a big brother to me, and if you’ll think about it, that’s not a bad thing to be. I love him, David. I’ve never stopped and I never will, even though right now I could strangle him.”
    He laughed softly. “Want me to lend you a hand?”
    She leaned against him. “No, never mind. But thank you, all the same.” She closed her eyes. “David, thank you for caring.”
    He put his arms around her and held her gently. “I care a lot more than you want me to,” he said softly. “Don’t get upset. It’s not good for the baby.”
    “Yes, I know.” She nuzzled her face into his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Really I will.”
    “How cozy,” came a harsh voice from the door.
    They both turned to see Cul standing there, glaring. “You’re being called. Let’s get on stage, shall we? If you can tear yourselves away from each other long enough. It’s curtain time.”
    “Shall we, darling?” she asked David, deliberately adding to Cul’s already vivid picture.
    “By all means.” He took her arm and escorted her out the door.
    She walked onto the stage at her cue with a presence she hadn’t felt since she’d played Elizabeth the First. Her regal carriage, her confidence, radiated like fox fire. By the time she’d finished her monologue in the opening act, there was the silence of the tomb in the theater. But as the curtain went down on act 1, the applause burst like a bomb.
    David hugged her ecstatically. “My God, what a performance!” he burst out backstage. “You’re going to get the Tony for this!”
    “Some performance.” She laughed halfheartedly. “I’m a pregnant lady playing a pregnant lady. That isn’t even acting.”
    “What you’re doing out there is,” he corrected, his dark eyes sympathetic. “I’m so proud of you, Bett.”
    She beamed. “Thanks. The show must go on, and all that,” she added, although her heart was breaking into pieces inside.
    “Doing okay?” Dick called, rubbing his bald head.
    “Fine!” she called back, and he nodded and turned away.
    She glared up at David. “Does he…?”
    He grimaced. “Well, I was afraid he might push too hard, and that you’d let him. I know it wasn’t my place, but dammit, somebody’s got to look after you. Cul won’t, damn him!”
    She could have seconded that, but it made her feel odd, to have Dick know. Inevitably he’d let it slip, and then everybody would know. But she couldn’t quit the play now. She needed the money too much.
    “David, you’re sweet, but…”
    “Yes, I know.” He bent and kissed her cheek. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    He rushed off as she let the dresser put her quickly into a different,