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Zax showed up on the set nearly every day, but Juliana put that down to the meticulous way he did his job and not a particular interest in her As head of security for the king, he was responsible for—a’s Ranso’s safety in any way They conversed sometimes when she had a few minutes between scenes—re memories of Juliana’s father, who’d been the US Ah Zax renantly of Andre in the way he looked, the way he spoke, even his h she could tell he appreciated the beautiful woman she’d become, there was no spark and he never went beyond the line He never said anything to which Juliana could take exception

Niko also showed up on the set frequently over the next feeeks, and his presence watching the fil didn’t bother Juliana one iota, any et her alone cause her anything but a line of men who pursued her because of who and what she was—a status symbol She’d dated ht she was an easy mark Not as many dates as the tabloids had trumpeted to the world, but a few Like those Hollywood Lotharios, Niko would soon learn Juliana was no man’s conquest, and eventually he’d lose interest

The problem was, Andre occasionally visited the set, too, much to Juliana’s dismay Every scene was doubly hard to play with him there, and she never knehen he would show up She had a well-deserved reputation with directors for being the consummate professional, able to doelse she’d learned from Dirk

But when Andre was there it was nearly impossible to act naturally And ize to the director and her fellow actors for some stupid screwup on her part, especially her scenes with Dirk She told herself to ignore Andre Told herself he was nothing to her now, no more than any casual acquaintance, so she shouldn’t let hiht of her, that the respect of her director, Dirk, the rest of the cast and the creas all she cared about But she was lying to herself, and she knew it

She was dreading the two inti-night scene, where Eleonora and her husband consu vows just hours before Andre Alexei was almost slain and Eleonora was kidnapped; and the reunionscene years later, after the king finally ransoared his kingdo’s ransoht them home to Zakharto him

The scene where Eleonora bravely confessed everything to her husband and offered to enter a convent to hide her shame and his—an offer Andre Alexei had adaently, so tenderly, she was finally able to respond to his love she’d endured in captivity

That scene renantly of a scene between Terry O’Dare and Tessa in Jetsa to her when he’d first read the King’s Ransooing to play it But that made it incredibly intimate, more than just the words in the script It was supposed to a closed set, with only the bare minimum cast and crew necessary to film both scenes But who on the set would have the nerve to tell the king of Zakhar he couldn’t be there?

Andre knew his presence on the set was having a negative effect on Juliana’s abilities as an actress, and it bothered hin she wasn’t as indifferent to hiht before the scheduled love scenes he knew he couldn’t be there He couldn’t watch Dirk DeWinter and Juliana le, fully and partially clothed He knew the scenes would be tastefully done—Juliana was never fully naked in any of her films And he kneasn’t real, that they wereand queen of Zakhar He still couldn’t watch it

I should have ordered the screenwriter to rerily But in his heart he knew the scenes were necessary The audiences had to see the love scenes, both before and after their long separation, in order to understand the eternal love that bound the two together even through years apart They were actually beautifully written—the screenwriter had outdone herself