page15 (1/2)

She got out of the tub and dried herself off, then slipped on one of the oversize cotton T-shirts she preferred instead of the silky, slinky, diaphanous gowns the public i pink-and-white kitten curled up on the front, and it came down to her knees She crawled into the co alarm clock and tried to force herself to sleep Tried to block out the eerie sensation that Andre was calling to her

Come to me, Juliana Come to me

She re hione to hiht she would reain Would never sleep with hiain

Would never let hiain

Dirk caet into character as she waited for the set to be ready Both of them were already in costume, their colored contact lenses in place Thetheer History had it that Andre Alexei had been twenty and Eleonora had been seventeen when they edded Dirk had needed to erase a few years of living fro in this scene Juliana had no wrinkles, not yet, but camera close-ups could be brutal Her face still looked like her when theShe had looked just that innocent, just that eager yet untouched when

“Are you okay?” Dirk asked her quietly “You lookhaunted Yeah, I know your character’s about to be kidnapped, but you’re not supposed to know that ahead of ti night”

Juliana shot hi in the bleak expression on his face “You don’t look ?”

He shook his head “Nothing Nothing’s wrong” But his voice lacked conviction

“Don’t lie toa hand on his ar, I know it It’s Bree, isn’t it? Please tell me”

Dirk hesitated, then took a deep breath “You’re the first to know—I’ the business”

“What?” She was shocked

“At least for the foreseeable future I almost backed out of this picture, but Bree wouldn’t let endary love story, of course Who hasn’t? She wanted to come here to experience it firsthand, despite”