Her Leading Man by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online Page A

determination, and intelligence in
her.
    What an astonishing phenomenon. He’d never
experienced such a plethora of physical and emotional sensations in the
presence of another person.
    After he didn’t know how long, he dragged his gaze away from hers.
He felt the separation, too, like a jolt—and not a pleasant one.
    His response to Christina troubled Martin—in good way. He’d
have to think about it later, when he had time. Right now, he had to get this
ridiculous deliveryman, who’d finally managed to pry his
mangled hat
out of the camel’s mouth, off his hands.
    “ Here’s the receipt, mister. I’ve written a note
to Mr.
Beattie on it, but if you’d please tell him what happened, I’d
appreciate it.”
    As he snatched the note from Martin’s hand, the deliveryman didn’t
look as if he’d be pleased to do anything at all for Martin. He huffed to
his truck, cranked the engine to life, hopped in the cab, and putted off,
presumably to fetch his elephants, all without saying another
word.
    “ I doubt that Mr. Beattie will get your
message, Martin,” Christina murmured, waving dust churned up by the truck’s
tires from in front of her face.
    Martin, doing likewise, stared after the truck and sighed. “No, I
expect you’re right.”
    “ The man’s an ass,” declared Mrs. Mayhew.
At p resent she had her cane propped against her
shoulder.
    Martin, eyeing the cane, asked, “Do you ever use that thing to walk
with, Mrs. Mayhew? Or do you just carry it around to hit people
with?”
    Christina shot him a look of surprise that quickly transformed into one
of appreciation, and she grinned. “Yes, Gran. Tell Mr. Tafft why you carry
that cane.”
    “ I need it because I have the lumbago, you
young whippersnapper,” Gran growled.
    But Martin could have sworn he saw those
bird - of-prey eyes twinkling at him. “Lumbago, eh? I
hope if I
ever get lumbago, I’ll stay as spry as you.”
    This time the cold lady chuckled. Martin could scarcely believe his
ears. When he glanced at Christina, he found himself the recipient of such
a warm look,
he went light-headed for a minute. His reaction to Christina Mayhew was
exceptionally unusual. Martin wasn’t sure if it meant anything, or
if he was
only tired from overwork.
    The animal trainers had clipped the leads onto the camels’ bridles and
now led the animals away.
    “ Where
will they stay?”
    Martin had allowed his mind to wander after the camels, but
Christina’s question jerked it back again. “Where? Oh, we had a stable of sorts
built behind the resort. It’s sturdy, too. If the Desert Palm
ever decides
to offer horseback riding to its guests, I expect they’ll be able to
use it.”
    A lovely eyebrow arched over an equally lovely eye. “Oh? T hat’s rather nice of Peerless, isn’t it? I mean, did you get a
discount from the resort because you built them a permanent
stables?”
    An actor had never asked him such a pertinent question before, and
Martin was impressed. Except for Brenda Fitzpatrick, who didn’t count because
of her family
circumstances, most actors couldn’t spare a thought for anything but their own
careers and looks. He had to adjust his thought processes in
order to take
in her question, then he began answering only tentatively, sure her attention
span wasn’t
long enough
to last through an explanation.
    Christina surprised him Not only did she continue to gaze at him with
interest, as if awaiting an answer, but when he spoke, she listened. Curiouser
and c uriouser, he thought as he talked.
    “ Actually, yes, we cut a pretty good deal with
the Desert Palm. The resort is new, as you might have gathered, and the
only reason it’s here at all is because they’ve recently discovered they can
grow date palms out here. The owners of the resort took a risk by planting several
acres with date palms. Then, because they thought they might be able to make a
little more
money if they could lure vacationers out to the desert, they started hawking