Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan Read Free Book Online

remember he only has one eyebrow. I always meant to ask you if it goes all the way round his head.’
    Jazz could hear her sister smile. ‘See you tonight,’ she said.
    Jazz put the phone down and started her piece. Title -Taking Control. She finished it forty minutes later, and then read the dailies.

Chapter 4
    The doorbell rang at number 5, Winchester Road, Hampstead and Sara Hayes took a last look at herself in the gilt-framed mirror.
    The doorbell rang again and she went to answer the front door. She smiled at her welcome guests.
    ‘Hello, popsie,’ she said to Maxine and the two gave each other air kisses. The affection bordering on gratitude that Sara felt for her new confidante, Maxine, was as much to do with the fact that she was married, as it was to do with the fact that she was unquestionably less attractive than her. Next to Maxine, Sara looked even more stunning. Happily, Maxine’s fondness for Sara was based on her friend’s amazing good looks and daring single lifestyle. Next to Sara, Maxine didn’t feel so married and dull. Nothing bonds some women together more than their differences.
    ‘Charles!’ exclaimed Sara as warmly as she could to Maxine’s husband, whose shoulders sloped at such
    a sharp angle she wondered that his blazer didn’t fall off.
    Expensive wine was handed over and surprised delight expressed. Then they all went into the lounge, where the lights “were dimmed and some carefully selected dinner jazz was playing quietly in the background.
    ‘Are Harry and Jack here yet?’ asked Maxine, as she sank into the soft, deep plum-coloured sofas and looked round appreciatively at the large room.
    ‘No, they’re keeping us waiting, naughty boys,’ winked Sara affectionately and poured out two gin and tonics.
    She couldn’t help but be excited. It had been two weeks since the audition and Harry -was bound to reveal “what parts he had given her and Maxine. She was on tenterhooks to know. She was in danger
    of being typecast as a bitch, which as every actor knows, is good for the short term, but if you had real ambitions, like Sara, it had to stop. This would be a golden opportunity for her to be seen to work for charity, and it could also be the chance she’d been waiting for, for over ten years, to finally work with Harry Noble. She had been desperate to work with him ever since her brother Jack had made friends
    with him at RADA.
    Maxine cared only slightly less passionately about getting a part in the play. She used to be an actress too before she had become big in celebrity fundraising. Her little black book now had more names in it than Who’s Who. But it would be nice for her to get a bit of exposure again, just like the good old days, when she and Charles Caruthers-Brown had met.
    Charles had first seen Maxine in the chorus of a West End production of Forty-Second Street, and he’d been so bowled over by her that he’d sent her an enormous bouquet of red roses backstage that night. After that, he had come and seen every performance for a fortnight until she had agreed to go out with him.
    It certainly wasn’t love at first sight for Maxine. Charles courted her very cautiously, and eventually, after seven months, a holiday in the Bahamas on his private yacht and a diamond necklace with matching tiara, she fell head over heels in love with him. After they married, her career had taken a back seat while they did up their London home and their country home, and she’d been only too happy to get involved in some high-profile fundraising “work. She “was to be involved in the fundraising aspect of this production too, but had auditioned with the hope of getting back into the limelight — and of adding the great Harry Noble to her little black book. In fact, she couldn’t quite believe that she was going to be in the same room as him tonight. Neither could Charles. Even he was a bit tense.
    The doorbell rang again and the men arrived.
    Everyone stood up and said, ‘Ah,’