The Spiral Path by Mary Jo Putney Read Free Book Online Page A

best
thing."
    "Compliments
will get you ... somewhere." Wanting to compliment her work in return, he
said, "Your dialogue is excellent. Very incisive and British. Often
witty."
    "Most
of the dialogue came from the book. I'm no writer. I just pulled the best bits
out of the novel."
    "There's
an art to adapting a novel into a script. Give yourself credit."
    "That's
hard when I remember how insane I am to tackle a project this large and
expensive with so little directing experience. Did I mention that I insisted on
final cut?"
    He
rolled his eyes. "No wonder you needed a name brand actor to get
financing. Why didn't you try to produce the movie in a smaller way, or for
television? It would have been a lot easier."
    "I
wanted to make the best possible movie, and reach the largest possible
audience. There's great, creative work being done for cable, but the budgets
are usually tight and the audiences smaller. Doing it this way may be hard, but
if it works, the result will come much closer to my vision of how the story
should be made."
    Gloomily
he addressed the wall, which was covered with a mixture of paintings, framed
prints, and flattish objects like antique rug beaters. "Why did I have to
choose a profession where I'm surrounded by obsessed creative types?"
    "Because
you're one of us, of course, even when you try to pretend that acting is just
another business. Movies are more than that. They spin dreams and hopes and
fears. So do the actors who make them, which is why you're recognized all over
the world."
    "The
downside of success." There were actors who enjoyed having women plead for
sex, but Kenzie wasn't one of them. He loathed knowing he was a fantasy sex
object for God knew how many women. And men.
    He
said good-bye and left, thinking how he'd arrived at her house determined to
withdraw from her project. Yet here he was, still committed.
    What
the devil was it about Rainey that always made hash of his intentions?

    She dropped into a
chair, shaking, after Kenzie left. For a terrible few minutes, she'd thought
her movie was doomed. She didn't understand his reaction to the script, but his
distress was quite genuine. Odd. He was one of the least temperamental actors
she'd ever met, saving his emotions for the camera. But John Randall had gotten
under his skin badly.
    Though
she'd been able to talk him into continuing with the project, she could see
that she'd have to chivvy him along every step of the way. Just what a new
director needed--a skittish lead who was in virtually every scene of the movie.
    She'd
take it one day at a time. Kenzie might have to be encouraged or threatened to
keep going, but she'd get a great performance out of him if it killed them
both.

    Needing to burn off
some of his restless frustration, Kenzie spun his car eastward out of the
driveway to head deeper into the hills. Damn Rainey. Her creative passions and
her willingness to put herself on the line for what she believed in still
entranced him.
    His
response to her celluloid image was pallid compared to the impact when they met
at her audition for the Pimpernel. Acting with Rainey was like playing
tennis with a champion who anticipated his every move and returned each shot
with something extra. They brought out the best in each other, both
professionally and personally. With her, he was someone he'd never been before.
A man who was almost free.
    He
thought back to the evening they'd spent together after she won the role. The
excitement of discovering a uniquely compatible spirit had been mellowed by a
sense of familiarity, as if they'd known each other for a dozen lifetimes.
Though he'd been alarmed by the way she slid past his defenses as if they
didn't exist, that night he was almost reckless enough not to care.
    He'd
deliberately avoided seeing her again before production started. The next time
they met was in the wardrobe department when they were being fitted for Pimpernel costumes. Garbed as Sir Percy, he wandered into the room where the