with his teeth. His body pulled tight in response.
“I’ll wait outside for the car to arrive.” She began to rise, but he grabbed her hand.
“It won’t be here for another few minutes and it’s cold outside. Sit down.” He grinned. “I won’t bite, I promise.”
She didn’t look as if she believed him, but she sat back down and folded her hands demurely in her lap, eyes cast down. He had no illusions it was out of any kind of meekness. He’d seen enough to know Teresa Adler was neither meek nor shy.
She simply didn’t want to look at him. Why? Other women had no problem looking. And looking. Could it be because of the colour of his skin, or because she thought he was beneath her? It couldn’t be because she wasn’t interested. That blush said she was very interested.
He wanted to reach out again and touch her, but resisted the temptation. It was growing obvious she didn’t like to be touched. Yet that silky skin, the colour of fresh cream and just as soft, begged him to touch so much he ached with the desire.
He emptied his cup and put his shades on. “Let’s go.”
But walking was an effort.
Christian’s car was a luxury grey sedan with darkened windows. She’d expected a stretch limousine, something showy and pretentious, so the understated elegance came as something of a surprise.
The driver stood waiting beside the car. He looked military, with his buzz cut and sharp eyes, though he wore an unremarkable suit beneath his massive overcoat. He held the door open for Christian, who climbed wordlessly into the back and turned to Tessa with a quick smile. “He’ll be much friendlier once he’s woken up. I’m Frank.”
As they pulled off, she called Robbie on her mobile. “We’re on our way. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes, morning rush-hour traffic permitting.”
“Text me when you’re two minutes away,” Robbie said.
This was ridiculous. Stefan didn’t buzz his office with two-minute warnings. These film people really were angsty.
They drove in silence. She was sure Christian dozed behind his dark glasses. If she hadn’t seen firsthand how much of a morning person he wasn’t, she’d have thought it to be a pretentious Hollywood thing.
Except he hadn’t looked sleepy in that moment he’d touched her. He’d looked as if he’d been stung, those mischievous blue eyes alight with interest. There’d been a startled intensity in his eyes, a focused look that unnerved her even more than his touch had.
It didn’t bother her that he found her attractive. Many men openly admired her. What bothered her was the nervous flip her stomach had made.
She paged through the morning papers that had been provided ready in the car, and when they were mere minutes away from the palace she texted Robbie.
A military guard opened the massive palace gates as they approached, and Frank eased the car around the palace building to the gravelled forecourt, where at least half a dozen trucks were parked, their contents spilled out around them. Several large motor homes stood in a cordoned-off area to one side, and it was here they headed.
Frank pulled the car up beside the largest trailer before jumping out to survey the area. He opened the door for Tessa and she stepped out, Christian a pace behind, rubbing his bleary eyes as if he’d only just woken.
Robbie already awaited them, stamping his feet to keep warm in the icy wind that whipped about them. Of course the balmy weather had been too good to last. Tessa stuck her hands deep into her coat pockets. She’d left her gloves in her car back at the hotel.
“Good morning, Mr Taylor,” Robbie said with a cheerful smile.
Christian grunted a return greeting as he climbed the stairs to the trailer. Behind his back Robbie rolled his eyes, and Tessa suppressed an uncharacteristic giggle. Robbie was a fresh-faced young Englishman, easy-going and easy to like.
“His costume stylist is already in there, then he’ll be in the make-up trailer for quite a while. Come with me and take a look at the set.”
Tessa cast a look towards the open trailer door. Christian had disappeared inside without a word so she shrugged and followed Robbie, who was already busy on his radio, letting the rest of his team know that “the eagle had landed”. She rolled her own eyes.
Robbie walked her through the lot, pointing out the make-up trailer, the mobile production office, the portable toilets for the crew and non-featured cast. Then he led her through a side door and into the palace.
Organised chaos, that was the impression that struck her first.
She’d danced in the palace ballroom many times, especially when Archduke Christian, Fredrik’s father, had been alive. Those parties had been legend, yet they’d never matched the spectacle before her now.
If she ignored the massive film lights scattered around the room, the great thick cables running along the walls, or the corrugated cardboard taped around the door frames to protect them from damage; she might have stepped back in time.
The ballroom, with its high ceiling decorated with an intricate frieze, thronged with people, all in magnificent period costume. Everywhere she looked there were massive hooped skirts, tall feathered head-dresses, and every colour of the rainbow. And that was just the women. There was more satin and silk on display than at a wedding fair.
Film crew darted between the extras, fiddling with equipment, arranging impressive displays of imported flowers, adjusting the performers’ clothes, or moving people like chess pieces on a board, their modern clothing incongruous amongst the period costumes.
Tessa wondered what time the crew must have started work to get this all ready on time, especially the elaborate wigs and make-up.
Robbie introduced her to a few people, then left her on one side of the ballroom as he was called away. She hovered by a wall, trying to keep out of everyone’s way.
Most of the activity centred around the camera, mounted on tracks that ran half the length of the room. She watched, intrigued, as rehearsals began.
Dancers swirled around the camera, parting as a young man of Christian’s height and colouring, dressed in sombre dark clothes, made his entrance and strode across the floor towards the camera, a stark figure amidst all the bright colour and movement.
Again and again they repeated the move, with Christian’s stand-in blocking his moves. The young man may have borne him a more than passing resemblance, but he didn’t move with Christian’s lightness, or have his mesmerising appeal. She had no problem dragging her gaze away from him.
“Hello, chica!”
She looked around to see Lee and smiled. He leaned up against the wall beside her. “I was hoping to catch you here. I had a few ideas after our dinner last night and started some sketches. Want to see them?”
“Of course.”
“All good things come to those who wait.” He smirked. “I’ll show them to you over lunch.”
She smacked him on the arm. “Tease.”
“Speaking
