Read Online Her Leading Man by Alice Duncan - Free Book Online

to
hear her answer to his question, no matter how horrified he was at his own prurient
urges, he kept looking at her.
    “ I think motion pictures are basically all
pretty silly, Martin. I’m very glad to know this one won’t be as silly as most
of them.”
    “ Heh!”
Gran said.
    Martin darted a peek at her, but didn’t let his gaze linger. The blasted
old woman was enjoying her granddaughter’s outrageousness almost as much
as she
enjoyed her own. Martin didn’t aim to add his approval to theirs.
    Affronted and indignant, he said, “I don’t agree wi th you, Christina. And I hope this picture will help to change your
mind.”
    He heard her sigh from where he sat. “I’m sorry, Martin. I didn’t
mean to insult you.”
    “ You didn’t insult me;” he lied. “But you
must know that I love the industry , which
Phin and I have helped to build.” Recalling the swarm of recent events surrounding
the picture industry that had started earning salacious headlines across the
country, and
although it pained him to say so, he added, “I understand how some people might look upon pictures as less than a
stellar means of mass education and entertainment.”
    Which he resented, blast it. The pictures were a medium that held out
incredible promise to the world. Through moving pictures, people could get
to know each
other. They could learn about each other’s cultures, and discover
that, no matter how different they appeared on the surface, they were all
human underneath. And every man and woman on earth possessed the same needs and
desires as every other man and woman.
    At least that’s what Martin had always believed. He’d held on to a
perhaps foolish confidence that pictures would spread the word as he
perceived it . He’d even allowed himself to envision
world peace and prosperity once or twice, although he knew it would take more than
motion pictures to achieve those objectives.
    So far , the pictures had n’ t
delivered on Martin’s hopes. He hated to acknowledge the bitter
truth, When
Christina’s hand touched his knee, he jerked his head up, not having expected
it. Every blasted time he came into contact with Christina Mayhew, his body and mind
experienced the oddest sensations. Now, for instance, all of his worries had
seemed to fly
right out of his body the moment her hand rested on him.
    “ I’m sorry, Martin.” Christina sounded
sincere. “I understand your great love for motion pictures. And I agree with you.
It’s a shame everyone who works in the industry doesn’t share your
integrity and vision.”
    George nodded and murmured something unintelligible but
conciliatory.
    Behind them, Grandmother Mayhew snorted. Christina shot her a withering glance ,
which slid off the old woman as if she’d been greased. Nothing, obviously, withered
that old coot.
    Christina continued. “The pictures are a powerful medium and a
phenomenal means of communication. If everyone believed as you do, the world
would be a
better place.
I respect your appreciation for the power of motion pictures and am
only sorry
more people
don’t.”
    Martin was sorry about it, too. Darned sorry. He sighed heavily.
“Yes, well, I guess there’s still hope.”
    “ Yes.
I’m sure of it.”
    Wonderful. Now
she was humoring him.
    George cleared his throat, and Christina appeared to be as startled as
Martin. Good God, he’d forgotten George was even there.
    “ Well,” the set designer said, “would you like
me to
explain this to you? You and Miss Mayhew can go over the shooting schedule
and plot out the action scenes, using the drawing here. Then I’ll know
how to go
about setting it all up. Which order to build the set, and all that. You
understand.”
    “ Right,” said Martin, trying to get down to
business and forget the strange effect Christina had
on him.
    “How long is it going to take to put the
whole set
together, George?”
    As he gazed at Christina, who’d lifted her head to peer at George, Martin realized he’d be