knew exactly how much faith to put in gossip circulating around the movie capital.”
“Dear me,” Clare said cheerfully. “You were in a bind! The lady to ruin your chances if you didn’t do as she said, the husband just as likely to ruin them if you did.”
“That’s about the size of it. If I hadn’t thought support of the wilderness areas in this country was worth the cost, I would have said to the devil with the whole thing.”
“So you did the next best thing,” Clare suggested. “You got out of town.”
“The reason for that goes just a bit further, though what you say is more or less true. We had completed the movie I was working on, a Hobbs production. There was a party for the cast and crew. Marvin came by for a time, then went on back to his office. Janine stayed on. Not long after her husband left, Janine complained of feeling sick and asked me to take her home. Before we had gone a half-dozen blocks, she miraculously recovered. A drink, she said, was all that she needed.”
“And you believed her,” Clare said, shaking her head in a pretense of sorrow for such credulity.
He sent her a quelling look. “We went into the club Janine pointed out, a quiet-enough place. And then along came a photographer. A simple picture would have been fine; it would have shown nothing more than two friends having a drink. But Janine’s timing was bad. She chose that moment to throw herself into my arms. When the flash went off, she started crying hysterically.” He shrugged. “I am afraid I lost my temper.”
“Yes, I know. You slugged the poor man, just a working photographer out trying to turn an honest dollar.”
“If you think so, you are more innocent than you have any right to be,” he said, a glint in his blue eyes. “But that wasn’t the end of it. When Janine stopped crying, she said she no longer cared whether her husband knew about our ‘affair’ or not; she wanted him to know about it. It’s a miracle I didn’t strangle her right there. Instead, I tried to talk to her. She jumped to the conclusion that the reason I wasn’t interested was that there was another woman. There wasn’t, but it seemed as good an explanation as any, so long as Janine was willing to accept it without being insulted. It was better than telling her to her face that she just didn’t appeal to me. I should have known better. She began to hound me for details. I stood it for three days; then it was either get away from her or say something I would regret. I came up here.”
“You can’t stay here forever,” Clare said, raking a smooth spot in the snow with the toe of her boot.
“No,” he said, “but I am hoping that by the time I have to go back to the coast, Janine will have found somebody else.”
“If you really think she will, I suppose I will have to acquit you of conceit,” Clare said, slanting him a quick glance. “What will you do if she doesn’t?”
“I’ll have to find myself another producer, won’t I? Marvin Hobbs may be the best; that doesn’t mean he is the only one.”
Clare gave a slow nod. “I … I hope you make your picture. It would be a pity if no one ever saw it.”
He looked down at her, an arrested expression in the clear blue of his eyes as he surveyed the delicate arch of her brows, the firm set of her chin, and the tender curls escaping from the clip that held back her hair. He looked away again. “I expect we had better be getting back,” he said, his voice flat.
They had a quick lunch of soup and a sandwich, sitting in stiff formality at the table. Afterward they cleared away the dishes, then scrubbed the frying pan and pots they had been using in the coals of the fireplace, making short work of the job with the now plentiful supply of hot water. The blankets were folded and put away, the sheets placed in the laundry, and the cushions settled back on the couch. Clare and Logan worked silently. In little more than an hour all trace of the hours they had spent
“Dear me,” Clare said cheerfully. “You were in a bind! The lady to ruin your chances if you didn’t do as she said, the husband just as likely to ruin them if you did.”
“That’s about the size of it. If I hadn’t thought support of the wilderness areas in this country was worth the cost, I would have said to the devil with the whole thing.”
“So you did the next best thing,” Clare suggested. “You got out of town.”
“The reason for that goes just a bit further, though what you say is more or less true. We had completed the movie I was working on, a Hobbs production. There was a party for the cast and crew. Marvin came by for a time, then went on back to his office. Janine stayed on. Not long after her husband left, Janine complained of feeling sick and asked me to take her home. Before we had gone a half-dozen blocks, she miraculously recovered. A drink, she said, was all that she needed.”
“And you believed her,” Clare said, shaking her head in a pretense of sorrow for such credulity.
He sent her a quelling look. “We went into the club Janine pointed out, a quiet-enough place. And then along came a photographer. A simple picture would have been fine; it would have shown nothing more than two friends having a drink. But Janine’s timing was bad. She chose that moment to throw herself into my arms. When the flash went off, she started crying hysterically.” He shrugged. “I am afraid I lost my temper.”
“Yes, I know. You slugged the poor man, just a working photographer out trying to turn an honest dollar.”
“If you think so, you are more innocent than you have any right to be,” he said, a glint in his blue eyes. “But that wasn’t the end of it. When Janine stopped crying, she said she no longer cared whether her husband knew about our ‘affair’ or not; she wanted him to know about it. It’s a miracle I didn’t strangle her right there. Instead, I tried to talk to her. She jumped to the conclusion that the reason I wasn’t interested was that there was another woman. There wasn’t, but it seemed as good an explanation as any, so long as Janine was willing to accept it without being insulted. It was better than telling her to her face that she just didn’t appeal to me. I should have known better. She began to hound me for details. I stood it for three days; then it was either get away from her or say something I would regret. I came up here.”
“You can’t stay here forever,” Clare said, raking a smooth spot in the snow with the toe of her boot.
“No,” he said, “but I am hoping that by the time I have to go back to the coast, Janine will have found somebody else.”
“If you really think she will, I suppose I will have to acquit you of conceit,” Clare said, slanting him a quick glance. “What will you do if she doesn’t?”
“I’ll have to find myself another producer, won’t I? Marvin Hobbs may be the best; that doesn’t mean he is the only one.”
Clare gave a slow nod. “I … I hope you make your picture. It would be a pity if no one ever saw it.”
He looked down at her, an arrested expression in the clear blue of his eyes as he surveyed the delicate arch of her brows, the firm set of her chin, and the tender curls escaping from the clip that held back her hair. He looked away again. “I expect we had better be getting back,” he said, his voice flat.
They had a quick lunch of soup and a sandwich, sitting in stiff formality at the table. Afterward they cleared away the dishes, then scrubbed the frying pan and pots they had been using in the coals of the fireplace, making short work of the job with the now plentiful supply of hot water. The blankets were folded and put away, the sheets placed in the laundry, and the cushions settled back on the couch. Clare and Logan worked silently. In little more than an hour all trace of the hours they had spent
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