“It’s quite fetching. I’ll make it my goal to get you to smile a dozen times a day.” He grew serious again as he said, “If you keep smiling at me like that, I believe I would do anything you asked. It’s a power you shouldn’t use lightly.”
“Mr. Hayes.” I groaned in frustration. “Can you not be sincere? Even for a moment?”
“I’m always sincere.” He winked. “And please don’t call me Mr. Hayes. Call me Spencer. Hayes isn’t even my real last name.”
“What is your real name?”
“Herbert Spencer Leeds.” He grimaced. “L.B. didn’t think it sounded like a movie star name, so he changed it. Thankfully, Ihave always gone by Spencer. It was my mother’s maiden name. She stopped calling me Herbert after my father—” He paused.
“After your fath—?”
He jumped out of his chair and offered me his hand. “Come on. Let’s practice the kissing scene.”
I pulled back. “The what?”
“The kissing scene.” He took my hand and tugged me to my feet. “We should be comfortable with it when the time comes. I always try to practice it as often as I can, as early as I can.” He grinned. “I’ve never had a complaint before.”
I stared at him, flabbergasted. “Mr. Hay—”
“Spencer.”
“There is no kissing scene in this movie.”
He looked devastated. “You must be teasing.”
“I’m not.”
“What a waste of all this chemistry between us!”
“Ally!” A group of women approached, led by Grace. “There you are. We’ve been looking for you.”
Spencer recovered from his perceived disappointment in time to smile at them.
Grace, Mama’s other time-crossing daughter, looked a lot like her—and like me. It was one of the reasons Papa had cast me, Vicky, Lydia, and Annette in the roles of the March sisters. We all shared similar features.
“Vicky and I were hoping to take the girls to the Santa Monica Beach after filming,” Grace said. “Would you like to come with us?”
Vicky watched Spencer, and though I’d never seen my sister starstruck before, I had seen her fall for handsome men. She’d dated a few, but nothing had ever worked out. It was clear by the way she blushed and smiled at him that she found Spencer attractive.
It had been a long time since I’d visited with Grace and her girls. I would have loved to go, but I had a legal obligation to spend time with Spencer five nights a week, and since he’d gone home after yesterday’s filming, we needed to spend tonight together.
“Thank you for the invitation.” I hesitated only for a second. “But I have plans. Spencer is taking me to the Hollywood Bowl tonight.”
Vicky shifted her surprised look from Spencer to me before she shuttered her emotions.
“How lovely.” Grace’s voice sounded pleased, but her expression was uncertain and worried.
I didn’t blame her. Spencer had been in Hollywood for several years and his reputation preceded him. All his other relationships had ended badly. The last had put one woman in the hospital and the other in jail.
I needed to be careful. Even though this was a ruse, it was a dangerous game to play.
But if we were going to convince the world, we would need to convince the people closest to us.
It was already half past seven, and the concert started at eight.
“Annette, I need you to look excited, but reserved,” Papa said from the side of the camera. “Beth loves watching her sisters perform Jo’s melodramas and playing the piano for them, but she doesn’t like the spotlight. As soon as she notices the others are looking at her, she needs to pull back into herself. Do you understand?”
“I’m so tired, Grandpa,” Annette complained, “and hungry.”
