accompanied by Julia, whose advice was expert.
She remembered their first evening in Los Angeles, discussing Shakespeare and the time she’d played the role of Helena.
But was it really strange? she wondered. The plain one. The girl chosen as a last resort. The one with whom the hero would ‘make do’. That had been her on the stage, and was it now, perhaps, coming true in her life?
Travis might one day come to love her a little, but not as she loved him. If there was one thing certain in the universe, it was that. He might make do with her. Children, stability, the feeling of being wanted for himself and not for his fame. These things were what he yearned for, and to win them he could decide to do without romantic love.
One of Helena’s lines came back to her.
Travis’s eyes must have told him that she was plain, despite his kind remarks about her figure. His mind had told him that she had qualities of sympathy and understanding that he needed. But could that substitute for love?
Her own love had looked not with eyes that could be distracted by his handsome appearance, but with a mind and heart that saw the man who concealed himself from others, yet reached out to her. There was no way she could not have loved him.
On the day of departure he did a final session at the studio and she went with him, to be ready as soon as he’d finished. While he worked, Joe took her to the canteen. The two of them got on well, and he missed no chance to express his admiration for the service she was doing the studio.
‘Thank heavens for you,’ he said now. ‘You’re going to help him get that film part. The only reason Alaric Lanley is in the running is because he’s better known. You help to keep Travis in the headlines, and that’s good.
‘This wedding is another chance. The Falcon dynasty, the great Amos-well, OK, maybe not great. People say he’s the biggest bastard in creation, so how did he father a lovely guy like Travis? When you meet him, sweet-talk him, OK? Try to get a picture of the three of you together.’
There was serious doubt whether Amos would be there, but Charlene judged it more tactful not to mention this and slipped hastily away to powder her nose.
Returning a few minutes later, she could see that Joe was on the phone and was about to retreat when she heard him say, ‘Look, Travis, why don’t you just marry the girl? All right, all right, no need to blast my ear off-yes, I know but-Travis, will you listen to me? Charlene’s good for you. I can see how well you get on and she’ll keep you safe-there’s no need to say that-I didn’t mean to offend you. We’ll say no more.’
Now she backed away hastily. She desperately needed to be alone to come to terms with the devastating conversation.
She hadn’t heard Travis’s end, but she didn’t need to. At the thought of marrying her he’d exploded. The mere idea of it offended him. Joe had spoken of safety and ‘getting on well’. He was promoting a convenient marriage, and clearly Travis wanted none of it.
How ridiculous her dreams appeared now! All the signs had been there when they’d swapped jokes about their unromantic friendship.
‘You’re safe with me,’ she’d said. ‘You’re not my type.’
He’d pretended to be insulted, but actually he was relieved.
Marry her? How he must be laughing at the thought!
When she was finally calm enough to return, she found the call finished and Joe cheerful.
‘Travis called to say work’s finished and we need to get over there fast. He’s all ready to go and the photographers are in place.’
‘Oh…yes,’ she said uneasily.
‘What’s the matter? Why do you suddenly look like that? Not getting cold feet, are you?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Too late for that. Travis needs you.’
‘I’m ready,’ she said at once.
She couldn’t back out now without explaining why, and there was no way she could reveal what she’d just learned.
So she became an actress again, smiling for the camera, smiling for Travis, embracing him, letting him usher her into the car, waving to the little crowd that had gathered.
‘I really need this!’ he exclaimed, squeezing her hand. ‘Time off in Paris, and you all to myself.’
‘You’re always with me,’ she said lightly. ‘You need to be with your family while you have the chance.’
‘The family, yes.’ His sudden beaming look touched her heart. ‘As many of them as we can get together. Maybe all of them, I don’t know-’
She gave a theatrically blissful sigh. ‘Oh, I’m looking forward to this trip. I’ve always wanted to see Paris. And look, I can go exploring on my own if you want to spend time with your brothers with no womenfolk around.’
He eyed her ironically. ‘Nice try, but I’m keeping my eye on you at all times.’
Charlene shook her head. ‘That’s one thing you don’t need to do and you know it. Now, wave at the crowd. They’re calling to you.’
As always, he did as required, performing perfectly, while wondering exactly what she’d meant by ‘and you know it’.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE flight from Los Angeles to Paris was thirteen hours. Charlene dozed as much as she could manage, sometimes awakening to find him holding her hand. After many hours had passed they found themselves over the Atlantic.
‘Is anything more boring than flying?’ she murmured.
‘Not much,’ he agreed. ‘You just end up staring at clouds that go on endlessly.’
‘At least we’ve got this to read,’ she said, taking out the brochure of La Couronne, the magnificent hotel that was the heart of Marcel Falcon’s empire, which was where they were to stay for the next few days. The gloriously coloured pictures showed a building that was several hundred years old, originally built as a palace, home of the nobility, whose portraits were also included.
‘They were executed in the Revolution,’ Travis said. ‘The house changed hands a few times until Marcel bought it and turned it into a hotel. Last year he bought up a London hotel with the idea of duplicating La Couronne as The Crown. That’s how he met Mrs Henshaw, who turned out to be Cassie, a girl he’d been in love with eight years ago.’
‘Eight years,’ she marvelled. ‘And they found each other again after so long?’
‘It’s incredible, isn’t it? But I guess if love is real it can overcome time.’
‘That’s not all it had to overcome,’ she reminded him. ‘His clumsy proposal-without asking her first.’
Travis grinned. ‘That’ll teach him not to take any notice of me.’
‘Anyway, they got it right in the end.’
‘So much so that Marcel has created a wedding chapel in the hotel, something he always refused to do before.’
‘What about your father? Will he be there?’
‘It isn’t settled. He’s not pleased about this wedding either. He wants one of us to marry Freya, his stepdaughter, but she actually helped Cassie raise the money to buy into the business.’
‘I thought you said she raised it modelling.’
‘Some of it, yes. But Freya topped it up with a loan of money that Amos had given her to provide a dowry. He hoped she’d use it to entice Marcel. Instead, she used it to see him married to someone else. According to Marcel,
