Secret Star (9 page)

“It's all very Elizabethan, since they're twins, separated at birth. I play both roles. At any rate, the script calls for me to steal a horse off the street. It's supposed to be a scrubby little thing, which is rather a stretch for Bayfire, but he was to be muddied up a bit, right?” she asked Inez, then rushed on. “So your little horse would be perfect for closeups. They're going after this whole ‘grit and determination are more important than bloodlines' kind of theme, you know?”

Sam thought it sounded like a good idea for a movie, but she didn't like what Violette was implying about Ace.

“It's an underdog movie,” Violette emphasized, as if they hadn't understood her before. “I tell you he'd be perfect. Although…,” Violette paused. As she stared at Ace in the pasture, her manicured fingers plucked at the air as if she were touching the gelding's mane. “He could use some hair extensions.”

Hair extensions? Her mustang cow pony would
never wear hair extensions.

Sam swallowed hard.

“I don't think so,” she said calmly, and Inez saw the frustration in Sam's eyes, even if Jake didn't.

“Sam, could you please do me a favor?” Inez asked.

Violette's forehead creased, as if she couldn't imagine why Inez was being so polite, as Sam nodded.

“I'd be so grateful,” Inez continued, “if you could check and see if the box stall is open to the corral. That way Bayfire can just put himself to bed when he's ready.”

“Sure,” Sam said. “I need to check on Tempest and Sunny, anyway.”

When she got there, of course the stall was already open to the pasture.

She let out a long, relieved breath, then leaned against the barn wall with her eyes closed.

A tiny neigh made Sam's eyes open. Tempest's nostrils flared wide open as she angled her head through the wooden slats of her stall.

“Of course I'll pet you, baby,” Sam said.

Her back was to the barn door and she was kneading the filly's silky ears when she heard Jake's footsteps.

“What would I have to do,” Sam asked, “to get you to shut up and go away?”

“C
an't think of anything that'd make me go now,” Jake said, then took a deep breath. “Hurricane, maybe.”

“Get it over with, then,” Sam said. She could hear her own long-suffering tone. “Give me another of your stupid lectures.”

“She's not a real princess.”

“Duh,” Sam said, then crossed her arms.

She stared past Jake and saw Gram talking to Violette, probably begging her to stay for dinner.

“She's not a redcoat general's daughter,” Jake said, jerking his head in Violette's direction. “Or Annie Oakley, either.”

“I know that, Jake. She's an actress.”

“Someone needs to tell her so,” Jake said, “and it might as well be you.”

Sam gave up the idea of telling Jake, again, that such a thing would be rude. Why couldn't he see that?

Maybe Violette would be less unpleasant after she'd settled in—except that wouldn't happen. Inez had said time was tight. The crew only had a few days here.

And Jake
was
basically a polite guy. He must think that this was a desperate situation.

“Why don't you tell her?” Sam asked.

“It wouldn't be right,” Jake said with certainty.

A legend crossed Sam's mind. Something about a great hero who'd lost his strength when his magic hair was snipped off. She weighed the consequences of relating that story to Jake.

Bad idea, she thought. If she wanted to keep Jake as a friend, she wouldn't tell him he was a chicken.

“She's rich and famous, but she's also this thin little scrap of a female,” Jake said. “I'd look like a bully.”

Jake had a point.

“I'll think about it,” Sam said, then glanced out into the ranch yard, where Violette and Inez stood near the house. “But I'm not doing it at dinner.”

“'Course not,” Jake said. “To tell you the truth, she's kinda scary.”

“Scary,” Sam repeated, looking at Jake, who'd
never shown a speck of cowardice, at least in front of her. “What about her could possibly be scary?”

“All that sweetie, baby, horsy stuff is weird.”

Sam giggled, then socked Jake in the arm. “I'll take care of her for you, partner,” Sam said. “Don't you worry.”

He nodded solemnly and headed for the barn door. He was almost through, and Sam had started to relax, when Jake looked back, made a cowboy gun of his hand, and said, “Don't take too long about it. I'm leavin' soon and this is one showdown I don't want to miss.”

 

“What I can't understand,” Violette was saying as she and Inez walked toward the house in answer to Gram's summons, “is why this horseback jump is done in the wrong costume. Tell the truth, Inez, wouldn't it have more visual impact if I were wearing a medieval gown rather than the clothes of a peasant?”

“
You
won't be wearing either one in that scene,” Inez reminded her.

Violette gave an indulgent smile. Then, amazingly, she held the door so Inez could enter the kitchen first.

“So you say.”

At least that's what Sam thought Violette muttered, but she didn't spend even a minute worrying about it. The aroma of grilled steak reminded her she'd eaten
next to nothing all day.

Seconds later, she almost stepped on Violette Lee.

The actress knelt in the middle of the kitchen floor. She petted Blaze with one hand and stroked Cougar with the other, while the cat rubbed against her.

When Violette looked up, her lips curved in a genuine smile. She'd taken off her sunglasses, too, and her eyes were an amazing shade of lavender.

“Your pets are wonderful,” Violette said. Then she noticed Dad and Brynna hovered, not sitting at their places at the table. “But I'm delaying dinner.”

She gave Blaze a kiss on the top of the head, managed to touch the tip of Cougar's tail as he slipped away, then stood.

She gave her hands a quick swipe against her jeans as she approached the table. Sam noticed Gram's grimace. Gram wanted to remind Violette to wash her hands before eating, but she didn't.

Sam found herself seated at the far end of the table, facing Gram at the head of it. Inez and Violette sat together, across from Dad, Brynna, and Jake, who squeezed in next to them.

“Thanks so much, again, for inviting us,” Inez said.

“Well, I just hope it's as good as you're used to,” Gram said as she approached with two filled plates for the guests.

Sam had glimpsed Gram's preparations on the
counter and stove as she came in. Steak and baked potatoes and sautéed vegetables—good ones, this time—were arranged on the plates. Spinach salads already sat at everyone's places.

“Oh!” Violette looked suddenly sick. She recoiled from the plate, then struggled to cover her revulsion. “I didn't mention being a vegetarian, because I didn't want you to go to any extra trouble, but I'm afraid I can't eat that beef.”

“I see,” Gram replied. Taking the change in stride, she handed one plate to Inez and the other to Brynna.

Sam could see Jake scoffing, but she thought it was kind of cool. Lots of people claimed to love animals, but had no problem eating them. Violette might be a self-centered brat, but she was a brat with principles.

“I just hope you'll have enough,” Gram said, arranging a plate with extra vegetables in place of the steak. “I don't have tofu or anything like that.”

“Tofu's overrated,” Violette said, rolling her eyes. “And this will be fine.” Violette accepted the plate, and her attitude wasn't snobbish at all.

When everyone had begun eating, Brynna asked Inez if she didn't find it difficult working with zebras.

“I've heard they don't shake off their wildness like wild horses,” Brynna said.

“They're a challenge, but they're part of what Animal Artists has always been, and—” Inez broke off, looking distracted for a minute. “Actually, I have
no serious problems working with equines—zebras, mules, horses, or donkeys. It's communication with the directors and actors that's more difficult.”

“Very funny,” Violette said as she picked a small piece of bacon out of her spinach salad.

“Not you,” Inez said. “I'm thinking more of non-horse people. They have to be taught what a horse can and can't do. You can only shoot so many takes before the horse gets tired or bored or realizes he doesn't like the rubber shoes on his hooves that keep him from slipping.”

“Wyatt, do you want to put Blaze out?” Gram asked as the Border collie stood panting next to Violette. “He's being a nuisance.”

“Don't!” Violette told Dad. “I mean, please don't. I love animals. And he's just waiting for more bacon. It's my fault for feeding him at the table.”

“Guess it won't turn into a habit just this one time,” Dad said.

As he settled back into his chair, Sam saw her own amazement mirrored on Jake's face. Neither of them could believe Dad was allowing this.

“Didn't you have pets growing up?” Gram asked gently.

Inez made a determined cut into her steak and her expression said she knew what would follow, but Sam was eager to hear about Violette's childhood. It couldn't have been an ordinary one.

“No, I lived with my mother until pretty recently,”
Violette said. “I've always loved animals, but she had no use for them. I remember luring stray cats to our deck in Malibu.” Sam noticed everyone's smiles slip when Violette added, “Until my mother threw scalding water on them.”

“Why?” Sam cried out.

Violette fidgeted with the sunglasses she'd placed next to her plate. For a second, Sam thought she was about to put them on, but she didn't.

“She said they took up time I could be using to become a better actress,” Violette explained. “She said they were dirty, too, getting paw prints on the hardwood floors. And they must have, because she always knew when I'd sneaked one inside. The time she found cat hair on her black cashmere sweater—” Violette stopped.

For an instant, she covered her lips with both hands, shook her head in denial, as if her offense had just been discovered. Then, finally, she went on.

“She wouldn't let me go to bed until I'd examined every black garment in her closet and picked off the hairs with tweezers.”

Brynna looked shocked. One of her hands dropped beneath the table. Sam just knew she was touching the bulge of her baby.

Dad looked angry.

Except for the swing of the grandfather clock's pendulum in the other room, there was silence.

Isn't that child abuse? Sam wondered.

But it was long over and Brynna's sympathy broke the accusing hush.

“Your mother sounds like a very particular woman.”

Violette gave a humorless laugh. “You could say that, but I had the animals of the Claus show, and their trainers were so nice to me, you wouldn't believe it.”

“You were the baby of the cast,” Inez reminded her.

“Yeah, and the work was such a…” Violette pressed the heels of both hands against her temples. “I don't know, an onslaught on my brain, that most afternoons all I wanted was to curl up beside the reindeer, in all that scratchy straw, and pillow my head against them. Their coats are so thick….” Violette's voice trailed off and her face wore a dreamy, little-girl look.

Inez's hands were jerky as she sipped her milk. She kept her eyes on Violette as if she was worried about what the actress would say next. Then, before Violette went on, she nudged her with a question.

“Tell everyone about reindeer hair. What's so special about it? I always forget,” Inez said.

“Oh, well, it's like no other on earth,” Violette began, and then she launched into an almost scientific description of specially evolved hair that protected the huge deer against subzero temperatures.

Inez sighed, seeming relieved, before Violette
interrupted her own explanation to say, “I was such a little kid while I was starring in that show, that when the reindeer's trainer lifted off their harnesses at the end of the day, I wanted to take off my clothes, too.”

“That's natural enough,” Gram said, chuckling, but Sam saw Gram's sideways glance meet Brynna's.

“I don't know if it is or not,” Violette said, “I just know that one day, when I actually started to do it, my mother yanked my red velvet shirt down over my tummy. Then I had to go and say something like, ‘My harness never gets lifted off.' Everyone thought that was way profound, but my mother was humiliated.” Violette turned to Inez, as if she were about to give her a cue. “Mom thought I made her sound like the world's worst stage mother.”

“Which of course she was,” Inez said, before touching her napkin to her lips and leaning across the table toward Jake, who'd kept quiet all this time. “Jake, remind me what we're doing tomorrow with Bayfire.”

“Lost Canyon,” Jake said.

“Yes…,” Inez said, probing for more details, but Jake looked reluctant.

He took a quick glance at Violette as if he didn't want her to hear what he had to say next. At first Sam was irritated. Didn't Jake have any compassion? But then Sam remembered why he was hesitant to talk about Lost Canyon in front of Violette.

“We're checking out the site for the waterfall
jump, remember?” Jake said.

“Oh yeah,” Inez said, then made a joke of her mistake by gently hitting her hand against her head.

“I can hardly wait!” Violette said. “That will be so exciting!”

“Vi,” Inez said, cautioning her. “You're not riding in this scene.”

All the little-girl giddiness dropped from Violette's face and tone and she grabbed her sunglasses from their place beside her unused knife.

As soon as she slipped them on, she was once more the sly and elegant actress.

“Of course not, darling,” she told Inez. “When I'm not wanted, you only have to tell me once.”