Page 19 of The Backup Bride Proposal

“I was not. I just blurted out the lines.”

“I could get a script assistant to blurt out lines. What you did was feel them as if you were Caroline, as if you felt her worry and anger. The way you made eye contact with me gave me everything I needed to do my part of that scene. Frankly, you’re an actor’s dream to work with.”

She gaped at him, then finally laughed and jerked out of his grasp. “Shut up. I just read the lines. I’m not an actress, Kane.”

She started to walk away, so he went with her. “Maybe not, but honestly? You could be if you wanted to.”

“Well, I don’t want to. I want to get through this scene so I can go do the other part of my job.”

“Yeah? What’s on the agenda for the other part of your job today?”

“We’re doing a tour for a prospective bride and groom. And doing some planning for Brenna and Finn’s upcoming wedding. Brenna is one of the Bellini sisters. She’s getting married in a few weeks.”

“That sounds important. I’ll tell Alexis that the first take was fine and you can go.”

She reached out to lay her hand on his arm. “No. What you do is important, too. I can stay until we get it right.”

He wanted to let her go. He wanted her to stay. It wasn’t his choice or his right to ask her.

“Whatever you want,” he said.

“Then let’s do this.”

He nodded, happy to get to spend more time with her, and feeling more than a little guilty knowing that Alexis would have been fine if he’d told her that Mae had to go and they’d have to use the first take.

But he’d deal with the guilt later. Right now he was going to spend more time with Mae.

••••••

Mae was sohappy they had only needed her for one scene today. She was drained, physically and emotionally. She’d wanted to be good, or at least good enough that they wouldn’t regret asking her to stand in for Everly Sloane.

She went back to the house, headed upstairs and took a quick shower, scrubbing off the heavy makeup and rinsing the sweat off. After drying her hair she put on a dress and sandals and felt much more like her authentic self again. She went downstairs, intending to park herself in her office until it was time for the tour.

She didn’t quite make it to her office, because Brenna was hanging out in the doorway of Honor’s office and spotted her.

“Hey, Mae,” Brenna said. “Come on and tell us all about it.”

“Sure. Let me grab a coffee first.”

She’d missed coffee this morning—deliberately, in fact, because she’d been jittery enough with nervousness and hadn’t wanted to add to it. So she went into the kitchen and poured herself a cup, adding a touch of cream.

“How did it go?” Louise asked. Though she was the cook for the family, Louisewasfamily.

“It went fine. Thanks for asking.”

Louise held out a tray. “I made cranberry muffins this morning.”

Mae also hadn’t eaten. “You always know exactly what I need, Louise. Thank you.” She placed the muffin on a plate and went to Honor’s office. Erin had just come in as well.

“I just put JJ down for a nap, so I’m all set to hear the juicy details,” Erin said.

Mae couldn’t help but smile. Working with Erin, Brenna and Honor had been a lot like having sisters. And being an only child had sucked, so she couldn’t complain that they wanted to know everything.

They were in the midst of a conversation about Erin’s baby, which gave Mae time to eat her muffin and take a few sips of coffee. So when they turned their attention to her, she felt almost like herself again.

“And how was it?” Honor asked. “Do you feel all Hollywood now?”

Mae let out a soft laugh. “Hardly. I was a ball of nervous sweat. My hair was weird and there was so much makeup. But Kane helped settle me and we got through the scene.”

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