Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star (32 page)

Caroline smiled and accepted his apology. “It’s all right. I really didn’t mean to rub it in your face like that. We’re all a little fried from the tour. Luckily, we have a couple of days off, then two more weeks of tour, then a nice long break. I think that will do us all some good.”

Darcy nodded; he was looking forward to the break. Looking forward to Georgie’s graduation and getting to spend some time with her. To getting to forget about being Fitzwilliam Darcy, rock star, for four weeks and just be himself.

“So, what are you going to do today?” Caroline asked him pleasantly.

Darcy frowned. “I have a teleconference scheduled with Misty at two, but that’s all. Maybe I’ll do some composing.”

“Charles told me he is going Jet Skiing on the lake. You might want to join him.” She tilted her head. “It’s been awhile since you two did anything together.”

Darcy had to agree with that. Between Charles’s whirlwind relationship with Jane, Darcy’s concerns over Georgie, Richard’s behavior, and the tour, he had barely even seen his best friend outside of their performances. He found that he missed spending time with Charles. “I’ve never been Jet Skiing,” he said quietly.

“Oh, Charles can teach you,” Caroline replied with a smile. “It’s not that hard.” She watched as he considered it. She might not be carrying a torch for Darcy anymore, but she still cared about him, as both a friend and an employer, and she knew he needed to stop brooding and get out and do something fun.

Darcy smiled briefly. “I’d like that.” His expression became more serious. “Now, what have you got for me?”

Caroline nodded and slipped into work mode. She quickly updated him on their schedule and how the tour was doing. Then she took a deep breath. She knew that Darcy was aware of everything she was going to say, but it had to be said. “What are you going to do about Richard?”

“What about him?”

Caroline frowned, seeing he wasn’t going to make this easy. “He’s blown off rehearsal three times in the last week, and last night he held up the show by eight minutes.”

“Eight minutes, Caro?” he said, lifting an eyebrow.

Caroline fixed him with a hard look. “He’s losing control again.”

Darcy looked away. “What’s going on with him and Charlotte?”

Caroline pursed her lips. “As far as I know,” she qualified, “it’s over. They haven’t been together since Thursday.”

“But we’ve been on buses most of that time. What about last night?”

Caroline rubbed her forehead. “Richard hooked up with an old flame last night, someone named Ellen?” Darcy nodded in recognition of the name. “And besides, we all know full well that Richard and Charlotte have never needed a room.” Her voice took on a tone of resignation. “No, it’s over.”

Darcy looked at her. “Maybe that’s just it? Maybe he just needs time to get over it?”

“Darcy, stop doing this. He’s losing it. We all know it. It’s the same thing as last time, only now it’s girls instead of bottles.”

“He’s not drinking again, is he?”

Caroline shook her head sadly. “He hasn’t had the time, he’s been too busy banging groupies.”

Darcy sat still for a long moment, his expression grave. Caroline could read him like a book, she thought. She knew that Darcy was torn. He didn’t want to accept the painful truth and how it would affect his tour. He was losing his carefully crafted control, and he was fighting it.

“Let’s give him some time. We have the break coming up. If he is not better by then, I’ll do something.”

“Darcy!”

“No!” he snapped. “No, Caro, I cannot stop this tour again, not for him. If he has to go into treatment, that means three major tours we will not have finished! Our reputation will be completely shot! It will be the end of the band. I can’t do that!”

“You don’t have to stop the tour!”

“What are you suggesting? Get a replacement?”

“Yes, I am!” Caroline answered with equal fervor. “Look, I know he is a part of this group, and he’s your family, but he is harming the band and the tour, as well as himself.” She looked down. “It’s not like it’s you or Charles; we could replace him and keep going. I don’t like this any more than you do, but we are not doing him any favors keeping him out here.”

“I disagree! You think taking away his occupation, his identity, is going to help him? It’s the last thing he has. I can’t take that away from him and jeopardize the tour until I’m certain there is a problem.” He sucked in a deep lungful of air and blew it out. “No, Caroline, he stays with us, at least a little bit longer. This could all just be a phase caused by him being upset over Charlotte! It’s going to pass.”

Caroline looked at him flatly. “When have you ever known Richard to be upset over a girl?”

“Are we done?” Darcy asked impatiently.

“Yes,” she said quietly, with a tone of bitter resignation.

“Thank you,” he said coldly, as he exited the room.

***

The limo pulled up and the occupants stepped out into the bright summer sunshine. In the months of touring, Elizabeth had lost track of the seasons. She was surprised as she realized that it was June. Summer was here.

The set was a race car track. Winnie led them past miles of electric cord and cables. A small army of people was moving around, looking very busy. Elizabeth was taken aback by all the equipment and activity. It was hard to believe that this was all for them!

Winnie finally stopped in the center of the hub and spoke into a man’s ear. He turned around and Elizabeth caught her breath. He was gorgeous. Tall, with light brown hair that had been streaked blond by the sun, he wore silver-rimmed glasses that did nothing to hide his bright blue-green eyes. Elizabeth followed his deep tan down his chiseled jaw to his crisp white shirt and well-fitted jeans and sandals. He looked like he had just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren photo shoot.

“Ladies, this is George,” Winnie announced. Elizabeth was at once delighted and intimidated. Then he smiled a smile of such friendliness, she immediately relaxed.

“George, this is Lizzy Bennet, our star,” Winnie grinned.

“Lizzy, I’m so happy to meet you.” George stepped forward and took Elizabeth’s hand, shaking it cordially. He took off his glasses and looked at her appraisingly. “Have you done any video work before?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No, this is my first time,” she smiled.

“That’s fine, Lizzy, I promise I’ll be gentle,” he grinned. “I saw your pictures, but they really don’t do you justice. You have excellent features for video,” he said warmly.

“Really?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, you do,” he smiled sincerely at her.

“These are Jane and Charlotte, her band mates,” Winnie continued.

George shook the girls’ hands and then turned back to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was surprised that he barely made eye contact with Jane.

“Okay,” George said professionally, “let’s get started. Winnie, can you take Joan and Charlotte to makeup and get them ready? Lizzy, I want to talk to you a little bit.”

The girls shared a look and smile over his slip, and Jane gently corrected him.

Winnie took Charlotte and Jane away and Elizabeth followed George to a small makeshift office. He pulled out a clipboard and reviewed it. “We are going to start with some concert shots, so you can get used to shooting, then I want to do some shots of you alone on the track. After dinner, we will do some night shots, and tomorrow, we will do the shots with the actual race cars. Will that be okay?” He looked at her for her approval.

Elizabeth was delighted by his suggestions. She had never been the center of attention like this before, even when she was soloing the show. “That will be fine.”

George looked at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, Lizzy. You’ll be okay.” His voice turned more personal. “I don’t mind telling you, I was listening to your song and I developed an idea of an image I want to project in the video, and you are exactly what I had in mind. That doesn’t happen too often in this business. Usually you have to fight to get the song and the singer and the video to all fit together. But I can see I’m not going to have that problem with you.” He stopped and looked down, laughing. “I know, I get a little enthusiastic. Just tell me to shut up if I get to be too much.”

Elizabeth laughed. “No, it’s great. This is not at all what I expected.”

He grinned dazzlingly at her confession. “We are going to have a great time doing this, trust me.” He put his hand on her arm. “Why don’t you go get ready, and then we’ll start filming? Okay?”

Elizabeth smiled brightly. She felt so at ease with him, it was hard not to be affected by his excitement.

***

By the time a dinner break was called at six o’clock, Elizabeth was exhausted yet happy. The video went better than she could have imagined. George was a dream, so supportive, and funny. Elizabeth almost died from laughing when he took a turn with her guitar dancing and lip-synching on the racetrack.

She looked at him as they walked to the catering truck. He had worked harder than her and didn’t have a team of makeup people working on him, and he still looked great. She wondered how he managed to keep his shirt so crisp after shooting all day in the sun.

He turned to her and smiled blindingly. “I’ll tell you, Lizzy, I wish everyone I had to work with was as nice as you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, “I thought I was something of a pain. I mean, how many times did I miss my mark?”

George waved an indifferent hand. “That’s nothing. I can work with missing a mark. It’s the way you don’t throw a tantrum and blame me for your screw-ups that makes you wonderful.”

“Is that the way it usually goes?”

“In this business? Oh yeah.” He handed her a plate and led her to a seat.

“Oh, Winnie was telling me something this morning,” Elizabeth said, suddenly remembering. “Did you used to sing with Slurry?”

“Yes, I did,” he replied, intrigued. “Why?”

“We’re on tour with them now.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Hmm,” George said, with a thoughtful frown. “And how are they?”

“Oh, good,” Elizabeth said vaguely, not really sure how to answer that question.

“Is Darcy still Darcy?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, hard-nosed, demanding, doing that tortured-soul bit?” he glowered in a startlingly accurate imitation of Darcy.

Elizabeth burst out laughing. “I’ll take that as a yes,” George grinned. “Have they been difficult to work with?” he asked when Elizabeth stopped laughing.

“No, not at all.” She continued, “I mean, they have their bad-boy image, but actually they’re very nice and professional.”

George looked away doubtfully. “I heard Richard got cleaned up.”

“Oh yeah, there’s almost no drinking at all on the tour.”

“That’s good,” George sounded relieved. “Richard was always such a player, you know? I worried about him.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “He’s still a player, he just doesn’t drink.” She frowned. “He has a different girl almost every night. We call them his flavors.”

He snorted. “That’s nothing new. Frankly I’m surprised he’s the only one sleeping around.”

“Well, Charles has hooked up with Jane,” Elizabeth indicated her sister, sitting with Charlotte nearby.

George nodded. “I’ve never met Charles, but I’ve heard he’s very nice.”

Elizabeth realized that Charles must have replaced George. “He’s great. Everyone loves him.”

“What about old Darcy? Who is he seeing?”

Elizabeth felt her cheeks turning red. “Um, I don’t think he is seeing anyone right now.”

“Oh,” George said indifferently. “Is he a friend of yours?”

“No, not really,” she said quickly. “I mean we are friendly on the tour and all, but it’s not like we are close.”

George studied her coldly for a moment and then nodded. “That’s probably a good thing, you know, Lizzy?”

Elizabeth wasn’t exactly sure what he meant but nodded along with him.

“Well, we have a couple of hours to kill until the sun goes down and we set up for the night shots. Why don’t you and Charlotte and Jan go take a nice long break in your trailer? Debbie will walk you over.” George nodded at the smiling production assistant, winked at Elizabeth, and left.

The women went to their trailer and enjoyed the wonders of air conditioning. While they were there, Elizabeth told the others about George’s conversation.

“He sounds very nice,” Jane said.

“He is. He’s charming, actually,” she grinned, “and he’s so easygoing and real.”

Charlotte and Jane shared a look. “Did you ask him why he left Slurry?” Jane asked.

“No, it’s kind of uncomfortable, like asking a divorced couple why they broke up.” She wrinkled her nose and then brightened. “But I like him, and I think he’s doing a great job on the video.”

“I thought you liked Darcy?” Charlotte asked impudently.

“I do,” she said uncertainly. “But I can like two men, can’t I? It’s not like they’re mutually exclusive.”

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Can I come in?” George’s voice called to them.