Stephanie swallowed. "I met him when he taught a screenwriting course in my film school. He said he could get my script made if he put his name on it-"

"Oh, hell," Lucy said, feeling sorry for her for the first time.

Stephanie shrugged. "It worked. It was getting made." Her face grew dark again. "And then he hooked up with Finnegan and did this to it."

Lucy almost reached out and patted her hand. "Well, you did a good job," she said instead. "Except for all this stunt stuff at the end, it's really well written."

Stephanie flushed. "Thank you. But that's not the point. The point is that the characters are violated by that change." She looked at Lucy, her heart in her eyes. "Don't shoot the stunts, Lucy, they'll ruin my film."

Lucy blinked her surprise. "I have to. There's a contract, Stephanie. I have no choice."

"But they're awful," Stephanie said, her voice rising in a wail. "They're ruining my script."

"I know," Lucy said, patiently. "But I have this contract…"

Stephanie's face grew hard again. "I hoped you had principles. Connor thinks you're the best, he says so all the time." She shook her head. "I should have known better. You make dog food commercials. Of course you'd sell out."

"Actually, I was sold out," Lucy said, but Stephanie was already getting up to go, her chair swiveling behind her.

She stopped in the doorway. "Daisy said this was your big break, but you don't care at all."

"It's not my big break" Lucy said. "I like working with animals. I like dog food commercials. "

"Sure you do," Stephanie said and went out, slamming the camper door behind her.

Oh, hell. Lucy called to Pepper, "I'm going to go check on Althea, but I'll come get you when the shuttle's here."

"I'm going to stay in base camp today," Pepper called back. "I want to see if Estelle in wardrobe can make my WonderWear fit better. Do you need me to bring you apples?"

"No, no, I'll be fine," Lucy said, thinking, Thank God, a day without apples. She went back and kissed Pepper goodbye, getting a hug for her pains, and then left the camper and headed for Althea's trailer.

Halfway across the lot, she ran into Gloom.

"Tell me something good," she said, and he slung his arm around her shoulders and gestured to the lot.

"You are now the mistress of all you survey," he said expansively.

Lucy looked at the beat-up trailers and dingy foliage. "How is that good?"

"The crew has decided you're the real deal," Gloom said. "Morale is improving. Bryce thinks you're terrific."

"And what does Captain Wilder think?" Lucy said before she could stop herself.

Gloom grinned. "If he has any brains, he's thinking, 'That Armstrong chick is hot, I'm gonna hit on her.' "

"Forget I said that," Lucy said, thinking, That would be good. "I am not interested in Captain Wilder. What's going on with these dumb stunts? And what's up with Daisy?"

Gloom let his arm drop from her shoulders.

"Oh, God, that bad?" Lucy said, feeling a chill even in the sun.

"I don't know," Gloom said. "The best I can get is that she'd been tense ever since this Finnegan guy came in with the extra money, very nervous, crying a lot."

"Oh, hell," Lucy said and thought, Connor. It had to be Connor. Connor and Finnegan.

"Then about a week ago, she changed," Gloom said. "I didn't get any details, but the gist is that she got calmer, but she started screwing up, not paying attention."

"Oh, just hell," Lucy said, not wanting her suspicions confirmed.

"Yesterday when we got to the set, she wasn't there because she'd fallen asleep in the stunt van. My guess? Somebody's giving her something to keep her calm, Valium, Xanax, I don't know, but whatever it is, she's taking a lot of it."

Lucy closed her eyes. My baby sister. "I'll talk to her. I'll get the pills away from her."

"The best thing we can do is get her out of here," Gloom said. "Whatever it is that's making her crazy is here. You can take away all the pills you want, but she can get more. We need to get her happy again so she doesn't need them."

"She won't leave," Lucy said. "I don't know why-"

"Hello, Lucy," Althea said as she walked by, practically singing the words.

Lucy smiled at her mechanically. "Hello, Al. Good day?"

"Good night," Althea said, swinging back to face her, looking smug and satisfied.

Well, good for Bryce, Lucy thought, and then remembered. Bryce. Althea was thinking of cheating on Bryce. "That's great, Al. Hey, before I forget, that dating thing Stephanie told you? It was twelve partners, not seventy-five, so you can stop at seventy-three." She tried to smile at her, in spite of her misery over Daisy. "I think you've found your guy in Bryce."

"Seventy-four," Althea said, beaming.

"Seventy-four," Lucy said, and then it registered. "Seventy-four?"

But Althea was now smiling past her, and when Lucy turned she saw Bryce heading for them, looking clueless as usual, and far behind him his best pal Wilder, broad shouldered and narrow hipped, looking anywhere but at Althea.

Lucy straightened. Son of a bitch.

"I think Stephanie's right," Althea chirped. "Seventy-four was pretty damn good. I can't wait for seventy-five."

"The first-team shuttle is here, Al," Gloom said, not unkindly, and Althea went, practically bouncing on her little round heels, while Wilder looked up at the empty blue sky.

Goddamn it, Lucy thought. Holding out for a hero is not an option. I just want somebody who doesn't follow his dick through life. Is that so much to ask?

Gloom was watching her. "I don't know what's going on here-"

"I do," Lucy said grimly, ignoring her disappointment to concentrate on her rage.

"-but don't do anything stupid."

"You going to catch this shuttle?" Stephanie called to Lucy.

"No, I have to speak to somebody," Lucy said between her teeth, knowing that would be more evidence for Stephanie that she was a lousy director. Well, screw her. Assuming J.T. Wilder hadn't already.

"Lucy," Gloom said, his voice heavy with warning. "They're free agents."

"Althea isn't. Bryce thinks she's with him," Lucy said and crossed the set, prepared to kill a Green Beret.

Finnegan would be so pleased.

"Hi, Lucy," Bryce said when she reached them.

"Hello, babe," Lucy said, trying to keep her voice light as she took in the macho betrayer beside him, cool-eyed as ever. "You're off today."

"I know. Just came for my man, J.T." He slapped Wilder on the back.

Wilder flinched, which was something, Lucy thought. Well, he was going to flinch some more before she was done with him.

"We're going over to Savannah," Bryce said. "Do some research." He shot her his famous loopy smile.

Wilder was looking at nothing over her shoulder.

"Why don't you go say hey to Althea before she goes?" Lucy suggested to Bryce. "Help her relax for her scene?"

Bryce nodded. "Good idea. J.T.-"

"J.T.'s gonna stay with me," Lucy said, pinning the jerk down with her eyes. "We have some things to discuss."

"Okay." Bryce wandered off toward Althea.

Wilder met her glare without blinking. "Problem?"

Yes,' Lucy said. You fucked your boss's girlfriend.

His eyes flickered when she said "fucked," but she couldn't tell if he was insulted or turned on. Neither, probably. Emotionless bastard. Althea must have been dreaming if she thought this robot was energetic.

Maybe she inspired him.

She took a deep breath. "I thought there was some kind of code that said you didn't sleep with a buddy's girl."

"It's really more of a guideline," Wilder said, straight-faced, and Lucy wanted to kill him.

"No. Movie quotes do not make you funny. Or even marginally human. That was low, Wilder. Bryce isn't a genius, but he hired you and he thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread, he thinks you're his buddy, that the two of you are a team, and then you-"

He nodded, suddenly looking very human, almost shame-faced. "Look, I didn't know she was his girlfriend, and she was in my bed when I got back to my room."

"And you were incapable of saying, 'Get out of my bed'?"

"Are you kidding?"

She felt her temper spurt. He was worse than Connor. At least Connor didn't make jokes when he hurt people. "It's not funny. Bryce thinks this is his big chance to be an action hero, but you'll jeopardize all of that because you can't say no."

"I can say no. I just didn't want to."

Lucy jerked back. "Boy, you really don't care about anybody but yourself, do you?"

He drew back, too, his face shutting down, and she thought, Got you. Good.

"Look, it's just a movie," he said, and she lost it, getting into his face, poking her finger into his rock-hard chest.

"Listen to me, you bastard, this is not just a movie, this is people's paychecks on the line, this is my financial future on the line. But you don't care about any of that."

"Wait a minute," he said, his flat voice finally showing some heat.

"I have three days left to get this movie finished. I cannot afford to have Bryce sulking in his trailer because you screwed his girlfriend-"

Wilder frowned at her. "He was with the makeup-"

"I don't care," Lucy said, beyond logic. "I don't care who he's doing, I don't care who you're doing as long as he's on this set, thinking he's God's gift to women when I need him to be a hero."