he was his father. He’d wronged them both. But he knew it was best to back off for a bit, leave things alone. Wait and see if Dominic could do any more damage, because Michael was sure that he would. If he let him. So he just smiled, pushed his glasses back up his nose and started making notes on the clipboard he was holding, almost dismissing India’s comment as though she hadn’t said it at all.
‘We’re going to be outside for a lot of the time this morning. Are you okay with that? It’s pretty hot, I know, but there’s plenty of drinking water, and if you need a cool mist spray we can get make-up to sort that out, it’s not a problem.’
‘I hate it when you do this, Michael.’
He looked at her, raising his eyebrows. ‘Do what?’
She stared at him for a few seconds then shook her head. ‘Forget it. I’m going to find Reece.’
Michael watched her walk away, still so beautiful but a much stronger woman than the one he’d fallen in love with almost twenty years ago. She was harder to crack; she’d learnt too much over the years, seen too many things. But one day she’d realise that the only place she could be really happy was with him. He’d make her the happiest woman alive; it was all he wanted to do. Make her the happiest woman alive. Again. And what Michael Walsh wanted, Michael Walsh usually got. No matter what it took to get it.
***
India turned away and left Michael standing, unwilling to get into any kind of confrontation with him; she didn’t have the energy. He was too much to handle at the best of times, but today he was something she really didn’t want to have to cope with in any capacity other than her director. On a professional level she could handle him, on any other level she didn’t even want to try.
‘Whoa, there! You look like a woman on a mission. You in a hurry or something?’
She stopped dead as she almost walked into him – the man she’d been dreading seeing yet, at the same time, couldn’t wait to be close to again. As she looked down at his hand on her arm, which he quickly removed, she could feel his eyes staring right at her but she tried her hardest not to look at him. She wasn’t ready yet. She needed more time. And she really hadn’t wanted this to happen in full view of everyone, although, how could they really have avoided it? They’d started this whole ridiculous merry-go-round of crap and now there was no way to get off, but, as far as everyone else was concerned – and that included the studio bosses – the publicity surrounding her and Dominic right now was something money couldn’t buy. It would guarantee this movie an audience they couldn’t even begin to imagine. It was a movie they hadn’t even finished shooting, yet the pre-release publicity band-wagon was already on a roll.
She looked briefly over towards the crowds of people at the edge of the set, the paparazzi cameras already clicking away at this first public meeting between her and Dominic since the revelation that Michael was his father. More fodder for the gossip magazines. They were practically giving it to them on a plate, no wonder they were constantly hanging around.
‘We need to talk, India.’
The sound of his voice made her look up at him, like an almost involuntary action, her eyes finally meeting his and she tried hard not to let her heart rule her head as those ice-blue eyes of his looked back at her. ‘Not here, okay?’ she said quietly. ‘I think we’ve revealed enough in public to be going on with, don’t you?’
And with that she turned and walked away, knowing that to get embroiled in any kind of conversation with him here would be a mistake. The paparazzi had their photos, and doubtless they’d be getting an airing before filming had even broken for lunch. But that was all she was willing to give them. For now.
Dominic was right, though. They did need to talk, and they needed to talk soon. She just needed a little bit more time to get her head around what she was feeling, and how she planned to deal with those feelings. Because letting Dominic MacDonald back into her life could be the only way to go, given how she really felt, deep down inside.