herself. "Since I'm not, I'm left feeling like a fool." Tears came to her easily, as easily as laughter, but she wouldn't shed them now. She'd inherited a good deal of pride as well as quick emotions from her parents. "I'd just as soon see myself home, thanks."
"I said I'd take you."
Inner strength came back. It might have been the underlying fury in his voice that did it. "I'm a big girl, Reed. I've been responsible for myself a long time. See you around."
Maddy walked to the corner and lifted a hand. Fate took pity on her and sent a cab steering toward the curb. She got in without looking back.
He stood there until he saw her get safely inside. Then he stood there longer. He'd done them both a favor—that was what he told himself. He continued to tell himself that over and over as he remembered how soft and fragile she'd looked in the bright glow of the streetlight.
Turning away, he began to walk. It was late before he headed for home.
Chapter Five
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Maddy stood stage left and took her cue from Wanda. There was no audience, but the theater was far from empty. The rest of the dancers were positioned across the stage, and Macke stood at the front, ready to dissect every move. In addition, there were the stage manager, the lighting director, their assistants, the accompanist—with the composer standing nervously close by, along with several technicians and the one who would make it all work—the director.
"Listen, honey," Wanda began, in character as Maureen Core, a fellow stripper, "this guy's a pipe dream. You're asking for trouble."
"He's an answer," Maddy shot back, and crossed to an imaginary bar on the empty stage. She poured herself an invisible drink, tossed it back and grinned. "He's the ticket I've been standing in line for all of my life."
"Get it in diamonds, babe." Wanda walked toward her, running her fingers up her arm as if she were enjoying the sensuous feel of a diamond bracelet. "And put them in a nice dark safe deposit box, 'cause when he finds out what you are he's going to be gone before you can shake your—"
"He's not going to find out," Maddy told her. "He's never going to find out. You think a class act like him is ever going to find his way to a dump like this?" She cast a disdainful look around the empty stage. "I tell you, Maureen, I've got a chance. For the first time in my life, I've got a chance."
The accompanist gave her her intro, and Maddy's mind went blank.
"Maddy." The director, known more for his skill than his patience, snapped her back. She swore with the ripe expertise she reserved solely for foul ups on stage.
"Sorry, Don."
"You're only giving me about fifty percent, Maddy. I need a hundred and ten."
"You'll get it." She rubbed at the tension in her neck. "Give me a minute first, will you?"
"Five," he said, clipping off the word so that the dancers shifted uneasily before they dispersed. Maddy walked off stage left and dropped down on a box in the wings.
"Problem?" Wanda sat down beside her, casting a look around designed to keep anyone else at a safe distance.
"I hate to mess up."
"I make it a policy to keep my nose out of other people's business. But…"
"There's always a but."
"You've been walking around on three cylinders for about a week. I'd say you're due for a tune-up."
She couldn't deny it; she didn't try to. Instead, she set her jaw on her hand. "Why are men such jerks?"
Wanda considered a moment. "Same reason the sky's blue, honey. They were made that way."
Another time, she might have laughed. Now she only nodded grimly. "I guess it's smarter just to leave them alone."
"A hell of a lot smarter," Wanda agreed. "Not much fun, but smarter. Your guy giving you trouble?"
"He's not my guy." Maddy sighed and frowned down at her shoe. "But he's giving me trouble. What do you do when a man kisses you as though he'd like to nibble away at you for the next twenty years, then brushes you aside as though you were never really there in