Seductive Viennese Whirl (31 page)

He turns to her, facing him across the table, and gives her a charming smile. "A little nude bathing, that's all. It will be very erotic, very alluring."

"I'm not doing it."

Ravi throws up his hands. "Why you make the fuss now? Why you not tell me back in Bombay when I showed you the script? Did you think you would be bathing with all your clothes on?"

Shamila narrows her eyes at Ravi. "Either write out the nude scenes or get me a body double."

"Body double! Do you think you are Demi Moore? " Ravi pats her hand. "You are worked up about nothing. I am an artist." He glances around the table at his crew. "We are all artists, and we will do things with lights, with drapes. Only your silhouette will be seen." He turns from the smarting Shamila and takes Eva's hand.

"Now Eva, have a look at your part and then we can have a read through," he says handing her a script.

"This is all in Indian," says Eva, flicking through it.

"Yes, Hindi. But you have only a few lines. I am sure you will manage them wonderfully. I will take your part for now," says Ravi.

"Let me get this straight," snaps Eva. "You expect me to be in an Indian porn film where I could be saying anything since I don't understand a word? What do you take me for, a bloody idiot?"

Alex is watching the discussion from the corner where he is mixing butter and sugar in a bowl. Now he comes up and addresses Ravi. "What kind of budget are you working with? I mean, how long do you think you're going to be filming? Weeks, months?"

"Actually, we are working on a shoehorn."

"You mean shoestring?" I say.

"Yes, Kate, that is it exactly. Finances are tight. I would expect that we will be out of your hair, sir, in a matter of days."

Alex nods, and goes back to mixing up his batter on the kitchen counter. Now that he's changed the subject Eva and Shamila seem to have forgotten their protest about the nude scenes. Ravi seizes the moment of calm to start the read through. At the same time he narrates the story in English.

At the end of the nineteenth century a wealthy Indian man (Anil) on a tour of Europe attends a friend's dinner party in a remote Austrian village, where he meets two beautiful sisters - one evil (Eva), the other innocent (Shamila). Anil is struck by Shamila's demure charms, but is too reticent to make an advance. Instead, over the next few days he starts observing the tower of the castle where, he soon realizes, Shamila is being held captive by her sister. Soon he is savouring illicit glimpses of Shamila, as she sings a mournful song while washing herself and combing out her long black hair in front of her window. Before long he is totally besotted.

Weak with longing, he finally gets up the courage to knock on the door of the castle, desperate to have a few words with Shamila. Eva opens the door, and before he can tell her why he is here she invites him in to dinner. Despite the fact that he has fallen in love with her sister, he can't help but be mesmerized by her dark devilish looks. He has no intention of acting upon his desires, until she slips a love potion into his drink, making him too weak to withstand her. When she throws herself upon him and presses her lips against his he is utterly under her spell.

"This is all I ask of you Eva, one simple kiss," says Ravi.

Anil looks over at Eva with relish. Eva glances back with equal relish. Should I be worried? I wonder, as I watch her tug her earlobe, see the tip of her tongue graze her lower lip. But then I tell myself to cut her some slack. You can't turn off a lifetime of flirting overnight. I mean, you could no more tell Eva to be unmoved by a good looking man than, well, to get me not to go ape over cake. And at this moment I am utterly spellbound by Alex's cake, baking in the oven and blanketing the kitchen with an intense chocolate aroma.

The actors continue to read their parts, impervious to the heady scent which is distracting me from the business of concentrating on Ravi's narration of the plot. All I really want to do is rip open the oven door and bury my nose in the soft, yielding, gooey cake. But since that is patently ridiculous, I drag my mind back to the kiss that is soon to take place between Eva and Anil.

It turns out that, despite the love potion, Anil will suddenly become deeply ashamed, causing him to tear himself from her embrace and flee the castle. Despite his embarrassment, he will return some days later, determined this time to speak to the girl prisoner he has spent so many hours observing. But when he asks Eva if he may visit her sister, she sneeringly dismisses his suggestion and asks him to sit beside her on the couch. Soon she is trying (and failing) to kiss him. During this tussle he fishes the keys from her pocket and runs up the steps of the tower.

Swiftly unlocking the door he finds Shamila taking a bath, but quickly throwing a towel over her modesty, informs her he's come to rescue her from her evil sister. Meanwhile, Eva pounces on Anil and begins to claw at him, while he tries to pry her off. I can see it all vividly. Naturally, some of her clothes will become torn and work themselves loose. Beads of perspiration will cling to her cleavage. Ultimately the fight ends in tragedy, as Anil staggers to the window and, quite by accident, pushes Eva out of it and to her death.

"That is the end of Eva's part. The rest of the scenes we will film elsewhere in Austria and some in India."

"How does it end?" I say, watching Alex splicing open the cake. I immediately regret having asked because Ravi spends another good half hour telling us the intricacies of the rest of the story.

After the funeral of her sister, Shamila, grateful to Anil for saving her, agrees to accompany him on a tour of Austria. He is the perfect gentlemen and doesn't try anything on for several weeks. Bit by bit, however, his spectacularly overblown serenades in front of snow-capped mountains wear her down, and pretty soon she has fallen for him and agrees to secretly tie the knot in Vienna.

When they return to India they are blissfully happy. Although his family are none too keen on this foreign girl—they'd hoped for an arranged marriage—they make an outward show of accepting her. What else can they do, she is already pregnant with his child. Married bliss turns out to be short-lived however, when he is killed in a car crash. Thereafter his family turn against her, and boot her out of their home.

Penniless, she has no choice but to have her son adopted by a wealthy family. She loses touch with him and works as a lowly farmhand. Years later, she meets him by chance in the street. Now a grown man, he reinvolves her in his life and financially supports her for the rest of her days.

I'm staring at Alex, who's busy whipping cream. He's heaping great spoonfuls of the stuff onto the cake, then putting the top layer back on. It looks so good I can hardly take my eyes off it. Now he's mixing up some icing and dripping it over the top. I really wish they'd wrap this thing up so I can have a piece.

"So what do you think, Eva? Yours will be a fabulous part, no?" gushes Ravi.

Eva's unconvinced. As she umms and aws about doing it I start to thinking that if she goes home now I won't have any excuse to stay a moment longer with Alex. It's time I had a word. I pull out January's copy of
Vogue
that she barely glanced at on the plane, such was the excitement of see Alex. I open it at a fashion spread showing that everything Indian, from bindis to saris is hot for spring.

"Just think, you'll be a trend setter if you do this film."

"I suppose so," she says, but she still doesn't look thoroughly convinced. It's time to appeal to her inner bitch.

"And what about how Lola will feel, when she sees you up there on the screen in the role she begged Ravi for."

"Lola wanted the part?" she says, turning to McManus.

"Yes, she was sure she'd get it. And absolutely furious when she didn't."

"In that case I'll do it," says Eva, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Now that's settled," I say, "can I please have some cake?"

Alex keeps getting better and better. I never knew a man, or woman, come to think of it, who created such a heavenly concoction, I think, as I sink my teeth into the creamy chocolaty concoction.

After everyone's floating on a sugar high from the cake, Alex gives Ravi the keys to the Schloss, and he drives back to the pension with his crew. Eva's to meet them back here the following morning to start the shoot.

Then McManus insists Alex crack open another bottle of Veltliner and although I've only drunk two glasses I'm already drowsy, so I go and lie down on the divan. I fancy I look like a Pre-Raphelite painting, my wavy hair spread out around me. Now, all I need is for those two to push off. It's pretty much guaranteed, from the greedy looks Alex has been giving my prone form, that as soon as they're out of the door, he'll leap on top of me, I'll be that difficult to resist. It'll be like me and cake. If it's in front of me I can't help but dive in. I'm as tempting as cake to him, a human cake, ready to be devoured.

I'm lying there drowsily, bloated with sugar and cream, when I remember things aren't exactly going to plan. McManus and Eva are joking about with Alex like they're in no hurry to leave. I pull myself up.

"Hey, McManus, surely you aren't thinking of staying here on that lumpy old bed again? I reckon you'd be better off trying your luck at the pension. I could drive you."

"But your car's at the foot of the mountain," says Eva.

I sink back. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"I can drop you if you like," says Alex quickly.

"Thanks, but I think we'll stay here, if it's all the same with you," says McManus. "The pension's not likely to have Veltliner on tap now is it? And that fact alone means this place wins hands down."

Of course, I'm disappointed that they're staying, but at the same time I'm not that browned off because frankly, I'm incredibly tired. God I'm tired. In any case, my flight leaves in six days, which basically means I've got six days to seduce Alex. Because, you know what, I've finally come to terms with the fact that he likes me, I'm almost sure of it. Now my eyelids feel heavy, so I'll just close them for a few minutes. Have a little power nap and then wake ready to charm the pants off Alex with my scintillating conversation.

When I do open my eyes again, there's no one else in the room and the grandfather clock is chiming seven. Immediately I feel a flicker of excitement in the pit of my stomach because I know that today I'm going to be on a set. I'm actually going to be involved in the making of a movie! I can hardly wait. I know a bit about the film industry. I'm not totally naïve. I know these movie people like to get on set early and stick to a tight schedule.

While Alex is still asleep in his room I strip, although the kitchen is arctic, and wash myself swiftly, cursing under my breath when the hot water comes out cold. Now I've brushed my teeth, flossed, and am in full-face makeup. Despite the fact I'm wearing two layers of clothes the cold has wormed its way through my skin so that my bones feel chill. Alex's fleece lined jacket looks so cosy, lying there on the sofa, and when I press it to my face, smells so reassuring and musky and, oh God what am I doing? Before I know it I've pulled it on and am cuddled up on the divan again, breathing deeply of his scent. And suddenly I'm drifting off again.

When I wake up, I'm all bleary-eyed and Alex is handing me a cup of coffee.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to put on your jacket," I say, pulling it off, "only I was so cold." I'm embarrassed to be wearing it. It shows I've got a crush on him, something I don't want him to know just yet.

"That's all right," he says, slowly poking at the logs in the stove. The room is heating up nicely. Yesterday's bravado at seducing Alex now seems laughable. He seems remote and gorgeous and totally out of my league. In any case, it suddenly hits me how crazy the situation is. Here I am getting carried away when I don't even know if he's single.

Before I can think it through I start to broach the subject. "Your girlfriend must be a very lucky girl. That cake yesterday was to die for. Do you bake her cakes all the time? Well of course you don't, she's probably stick-thin and survives on a diet of tofu and lettuce. Not that I'm interested of course, in whether you have a girlfriend or not. I mean, why should I be?" I stop, because he's looking at me like I'm totally insane.

"Actually Kate, I don't have a girlfriend, stick-thin or otherwise."

"Oh, I see." Inside I'm crying with joy. "Well, I'd better get Eva up," I say slurping up my coffee and jumping up. "Ravi's probably waiting to start shooting."

"Oh, McManus and Eva went over a while ago."

"Shit."

"What are you, her agent? Worried you won't get your cut?"

"No, but she'll probably need someone to calm her down. Doing your first film must be pretty nerve-wracking."

"Maybe, but there's no need for you to get all worked up about it. She's a big girl, she can handle herself. Why don't you just chill out here for a while?"

"No," I say, "I've got to go over. She'll fall apart without me." And with that, I storm out. Of course, half way over to the Schloss I start to feel a perfect fool. I had this ideal opportunity to have someone on one time with Alex and instead I run away like a frightened rabbit. But I can't exactly go back now, so I keep going until I get to the Schloss where Ravi's standing outside by the van.

"Kate, my dearest girl. So glad to see you. You will help on the film, yes?"

"Sure. What kind of schedule will we be working to?"

He looks puzzled. "Schedule, we have no schedule."

No budget. No schedule. What kind of film is this?

"Please tell me you actually have cameras?"

"Of course," says Ravi as one of the guys hoists them out of the van. "One for medium shot, the other for close ups. We will run them at the same time."

I go into the Schloss and have a look around the bedrooms. The beds look large and comfortable, but filthy, moored in seas of white dust and awash with chunks of rubble that have dropped from the ceiling over the years.

In the hall I bump into McManus, and ask him where Eva is. He directs me to a swish bathroom complete with marble twin sinks and a claw-foot bath, which has been appropriated as a dressing room for the girls. Shamila is applying her makeup in the mirror while Eva sits beside her, script in hand, her hair in curlers.