He raised his eyebrows. ‘Lee played Shakespeare?’

‘He was very good,’ she said defensively. ‘He was Demetrius, I was Helena.’

And Helena spent most of the play pursuing Demetrius, begging to know why he no longer loved her. Travis studied the picture, noticing the passionate adoration in her face and the impatience in his. How much of it was acting? Not much, he guessed, drawing on his knowledge of Lee.

He glanced at her. She was tall, with dark, straight hair, flowing casually over her shoulders. Not a beauty. Not even pretty in the strictest sense. Her features were regular but there was a slight touch of severity about her face that might warn people off, just at first, although it faded when she smiled, brightening her large dark eyes.

Intriguing, he thought. She didn’t flaunt everything on the surface, but perhaps she might lure a man along a fascinating path of discovery. Or maybe not. Who could say? But she was exactly the kind of woman he doubted that Lee bothered with for long.

He knew a twinge of pity. He had an uneasy feeling that she was facing heartbreak.

A shadow appeared in the doorway and a woman strode in, looking around frantically.

‘Oh, goodness!’ Charlene said. ‘I got in as part of a studio tour, and that’s the leader, looking for me.’

The woman bore down on them, uttering words of concern and disapproval.

‘I’m afraid it’s my fault,’ Travis said at once. ‘Charlene is an old friend of mine and when I saw her here I persuaded her to spend the day with me.’ He smiled at Charlene. ‘You should have told me you were coming and I’d have rolled out the red carpet.’

‘I didn’t want to be a trouble,’ she said, falling into character.

‘You’re never a trouble to me.’ He turned back to the leader. ‘You can safely leave her in my care.’

He accompanied the words with his warmest look and the leader melted.

‘Oh, well…in that case I’ll leave you to it.’ She departed, but not before giving him a mystified look over her shoulder.