He hung up, leaving Travis scowling at the dead phone.

‘Grr!’ he said.

He knew that both Pete and Denzil were right. Carelessly indulgent behaviour could imperil his career, and that was the last thing he wanted. He enjoyed the benefits of stardom too much. But what to do about it was a problem. The ‘respectable’ road definitely did not attract him.

But he couldn’t say that openly without risking everything that mattered to him: his career, his reputation, his pride, the money that was pouring in. That money told the tale of a successful man; not just to himself, but to others whose respect he cared for more than he wanted to admit.

‘They think it’s so easy,’ he mused. ‘If I play a guy who can soar above human temptations then I can be like that in real life. As if! All right, I was a bit careless with that girl in the nightclub, and I very nearly… But I didn’t! It took a lot of self-control, but I didn’t.

‘If I was really a heavenly being, I could solve the problem in an instant. I’d turn the next corner and find the perfect solution just waiting for me. But in real life that kind of miracle doesn’t happen. Ah well! Time to get to work. With luck, I might even get in touch with my virtuous side.’

He gave a wry laugh.

‘Whatever that means.’

Charlene took a deep breath as she neared the studio entrance. It was now or never. In another moment she would get through that door as a member of a party privileged to tour the studio. Or perhaps someone would spot that she was a fraud; that she was here to see Lee Anton, the man with whom she was secretly in love, who had once seemed to love her, and whose feelings she desperately hoped to revive.

A pause in the queue gave her the chance to regard herself in a wall mirror. She’d taken trouble over her appearance and knew she looked as good as possible. Which wasn’t very good, she thought sadly. Nature hadn’t made her a beauty. Not exactly plain, but not exactly pretty either. Lee had called her ‘Nice-looking’ and praised her eyes.