"The right director meaning you?"

   "I wouldn't mind directing a play for them. It wouldn't be that much different than working with my students."

   "Except that your students are required to do what you tell them. Marlene's never been good at following directions. And what if May Benny decides she wants to join? You know she and Marlene hate each other. Could you handle it if they got into a hair-pulling fight over a part?"

   "You really do underestimate me, don't you? Must I remind you I've worked in New York? I've seen soap opera starlets try to clear each other's eyes out because one was certain the other was trying to upstage her. I've heard them call each other names that would turn your hair white. May and Marlene are amateurs when it comes to true divahood."

   "'Divahood'?" Tyler repeated the phrase with a quizzical smile. "Is that what it's called?"

   "That's what I call it."

   "And do you consider yourself a diva?"

   She laughed. "I'm afraid I never qualified. Only the big stars—soap, stage or film—can be considered true divas. I was just that nice young character actor with the big eyes and the funny accent."

   "Is that how you saw yourself?"

   "That's how the casting people saw me."

   She pulled two plates out of a cabinet and set them on the table, smiling to show him that she had long since learned to accept her fate. She might have worked harder, longer, more fiercely, but the chances of her becoming a big star had been slim. She could have made a steady, even generous, income in New York, or in Los Angeles, but she'd finally realized that there was an emptiness inside her that could only be filled by coming back here and dealing once and for all with her past.

   Tyler Hamilton has been very much a part of that past, whether he was aware of it or not.

   "So you're going to start a community theater." He still seemed to find that hard to believe.

   "Sounds like it. Want to join? I can see you wearing a torn T-shirt and yelling, 'Stella!'"

   He gave her s look that made her giggle. "I don't think so."

   "No hidden desires to be onstage, pretending to be someone else? No longing to hear the thunder of applause in your ears?"

   "No. I'm quite content to sit quietly in the audience. I'll buy a ticket for your production, Jane—even if Marlene Smith plays the ingenue—but I won't do any acting."

   "Pity," she said with an exaggerated sigh, reaching up to trail her fingertips along his firm jawline. "I have a feeling that gorgeous, sexy leading men will be in short supply around here."

   She was satisfied to see a faint color tinge his skin. He reached up to catch her hand. "You're trying to embarrass me again, aren't you?"

   "And succeeding, apparently."

   He gave s quick, unexpected tug on her wrist that brought her up against him. "What does it take to make you blush, Jane Doherty?"

   "I don't know," she murmured. "But you're welcome to try."

   "I've always been one to enjoy a challenge," he said against her lips. And the. Smothered her taunting reply with his mouth.