By some unspoken consensus, everybody rose about the same time and headed out to their various locations. Katrina and Ren were scheduled to go over blocking for some of the indoor scenes inside the old church, while Greg was taking the rest of the men in the cast, and a few of the women, as well, to rehearse one of the big fight scenes.
Ren held back when Katrina started heading for the old church with Liatha. Katrina wasn’t sure, but it was possible Ren was giving her a bit of the cold shoulder. Or, maybe, he was just a little hard to get to know. Maybe it would just take some time for him to warm up to her. She’d just bide her time and let things unfold. The last thing she wanted to do was act clingy and annoying. She’d bet he got a lot of that already from his legions of adoring fans.
Katrina left Liatha with Sonia, who was already inside the building, directing a small crew that was erecting a supplemental lighting rig. Katrina went to the area Sonia indicated, which was set up like a small set. They’d be using different areas of the interior and exterior of the old building to represent different parts of the castle where a lot of the scenes were set. Katrina went toward the front of the building where the altar must have once been. There were a few people already gathering there, ready to work, who greeted her with friendly smiles as she approached.
Katrina was all set to take notes, colorful pen in one hand, script in the other, when Sonia and Ren joined the rest of the small group. The first scene they were going to tackle just happened to be the first meeting between Robin and Maid Marian. It seemed fitting to her, to start there, even though the film wouldn’t actually start at that point.
The backdrop included one of the stunning, authentic tapestries Liatha had mentioned over breakfast. There was even a guy who worked for the insurance company on the set, whose sole job was to look after the tapestries that were on loan for this project. They were works of art that carried very high price tags, and everyone had been warned not to touch them without gloves—or, better yet, not to touch them at all.
Katrina had her script turned to the proper page and was ready to work when Sonia arrived, walking briskly across the open space at the center of the old church. The pews had long since been removed so the building could be used for other activities. Sonia got right to it, positioning Katrina and Ren where she wanted them to start the scene and working through the camera angles and movements she wanted them to make. Katrina took rigorous notes when she wasn’t actively being instructed. She noticed that Ren didn’t write much of anything down, but he never seemed to miss a beat.
They ran through the scene several times, first just the motions, then with lines, until Katrina started to relax and was able to absorb more and not have to write down as much. She still took notes, of course. She was nowhere near as comfortable—or as able to remember everything—as Ren appeared. Perhaps he’d just done this sort of thing so many times that nothing fazed him anymore. Or maybe, that was just his talent showing through.
Katrina felt doubt trickling back in to plague her, and her shoulders tensed up. She scribbled in her script, trying to make sure she didn’t miss anything. Sonia started talking to Liatha, who was there to discuss placement of certain items on the set. That turned into a consultation with Deidre about placement of microphones and baffles to counter the slick stone walls and their jarring acoustics, leaving Ren and Katrina alone for a few minutes.
Katrina hunched over her script, writing. She jumped when warm hands came down on her shoulders from behind.
Ren. It had to be. One thought flew across her mind. Holy cow! Ren is touching me!
“Relax, Kat. You’re as jumpy as your namesake.” His deep voice rumbled near her ear.
She stilled, consciously relaxing her shoulders and letting her hands fall to her sides. “I just don’t want to get anything wrong,” she admitted.
“Hey, nobody’s perfect, but you haven’t even been here long enough to do anything wrong yet. It’s just a rehearsal. This is the place to make mistakes, if you’re going to make them, so lighten up. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Let the work flow, okay?” His big hands squeezed her shoulders rhythmically for a few seconds, then he let go and stepped away.
Katrina was left in shock. Why was he being so nice to her now, when she’d thought he’d been pretty much ignoring her up to this point? She didn’t know what to think, but his words had been kind, and his touch had been… Jarring was a good word. Stirring was another.
Damn. She had it bad. It hadn’t been an intimate touch. Not really. Just a friendly reminder to loosen up and relax her hunched shoulders. A kindness.
Somehow, though, it had felt like much more. She worked hard to return some sense of normalcy to her body, though she was still feeling a bit frozen in place. Like prey caught in the hypnotic stare of a predator, she thought, though they hadn’t been face to face at all. Just that mesmerizing voice, floating to her from somewhere behind her, close to her ear. His words for her alone.
Now, that was intimate. A man known the world over for the richness of his voice, among his other sterling attributes, had used that gift of a voice…for her. She felt special, though he’d probably thought nothing of it—but to her, it was striking.
She got through the rest of that session, keeping his words in mind, and the work did seem to flow more easily. She took her notes, but her stress level lessened, and every once in a while, he’d catch her eye and smile in a friendly way. Perhaps they could become friends out of this, after all. And maybe, he wasn’t the cold fish she had feared.
After they broke for a quick lunch in the picnic pavilion, Katrina was scheduled for more blocking indoors while Ren went to work with the fight choreographer. They had parted ways while still in the old church, and Ren had gone to sit with another group of actors to eat his lunch, leaving Katrina to fend for herself. Luckily, Franny called her over to an open spot at her table with some of the other women, and the hour passed merrily with lots of girl talk.
Then, it was back to work. Maid Marian had a lot of the indoor shots, and Katrina spent the afternoon working on various scenes where she was featured in different locations around the large building.
In one of the scenes, she was supposed to be looking out Marian’s bower window. They were going to shoot that in one of the smaller rooms behind the former altar space, where the windows opened out onto the garden at the side of the building. Katrina stood there, gazing out the window, as directed, finding herself fascinated by the action at the back of the property that she could just see from her vantage point.
The larger part of the cast was running through one of the big fight scenes in the clear space at the back of the building. Greg was giving the counts while the rest of the cast ran through somewhat acrobatic movements, including Ren. Katrina found herself entranced by the way they dove and rolled, popped up and leapt, as if gravity didn’t have much of a hold on any of them.
Her eye was drawn to Ren. Even in the crowd of others, he moved with a sinuous grace and command that demanded attention. She knew he was just playing a part, but there had to be something of his real personality in it, didn’t there? How could a man have such a commanding, dominant presence on screen and not be just a little bit of the Alpha male in real life?
Now that she was seeing him in action, she thought there was more than a little bit of truth to her musings. Only time would tell, of course. She’d be working with him for a couple of weeks, at least, so maybe she’d get to know him better over the course of time.