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he said casually.
    Rowena turned to look at him. ‘I didn’t expect Chris to be so impressed,’ she said miserably.
    ‘Of course he was impressed. I knew he would be; that was one of the main considerations in choosing her. That and her youth,’ he added thoughtfully.
    Rowena flushed. ‘Chris is older than I am.’ Her tone was defensive.
    ‘Only by eighteen months! In any case, the older men get, the younger the women they desire.’
    ‘Stop doing this!’ shouted Rowena, standing up and glaring down at him. ‘You of all people know how much I worry about my age. I expect Chris to be cruel, but not you.’
    ‘Then why do you love Chris more?’ asked Lewis softly.
    The anger faded from Rowena’s eyes and a look of despair filled them. ‘I don’t know! I wish I did. I wish I could tear myself away from him, but I can’t. He’s like a drug. Even when I think I’m getting free he draws me back.’
    ‘Which is precisely why we’re making this film, remember?’
    ‘I don’t think I can go through with it.’
    Lewis frowned. ‘Nonsense. In any case, you have no choice. No one else is anxious to put you in a film. I’m your only hope.’
    ‘But why this film, this story?’
    He sighed. They’d been over it so many times and still she seemed unable, or unwilling, to understand. ‘Rowena, I’ve never done fictionbefore. My films have all had social messages, or exposed corruption. When this idea was put to me I didn’t want to do it either. I was afraid, just as you’re afraid now. But then I realised how perfect it was for us. A film about a brother and sister whose sexual relationship began when they were in their teens and refused to die. A man who marries the sister, knowing all about the relationship but thinking he can take her away from her brother, only to find that he can’t. It’s our story, it isn’t fiction; it’s our problem and if it’s our problem it’s other people’s problem too. No one knows because it isn’t something people talk about. AIDS yes, or drug addiction or alcoholism, but not sibling incest. This might help people, but more importantly it might help us.’
    She stared at him. ‘There was no other woman in that original idea you were sent.’
    Lewis smiled. ‘But it needed a catalyst. Someone who would force all the others to reassess their lives, make decisions instead of letting the situation drift. Once I’d thought of that I knew it could be a special film; all I needed to do was see the drama played out for real first, to make sure that I got it right. That’s why the scriptwriters are here in England. I’ll have regular meetings with them, tell them what direction the story takes every step of the way. We are the film, Rowena, and then when it’s over you’ll star in the screen version and you’ll have all your emotional recall to use. Believe me, with the film done this way you could end up with an Oscar.’
    As he’d known it would the very word made Rowena’s eyes brighten, but then she frowned again. ‘What if I don’t like the ending?’
    He tried hard to keep any hint of irritation out of his voice. ‘It doesn’t matter if you like it or not; it will be truthful, and that’s what I want, a truthful film about a forbidden subject.’
    Rowena ran her hands through her hair, sweeping it back behind her ears, and turned towards the pool again, revealing her famously perfect profile. ‘You’re using me,’ she said sullenly. ‘I don’t believe you love me or you wouldn’t do this.’
    ‘If you loved me, you’d leave your half-brother,’ Lewis’s voice was soft, but she could hear the annoyance beneath.
    ‘Perhaps if I’d felt safer with you I would have left him,’ she responded.
    Lewis stood up, unable to control his temper any longer. ‘If you remember, Rowena, it was you who came to me in hysterical tears begging me to help you. I’ve never interfered, never tried to come between you and Chris. I knew about him when we married and I