The Perfect Hero (11 page)

‘Of being handsome?’ she said and then bit her lip. What a thing to say.

‘Of being an actor,’ he said with a little smile. ‘And I suppose there’s a certain amount of staring to be done in your line of work.’

‘Running a bed and breakfast?’ Kay said.

‘No!’ he said with a laugh. ‘
Illustrating!
’

Kay laughed too. ‘Yes. I suppose so. I mean, it’s what I have to do – if I want to capture a face.’

Oli looked at her. It felt strange having those piercing blue eyes fixed on her. How many times had she gazed at them within the safe confines of her television set? And now here they were – just a couple of feet away – staring at her.

‘I’ve never been drawn before,’ he said. ‘It must be a rather intimate experience.’ He held her gaze and Kay felt riveted to the spot, believing that a tornado wouldn’t have the power to move her if it struck at that very moment.

‘Intimate,’ she said and the whole world seemed focused on that one word, its three syllables vibrating on her lips.

Oli nodded and took a step towards her. ‘Perhaps I could sit for you some time.’

Kay frowned. Had she heard him right? ‘Really? You would? I mean, would you?’

‘I would be honoured,’ he said.

She smiled and felt as if her face would break in two from the very width of it.

‘Oli!’ a voice suddenly called from the other side of the hedge. It was Beth and she wasn’t looking very happy as she entered the knot garden and saw them standing there. ‘
There
you are,’ she said as she approached them, looking down her perfect nose at Kay. ‘You’re wanted.’

‘Already?’

‘Not by Teresa – by us,’ Beth said, slipping an arm through his. ‘We want your opinion on a scene from the zombie film.’

Oli turned to look at Kay as he was marched away and gave her a wink. Kay blushed and couldn’t help smiling as Beth turned round to give her a Medusa-like glare. Her moment of magic was over but Kay felt as if she could feed off it for decades. She’d walked in a beautiful garden with Oli Wade Owen and they’d talked about heroes and he’d promised to sit for her! And he’d looked at her. He’d really
looked
at her.

She wrapped her arms around her body and looked up into the sky. The darkest of the clouds had passed and there were patches of blue promising kinder weather. Kay inhaled deeply and all seemed well with the world. Oli Wade Owen was going to sit for her.

But you mustn’t think any more of it
, a little voice told her.
You know what you’re like – you always get carried away.

‘I’m not going to get carried away,’ she said. ‘He just wants his portrait done – that’s all. How can anyone possibly read more into it than that?’

But Kay was already imagining. She’d be sitting there drawing him. He’d be wearing a white shirt, unbuttoned at the top, his blond hair flopping over his face. They’d have been sitting together in silence for a few minutes when, suddenly, Oli would get up and stride across the room.

‘I can’t stand it any longer!’ he’d say.

‘What?’ Kay would ask, her eyes wide.

‘You staring at me like that – with those huge eyes of yours and that perfect mouth that I just want to kiss.’

‘Oh, Oli!’ she’d say before his mouth came crashing down on to hers, her paintbrushes rolling to the floor in abandon.

‘Kay?’

Kay gasped, spinning around at the sound of her voice being called.

‘Oh, Adam!’ she said.

‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to shock you.’

‘It’s okay.’

He walked towards her. ‘You looked deep in thought.’

‘Did I?’ Kay said, suddenly becoming engrossed in a rosemary bush.

‘What have you been up to?’

‘Oh, not much. Just talking to Oli.’

Adam nodded and Kay noticed that his smile had slipped away.

‘You been talking to Gemma?’ she asked.

‘Yes. She always gets a bit anxious before filming.’

‘It’s so nice that you care about her,’ Kay said.

‘I just try and keep everyone together, you know.’

‘But Gemma’s a bit special, isn’t she?’

Adam frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, she’s such a lovely person,’ Kay said.

‘Yes,’ Adam said, ‘she is.’

‘And so pretty too. I think she’s one of the prettiest actresses around today, don’t you think?’

Adam’s eyes widened. ‘Well, I’ve not really thought about it.’

‘But she is!’ Kay enthused. ‘I think she’s lovely. But she’s a bit shy. I think she’s one of these girls who has so much to give if only she could find the right man.’

Adam cleared his throat. ‘And I’m sure she will one day.’

‘Do you?’ Kay said, her eyes lighting up. ‘I do too. In fact, I think that day might be fast approaching.’

Chapter Fourteen

The retrenching scene where Sir Walter is being advised to make cutbacks on his extravagant lifestyle was in the can and Teresa was keen to move on to the next indoor scene – the one where Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth see each other for the first time after their years of separation. It was to be shot in one of the ground-floor rooms of Marlcombe Manor which was filled with oak panels and had a beautiful mullioned window and an impressive door through which Wentworth was to make his entrance.

As ever, it was a problem getting the lighting just right for this scene. Teresa wanted it subdued and tender but not so tender that you couldn’t actually see the actors’ faces as had happened in the first shot.

Beth and Sophie had had their hair and faces made up and were now looking a little more like sisters. But they were far from acting like sisters when the cameras weren’t rolling. Beth seemed to be in a permanently bad mood and Sophie took great delight in teasing her, which wasn’t exactly helping things along.

Finally, everything was ready. Taking some steadying deep breaths, Gemma tried to focus. It was one of the most important scenes for Anne and Gemma was beginning to feel the whole weight of it. Anne was a woman of few words so how was she to convey her inner turmoil? Her feelings of both dread and longing at seeing Wentworth again had to be portrayed subtly. Anne wasn’t the kind of character to gasp aloud or clutch at her bosom.

‘It’s all in the eyes,’ Teresa had told her.

Gemma had understood but could she do it? Jane Austen had written that ‘a thousand feelings rushed on Anne’ when she realises that Captain Wentworth was to call and Gemma only had a few seconds to convey these emotions in all their complexity. She twisted the tiny gold cross that was hanging around her neck. She always fiddled when she was nervous which was one of the reasons why knitting was so good – it occupied her anxious fingers. But her knitting was in one of the vans outside.

Suddenly, after an agony of waiting, they were ready and Gemma was no longer Gemma but Anne. The twenty-first century became the nineteenth. Beth and Sophie became Louisa and Henrietta and Oli became Captain Wentworth. It was always a strange yet wonderful moment. Gemma thought it was like the deepest sort of alchemy. It was a moment of magic when the script came to life and nothing else existed.

By the time Kay and Adam left the knot garden, most of the cast had disappeared.

‘I don’t think we’re wanted here any more,’ Adam told her.

Kay sighed. ‘I think you’re right.’

‘You ready to go?’

‘Yes,’ Kay said, although she would have willingly stayed all day and all night.

‘They always stick to their own type,’ Adam said.

‘What?’

‘Actors. They always stick together.’

Kay frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean you’re too sensible to even think about getting involved with an actor, aren’t you?’

Kay’s mouth dropped open at the impudence of his question. After all, wasn’t he thinking about getting involved with Gemma?

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Kay said as she headed towards his car.

‘I think you do,’ he said, quickening his pace to keep up with her. ‘I’ve seen the way women react when Oli Wade Owen’s around and I’ve seen the way he encourages it as well.’

‘What’s Oli got to do with anything?’ Kay said a little too defensively.

‘You were talking to him just now, weren’t you?’

‘So?’ Kay said. ‘What harm is there in talking? It’s not often that I meet a movie star.’

‘I know,’ Adam said, ‘and that’s my point. He plays on that. I’ve seen it before. I’ve worked with his type for years and it always ends badly for any girl who gets involved.’

‘Aren’t you typecasting?’

‘Typecasts are typecasts for very good reasons – they’re instantly recognisable.’

Kay had reached the car and was waiting for Adam to open it when she suddenly wondered if there was a bus she could catch back to Lyme Regis. She didn’t like being interrogated like this. He was making assumptions about her and her feelings towards Oli. So what if he was absolutely right? She didn’t need his warnings. She was a grown woman and she could look after herself.

‘Adam – please don’t talk to me like a child.’

He looked hurt for a moment and then sighed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I just couldn’t bear to see you – to see Oli . . .’ He paused. ‘Well, it’s none of my business.’

Kay hesitated for a moment, wondering what would happen next.

‘I have to get back,’ she said at last as Adam found his keys and opened the car.

‘Listen,’ he said as they both got in, ‘Teresa said they’re going to be hours yet on set so you don’t have to rush back and prepare dinner.’

Kay glanced at him, wondering what he was thinking of now.

‘I mean, say no if you don’t want to.’

‘Want to what, Adam?’

‘Go and visit my nan.’

‘Your nan?’

He nodded. ‘She doesn’t live far from here and she’d love to meet you. And you’d love her too. I mean, I think it would be fun – for you both.’

‘I don’t know,’ Kay said. ‘I should be getting back.’

‘Please,’ he said. ‘Come and have some tea with my nan – as a way of showing you forgive me for making a prat of myself just now.’

Kay pursed her lips together. Tea with Adam’s nan. How bad could that be?

‘Okay,’ she said.

Adam smiled and started the car. ‘You’ll love Nana Craig,’ he said.

Nana Craig’s cottage was tucked away down a quiet country lane lined with cow parsley and red campion and it looked just like the sort of cottage a child would draw with its coffee-coloured thatched roof and its fat chimney. A tiny front garden was stuffed with flowers and a herringbone brick path led to a fat wooden front door which was painted yellow.

Kay had to stop herself from gasping at it all – it was so picture-perfect.

Adam walked ahead and rapped the knocker on the front door.

‘She’s a bit hard of hearing,’ he said, ‘except if you’re gossiping with somebody in the room next door and then she hears everything.’

Adam knocked again and, a couple of minutes later, the door opened and a lovely round face greeted them.

‘Hello, Nana,’ Adam said, bending down to kiss her powdery cheek. ‘I’ve brought somebody to meet you.’

‘Oh, my boy!’ she said. ‘You’re married at last!’

‘Nana! You know I’m not married!’ Adam said, his face flushing furiously.

Kay couldn’t help but smile.

‘Was I expecting you? I can’t remember but that’s normal these days,’ Nana Craig said.

‘No, you weren’t expecting us. I just thought we’d drop by. We’ve been up at Marlcombe. They’re filming there today.’

‘Oh, you and that film!’ she said. ‘You’re obsessed.’

‘Yep!’ Adam said. ‘Can’t help that. I’ve waited a long time to see it all come to life.’

‘I know you have, my love,’ Nana Craig said with an affectionate squeeze of his arm. ‘Now, here we are standing and talking a lot of nonsense when there’s a lovely young lady here on the doorstep.’

‘Pardon my manners,’ Adam said. ‘Nana, this is Kay Ashton. She’s just opened a terrific bed and breakfast in Lyme and is housing half the cast of the film. Kay, this is Nana Craig.’

The two women shook hands and Kay smiled at the friendly face that greeted her.

‘Come in, my dear. You’re very welcome even if Adam hasn’t made an honest woman of you yet.’

‘Nana! I’ve only just met Kay!’

‘Never stopped anyone before,’ she said. ‘In fact, it often helps these matters along.’

‘You mustn’t tease Kay. She won’t know you’re joking.’

Nana Craig giggled and it was the kind of giggle that belonged to a very naughty young girl.

They walked through a tiny narrow hallway painted red in which stood a variety of Wellington boots in different colours and state of disrepair. An old-fashioned coat hanger stood in the corner and was covered in bright raincoats.

‘Nana likes colour,’ Adam explained and Kay saw what he meant when they entered the living room at the front of the house. It was simply awash with colour from the pink floral wallpaper to the two squashy sofas in yellow and red. There were bright paintings of country scenes on the wall, a multitude of pretty figurines in a corner cabinet and a coffee table covered in a shocking pink tablecloth.

‘I’ll make a pot of tea,’ Nana Craig said, bustling out of the brilliant room.

‘Wow!’ Kay said. ‘I’ve never seen anywhere like this.’

Adam shook his head. ‘It can be a bit trying if you have a headache.’

‘I heard that,’ Nana Craig called from the kitchen. Kay smiled.

‘You should see the kitchen,’ Adam said in a lowered voice. ‘It’s a symphony of yellows and her bedroom’s every possible shade of blue and a few more too.’

They sat down on the soft yellow sofa.

‘Kay,’ Adam began, ‘I didn’t mean to overstep the mark before. I’m sorry if you felt I did.’

Kay turned to look at him and, sure enough, he seemed sorry. ‘I don’t know what you were imagining,’ she said. ‘It’s not as if I’m thinking of getting involved with anyone,’ she said, trying to push back the image of her and Oli Wade Owen in a passionate clinch in the middle of the knot garden.

‘I know,’ Adam said. ‘I’m just a worrier.’

‘Why are you worried about me?’ she asked, eyes wide with surprise.

‘Because I like you,’ he said in a low voice – Kay imagined in case his nan might be eavesdropping and was planning the flowers for a church wedding. ‘You seem like the kind of girl who’s too nice to get involved with an actor.’