The Perfect Hero (25 page)

‘But I know you,’ she said.

He grinned. ‘And I’m very honoured to be your friend.’ He winced inwardly at the word which now lay between them heavy and cumbersome like a slab of cement. He didn’t want to be her friend. Well, he
did
– of course he did. But he wanted to be more than that. ‘And I’ll always be around if you ever need to talk to anyone. You know that, don’t you?’

‘You’re so sweet, Adam,’ she said. ‘Gemma’s a lucky girl.’ She began to walk again, leaving Adam to cringe.

Just before they reached the car park, they passed a second-hand bookshop, its windows crammed with gems.

‘I can never resist the lure of books,’ Adam said.

‘Neither can I,’ Kay said. ‘You know, Oli told me he hasn’t read
Persuasion
.’

‘Really?’

‘He doesn’t like reading at all. Well, other than scripts.’

‘But that’s terrible,’ Adam said, aware that it was bad practice to slander one’s rival but – nevertheless – it was very tempting to do just that.

They entered the shop together and marvelled at the shelves and the wonderful magical musty smell of old books. Then, as if of one mind, they both ventured towards the fiction section and it wasn’t long before Adam made a discovery, pulling out an old copy of
Pride and Prejudice
from the shelves.

‘Look at this,’ he said, handing it to Kay.

‘It’s illustrated!’ she said in delight as she flicked through the pages. ‘They’re wonderful – look at them!’

Adam looked at the pages she held open for him and nodded. ‘I’m betting they’re not as lovely as your illustrations,’ he said.

‘Oh, you flatterer!’

‘And you must let me have a look at them some time.’

‘Really?’

‘I’ve said so before. Perhaps I could help you find an agent for them – get you on the road to publication.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ Kay said.

‘Why not? Isn’t that what you’re aiming for?’

‘Well, yes. In the long run.’

‘Why not now?’

Kay bit her lip and Adam hoped he hadn’t pushed things too far. ‘I – I’m just a bit busy with the bed and breakfast.’

He gave her a little smile. ‘It’s rejection, isn’t it? You’re scared of rejection.’

Kay didn’t answer at first but then she nodded. ‘Of course I’m scared of rejection. Who isn’t? You see, at the moment, the paintings are mine and they’re – well – perfect, because nobody’s told me otherwise. But what if somebody does? What if somebody tells me they don’t like them and that they’re no good?’

Adam scratched his chin. ‘If you’re going to try and get published, you’re going to have to accept that someone’s going to tell you that at some stage – that is, unless you get incredibly lucky first time. But you shouldn’t let that put you off. My goodness, if I’d given up after my first rejections—’

‘You’ve been rejected?’ Kay asked in surprise.

‘Countless times!’ he said. ‘There was one God-awful year when I got nothing
but
rejections and – yes – it knocks you back a bit and you feel like your work’s worth nothing but then you dust yourself down and start again.’

Kay’s face looked pale with anxiety. ‘I don’t know if I could survive that. It sounds so brutal.’

‘It is, but you get over it. At least, you do if you want to have your work out there and you love doing what you do. Truly love it.’

‘Oh, I do!’

‘Well, that’s what will get you through the rough times.’

Kay puffed out her cheeks in a sigh. ‘I’m not sure I like the sound of rough times.’

‘They’re not easy – I won’t paint an unfair picture for you – but when you have a piece of work accepted . . .’

‘What?’ Kay asked.

Adam smiled. ‘It’s the best feeling in the world.’

‘I wonder how Jane Austen felt,’ Kay said, ‘when she first saw her book in print.’

‘
Sense and Sensibility
, wasn’t it?’

Kay nodded. ‘In 1811.’

‘She was in her mid-thirties,’ Adam said. ‘Yes.’

‘So there’s plenty of time for you!’

Kay laughed and flicked through the illustrated copy of
Pride and Prejudice
again. ‘This is lovely,’ she said.

‘Let me buy it for you.’

‘Oh, you don’t need to do that.’

‘But I want to,’ he said, plucking it from her hand and taking it to the till.

How very sweet Adam was, Kay thought. It was rather a pity that she’d matchmade him with Gemma otherwise she might be starting to have ideas about him for herself. He was certainly very cute with his dark hair and bright eyes.

She shook her head. He was Gemma’s. Anyway, wasn’t Oli the only one for her?

Once the book had been purchased, Adam handed it back to her.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘What a lovely gift.’

‘My pleasure. But now you’re beholden to me.’

‘I am?’

‘Yes. You have to promise me that you’ll start to send your work out to agents and publishers.’

‘Oh.’

‘I’ll help.’

Kay was still looking anxious but she finally nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I will.’

On the way out, they passed a great shelf full of well-loved Enid Blytons.

‘I used to adore
The Famous Five
. First-class escapism for children,’ Kay said with a happy sigh. ‘But I always wanted Anne to fall in love on one of the holidays.’

‘So you’ve always been a romantic?’ Adam said with a grin.

‘Oh, yes!’

‘And when did you graduate from Miss Blyton to Miss Austen?’

‘Very early,’ Kay said as they finally managed to leave the shop and head towards the car park. ‘One of my cousins was staying during the holidays and she was meant to be reading
Pride and Prejudice
for school but she hated it. I don’t think it was anything to do with Jane Austen – my cousin was just going through a phase when she hated everything. Anyway, she left it in the garden one day and it had started to rain. I ran outside to get it and couldn’t resist taking a look to find out more about this dreadful book and I was hooked. I had to buy my own copy after that. How about you?’

‘How did I discover Jane?’

Kay nodded.

‘Nana Craig sat me down one Saturday afternoon to watch the old Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice
.’

‘And you didn’t run out of the room screaming?’

‘No. I’d been in a terrible mood. My team had lost a big football match at school and she thought I needed cheering up.’

‘And nobody can cheer you up quite like Jane Austen.’

‘You’re not wrong there,’ Adam said. ‘All the same, I didn’t let my mates know. I don’t think it would have done my reputation any good on the pitch.’

Kay laughed. ‘I guess not. But . . .’ She stopped.

‘What?’

A frown creased her forehead. ‘Do you think it gave you unrealistic expectations?’ she asked slowly.

Adam was surprised by her question. ‘You mean of love?’

Kay nodded. ‘I mean, I’m always being told I’m – that I have – that Jane Austen has given me—’

‘A horribly warped view of the world?’ Adam suggested.

‘A
wonderfully
warped view of the world,’ Kay corrected him.

‘How?’

‘Oh, you know – the usual stuff about happy endings and expecting to fall in love with the perfect hero.’

‘And you haven’t?’ he dared to ask her.

Kay’s bright eyes seemed to mist over. ‘I’m afraid I have but it seems to happen an awful lot.’

‘You mean the heroes don’t turn out to be heroes?’

‘That’s
exactly
it!’ she said, thinking of her own sorry history with various ex-boyfriends who’d let her down – like Charlie Russell whom she’d been dating for six months before receiving a postcard from Barcelona where he’d decided to move without telling her.

‘And you’re blaming Jane Austen?’

‘Well, I have to blame somebody and I don’t really like the idea of it being my fault.’ A small smile spread across her face. ‘How about you? Any failed relationships you can blame on dear Jane?’

Adam cleared his throat. ‘One or two,’ he said. ‘One or two.’

Chapter Thirty-One

Half an hour had gone by at Marlcombe Manor and Oli Wade Owen was still a missing person. Teresa had been pacing up and down for the last ten minutes, wondering what to do.

‘He just stormed off,’ Gemma said when Teresa asked where her leading man was.

‘Where? Where did he storm off ?’

Gemma pointed across the lawn where the garden sloped and was lost in a group of trees.

‘Bloody hell!’ Teresa said, and Gemma watched as the director followed the path that Oli had taken earlier.

‘What did he say to you?’ Sophie asked as she approached from behind.

‘Oli?’ Gemma said. ‘Not much. Just that he was fed up with the way Teresa was treating him.’

‘The usual then?’ Sophie said.

‘What’s going on?’ a voice suddenly cried from behind them. ‘What have I missed?’

Gemma and Sophie turned round to see Beth emerging from the back of a taxi, wincing as her sprained ankle hit the ground.

‘Shouldn’t you be resting?’ Gemma asked.

‘I couldn’t stay in that bed and breakfast a minute longer,’ Beth groaned. ‘I was so bored!’ The taxi pulled away and Beth hobbled over towards them. ‘So, what’s going on?’

‘Oli’s stomped off in a huff after upsetting Teresa.’

‘Her daughter turned up at the bed and breakfast with her nanny and then promptly disappeared,’ Beth said.

‘Yes,’ Gemma said. ‘She turned up here with Oli.’

‘I was trying to hear what was going on from my room but it was no use and then Kay seemed to forget I was there. She’s gone off with Adam.’

‘So now we’ve lost our director on top of everything else,’ Sophie said. ‘I thought we were trying to make a period drama here but it’s turning into more of a farce.’

‘I don’t think Oli and Teresa should be working together,’ Gemma said. ‘They just seem to constantly wind each other up.’

‘But have you seen their films?’ Sophie said. ‘She always seems to get the best out of Oli.’

‘I don’t think he should be acting at all,’ Beth said.

‘What?’ Sophie all but screamed.

‘What makes you say that?’ Gemma asked. ‘He’s a brilliant actor.’

‘I know,’ Beth said.

‘What, you think he should give it all up and make babies with you?’ Sophie teased. ‘Because that’s not going to happen.’

Beth scowled at her. ‘And how do you know?’

‘Because he’s got his eye on someone and it’s not you!’ Sophie declared.

‘Who?’ Beth asked.

‘I think it might be our little hostess,’ Sophie said with a smile, delighting in winding Beth up.

‘But she’s off out somewhere with Adam,’ Beth said.

‘So?’ Sophie said.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, you two!’ Gemma suddenly cried. ‘Can’t you talk about anything else?’

Sophie and Beth exchanged puzzled expressions.

‘What else is there to talk about except love?’ Sophie asked.

As Adam and Kay crossed the car park, he sighed inwardly. As long as he could remember, he had been an optimist. He had always looked on the bright side of life. He’d always thought things would turn out for the best and never had anything but the highest expectation of things. Until Heidi Clegg, that was. Before Heidi, Adam had believed that love was a pure and simple thing and that being honest and open was a sure way to finding a happy ending of his own. But he’d been wrong.

Adam had met Heidi Clegg at a wrap party for the first film he’d produced. She’d been a friend of one of the actresses but not an actress herself – much to the relief of Nana Craig.

Heidi was tall with short blonde hair cut elfin-like around a beautiful face and she had the most hypnotic eyes Adam had ever seen. They were like polished jade and gave her face a feline appearance. Adam had fallen in love in the space of a moment.

There’d followed a few blissful months of wonderful dates and romantic nights when he’d felt that the city of London had been made for them alone. They’d done so many funny, silly things together. He’d taken her to London Zoo where they’d eaten ice creams and laughed at the penguins. They’d taken a boat out on the Serpentine in Hyde Park and had picnicked on Primrose Hill. It had been the most perfect summer of Adam’s life and he’d known that she was the one.

And so he’d bought the ring – a beautiful square-cut diamond set in platinum – from a jewellers he’d walked by a dozen times on his way to the studio he was working at. That morning, it had stopped him in his tracks, winking at him as clearly as a lighthouse beam. It had been a sign. Well, that’s what Adam had thought at the time.

He’d chosen a restaurant by the river, the sun setting behind the city, and then he’d waited for her to arrive.
This,
he thought,
is going to be the most perfect night of our lives.
He felt excitement bubble up inside him and then wondered if he should order a bottle of champagne and get some real bubbles in on the action. He motioned to the waiter and tried not to splutter into his tie when he saw the prices.

‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘I’ll have this.’ He chose a bottle that cost more than he’d sold his first short story for.
It’s a special occasion,
he told himself. A
very
special occasion and if one can’t have champagne on such an occasion then it was a poor do.

He looked out into the darkening night and wondered where Heidi was and if she had any idea what he was going to ask her. Didn’t women have a sixth sense for these sorts of things? Maybe she was panicking about what to wear or fixing her hair so that everything would be perfect. He tried to imagine her arriving – walking in through the restaurant door. She was the kind of woman that made heads turn and he was quite sure that would happen tonight. How proud he would be to see her. He’d catch her eye and she’d beam him one of those bright smiles and the other customers in the restaurant would turn to see who it was she was meeting.

‘That’s my future wife you’re admiring,’ he’d want to tell them.

He checked his watch again. She was fifty minutes late which was perfectly normal for Heidi. He’d come to expect her to be late and she always had a very good excuse. Take the time when she’d been late for the theatre because she’d broken a nail. That must have been horribly painful and of course she’d had to fix it and he didn’t mind not being let in until the interval. After all, you couldn’t expect to ruin the enjoyment for everyone else – not when you were sitting in the front row; it would have been so disruptive. And then there’d been his hour-long wait for her outside the Victoria and Albert Museum for the exhibition he’d wanted to see. Heidi hadn’t been able to decide what shoes to wear and so had gone shopping on the way and he had to admit that she did look fabulous and he hadn’t minded missing the exhibition. Who wanted a timed ticket entry anyway? Wouldn’t it be more fun to just look around the permanent collection at one’s leisure?