The Perfect Hero (13 page)

‘Well, I know several people who’d be willing to pay money – really good money – for that sort of handmade item,’ Teresa said.

Beth huffed. ‘Are we going to eat or what?’

‘You okay in there?’ Adam called through to the kitchen.

Kay had been leaning up against the cooker, anxiously watching the clock. Poor Adam. He’d been sitting in the dining room on his own for about twenty minutes now. She was being a terrible hostess.

‘Everything’s fine,’ she said as she walked through to the dining room.

‘My eyes seem to have adjusted now,’ he said with a grin.

‘Would you like some more wine?’ Kay asked.

He nodded. ‘Dinner ready?’

‘It’s taking longer than I thought,’ she lied. It had been ready ages ago and she’d had to turn the oven off and hope it wouldn’t completely dry out before Gemma got back.

‘Won’t you join me in the meantime?’ Adam asked.

‘Oh, well I’d better keep an eye on things.’

Adam looked at her and she immediately felt guilty although she was quite sure he couldn’t read her mind. He couldn’t possibly know what she was planning, could he?

There was a sudden scraping of a key in the front door. Kay hurried through to the hallway and, when the door opened, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was Gemma – thank goodness! And, just as Kay had predicted, she was alone.

‘Hi!’ Kay called. ‘I was just making dinner. Do come and join us in the dining room.’

Gemma looked surprised. ‘Oh, I don’t want you going to any trouble on my behalf.’

‘It’s no trouble at all,’ Kay assured her. ‘In fact, it’s almost ready but I can keep it warm for you whilst you get changed. Maybe a dress would be nice?’

Gemma looked even more surprised. ‘A dress?’

Kay nodded. ‘Dinner’s always a bit special, isn’t it?’

‘Erm, I guess so,’ Gemma said.

‘Great!’ Kay clapped her hands together. ‘I’ll see you in the dining room in five, then?’

‘Right,’ Gemma said, disappearing up the stairs.

Kay popped her head round the dining room door. ‘Won’t be long now,’ she said with a big smile.

*

Five minutes later, Gemma came down the stairs wearing a little black dress which had been scrunched into the corner of her suitcase just in case she needed to dress up. She hadn’t imagined having to dress for dinner when they’d booked into the bed and breakfast but she didn’t mind too much. Kay was a sweet girl and it would be fun to get to know her better over dinner.

Entering the dining room, Gemma realised she wasn’t on her own.

‘Adam?’

‘Hello, Gemma!’ he said. ‘You look lovely.’

‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘Come on in,’ he said, getting up and pulling out a seat for her.

Gemma sat down and then frowned. ‘Why isn’t Kay joining us?’

‘What do you mean?’ Adam said. ‘She is.’

‘But there are only two places set at the table.’

Adam looked at the table for the first time and then it was his turn to frown. ‘I’m not sure I understand.’

Gemma smiled. ‘I think I do,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Well,’ Gemma said, nodding to the two place settings, ‘there’s you and me and candles and a single red rose.’

‘I bought that for Kay,’ Adam said. ‘I thought I was Kay’s special guest this evening but I think I’m beginning to understand now too.’

It was then that Kay entered the room with two plates filled with the homely – if well-done – shepherd’s pie.

‘That looks wonderful,’ Adam said politely.

‘I put all the vegetables on already but don’t feel you have to eat them all,’ Kay said.

Gemma looked in horror at the loaded plate that was placed before her.

‘Let me know if you’d like anything else.’

‘Aren’t you joining us?’ Adam said.

‘Gracious, no! I’ve already eaten,’ Kay said, hurriedly leaving the room.

As soon as Gemma was quite sure she was out of earshot, she leaned forward towards Adam. ‘You’re going to have to help me out,’ she told him. ‘I had no idea Kay had planned this and I had a huge portion of fish and chips on the way home.’

Adam chuckled. ‘Okay, pass me your plate,’ he said, forking a great chunk of the shepherd’s pie on to his own, together with a couple of potatoes.

‘Thanks,’ Gemma said. ‘I’ll be bulging out of my muslin if I attempt to eat all
that
.’

‘What’s she up to, do you think?’ Adam asked.

‘I think she’s trying to matchmake us,’ Gemma said.

‘What?’

‘Shush!’ Gemma hushed.

Adam rolled his eyes. ‘Oh my God! You’re right. She keeps talking about you all the time.’

‘She does?’

Adam nodded. ‘Keeps drawing my attention to you.’

‘Oh!’ Gemma said. ‘Whatever gave her the impression that – that you and I . . .?’

‘I have
absolutely
no idea.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Gemma said.

‘It’s okay. I mean, it’s not as if it’s your fault, is it? Anyway, I do like you.’

‘Just not like
that
?’

‘I didn’t mean you’re not attractive,’ Adam hastily added.

‘It’s okay! I’m just teasing,’ she said with a grin.

‘So what are we going to do?’

Gemma sighed. ‘I don’t know. I really don’t know.’

It was all going so well, Kay thought. She wasn’t one to eavesdrop – well, not unless it was absolutely necessary – she’d just been hanging around quietly between the dining room and the kitchen and, although she hadn’t heard anything in particular, she could hear faint murmurings. Adam and Gemma’s voices were low. They were whispering together. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Lovers whispered together. It was a sign of cosiness, intimacy and contentedness.

Kay couldn’t help but smile. She’d been right all along about those two. They were perfect for each other!

As she returned to the kitchen, she couldn’t help but imagine herself as a modern-day Emma Woodhouse – only she wouldn’t bungle things quite as horribly as Emma had and nobody would tell her things were ‘badly done’. No, Kay had a natural flair for this kind of thing. She could just feel it.

Chapter Sixteen

Adam would never forget the evening for as long as he lived. How could he have been so stupid? How could he ever have thought that Kay would have liked him enough to invite him to dinner? She’d only ever been interested in matchmaking him! She wasn’t interested in him – he was just her toy, her pawn, her plaything. That was all.

It was the story of his life. He had a long history of being either overlooked or used by women who were on their way to something better. He was also very good at getting stuck in the role of the best friend or adviser.

‘You’re too nice,’ Nana Craig once told him. ‘Girls don’t like the nice guys.’

It had sounded perverse to him. ‘What, they want me to break their hearts?’

Nana Craig had nodded with a big smile on her face.

Adam would never understand women. Just look at the Jane Austen novels and their fixation with the snobbish, insulting Mr Darcy. Okay, so he comes good in the end – big deal! But who really wants to hang around on the off chance that you’ve misunderstood somebody? If Adam was a woman, he’d have gone for someone like Mr Bingley – nice and un complicated. What you saw was what you got. No messing around.

As he drove home through the darkened Marshwood Vale, he thought about the bizarre evening. The situation was just awful and it wasn’t exactly going to further his relationship with Kay, was it?

He thought back to the gorgeous tiramisu Kay had brought in, her eyes flashing from him to Gemma, and he could only imagine what she was thinking.

‘Having a nice evening?’ she’d said.

‘Lovely!’ Gemma had enthused.

Adam had cringed inwardly.

‘I thought it would be,’ Kay said. ‘I mean, I guess film sets can be busy places and it must be difficult to really get to know people – people you care about.’

Adam’s left fist had balled up under the table. How on earth was he going to sort out this terrible muddle?

Kay lay in bed that night with a smile of satisfaction on her face at a job well done. She had a natural talent for this matchmaking lark, didn’t she? She’d been a bit nervous at first at the thought that Gemma might not turn up or that the whole cast and crew would come traipsing in with her, but it had all gone to plan. If only she could shake the memory of Adam and the red rose from her mind. But it was no good. There was a niggling little voice that kept whispering,
He bought it for you
.
That red rose was for you – not Gemma
. But a red rose could mean anything, couldn’t it? Adam was nothing more than a gentleman and a true gentleman bought flowers when invited to dinner and maybe he just happened to like red roses. Or maybe the florist didn’t have anything else? There could be any number of explanations.

Kay shook her head as she did her best to deny it but Adam had turned up expecting to have dinner with her. She had invited him. She’d said nothing about any third party.

‘But I did it for him,’ she whispered into the stillness of her bedroom.
He might not know it yet but Gemma’s so right for him,
she thought.
He’s not interested in me and, if he is, he’ll soon see how silly that is.

She thought of the two of them sitting in her dining room together. They’d looked so cute. The candlelight had made Gemma’s skin glow and Adam’s eyes had looked so soft and adoring. And they’d been chattering away like old friends. She was so proud of herself! The proof had been there too when Adam had got up to leave. Gemma had escorted him to the door and, as tempting as it was to make her presence known, Kay had left them to it, hiding behind the kitchen door where she could just glimpse a thin sliver of them as they said their goodbyes.

‘It’s been really lovely,’ Gemma had said.

‘Yes,’ Adam had replied. ‘I had a great evening.’

Kay had scrunched up her apron in excited hands as she’d listened. Would it happen? Would there be a good-night kiss? She almost gave her presence away by the gasp that left her when Adam inclined his head towards Gemma and kissed her. Okay, so it was only on the cheek but it was still a move in the right direction. Lips followed cheeks, didn’t they?

Gemma had knocked tentatively on the kitchen door and Kay had grabbed a pot and a tea towel in order to look as if she’d been totally preoccupied and hadn’t had a moment to hang around in gooseberry mode.

‘Thank you so much,’ she’d said.

Kay had turned round and feigned a look of surprise. ‘Did you have a nice evening?’

‘It was lovely,’ Gemma said.

‘My pleasure!’ Kay said. ‘You got on all right?’ She tried to make the question sound casual as she picked up a glass and dried it.

Gemma nodded.

‘He’s a very special person, isn’t he?’ Kay said and she was answered with a look of the tenderest affection and she knew that all her instincts had been right.

One of the things Kay hadn’t thought about when she’d decided to open a bed and breakfast was how very early in the morning she’d have to get up – especially when she had a film crew staying. The office job she’d held for years had been a short walk away from her home and she’d never had to get up early. But the early-morning views out over the harbour and sea were worth it. The Cobb wall would be in shadow and the gulls would be hovering around the harbour, their white wings bright in the morning light.

As she stood yawning in the kitchen, cracking eggs into a bowl before scrambling them, she couldn’t help smiling at the thought of Oli Wade Owen sitting in her dining room. When Kay had taken the coffee through, she couldn’t help noticing how dishevelled his blond hair had looked and how heavy his eyelids were. He’d looked half-asleep and didn’t look a bit like a hero.

She stirred the eggs around the pan, the creamy yellowness making her smile.

‘Good morning!’ a voice suddenly said from the doorway.

Kay jumped and spun around. It was Oli.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘You – erm – startled me.’

‘Just wondered how you were getting on.’

‘Me?’

He nodded. ‘Need a hand? I’m pretty good in the kitchen,’ he said. ‘Well, I can open a mean can.’

Kay grinned. ‘It’s all under control,’ she said, her scrambling spoon in her hand.

‘I was thinking about you last night,’ Oli said.

Kay’s mouth dropped open. ‘Really?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Wondering about what you said – about the portrait.’

‘Oh!’ she said. ‘The portrait.’

‘I mean, I’m happy to sit for you – if you’d like that.’

‘I’d
love
that,’ Kay said, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm. ‘I mean, great.’

‘How’s about tonight, then? I’ll give the pub a miss, how’s that?’

Kay smiled and nodded and stared into the blue eyes that were crinkling with merriment at the edges.

‘What’s that smell?’ he suddenly asked, his nose wrinkling.

‘Oh, no!’ Kay screamed, turning around. She’d left the heat on and the scrambled eggs were now a shrivelled, dry mass of black at the bottom of the pan.

‘I’d better leave you to it,’ Oli said, holding his hands up as he sneaked out of the kitchen.

Kay turned the gas off and stared at the blackened contents but she couldn’t help smiling. She was going to sketch Oli. He was going to sit for her. That meant he’d be alone with her.

For absolutely ages.

‘So it looks like another wet day,’ Teresa said at the breakfast table, ‘although we should get a morning’s sunshine first.’

Gemma poured herself another coffee to help her get through the day ahead.

‘The light should be right for the big Cobb scene at least.’

Beth nodded. It was going to be her big day and she was ready for it. She’d been going on about it all morning.

‘If it wasn’t for Louisa Musgrove, the story of
Persuasion
just wouldn’t exist,’ she’d told Gemma as they’d come downstairs together. ‘She really is the pivotal character in the whole plot and far more appealing than dreary Anne who never has anything remotely interesting to say. No, I think Captain Wentworth should have stayed in Lyme and married Louisa. You know he wants to. She throws herself into everything with such – such—’