Jill Mansell: Sheer Mischief

‘Of course he couldn’t.’ Maxine shrugged and spooned sugar into her cold coffee. ‘But that doesn’t matter. If I’m good enough, I’ll make it on my own merit. Plenty of people do, don’t they?’ She brightened and added proudly, ‘After all, I’ve got this far!’

‘One toilet-roll ad and a walk-on.’ Zack Morrison dismissed her dazzling achievements-to-date with a languid gesture. ‘It’s who you know in this game, darling. OK, this Bruno chap might be able to whip up a terrific omelette but that isn’t going to put your name in lights.’

Maxine looked him. ‘That’s hardly his fault.’

‘Whereas with the right man behind you,’ Zack drawled. ‘Well ...’

‘Oh come on,’ she remonstrated, giving him a good-humoured smile. ‘It isn’t that straightforward.’

‘Look, let me give you an example.’ He leaned across the table towards her and lowered his voice. ‘Just a for-instance. I’m what makes Romsey Road one of the top-rated shows on TV. ‘I have clout. If I went to the scriptwriters tomorrow and suggested they expand your character ...

really bring her into the storyline ... they’d listen to me.’ He nodded, amused by the expression of disbelief in her eyes. ‘Seriously. If I wanted to do it, I could. Now wouldn’t you agree that’s simpler than slogging round endless auditions in search of the next measly job?’

‘Of course it is,’ said Maxine quietly. The brightness in her eyes had faded and she was shifting almost imperceptibly away from him. She looked, thought Zack, disappointed.

‘And ‘I could do it,’ he boasted.

‘I’m sure you could.’ Maxine bit her lower lip. ‘Look I’m sorry, but I’m beginning to think I’ve been a bit naïve here. What are you saying, that if I do you a ... favour, you’ll do one for me in return? Is this the old casting-couch routine?’

Zack Morrison grinned, bewitched all over again both by her troubled expression and forthright manner. ‘Why, would you go to bed with me if I asked you to? In exchange for a part in Romsey Road?’

‘No.’ Maxine shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t. I really am sorry, Mr Morrison, but I’m just not that sort of girl.’

She was terrific, thought Zack, filled with admiration. What a cracker! What an irresistible challenge.

‘In that case I won’t ask.’ Giving Maxine the benefit of the famous Robbie Elliott smile, he glanced down at his watch. ‘And I don’t know about you, but I have to be back on set in ninety seconds. How are you fixed for this evening? Are you free for dinner?’

Maxine looked wary. ‘I don’t know whether I should.’

‘No strings,’ he assured her, still smiling.

‘Well, OK.’ With a trace of defiance, she added, ‘But I have to phone Bruno at eight-thirty.’

‘Give me the address of where you’re staying later.’ Zack rose swiftly to his feet. ‘I’ll pick you up at nine. Wear something smart,’ he added, deciding that Maxine Vaughan deserved the full works, no expense spared. ‘We’ll really hit the town.’

When he had gone, Maxine sipped her coffee. It was scummy, stone cold and unbelievably disgusting but that didn’t matter. Her lips curled up at the corners as she allowed herself a small, triumphant smile.

Next year the Oscars, she thought happily. God, I’m good!

Chapter 56

St Lucia had been spectacular, but it would have been more spectacular if Guy could have got Janey out of his mind.

He still didn’t know why she had refused to go with him to the charity ball at the Grosvenor, either. All he knew, he thought dryly, was that as he had been driving through Trezale on his way to the airport that Friday lunchtime, he had overtaken Paula, giving a very poor impression of a flu-ridden invalid, pedalling furiously uphill on her bike.

But Janey had evidently had her reasons for standing him up, he concluded, and whilst half of him had longed to go round to the shop and shake them out of her, the other half had told him it wasn’t the greatest idea in the world. She’d had a hell of a year, after all. The best thing he could do was back off for a while and give her time to sort herself out. It was infuriating, but undoubtedly necessary.

It had also been the reason why — out of sheer desperation — he had carted Josh and Ella off for a time-wasting week in St Lucia. Janey, Guy concluded, had cost him a goddamn fortune.

She would have an absolute fit if she only knew.

But now he was back. And he had a few bridges to mend. Ready, steady .. .

Waiting silently in the doorway, Guy watched her at work. She had her back to him, and her shoes were off. Smiling to himself, he observed the holes in the elbows of her baggy, charcoal-grey sweater. The long white flowing skirt, made of light cotton, was more suited to July than February and her bare brown legs were mottled with cold. The temperature was positively arctic but so engrossed was she that it evidently hadn’t occurred to her to turn on the heating. Neither did she seem to have noticed that her long white hair, having escaped from its combs on one side of her head, was trailing over her left shoulder in a tangled, clay-streaked and lop-sided mane.

‘Oh,’ said Thea, finally sensing his presence and swivelling round to look at him. When she saw who it was she said ‘Oh,’ again, this time an octave lower.

‘It’s OK,’ Guy told her. ‘I haven’t come here to shout at you.’

‘I should bloody well hope not.’ Her eyebrows lifted. ‘And I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, young man. Because I’d shout right back.’

Guy believed her. ‘As a matter of fact I came here to apologize,’ he said. ‘I was pretty uptight at the funeral, but that’s no excuse for bad manners. I should at least have offered my condolences ...’

‘I didn’t realize you hadn’t.’ Thea’s expression softened slightly. ‘I’m afraid the entire day passed in a bit of a blur. Goodness only knows what that poor young solicitor must have thought of me ... according to Janey I was swearing like a sailor.’

That had been almost three months ago. Guy nodded. ‘So how are things now? How are you feeling?’

She shrugged, wiping her hands on her skirt. ‘Well, not full of the joys of spring ... but I’m back at work, which has helped. It’s stupid; now that I no longer need to do it to earn a living, I find I’m spending more time here than ever before.’ Hesitating for a second, she added, ‘I suppose it takes my mind off other things. I actually believe these latest sculptures are the best I’ve ever done. It’s just a shame Oliver isn’t here to see them and tell me how brilliant I am.’

‘At least the studio’s your own, now.’ Maxine had told him about that. Guy smiled. ‘My father would definitely approve. He always loathed the idea of paying rent and never getting the chance to own anything at the end of it.’

Thea gazed at him. ‘Does it bother you, the fact that he left me so much money?’

‘Absolutely not.’ Guy shook his head very firmly indeed. ‘You deserved it. If anything, it bothers me that he left my children so much money,’ he countered. ‘They’re in danger of becoming insufferable. Hardly a day goes by without one or other of them drawing up a new list of things-to-buy-when-I’m-twenty-one.’

‘And did they enjoy their holiday?’ Thea smiled. ‘You’re very brown. Janey told me you’d taken them somewhere hot but I can’t remember where.’

‘St Lucia.’ Ridiculously, the mere mention of her name lifted his spirits. ‘Janey was talking to you about ... us?’

‘I think she was missing your children,’ she replied with unconscious cruelty. ‘She’s extremely fond of them, you know.’

‘They’re very fond of her.’ Guy pretended to study the half-finished figure she was currently working on. ‘How is Janey, by the way? It’s been a while since we’ve seen her.’