The Perfect Hero: The perfect summer read for Austen addicts!

‘Right,’ he said, breaking the spell as he retrieved his hand, ‘who’s for a drink?’

‘I am,’ Beth declared.

Teresa stepped in, holding her hand up. ‘One drink,’ she said. ‘We’ve got an early start in the morning in case you’d forgotten.’

Oli clapped his hands together. ‘The Harbour Inn it is then. For one drink,’ he added.

Kay watched in bemusement as everyone bundled downstairs and she couldn’t resist following. The front door was flung open and Oli exclaimed as he almost smashed into a young woman standing on the step.

‘Gemma! What took you so long?’

‘I was carrying all these!’ she said, gesturing to the two suitcases and a bundle of carrier bags.

‘Oh, my hats!’ Beth said, nodding to the bags. ‘I found this divine hat shop here in Lyme. Take them upstairs, will you, Gemma? I’m in the double at the front.’

‘I bet you are,’ Kay heard Gemma say under her breath as she squeezed into the hallway.

‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Kay said, stepping forward and smiling at the pale-faced actress.

‘Oh, you’re not coming with us?’ Sophie said. ‘And Gem – you’re coming, aren’t you?’

‘I’m a bit tired,’ Gemma said.

‘She’s always tired,’ Beth said. ‘Come on, Oli.’

Kay watched as they all left. ‘Hi,’ she said, turning to Gemma. ‘I’m Kay.’

‘Gemma.’

‘Gemma Reilly?’ Kay asked, thinking that life couldn’t get much more exciting. ‘I saw that film of yours last year.’

Gemma pulled a face. ‘Sorry about that.’

‘But I liked it!’

‘Did you?’ Gemma said, sounding genuinely surprised.

The two of them made a slow progress up the stairs with the suitcases.

‘I did. You were great.’

‘Well, you’re the only person in the country who thinks so.’

‘But it was one of those roles, wasn’t it?’ Kay said. ‘I mean, it probably didn’t really stretch you – acting-wise – the character was just a spoilt little rich girl, wasn’t she? But you were so convincing.’

‘Was I?’

Kay nodded as they reached the landing. ‘And, by the end, I really warmed to her, you know? I began to understand her.’

‘Thanks,’ Gemma said. ‘That means a lot to me.’

Kay smiled. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to share.’

Gemma’s face fell. ‘Not with Beth?’

‘No,’ Kay laughed. ‘Beth grabbed a double. With Sophie. Is that okay?’

Gemma sighed with relief. ‘That’s fine,’ she said and the two of them entered the room. ‘Sophie’s one of those people you feel like you’ve known forever – in a good way, I mean.’

‘But not Beth?’

‘Beth’s an acquired taste,’ Gemma said with the tiniest of smiles.

‘Can I get you anything? A cup of tea?’ Kay asked. ‘I was just going to make a quick bite to eat. Not much, just some soup or something. You’re welcome to join me – if you’re not going to the pub, that is.’

‘I won’t be going to the pub,’ Gemma said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. ‘I think I’ll just have an early night with a book.’

‘Okay,’ Kay said. ‘I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.’

Gemma nodded and Kay left the room, closing the door and returning to the living room downstairs. She saw the opened paperback of Persuasion on the chair where she’d left it and smiled. It was as if the characters from the book had walked out of the page and right into her bed and breakfast.

She sat down heavily in her chair by the window. Sophie Kerr, Beth Jenkins, Gemma Reilly and Oli Wade Owen.

Oli Wade Owen! Kay’s eyes widened at the thought. How many daydreams had Kay had over the years about Oli Wade Owen? How many boring office hours had been enlivened by thoughts of that gorgeous smile of his and that twinkle in his blue eyes? She remembered cutting out a picture of him from Vive! once because she’d thought he would make the perfect hero to paint. Where was the painting now? she wondered. But maybe she could get on with some new ones. Maybe he would sit for her – in costume!

She picked up her copy of Persuasion but she couldn’t concentrate and so put it down again. She could hear Gemma moving about upstairs and wondered whether she should make her a cup of tea anyway and take it up to her. But she was probably exhausted and wouldn’t want to be disturbed which was a shame because Kay would have loved to talk to her.

‘Don’t rush things,’ she told herself. ‘They’ll all be here for a while.’

For a blissful moment, she thought about what the next few days might bring. She might end up best friends with Gemma Reilly and Sophie Kerr! They’d invite her to red carpet premieres and Kay would get a swishy new haircut and become a media darling. ‘Confidante to the stars’ they’d call her. ‘Former B & B owner, Kay Ashton, is now a star in her own right with her bestselling book, The Illustrated Darcy.’ She’d be an overnight sensation and Oli Wade Owen would fall desperately in love with her. Teresa Hudson would also be dazzled by her talents and insist she take up the lead role in her next film – starring opposite Oli, of course. They’d have just come back from their honeymoon and the film would be the talk of the—

‘I’ve changed my mind about that cup of tea,’ a shy voice interrupted her. Kay blinked her delicious daydream away and saw Gemma standing in the doorway.

‘Of course,’ Kay said with a smile, and she couldn’t help thinking that her daydream wasn’t quite so outrageous after all and that she and Gemma were going to be friends in no time.

She led Gemma through to the kitchen.

‘You’ll have to excuse the mess. I’ve not been here long and wanted to get the bedrooms done first.’

‘They’re lovely,’ Gemma said.

‘Thanks. This will be too when I get round to it.’

‘So have you always run a B & B?’

‘Oh, no!’ Kay laughed. ‘I’ve only just bought this place. I’ve just done office work up until recently.’ She filled the kettle with water and switched it on. ‘I – well, I came into some money,’ she said. ‘Unexpectedly.’

‘Oh!’ Gemma said and she smiled. ‘Oh,’ she added, seeing Kay’s face.

Kay nodded. ‘I’m afraid a very sweet friend of mine died.’ She sighed. ‘I still can’t believe it. The last few months have been so strange and I sometimes can’t believe that I’m here leading this new life.’

‘You mean you’ve not always lived here?’

‘No. I moved down from Hertfordshire, but after my mother died and then my friend, I really didn’t have anything keeping me there. I mean, there are a few friends I’ll miss and some of my work colleagues but I didn’t really feel I belonged there any more and I felt it was the right time to make a move.’

Gemma’s face softened. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘You’ve been through a lot.’

The kettle boiled and Kay got two floral mugs out of the cupboard and made the tea, noticing that Gemma liked hers with milk and one sugar – just like her.

‘It’s hard some days,’ Kay said at last as they walked back through to the sitting room with their tea. ‘I can’t help feeling a bit lonely. I walk around with all these thoughts in my head like, I must tell Mum this or Peggy will laugh when I show her this. But then I remember they’re not here any more.’

‘Oh, Kay!’ Gemma said, leaning forward in the chair she’d sat down in.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s easier with me living here. If I was still in my old town, I’d be reminded of them everywhere I went but it’s different here. Everything’s new.’ She looked out of the window. The sky was darkening and the lamps had come on. ‘But I still find it all impossible to believe. It’s horrible to think that I can’t pick a phone up and talk to them. I can’t ask their opinions about things any more. All that’s been taken away from me and I wasn’t ready for it.’

Gemma put her mug of tea down and leant forward to take Kay’s hand in hers.

Kay blinked her tears away and then waved her hand in front of her face. ‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I didn’t mean to be miserable. You shouldn’t be sitting here, listening to me wittering on. You should be down at the pub with the others.’

Gemma shook her head. ‘I’m not into all that. They’ll all be drinking too much and bitching about the business. It’s not me.’

‘No,’ Kay said, ‘it wouldn’t be me either. I’d rather curl up with a good book.’ She picked up her copy of Persuasion and showed Gemma.

‘You’re reading Persuasion?’

‘It’s one of my favourites. It’s why I chose to move here.’

‘And then the whole cast descended on you!’

They sat quietly for a moment, sipping their tea.

‘Well,’ Gemma said at last, ‘thanks for the tea. I think I’ll go and do a bit of swotting.’

Kay looked quizzical.

‘It’s what Beth calls learning your lines,’ Gemma explained. ‘She’s always teasing me that I’m swotting again but I can’t help it. I need things fresh in my mind.’

Kay smiled and watched as Gemma left the room. She was one of the sweetest people Kay had ever met and she was going to make a wonderful Anne Elliot, she thought.

Suddenly, Kay got very excited at the thought of being able to watch some of the scenes being filmed. She had a front row view of the Cobb for a start and she wondered if Teresa would let her get even closer whilst they were filming. Maybe she’d be asked to be an extra! Or maybe nasty Beth would twist her ankle during the scene on the Cobb steps and Kay would stand in for her, doing such an amazing piece of acting that Teresa would be completely bowled over and recast Kay as Louisa Musgrove. And, during that wonderful scene where Louisa jumps down the steps into Captain Wentworth’s arms, she’d look deep into the blue eyes of Oli Wade Owen and he’d fall madly in love with her.

It would be a small wedding with six hundred guests, Kay thought, and a few helicopters from rival magazines flying overhead trying to get a shot of Oli’s bride. They’d become media darlings – their every move photographed.

She shook her head. It was so easy to get carried away and daydream – it was one of the little quirks from her childhood that had followed her into her adult life and she knew she really had to learn how to control it because daydreams, as harmless as they might seem, had a way of disappointing the daydreamer by not coming true. Kay was just an ordinary young woman running a bed and breakfast and Oli Wade Owen was never going to pay her the slightest bit of attention, was he?

Chapter Nine

As predicted, the cast and crew came home only once they’d been chucked out of the pub. Kay heard them halfway down Marine Parade from her bedroom and was sure she could hear Beth Jenkins singing. Well, screeching really. It wasn’t melodious enough to be called singing.

There was a banging and a scratching at the front door as somebody tried to get it open and then it sounded as if everybody was trying to get in all at once. Kay giggled as she opened her bedroom door and dared to peep over the stairs.

‘Shusssssshhhh!’ Sophie was whispering. ‘You shusssshhhhh!’ Beth retorted, stumbling up the first stair.

‘You always have to overdo things, Beth. That’s your problem.’

‘Don’t you tell me what my problem is!’ Beth said. ‘My problem is you!’ she said, poking a finger into Sophie’s chest.

‘Yeah? Well my problem is you!’ Sophie said in response.

‘Ladies, ladies!’ Oli cut in. ‘We can’t have the Musgrove sisters at war with each other now, can we?’

Kay watched as they all came tripping up the stairs. Beth’s face was bright red and she had a naughty gleam in her eye. Oli’s blond hair was tousled as if somebody had been ruffling it – Beth, probably, Kay thought. Teresa’s eyes were almost completely shut as if her mind was already in bed and only her body had to catch up. Then Les brought up the rear with Sophie. He looked as morose as ever, his face sullen and sunken as if it had been sat on. Sophie was the only one who looked relatively normal. Her face looked a little flushed but she was smiling and managing the stairs better than any of the others.

‘Night!’ she said when she reached the top.

Beth shoved a hand in the air by way of response and fell into her bedroom.

‘Goodnight, my sweet princesses,’ Oli said before disappearing into his own room. The others did likewise and Kay quietly closed her own door.

For a moment, she stood perfectly still wondering, once again, if she’d imagined the whole thing.

‘Where’s my hairdryer?’ a voice suddenly bellowed into the corridor. It was Beth Jenkins’s voice.

No, Kay thought, she hadn’t imagined it. There really were several film stars staying in her home.

‘Sophie? Have you got my hairdryer?’

‘No, I haven’t got your poxy hairdryer. Keep your voice down. Gemma’s trying to sleep in here.’

Beth slammed her bedroom door and all was quiet again. Kay giggled. This was just too strange. Just a couple of doors away, Oli Wade Owen would be getting ready for bed. Kay got into her own bed. She must stop thinking about him but it was so hard to ignore somebody who had crossed her threshold with the true panache of a Jane Austen hero and, as she closed her eyes that night, Kay didn’t dream about Mr Darcy but Oli Wade Owen.

* * *

Making breakfast for six people was a novelty for Kay but not one that she wasn’t enjoying. Sophie had been the first one up, looking bright-eyed and eager to throw herself into the day ahead even though it was only six in the morning. Which was more than could be said for Beth who entered the dining room with her eyes half-closed.

‘Good morning, bright eyes!’ Sophie chirped. ‘And how are you this morning?’

‘Shut up, Soph!’ Beth groaned as she pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat down. ‘Oh, my head. Who bought me all those drinks?’

‘You did!’ Sophie told her with a bright laugh.

‘Don’t laugh. Don’t say anything. It’s too painful.’

‘You’d better smarten yourself up before Teresa makes an appearance,’ Sophie warned her. ‘You know what she’s like.’

‘Oh, God! If she tells me to wake up and shake up, I’ll scream,’ Beth said.

As Kay placed two pots of coffee on the table she watched as Teresa and Les walked in together.

‘Good morning,’ Teresa said. ‘Good God, Beth! What happened to you?’

‘Nothing. I’m fine,’ Beth lied, wincing at the sound of her own voice.

‘You look appalling. You’d better wake up and shake up before we start filming. The make-up artists can’t perform miracles, you know.’

Beth glared at her tormentor and Sophie did her best to stifle a giggle.

Les grabbed the coffee pot and started pouring. ‘Looks like it might rain,’ he said in a voice that reminded Kay of a rainy grey morning.

‘Forecast isn’t good,’ Teresa agreed. ‘We might have to do the Uppercross scenes instead.’

Gemma, who was just walking into the room, suddenly looked startled. ‘The Uppercross scenes?’

‘Unless the rain holds off and we can shoot some of the Cobb stuff,’ Teresa said.

Kay watched as Gemma pulled out a chair and sat down. She didn’t look happy.

‘Good morning!’ A bright voice filled the room and Kay looked up to see Oli striding into the dining room, his smile filling his face. It was all Kay could do not to tip Sophie’s juice into her lap. ‘How are we all this morning?’

‘God, Oli!’ Beth said. ‘How can you be so unrelentingly joyous? And how did you escape without a hangover? I saw the amount you put away last night.’

Oli grabbed a piece of toast from the centre of the table and started spreading it thickly with yellow butter. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about, my poppet,’ he said, taking a big mouthful and munching happily. ‘I hardly touched a drop.’

Beth shook her head and returned to her cereal in disgust.

‘I did warn you all,’ Teresa said. ‘I said one drink, didn’t I?’

Kay grinned at the conversation but her eyes hadn’t left Oli’s face. As she fussed around making sure everyone had what they needed, her eyes kept flicking back to him and she recalled the films that she’d swooned over in the past. It had been the adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities when he’d first caught her eye. He’d played Sydney Carton and Kay had cried her eyes out when he’d sacrificed his life for the woman he loved.

There’d followed some rather awful romantic comedies where he’d played vacuous heroes who always got the girl. Still, he’d been very cute and his audience had swelled. Then the temptation of Hollywood had beckoned and he’d been cast as the wife stealer in a film called – unsurprisingly – The Wife Stealer. It had been dreadful. The only redeeming thing about it had been the near-nude scene and the press that had followed. Many a still from the film had been published in the tabloids and Kay had to admit that it had brightened up a few dreary lunch hours.

Looking at him now, she tried not to think about the near-nude scene and the length of his bronzed back and his tight firm . . .

‘I’ll get some more toast,’ she blurted, causing everyone to turn and look at her.

‘You all right, Kay?’ Sophie asked. ‘You look all flushed.’

‘I’m fine,’ Kay said, hurrying from the room as quickly as she could.

She must not fall in love with him. She must not fall in love with him. Handsome men were bad news. How many times had she had her heart broken? She didn’t like to think about the number of handsome men who’d won her heart and then stepped all over it. She hadn’t come to Lyme Regis just to repeat her past. She was going to throw herself into her work and make a go of her new business, and focus on her illustrations too. She did not need a man in her life.

But, as soon as she returned to the dining room with a pot of tea and more toast, she knew it was too late and, when Oli looked up and beamed a smile at her, she knew that she was totally smitten.

Chapter Ten

Gemma couldn’t believe that they might be shooting the Uppercross scenes that day. She’d thought they were doing the ones on the Cobb. She was ready for the Cobb.

How could film companies do that? It seemed perverse to her – like reading a book out of sequence. Of course, she knew what it was all about – making the most of the weather conditions and making sure the locations worked for you but, for actors, it was always difficult. Take her first job on Into the Night for example. She’d arrived on set that first day and had had to shoot the final scene. It was a topsy-turvy sort of a world and such things could easily unbalance an insecure actress.

Gemma sank down on to her bed and picked up her script. She was quite sure her mother had never had such a problem with learning her lines. Gemma could remember her with her scripts throughout her childhood.

‘Mum,’ Gemma would say. ‘Can you help me with my homework?’

‘Darling, I have homework of my own!’ her mum would say, flicking her long dark hair over her shoulder and then sitting herself on the floor in a strange yoga position, her script in front of her and her back to her daughter.

Gemma would go upstairs to her room and, about an hour later, there’d be a knock at the door.

‘Did you still want some help?’ her mum would ask. Gemma would shake her head. She’d have done her homework by then.

Thinking back to those times now, her mother had never needed more than one read through a script and she had it down. Maybe she’d had a photographic memory or maybe her crime caper lines had been easier to learn than a Jane Austen adaptation, but one thing was for sure – her mother had never got nervous. She’d thrived on the adrenalin that filming produced. There was a permanent buzz about her – she oozed energy and was always the life and soul of the party – and there’d been quite a few at the height of her success in Bandits. Gemma remembered them well. She’d be trying to sleep upstairs when, downstairs, dozens of guests would be dancing and shouting in the living room. And the dining room, kitchen and garden. Even Gemma’s bedroom hadn’t escaped with one amorous couple once falling on to her bed in a lusty heap, the woman screaming to high heaven when she realised there was somebody already in it.

‘Come on! It’s time to go home,’ Kim Reilly would yell several hours later. ‘It is a school night, after all!’ There’d be ripples of laughter and Gemma would check the little light on her bedside clock. Her mother’s idea of ending a party early would be somewhere around three o’clock. Then, because she didn’t like to shirk her motherly duties, she’d come into Gemma’s room and squeeze her shoulder. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I, darling?’

‘No, Mummy,’ Gemma would say.

‘We were nice and quiet, weren’t we?’

Gemma would nod, the shrieking of the guests still ringing in her ears.

She’d lost count of the number of nights’ sleep she’d disturbed over the years and the number of tests she’d failed because she’d just been too tired the next day in class.

Gosh, Gemma thought to herself, is that who I’ll turn into in a few years’ time? The thought terrified her because, more than anything else, Gemma wanted to settle down with the perfect man and have lots of perfect babies. But what if she turned into her mother, putting her career as an actress first and partying hard into the night? She shook her head. She was never going to allow that to happen. It just wasn’t her. She was more of your sit-at-home-with-a-good-book-and-a-cup-of-tea sort of girl. And then there was the knitting. Gemma really wasn’t your typical young actress courting the press by spilling out of taxis wearing the latest fashions, and schmoozing with her fellow celebrities at every red carpet event going. Getting drunk in the newest bar or dancing at the trendiest nightclub just wasn’t her style. She’d rather get comfortable in the big old armchair she’d inherited from a maiden aunt and pick up her beloved basket of wool.

Beth had already sussed Gemma’s little knitting quirk.

‘Oh, it’s so wonderfully mumsy!’ she’d said, making the word mumsy sound like the foulest of insults whilst also insinuating that Gemma didn’t have a sexy bone in her body. Everyone in rehearsal had turned to stare at Gemma and the ball of lilac wool she was clutching, and there’d been a few sniggers which had cut her to the quick. But Gemma needed her knitting. Not only was it her passion but it calmed her down too. The click clack of the needles was mesmeric and her work in progress took her mind off things when she wasn’t needed on set. At least she didn’t spend her spare time bitching about people behind their backs, she thought, remembering the vitriol which had spilled from Beth’s mouth in between takes in the studio. That woman might have a face that could grace any magazine cover in the world but her language was as foul as a cesspit.

Gemma closed her eyes. It was people like Beth that really made working in this industry difficult. For some reason, the world of acting seemed to attract some of the nastiest examples of humankind and it pained Gemma that she had to spend hours of her life doing her best to dodge them.

‘You ready to rock?’ a voice said, startling Gemma from her thoughts. She looked up to see Sophie enter the room. At least there was one ally on this film set, she thought, thanking her lucky stars that she’d bonded so quickly with Sophie. ‘Time we were out of here.’

Gemma nodded and got up off the bed, her script in her hand.

‘You don’t need that, do you?’ Sophie said light-heartedly.

‘Oh, you know,’ Gemma said, ‘it’s just in case. I like to have it with me.’ She turned round and grabbed her oversized bag, her knitting needles poking out of the opening.

‘Are they yours?’ Sophie asked in bemusement.

Gemma nodded.

‘I didn’t know Anne Elliot knitted. Can I see?’

‘Well, it’s just a little something. It’s not really fin—’

But Sophie had already pulled it out of her bag and was inspecting it. ‘Oh, it’s adorable!’ she said, holding up a little baby’s jacket in pearly pink wool.