Dreaming of Mr. Darcy (19 page)

Kay ushered Adam through to the living room.

‘You won't believe what's been going on here,' she said. ‘We've been absolutely beside ourselves.'

‘
We've?
' Adam questioned, wondering who else was at Wentworth House.

‘Come and meet Clare.'

‘Ah,' Adam said, realising that his declaration of undying love was being put on hold for a little while longer.

‘Clare,' Kay said, entering the living room, ‘this is Adam. Adam, meet Clare.'

‘Hello, Adam,' Clare said, and the pair of them shook hands.

‘Clare's Teresa's nanny,' Kay said.

‘I was nearly her ex-nanny,' Clare said, flopping down into the armchair by the window.

Kay sighed. ‘We've just been startled out of our wits. Teresa's daughter went missing.'

‘Annabel?' Adam said.

Kay nodded. ‘She just disappeared.'

‘But she's okay?'

‘Oh, yes. Turned out Oli had taken her out to Marlcombe Manor.'

‘Without telling anyone?'

‘It was a misunderstanding,' Clare explained. ‘One never to be repeated, I hope.'

‘I thought Teresa sounded stressed when I called her,' Adam said.

‘She didn't say anything to you, then?' Kay asked.

‘No. But she never really talks about her private life. Her whole family could be kidnapped and held to ransom, but Teresa would still want to get on with the day's scenes.'

‘That sounds like Teresa,' Clare said. ‘Listen, I'm going to get going to our bed and breakfast.' She stood up. ‘I can't thank you enough, Kay. I don't know what I'd have done without you.'

‘I'm afraid I wasn't much help.'

‘I hope we'll see each other again soon.'

‘You and Annabel must come and have dinner with us when the gang's all here.'

‘I'd like that.'

Adam watched as Clare left the room and listened to them saying good-bye at the door. He was alone with Kay. Now was his chance.

She came back into the living room. ‘I expect you'll be heading up to Marlcombe too,' she said.

‘No, actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go out somewhere.'

‘You're not working?' Kay asked him.

‘The mobile's on, so I'm officially available for work,' he said with a little smile. ‘And I've already dealt with at least a dozen calls today, so I'm hoping things will quieten down now.'

‘But I'm afraid I've got to work here.'

‘Then I can't tempt you to come fossil hunting with me?'

Kay smiled. ‘Oh, Adam, I have so much to do.'

‘Like what?'

She looked at him. ‘You can't keep helping me out with the chores.'

‘But I don't mind. If it means I have the pleasure of your company, I don't mind helping out with a few tasks first.'

‘But there's a huge meal to prepare for tonight.'

‘Teresa said they're going to eat out tonight,' Adam said. ‘She didn't tell you?'

‘No,' Kay said. ‘Are you sure?'

He nodded. ‘Said there'd been so many delays that they weren't going to be back until late.'

‘Oh.'

‘So that leaves you free, doesn't it?'

‘I suppose,' Kay said. ‘Although I really wanted to make a cake.'

‘A cake?'

‘Yes,' she said. ‘Something nourishing and luxurious. I've got to practise.'

‘And you'll come with me if I help you with the cake?'

‘You don't have to help me.'

‘But I want to,' Adam said. ‘Come on. Lead me to the nearest apron.'

The two of them headed into the kitchen, and Kay giggled as Adam reached for a floral apron that hung on the back of the kitchen door.

‘It actually suits you,' she said with a grin.

‘I hope you're joking.' He washed his hands at the sink as Kay donned an apron of her own. ‘So what were you thinking of?' Adam said. ‘Nourishing
and
luxurious?'

‘Aha!' Kay's eyes misted over, making Adam wonder what she was thinking, and then it hit him. She was making the cake for Oli, wasn't she? It was he she wanted to impress.

‘Okay,' he continued, undeterred. ‘What ingredients do you have?'

‘I'm not sure,' Kay said, opening and closing cupboards. ‘Just a bit of flour and some eggs and sugar. Nothing exciting.'

‘No cocoa powder?'

‘I'm afraid not.'

‘So chocolate's out.'

‘I guess.' Kay looked disappointed.

Something caught Adam's eyes. On the worktop by the sink, two bright lemons sat side by side. ‘Can we use one of those?' he asked.

‘Sure,' Kay said. ‘What do you have in mind?'

‘Wait and see.'

There then followed a flurry of activity as sieves, spoons, and bowls were brought together in the pursuit of deliciousness. Kay measured and Adam mixed, the two of them working in harmony.

‘I've never made a lemon sponge before,' Kay said.

‘This is a very special lemon cake,' Adam said. ‘Nana Craig used to make it for me. It was a cure-all cake, and I could tell she'd made one as soon as I opened the front door. The whole house smelled lemony.'

Kay smiled, and Adam watched as she poured the gooey yellow mixture into the loaf tin and put it into the oven.

‘So the lemon juice and sugar are in here?' Adam said.

‘Aye-aye, Captain!' Kay said.

It was Adam's turn to smile. He might sound like a captain, but he very much doubted that Kay viewed him in the same way as she did Captain Wentworth.

‘Good,' he said, removing his apron.

‘You'll make someone a very good wife one day,' Kay said.

Adam looked at her disapprovingly. ‘Very funny.'

‘Oh, I didn't mean to make fun of you,' Kay said quickly. ‘I'm just impressed. All the men I've been out with couldn't even open a can of beans, let alone make a cake.'

‘That's what happens when you're brought up by your grandmother,' Adam said. ‘You can make cakes, sew on buttons, and tell your delphiniums from your hollyhocks. Only don't go spreading such news around. I do have a reputation to keep up.'

‘You mean you wouldn't want Gemma finding out about such things?'

Adam sighed. She was still fixating on him and Gemma, wasn't she? ‘It's just that I might be taken advantage of,' he said, ‘by women who want to use my culinary skills to impress others.'

Kay looked at him. ‘You know who this cake's for, don't you?'

‘I have a hunch.' He watched as Kay's face flushed pink.

‘I don't suppose I'm very good at keeping secrets, am I?' She untied her apron and hung it up on the back of the kitchen door.

Adam wondered if she was going to say any more, but she didn't. He didn't press her, because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear what she might say.

‘So,' he said, ‘are you up for some fossil hunting?'

Kay smiled. ‘Really?'

‘You bet,' Adam said. ‘You've got to see Charmouth.'

‘Okay. I'll go and get ready,' Kay said. ‘Will you keep an eye on the cake?'

‘Aye-aye, Captain.' He watched as she left the room and listened as her light feet padded up the stairs. He raked his hand through his hair. God! What was he going to do?

Tell
her
, a little voice said to him—the voice that had hurried him on to Lyme.

‘But she's not interested in me. It's Oli she's in love with,' he told himself.

And
you
don't stand a chance of her being interested in you if you won't even put yourself in the picture.

That's true, he thought. If he just brooded and remained silent, he would get nowhere. He had to take action and let her know.

He paced around the kitchen for twenty minutes, thinking about how things might turn out and then panicking that everything would go wrong—just as it had in the past.

Don't think about that
, he told himself.
The
fact
that
it
happened
once
doesn't mean it will happen again.

‘No, it just
feels
as if it will,' he whispered. Why was that? How could one knock affect a person so much? Nana Craig was always telling him to put it behind him, which was ironic, as she'd never been able to put her husband's infamous misdemeanours with an actress behind her.

‘You're not living your life properly,' she told him on numerous occasions. ‘You can't let that one incident shadow the rest of your life.'

It made sense to him; it really did, but nevertheless, he lived in horror of it happening again.

‘Okay,' a voice said, bringing him back to the present. He looked up and saw Kay standing in the doorway. Her hair was loose and had been brushed, and she was wearing a pretty floral Alice band. ‘I'm not sure what to wear for fossil hunting,' she said, smoothing down her sky-blue dress, which dazzled Adam's eyes.

‘Something sturdy on the feet,' he said.

‘Oh,' Kay said. ‘Not sandals?'

‘It's not that kind of beach, I'm afraid.'

Kay wrinkled her nose, and at first he thought it was because she was changing her mind about the whole idea of the beach trip, but then he realised it was the cake she could smell. He watched as she grabbed the oven gloves and opened the door, an aromatic waft of lemony heat escaping.

‘Wow!' Kay pulled out the cake tin and examined it. She tested it with a skewer and pronounced it cooked.

‘I have to say that is the cutest cake I've seen in a long time,' Adam said.

‘Do you really like it?'

‘I think it looks gorgeous, but there's one thing more to do.' He handed Kay the bowl with the lemon and sugar mix, giving it one last stir. He then lightly pricked over the cake with a fork and nodded to Kay.

‘I'm a bit nervous,' she said, and he watched as she poured the sugary mixture over the warm cake and then stood back to admire it. ‘Gosh.'

Adam smiled. ‘It looks great.'

She nodded. ‘I can't thank you enough, Adam.' She turned and smiled at him.

He shrugged.

‘I mean, I would have ended up with a bowl full of gunk if I'd been left on my own.'

‘I'm sure you'd have done fine.'

‘No, really—the last cake I made shrivelled and burnt. It was a complete disaster. Even my neighbour's dog didn't want it.'

‘Well, I'm sure everyone will want a piece of this.'

Kay nodded. ‘They will, won't they?'

Adam smiled.

‘Shall we get going, then?'

Adam blanched slightly. She wasn't going to offer him a piece, was she? Of course she wasn't. His suspicions were confirmed. She had made it for another man, and he had helped her. What an idiot he was!

Oli wasn't paying any attention to Gemma, and she was getting annoyed.

‘You'd think I'd deliberately done something to make her miserable, wouldn't you?' he said, his face slightly less handsome than usual because of his furrowed brow and the thunderous expression in his eyes. ‘You'd think I never do anything right.'

‘Oli—'

‘I don't know why I put up with it,' he said. ‘Why do I keep putting up with it?'

‘Because she's a great director.'

‘Director!' Oli said, the word exiting his mouth like a poison he was trying to rid himself of. ‘More like dictator!'

Gemma had never seen him so worked up before. She hadn't realised there was such tension between Oli and Teresa. She knew they had worked together on several projects over the years—she could tell from the way they interacted on set. Either they were screaming at each other or working to the very best of their ability, because of a kind of shorthand they used. It was quite common between actors and directors, and it was always fascinating to watch.

‘I think she was just worried about her daughter,' Gemma said.

‘But I brought Bel here to see her mum. You'd think Teresa would have liked the surprise.'

‘I'm sure she did,' Gemma said, ‘but you probably scared her witless. She didn't know where Annabel was. Honestly, I've never seen her look so anxious.'

Oli sighed. ‘This is the last time I work with her—the very last.'

‘Oli—'

‘She treats me like a child, and I'm not going to put up with it.'

Gemma watched as Oli stormed off across the lawn. ‘Oli?' she called, but he had vanished.

***

Adam and Kay were walking the length of Marine Parade towards the parking lot by the harbour. The sea was the colour of slate, and the sandy beach was quiet and newly swept.

Adam's gaze drifted to the Cobb, and he smiled. ‘When I first saw that when I was a little boy, I thought it was a sleeping dragon.'

‘Were you afraid of it?'

He shook his head. ‘No,' he said. ‘I kept wanting to visit it to see if it had woken up. Drove Nana crazy.'

‘You're very close to Nana Craig, aren't you?'

‘She's my family. She's like parents, siblings, and best friends all rolled into one.'

‘That's nice,' Kay said.

‘What about you?'

‘What about me?'

‘Whom are you close to?'

Kay stopped walking for a moment. ‘I don't know.'

Adam looked surprised. ‘You don't know?'

Kay sighed. ‘My mother died recently,' she said, ‘and I lost a good friend too.'

‘I'm sorry,' he said. ‘Is that what made you move here?'

She nodded. ‘I had to get away, and I wanted a complete change. There were too many sad memories for me in Hertfordshire.'

‘What about your father?' Adam asked.

Kay looked up at him. ‘He left when I was little.'

‘And never came back?'

‘Oh, he came back, all right,' Kay said, ‘but only to leave again.' She shook her head. ‘I think he was one of the reasons I became obsessed with fictional heroes. They're so much more reliable, aren't they?'

For a moment, Kay thought about all the times she had been hurt in love and remembered Harry Golden, the man who stole and then broke her heart when she was twenty-one. They had been dating for just over a year when he dropped the bombshell about being married.

No, she didn't miss Hertfordshire.

‘But didn't you worry about being lonely?' Adam asked. ‘I mean, you don't know anyone here.'

‘I know you,' she said.

He grinned. ‘And I'm very honoured to be your friend.' He winced at the word that now lay between them as heavy and cumbersome as 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. ‘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.

Shortly before they reached the parking lot, they passed a secondhand 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 tempting to do just that.

They entered the shop together and marvelled at the shelves and the magical musty smell of old books. 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 doesn't like them and says they're no good?'

Adam scratched his chin. ‘If you're going to try to get published, you're going to have to accept that someone's going to say that at some stage—that is, unless you get incredibly lucky first time. But you shouldn't let it 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 really 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 it. It sounds 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!'

‘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 midthirties,' 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 to Gemma; otherwise she might be starting to have ideas about him for herself. He was certainly cute with his dark hair and bright eyes.

She shook her head. He was Gemma's. Anyway, wasn't she in love with Oli?

Once he purchased the book, 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 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 parking lot. ‘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 had anything to do with Jane Austen, because my cousin was going through a phase when she hated everything. Anyway, she left the book in the garden one day, and I ran outside to get it when the rain started. I couldn't resist taking a look to find out more about the 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.'

‘Nobody can do cheering 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 misted 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 let her down—like Charlie Russell, whom she dated for six months before receiving a postcard from him from Barcelona where he decided to move without telling her.

‘And you're blaming Jane Austen?'

‘I have to blame somebody, and I don't 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.'