Authors: Jill Mansell
Millie read what was written on the sheet of paper.
Clue: Idiot. Two words, four and seven letters. Last letter, N.
Wendi might be pert, but she wasn’t the brightest fairy light on the Christmas tree.
‘It's not a riddle. It's a crossword clue,’ Millie explained. ‘And I think I know the answer. Hugh Emerson.’
Hugh nodded.
‘That's me. I am that idiot.’ He paused, then added steadily, ‘But I’m over it now, I promise.’
Millie began to tingle all over. Was he actually saying what she thought he was saying? Or, at least, trying to say?
‘WHERE ARE WE GOING?’ Millie protested as he led her out of the hotel. ‘I haven’t got my handbag with me.’
Come to think of it, I’m not even wearing any knickers.
Oops.
‘No problem. My treat.’ Hugh nodded at the open-top double-decker across the road. It was one of those sightseeing buses, Millie realized, the kind that provided hour-long tours of the city.
‘You don’t want to live in London,’ Hugh went on. ‘It's dirty and crowded and horrible.’
The bus driver was leaning against the railings of Hyde Park, smoking a roll-up and waiting for the first tourists of the day.
‘It's got Buckingham Palace.’ Millie pointed to the board propped up against the side of the bus, depicting the delights on offer. ‘Look, and Downing Street and the Millennium Wheel, Regent's Park and Kew Gardens,’ she recited. ‘Not to mention the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, and much much more.’
‘That's why I’m going to show them to you now. Get it out of your system. Once you’ve seen everything, the novelty will wear off.’
‘It might not.’
‘Newquay's better,’ Hugh assured her. ‘It has the sea, for a start. And beaches.’
Millie feigned horror.
‘You mean London doesn’t have a sea? It doesn’t have
beaches
?’
‘There's always the Thames. We might be able to rustle you up a few mudflats.’
‘Will I not be able to surf?’ gasped Millie, who had never surfed in her life.
‘Two please,’ Hugh told the bus driver, who was looking at them as if they were barmy.
Millie made sure she followed him up the narrow, curving staircase. She was also careful to keep her nightie tightly wrapped around her legs—accidentally coming out minus your knickers wasn’t what you’d call restful.
‘This is weird.’ Millie shook her head when they’d chosen their seats. ‘I still can’t believe you drove up here. Have you any idea how cross I was with you, when you practically hung up on me last night?’
Hugh, looking amused, said, ‘You did sound the teeniest bit pissed off.’
The Sumo wrestler was still trampolining away inside her stomach. Millie felt that, all in all, she was doing a pretty good job of sounding normal. What's more, considering the distance he’d driven, Hugh was looking pretty good himself. His white cotton shirt was crumpled, but that didn’t matter one bit. His black trousers were gorgeous, her favorites. She longed to run her fingers through his hair, so sun-streaked by now it was practically honey blond. His humorous dark eyes were flecked with gold in the sunlight, as was the stubble on his tanned face. Millie was finding this stubble disturbingly attractive. She also liked the fact that he wasn’t wearing aftershave; instead, he smelt clean and sexy and intensely Hughish. Phew, so this was what they meant by pheromones. She could sit here and breathe in his heavenly smell all day.
‘Anyway.’ Hugh tapped her right thigh. ‘You promised.’
They hadn’t been alone together on the open top deck for long. It was filling up fast with chattering, camcorder-wielding tourists.
Bracing herself, Millie slowly raised the hem of her dress-cum-nightie to reveal the tattoo on her tanned thigh.
Hugh surveyed it in silence for several seconds.
Finally he spoke.
‘When did this happen?’
For heaven's sake, when did he think she’d had it done— last week?
‘Six years ago.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘You have to understand. I was only nineteen. I’d been going out with this boy for a couple of months and he persuaded me to have it done. I was mad about him, so I thought it was a great idea. Plus, I knew it would infuriate my mother. Of course,’ Millie sighed, ‘we split up ten days later when I found out he’d been seeing some other girl behind my back. So there you go,’ she added dryly. ‘My first ever love-rat.’
Sadly though, not my last.
The corners of Hugh's mouth began to twitch.
‘And you’ve been stuck with this permanent reminder of him ever since. Still, he wasn’t all bad.’
Millie gazed down at the neatly executed heart shape, with the name of her ex-boyfriend enclosed within it.
Hugh.
‘So, don’t tell me, you’ve been waiting all these years for the right man to come along,’ Hugh deadpanned. ‘Or at least some man with the right name. You must have been delighted when you found my wallet under that bush.’
‘Ha ha,’ said Millie.
‘Were you never tempted to give Hugh Grant a ring?’
‘Oh I did, loads of times. But he just kept saying, “Look, it's terribly nice of you to offer, but I’m just the teensiest bit busy right now… ”’
‘Bad luck,’ Hugh sympathized.
‘I was going to get the heart filled in,’ said Millie. ‘But it hurt so much having the stupid thing done in the first place I kept putting it off. Then I thought I’d just leave it there as a reminder never to do anything so completely ridiculous ever again.’
‘And has it done the trick?’ Hugh still looked as if he was trying hard not to laugh.
‘Don’t be daft, of course it hasn’t. Doing ridiculous things is what I do best. Anyway, now you know.’ Signaling that the show was over, Millie slid the hem of her dress-cum-nightie back down over her thigh.
‘Well,’ said Hugh, ‘thanks for showing me.’
‘Worth the trip?’
‘Oh definitely. Every mile.’
At that moment the bus rumbled into life and began moving jerkily forwards. Everyone on the top deck obediently plugged themselves into the headphones that would enable them to listen to the tour guide's running commentary.
Millie didn’t need to do this. She had Hugh.
‘… and this is Buckingham Palace,’ he said as the bus trundled up The Mall. ‘What a dump. Damp, poky little place. Full of Ikea furniture and nasty modern prints in plastic frames.’
‘I see what you mean.’ Millie nodded. ‘I certainly wouldn’t want to live there.’
‘That's Tower Bridge,’ Hugh pointed out some time later. ‘See the Thames? Told you it was manky.’
Followed by: ‘Trafalgar Square. You can’t move without treading on a pigeon. Did you ever see that Alfred Hitchcock film,
The Birds
?’
Millie leapt excitedly to her feet at one stage, convinced she’d just spotted Prince William emerging from a Burger King in Piccadilly Circus. Yanking her back down, Hugh said, ‘You mustn’t do that.’
‘I only wanted to look at him!’ Millie wondered if it was one of those London rules she didn’t know about, where you could be prosecuted for hassling a Royal. Crikey, what did he imagine she’d been about to do—throw herself at their future king from the top of the bus?
‘For a start, it wasn’t Prince William. And for another start,’ Hugh kept a straight face, ‘everyone can see right through that nightie you’re wearing.’
Luckily the tourists’ camcorders were trained elsewhere, on some boring statue thing. Millie decided to brazen it out.
‘It's not a nightie. It's a dress.’
‘Really? I thought it might be a nightie. What with it being so transparent.’
‘You know nothing about fashion. It's actually quite the thing this season…
What?
’ Millie protested, all of a sudden finding it hard to breathe normally. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
‘You might be gorgeous,’ Hugh shook his head good-naturedly, ‘but you’re a diabolical liar.’
Oh! He called me gorgeous!
‘Thank you.’ Lightly, Millie added, ‘I think.’
‘So what's the verdict?’
‘On what?’
Hugh gestured with his arm. ‘London.’
‘Horrible.’ She pulled a face. ‘Like you said, not a patch on Cornwall.’
‘Changed your mind about coming to live here?’
His tone was playful, but Millie no longer felt like playing along. She had to know what this was really all about.
‘Why don’t you tell me why you’re here?’ Her attempt to sound sophisticated and in control was spoilt somewhat by the fact that her teeth had begun to chatter.
Quite loudly, in fact.
Hugh nodded.
‘Okay. Right. Remember the recurring dream I told you about? The one where the phone rings and I think it's Louisa.’
Of course I remember.
‘Yes.’
‘Well, that doesn’t happen any more. It stopped.’ He paused. ‘After Orla's party.’
Millie held her breath.
‘And?’
‘And I know I swore I’d never fall in love again. But I did. And it's taken me a while to accept that, but now I have.’
‘R-really?’ Her teeth were still at it, like boisterous school children incapable of keeping still in assembly.
‘In fact, I went to see her last night.’ Hugh stopped, his dark eyes serious. ‘I went to see her and I told her I loved her.’
‘Wh-what?’
Millie felt sick. His face swam in and out of focus. Oh God, all of a sudden things were going horribly
horribly
wrong.
‘She was wearing her gorilla suit at the time.’ His tone was wry. ‘Well, I
thought
she was wearing her gorilla suit. Turns out, she’d lent it to her best friend for the evening. So that's something I’m never going to live down.’
‘No!’ It came out as a shriek. Clapping her hands to her mouth, Millie spluttered with laughter.
‘This is why I had to drive up here, to get to you before Hester did. I’m sure everyone already knows about it in Newquay.’
Millie, awash with happiness, said, ‘Are you sure?’
‘Are you kidding? Hester's probably driving around the town as we speak, broadcasting the news through a megaphone.’
This was undoubtedly true.
‘I meant are you sure about… you know, the other stuff you just said?’
Hugh smiled slightly.
‘Only if you’re happy about it. I mean, I’ve pretty much put my neck on the line here. You might be about to tell me you aren’t interested.’
Millie considered this. It might be fun. It would definitely give him a taste of his own medicine. Then again…
‘I could,’ she admitted. ‘Except I’m a lousy liar. I’ve always been interested in you, and you’ve always known that.’
‘The thing is,’ Hugh's expression softened, ‘can you forgive me for the way I treated you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Millie lied. ‘You’ll have to persuade me first.’
It was ten o’clock; the tour was at an end. As the bus slowed to a halt outside the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hugh drew her into his arms and kissed her until her head began to spin.
Then he kissed her some more.
Around them, the foreign tourists prepared to disembark. Chattering and giggling, they made their way past the two mad English people. When Millie finally opened her eyes, she saw a camcorder pointed at them, whirring away. A Japanese girl said something to her friend and they both went off into peals of laughter.
‘What was that about?’ Millie murmured, not really caring at all.
‘Actually, I speak a bit of Japanese.’ Hugh raised an eyebrow. ‘She said, “That girl isn’t wearing any knickers.”’
He was joking, Millie told herself.
At least she hoped he was.
Then again, maybe they shouldn’t get off the bus just yet.
Moments later they had the top deck to themselves once more, and Hugh kissed her again. Ecstatically, she closed her eyes and wound her arms around him.
‘Millie Brady, what
do
you think you’re doing?’
Millie's eyes snapped open. At the sound of the familiar voice she froze, then peered guiltily over Hugh's shoulder.
Orla was standing outside the entrance to the hotel. Next to her, still wearing his dinner jacket and dress shirt from last night, and with a lighted cigarette dangling from his fingers, was a rumpled but happy-looking Christie Carson.
Orla stared, transfixed, at the sight of Millie on the upper deck of the open-top tour bus, enthusiastically canoodling with a man who had his back to her but who certainly wasn’t Con Deveraux.
The strumpet!
The shameless hussy!
And about time too, thought Orla, who had in recent weeks begun to inwardly despair at Millie's spectacular lack of progress on the man front.
‘She must have picked him up at the party after we left last night.’ Delighted, Orla gave Christie's hand a squeeze. ‘Maybe he's a writer too.’ Raising her voice to a bellow, she gestured wildly with her free arm. ‘Hey, Millie! Come down here, this minute! Introduce us to your new friend.’
‘She's going to go mental when she recognizes you,’ said Millie.
‘That's nothing.’ Hugh grinned. ‘You’ve been withholding vital information. She’ll probably demand her money back. But,’ he added consolingly, ‘I’ll still love you. Five grand or no five grand.’
‘Okay. Here goes.’ Millie took a deep breath, grabbed his hand for moral support, and stood up.
Hugh, rising to his feet, turned and waved at Orla.
Orla's mouth promptly dropped open.
‘I don’t… but… how can he be…?’ she spluttered as Hugh, laughing now, blew her a kiss. ‘This is completely… good grief, I don’t
believe
this.’
‘Neither do I.’ Shielding his eyes from the sun in order to get a better look, Christie Carson let out a low, appreciative whistle. ‘You can see right through that dress.’
Also by Jill Mansell,
available from Sourcebooks Landmark
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
Miranda's Big Mistake
Perfect Timing
Reading Group Guides available
at www.sourcebooks.com
From
perfect timing
‘If you want to dance, dance.’ Dina looked smug. ‘Don’t mind me.’