Runaway Actress (33 page)

Connie shook her head. ‘It’s too late for flattery now,’ she said with a tiny smile. ‘It won’t get you anywhere.’

‘Are you sure?’ Alastair asked and he crossed the space that parted them. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I should have told you how I felt ages ago. I’ve been such an idiot. But you know how I feel, don’t you?’

Connie looked up at him, her face bright in the moonlight. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said but there was a tiny smile playing around her lips and Alastair bent his head down to meet those lips with his.

It was a sweet, tender kiss that seemed full of moonbeams and starlight but it soon deepened. Connie closed her eyes, the warm rush of desire flooding her body. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like that and the feeling excited her beyond belief.

They kissed until they could no longer tell whose lips were whose and then there was a mad rush of limbs as they undressed each other, their skins gleaming white in the moonlight as they made love on the sand by the loch.

Everything else was forgotten. Hollywood agents, film contracts, dreadful exes, stressful rehearsals – all were banished and the world focussed simply on the purity of a shared moment. A warm, wondrous, wicked moment, Connie thought, as she closed her eyes and listened to the waters of the loch lapping against the shore in the inky distance.

Maggie and Euan were looking around for Bounce but he’d disappeared.

‘I hope he’s all right,’ Maggie said.

‘Probably after some rabbit,’ Euan said. ‘He’ll turn up sooner or later.’

The rest of the LADS had decamped to the pub after finally growing bored of having a very suggestive soundtrack and no picture to go with it.

‘Do you think it’s a good idea?’ Maggie said. ‘Alastair and Connie?’

‘I’m not sure what kind of an idea it is but they’re both adults. They both know what they’re doing.’

‘Do they?’ Maggie asked. ‘I’m not sure they do. I think we should wait and make sure they’re both okay.’

Euan frowned at her. ‘Why would you be wanting to do that?’

Maggie shrugged. ‘I just want to make sure.’

‘Maggie, lass—’

‘I’m worried. I’m worried for Connie,’ she said.

‘You can’t be worrying yourself for somebody else,’ he said. ‘Connie’s a worldly enough sort of lass. She’ll not come to any harm by her own hands.’

‘But it’s Alastair’s hands she’s fallen into,’ Maggie pointed out.

‘Aye,’ Euan said, ‘and we know him to be a decent sort of fellow.’ He ushered Maggie towards her home.

‘Do you think Connie will stay here?’

‘In Lochnabrae? I don’t think she’ll stay just because she’s had a fling with a local boy.’

‘I want her to stay,’ Maggie said.

‘Aye, I know you do but we can’t always have what we want.’

‘Connie?’

Down by the loch a voice came out of the darkness.

Connie opened her eyes and sat up in the sand. ‘It’s suddenly turned cold.’

‘Here,’ Alastair said, reaching for his coat and draping it around her shoulders.

‘I should get going,’ Connie said, getting dressed.

Alastair grabbed her arm. ‘What’s the rush?’

‘Isla will probably be wondering where I am.’

‘No, she won’t. She’ll know where you are by now.’

Connie looked at Alastair and cringed. ‘She will?’

‘The whole of Lochnabrae will know by now.’

‘Oh God!’ Connie said, hiding her face in her hands as she suddenly remembered the story Maggie had told her about the young sweethearts whose proposal had been overheard by the entire village because the sound of their voices had carried right across the loch. ‘I’ll never be able to look anyone in the eye again.’

‘Don’t be daft!’ Alastair told her. ‘Everyone knows everybody’s business around here. Nobody will think anything of it.’

‘You’re sure about that?’

‘Well, they’ll tease you mercilessly for a couple of years but it’ll pass.’ Alastair laughed. ‘You can’t belch in a place like this without it being noticed.’

‘And reported in the local paper?’

‘Ah, well, I hadn’t thought about that.’

‘Simpkins is still lurking out there somewhere,’ Connie said, standing up and brushing the sand from her clothes. ‘But he hasn’t actually put anything in print. If he gets wind of this, though—’

‘He won’t,’ Alastair said, standing up too. ‘Anyway, he wouldn’t dare write about it even if he did find out.’

Connie frowned. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘Something Euan said.’

‘What did he say?’

‘Only that he had a word with young Colin. Told him to steer clear of you or he’d ram a haggis down his throat and throw him in the loch,’ Alastair said.

‘
Really?
’

Alastair nodded. ‘Euan said he’d known Colin since he was a wee lad and that Colin was still scared of him boxing his ears if he stepped out of line.’

‘Wow,’ Connie said. ‘He did that for me?’

‘Of course. We look out for each other here. So you don’t need to worry about Colin any more. We can get up to whatever we want,’ he said with a wink.

Connie giggled. ‘You seem very light-hearted about all this.’

‘What other way is there to be? We just had a very nice time. Why spoil it with worrying?’

‘A very nice time?’ Connie said. ‘Was that all it was?’

Alastair moved towards her and stroked the back of her neck. His hand was warm and strong and had an almost mesmeric effect on her.

‘It was wonderful,’ he whispered. ‘We must do this more often.’

Connie smiled. ‘But maybe not in the sand.’

‘Aye, maybe not,’ he said, leaning forward and kissing her.

For one blissful moment, the whole of the world was in that kiss and nothing else existed.

‘We should go,’ Alastair said at last and the spell was broken.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow?’ Connie said.

‘Aye, no doubt,’ Alastair said.

They walked together along the shore, the moonlight casting everything silver. Connie looked out into the centre of the loch where the reflection of the moon floated.

‘It’s so beautiful,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how my mother could ever have left.’

‘She’s in LA with you?’

‘Not with me as such,’ Connie said. ‘I’m afraid we had a falling out some time ago. But she wouldn’t live anywhere outside of LA now.’

‘Never talks about coming here?’

‘No,’ Connie said. ‘But then, we never really talk much now.’

‘Ah,’ Alastair said. ‘Families.’

‘Yes,’ Connie said. ‘But I love it here. Isn’t that strange?’

‘Not really,’ Alastair said. ‘You’re probably just rebelling.’

‘You think?’

‘Aye,’ Alastair said. ‘Your mother couldn’t get away from this place fast enough and you, on some level, probably just want to wind her up by coming here.’

‘But she doesn’t know I’m here,’ Connie said.

They walked in silence for a moment.

‘And you won’t be here for ever, anyway,’ Alastair said at length.

Connie stopped. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Because you won’t,’ Alastair said. ‘You’re an actress and you’ve seen what’s on offer here in Lochnabrae.’

‘But I’m more than an actress,’ Connie said. ‘Nobody seems to realise that!’

‘Then you’re staying?’ Alastair asked in surprise.

Connie paused before answering. ‘Would that make a difference – to us?’

Alastair didn’t answer.

‘Is that why you made love to me?’ Connie asked. ‘Because you thought I was getting the next plane home?’

‘
No
,’ Alastair cried.

‘Because it’s sounding like that to me.’

‘Connie,’ Alastair said, ‘you’re reading far too much into everything.’

‘Am I?’

‘Yes, you are,’ Alastair said, pushing a strand of long red hair away from her face. ‘You’re on the defensive all the time.’

‘And you aren’t?’

Alastair chuckled. ‘I guess we’re very much alike in that respect.’

‘We’ve both had our hearts broken, you mean?’

Alastair stroked the side of her face but didn’t answer. ‘What say you to taking things nice and slowly?’

Connie’s eyebrows rose. ‘After what just happened here? I think we might need to go into reverse to even things up a bit.’

‘Then let’s do that,’ Alastair said. ‘I’d like to get to know you – properly.’

Connie smiled. ‘Me too. I mean
you
. I want to get to know
you
. Oh, you know what I mean.’

They laughed and, hand in hand, walked back to the main street together.

‘I’ll see you back to the B&B,’ Alastair said.

‘No need,’ Connie told him. ‘I can see it from here in this moonlight.’

‘And I can see a dozen pairs of curtains twitching.’

Connie looked around. ‘Where?’

‘Only joking,’ he said. ‘Night, Connie.’

‘Night,’ she said, moving forward for his kiss goodnight.

‘I don’t suppose Isla would allow me to sneak upstairs with you for a repeat performance?’ Alastair whispered.

‘She’d more likely force a mug of hot chocolate upon you and ask you to unblock the sink in the spare bathroom.’

Alastair nodded. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said.

‘Bet on it,’ Connie said, watching as he walked down the main street away from her.

Turning around, Connie walked to the B&B. She felt light of heart and floaty-footed and it had been a very long time since she’d felt like that. The only problem was, whenever she felt like that, she was usually just around the corner from having her heart broken.

When Alastair reached his cottage, it was late. He’d taken the long route around the loch, Bounce returning from having made a dignified exit whilst his master had been with Connie.

Alastair’s mind flitted from Connie to Sara and back again. He couldn’t believe what had just happened and he smiled as he remembered it.

‘Connie Gordon!’ he whispered to Bounce. ‘I said I was never going to fall for another actress and then I fall for the most famous one in the world!’

Connie had been so warm and giving and he knew that he was irreversibly in love but there was still Sara and, when he opened the front door, he saw the warm glow of lamplight from his bedroom. Hoping she was asleep, he tiptoed through to switch the light off. Her eyes were closed and her normally pale skin was flushed a rosy-pink. The Highland air was doing her some good, at least, he thought.

He was just making his exit when he heard her voice.

‘Alastair?’

‘Go to sleep,’ he said, trying not to make it sound like an order.

‘Where have you been?’

‘Just for a walk,’ he said.

‘How’s the play coming?’

‘Good,’ he said. There was a pause.

‘Come to bed,’ Sara said.

Alastair sighed. ‘I’m going to.’

Sara sat up in bed, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes and smiling at him in the way that used to make his heart melt. ‘You know what I mean,’ she said.

He looked at her for a moment. ‘Goodnight, Sara,’ he said at last, and he left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Connie awoke with some of the moon glow from the night before still upon her. She sat up in bed and sighed. There’d been a moment last night when she’d thought things might go horribly wrong but why should they? Why should the events of the past keep repeating themselves? She wasn’t in Hollywood now. Alastair wasn’t likely to run off and sleep with an extra on a film set, was he? Or sell her story to a newspaper. That wasn’t his style.

She scrambled out of bed and showered before dressing in a pair of jeans and a khaki jumper Maggie had chosen for her, which wasn’t designer but would keep the spring chill away from places it shouldn’t venture.

Skipping down the stairs, she greeted Isla.

‘Morning, Connie dear. You were late last night. I hope Alastair saw you back okay?’ she said and there was a little twinkle in her eyes.

‘Alastair took good care of me, thank you, Isla.’

‘Aye,’ she said, ‘I thought he might.’

They smiled knowingly at each other.

‘I’m just popping to Maggie’s.’

‘Before your breakfast?’

‘I’ll be back soon,’ Connie said and made her way out of the B&B towards Maggie’s shop.

‘Connie!’ Maggie gasped when she walked through the door. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Of course I’m okay!’ Connie said. ‘What, did you think I’d been kidnapped or something?’

‘I didn’t know what to think!’ Maggie said, her dark eyes wide.

Connie laughed.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘Your face!’ Connie said. ‘You look like an outraged parent.’

‘But I was worried about you.’

‘I was with Alastair. You must’ve known that.’

‘That’s why I was worried,’ Maggie said, coming around from behind the counter. ‘Was he mean to you?’

‘No!’

‘Because the last we heard was the pair of you shouting at each other.’

‘Oh, right,’ Connie said. ‘That was before.’

‘Before what?’ Maggie asked.

Connie put her hands on her hips. ‘Oh, come on, Maggie. You know before what.’

‘Oh,’ Maggie said. ‘Well, I’d kind of guessed but I was hoping you might just be talking.’

‘We talked too,’ Connie said.

Maggie nodded. ‘Talking’s good.’

‘Maggie – you’re acting awful strange. What’s the matter?’

Maggie’s mouth twisted up and down, left and right before she answered. ‘I just want to make sure you’re happy.’

‘Happy?’ Connie said. ‘Maggie, I’m
so
happy here. I never thought I’d feel like this ever again.’

‘Because of Alastair?’

Connie grinned. ‘Well, partly,’ she said. ‘He is wonderful.’

‘You mean apart from all the yelling and shouting?’

‘Yes,’ Connie said. ‘He has his faults but who hasn’t?’

Maggie smiled and Connie looked out of the shop window towards the loch. ‘It’s a magical place, this.’ As she stared at the blue waters, she could feel Maggie’s eyes upon her.

‘You should stay,’ Maggie said. ‘We all want you to.’

Connie smiled.

‘What is it?’ Maggie asked.

‘Nothing,’ Connie said.

‘You’re plotting something, aren’t you?’

Connie shrugged. ‘I might be.’

Maggie grinned, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

‘I think I’m finally beginning to find something of myself here,’ Connie said. ‘And the thought of LA gives me the shivers. You know, I felt like such a fake there. I was making all these romantic comedies yet there was no romance or humour in my own life. How phoney is that? How am I meant to be this great actress, portraying all these emotions, when I’ve rarely experienced them myself ?’