Behind the Film Star's Smile (4 page)

Not that it was any of her business. She was simply looking after his dog for three days, not becoming his best friend or anything even close to it. She needed to back off. Now. ‘I, um, guess I’d better let you and Baloo get on,’ she said. ‘See you tomorrow.’

‘OK. Want me to make you a cup of tea before I go?’ he asked.

Ayesha coughed. ‘How come you’ve managed to snag yourself a personal tea boy, Jess?’

Luke grinned. ‘If I remember rightly, Ayesha, you hate tea and only drink espresso. Stronger than anyone else I know can take it, and that includes the Italians.’

‘Actors and their memories. I swear they have elephant genes,’ Ayesha teased.

‘Well, there has to be some benefit to learning lines,’ Luke said with a wink.

‘Jess, you can go now, if you like,’ Ayesha said. ‘I’ll finish up here.’

‘Sure?’ Jess asked.

‘Sure,’ Ayesha confirmed.

And somehow Jess found herself walking out of the office with Luke McKenzie.

‘Can I take you for a drink to say thank you?’ he asked.

Now she knew he was being polite. And she’d be polite back. ‘Thanks, but no. I have a standing date on Tuesday evenings.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘With my sister, my best friend and a pizza.’ And why had she felt the need to explain that? she wondered, cross with herself. He wouldn’t be interested. He was a movie star, for pity’s sake, not a normal everyday guy.

‘Enjoy,’ he said. ‘Maybe we can take a rain check on that drink.’

A permanent rain check, she thought. So they’d never actually go. ‘Sure.’

‘Seriously. Baloo and I owe you.’

A mad idea floated into her head. ‘If you really want to say thank you, you could give me two signed photos.’

He looked taken aback. ‘
Two
signed photos?’

What, did he think she meant to sell them on eBay or something? ‘For my sister and my best friend,’ she explained. ‘It’d make their day. They drag me off to see all your films.’

He grinned. ‘Under duress, would that be?’

She winced. ‘Sorry, that came out wrong. I like your films, too.’

‘But rom-coms aren’t your thing?’

‘I like them,’ she said, trying to be polite.

‘But?’

‘But I prefer action films,’ she confessed. ‘Especially sci-fi. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude.’

He laughed. ‘No, it’s refreshing. It’s nice to have someone being honest instead of telling me that they’ve seen all my films twenty times and I’m the best actor in the world—which I know I’m not. Of course I’ll give you a signed photo for your sister and your best friend. It’s the least I can do. Come back with me and Baloo to my trailer and I’ll get them now.’

‘You have a trailer? And one of those chairs with your name on it?’ She felt her eyes widen. Luke McKenzie was a huge international star, and he’d made her feel so at ease that she’d actually forgotten that.

He laughed again. ‘Don’t be expecting a huge palace with gold-plated taps or what have you. It’s just an ordinary caravan. Somewhere to have some space to myself.’ He scratched the top of the dog’s head. ‘Which Madam here would chew up in a matter of seconds if I left her there.’

Baloo just gave him an innocent look.

Jess followed him back to the trailer. As he’d said, it was just a caravan, a place where he could make himself a drink and chill out. It was also incredibly tidy; either he was a neat freak, or one of the runners had to tidy it up for him every day. There was a dog cage, she noticed; obviously the one he’d talked about yesterday, from which the dog had escaped.

‘Photos. OK. Give me a second.’ He rummaged in a drawer and brought out two photographs and cardboard envelopes. ‘Who do I sign them to?’

‘Carly—she’s my sister—and Shannon, my best friend, please.’

He took out a pen, signed the photographs with a flourish, and put them neatly in the envelopes.

‘Thank you.’ She smiled. ‘You’ll probably hear the shrieks of joy all the way across London when I hand them over tonight.’

‘Pleasure.’ He rubbed the dog’s ears. ‘Right, you. Home for dinner. And don’t keep me awake tonight with your snoring.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘I had no idea that dogs snored. Or that they were pillow hogs.’

‘Oh, they snore, all right. And they’ll sneak onto the sofa between you if they think they can get away with it.’

He glanced at her left hand, and she realised what she’d just let slip. Cross with herself, she lapsed into silence.

*

It sounded very much to Luke as if Jess Greenacre had once had a dog, but didn’t have one any more. And she’d also clearly been in a relationship, though she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

So what had happened?

Had it been a bad break-up and her ex-partner had claimed custody of their dog? Was that why she’d been reluctant to look after Baloo, because it brought back memories of a dog she missed very badly?

She clearly didn’t want to talk about it because she’d gone quiet on him and the laughter had gone from her green eyes.

Luke was shocked to realise that he wanted to make her smile again. Which was crazy; he didn’t plan to get involved with anyone, ever again. Fleur had put him off relationships for life. Picking up the pieces when things went wrong was hard enough; to have to do it in the full glare of the media spotlight had been a nightmare.

But he couldn’t leave it like this, with things so awkward between him and Jess. The best way he could think of to break the ice again was to ham it up. Entertain her. ‘And she raided my shoe rack. She had one of every single pair in her bed yesterday, didn’t you, Madam?’

The dog glanced up at him and looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

Jess reached over to rub the top of the dog’s head. ‘That explains a lot.’

‘Does it?’ Luke was mystified.

‘I think I can tell you her history now,’ Jess said. ‘She was left home alone a lot. Her owners probably weren’t used to dogs and either didn’t know how to train her or just couldn’t make the time.’ For a second, she looked angry—on Baloo’s behalf, Luke thought. ‘If they’d looked on the Internet, they could’ve found tips to help. Leaving the radio on, putting a blanket or an old towel in the laundry basket overnight and then putting it on her bed so it smelled of them and made her feel less alone, or giving her a special toy to distract her.’

Luke wouldn’t have had a clue about any of that.

‘She probably chewed the place down from a mixture of boredom and anxiety.’ She sighed. ‘Some people just shouldn’t have dogs.’

Including me, Luke thought.

‘She’s really worried about being left alone, now, and she’s going to need separation training.’

‘That’s what you said before. Is that difficult?’ Stupid question. Especially as it would probably make Jess think that he wanted to learn how to do it so he could keep the dog himself. Which he couldn’t.

‘Not so much difficult as the fact that it takes time,’ she said.

‘Which I don’t have.’ He grimaced. ‘Without you, we’d be totally stuck. And it’s a relief not to have someone complaining about her all the time.’

‘People whose shoes she chews?’ Jess asked archly.

‘I don’t think Mimi minded so much about the shoes as, um, not getting time with me on her own.’

She flushed. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to get in the way of your date.’

‘Trust me, I’m not dating Mimi, and I don’t want to.’

‘She’s really that difficult?’

The look of shock on Jess’s face told him that she hadn’t meant to blurt out the question. ‘She’s really that difficult,’ he confirmed wryly. ‘I’m looking for an easy life right now.’ Just so Jess knew he wasn’t hitting on her.

‘Look, I don’t want to put my foot in it, but I, um, saw the papers last year.’

Hadn’t everyone? Fleur had turned the end of their marriage into a total media circus.

‘I get where you’re coming from and, just so you know, I’m not going to turn into your Number One Fan and stalk you or anything,’ Jess finished.

‘I know.’ He tried for lightness. ‘Otherwise I’d set my dog on your shoe wardrobe.’

‘Shoe wardrobe?’ She looked surprised.

‘Don’t all women have them?’ he asked. Fleur had needed a walk-in wardrobe to hold all her shoes—organised by colour and heel height. She’d had ten pairs of black court shoes with four-inch heels, and Luke hadn’t been able to tell the difference between them.

‘I have three pairs of shoes,’ Jess said. ‘No,
four
, if you count my running shoes.’

He laughed. ‘I like you. You’re refreshing.’

‘Thank you. I think.’ She smiled, and it sent a thrill all the way down his spine. Which was crazy. He and Jess came from different worlds. He barely knew her. He couldn’t be reacting to her like this.

‘Just for the record, I think I like you, too.’ Then she grimaced. ‘Sorry. You must hear that all the time, people coming up to you and telling you they love you.’

He smiled. ‘It happens a bit, yes, but I’m not daft enough to think that they love
me
. They don’t know me. They love the character I played in a movie, and there’s a big difference between the two.’ Which had been half the problem with Fleur. She’d loved who she thought he was, not who he really was. That, and the fact that he hadn’t been able to give her what she really wanted.

‘I suppose it’s like the baddies in soap operas. People shout at them in the street because they confuse them with the character, and they might be incredibly sweet in real life instead of being mean,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘So you’re not a handsome, charming and posh Englishman with floppy hair, who isn’t very good at talking about his feelings?’

He laughed. ‘Got it in one.’ Though, actually, he knew it wasn’t that far off the mark. He’d been typecast for a reason. ‘Well—I’d better let you get on. Enjoy your evening with your sister and your best friend.’

‘I will, and thanks again for the photos. Enjoy your evening, too.’ She made a last fuss of the dog. ‘And you, be good. We’ll do some more training tomorrow. And go for another run.’ She glanced at Luke. ‘She likes running, by the way. And there’s nothing like a good run with a dog at your side.’

‘If that’s your idea of a subtle hint,’ he said, ‘I’d hate to know what a heavy one’s like.’

‘You want a heavy hint?’ She laughed. ‘When you’ve had a day of dealing with people you have to be civil to, but really you want to shake them until their teeth rattle and tell them to grow up... That’s when a good run with a dog at your side will definitely put the world to rights. Even if you do have to go out in public wearing dark glasses and a silly hat.’

‘I do not wear dark glasses and a silly hat,’ he said.

She folded her arms. ‘My sister gets every magazine with your picture in it, so I know you’re not telling the truth. You’ve got a silly hat. A beanie. I’ve seen it.’

‘Busted,’ he muttered, enjoying himself hugely. When had he last met someone he could have fun with like this?

‘I think you should steal the hat, Baloo,’ Jess said in a stage whisper. ‘Chew it to pieces. Then he’ll have to go and get a sensible one.’

Luke couldn’t remember when he’d enjoyed bantering with someone so much, it had been so long ago. ‘What counts as sensible? Deerstalker? Fez? Top hat?’

She groaned. ‘You’re not Sherlock Holmes, Dr Who or Fred Astaire.’

‘Ah, but I’m an actor,’ he said. ‘So I
could
be. If you wanted.’ He did a little tap dance. ‘See? I’m Fred.’

She grinned. ‘Don’t make me dare you.’

‘Dare me,’ he said softly, willing her to dare him to kiss her. Because right at that moment, he really,
really
wanted to kiss her.

But then panic flared in her eyes, as if she realised that their flirting was starting to get a bit too intense. A bit too close. ‘I need to get going. See you tomorrow. Bye, gorgeous.’

The way she made a last fuss of the dog made it clear to Luke that the ‘gorgeous’ had been directed at the Labrador, not at him.

Pity.

He was definitely attracted to her. He thought it might even be mutual. But to act on that attraction would be the most stupid thing either of them could do. They were from different worlds. It would never work. And if it turned out that she, like Fleur, wanted something he most definitely couldn’t provide...

Better not to start anything he couldn’t finish. ‘See you tomorrow,’ he said. And watched her walk away.

CHAPTER THREE

J
ESS
’
S
ENTRY
-
PHONE
rang at precisely seven-thirty. She buzzed her sister and best friend up, and met them at her front door with a hug.

‘Pizza,’ Shannon said, waving the box at her.

‘Wine, strawberries and ice cream,’ Carly added, handing over the pudding. ‘And we want to know
everything
.’

‘Food first.’ Jess shepherded them into the kitchen, where the table was already set, and put the strawberries in the fridge and the ice cream in the freezer.

Carly poured the wine. ‘So how was it?’

‘Fine.’

‘Brave face fine, or
really
fine?’ Carly persisted.

‘Really fine,’ Jess reassured her with a smile.

‘So tell us all about it. What’s it like, working on a film set? Did you see anyone famous?’ Carly asked.

‘Set rules—everything’s confidential. So I can’t tell you that much about it,’ Jess warned.

‘Confidential. Just like your old job,’ Shannon said wryly.

No. Because this time Jess wasn’t getting involved. And nobody was going to get hurt. Working on a film set was nothing like being a police officer, apart from her work having to be confidential. There were no thugs with loaded guns to face, for starters. It wasn’t life or death. ‘Not quite. Everyone I worked with was nice.’

She couldn’t tell Carly and Shannon everything about Luke McKenzie—if she told them about Baloo, she knew they’d both suggest immediately that she should move to a flat that allowed animals and give the Labrador a home. But she was looking forward to their reaction to her little surprise. ‘As for anyone famous... You have to keep this totally confidential, OK?’

‘Promise. Cross our hearts,’ they chorused, following up with the actions.

‘Good.’ She fetched the cardboard envelopes and handed them over. ‘These are for you.’

She watched the expressions on their faces as they opened the envelopes and took out the signed photographs. Surprise turned to disbelief and then delight—and then the pair of them hugged her half to death.

‘Oh, my God. You met Luke McKenzie! I can’t believe it. My little sister just met the most gorgeous man in the world. What’s he like?’ Carly asked.

‘Complicated,’ Jess said. ‘When I first met him—well, he was being Mr Big Shot Actor.’

‘But he’s always so nice in interviews,’ Shannon said, looking disappointed.

‘He got a bit nicer as the day went on,’ Jess said.

‘Maybe he’s just not a morning person and needs a ton of coffee before he’s even halfway human,’ Carly suggested. ‘I still can’t believe you actually met him.’

‘Is he as beautiful in real life as he is on the screen?’ Shannon asked.

More so. But Jess couldn’t quite admit to that. It would be totally inappropriate to have a crush on Luke McKenzie. She was the most junior member of the film crew, and he was the headline actor. ‘You wouldn’t be disappointed,’ she said.

‘So you’re actually working with him?’ Shannon shook her head. ‘Wow. I can’t take this in.’

‘He’s not the only actor in the movie,’ Jess said with a smile.

Carly laughed. ‘You’re talking to
us
. Of course he’s the only actor in the movie!’

Jess laughed back. ‘Come on—let’s eat before the pizza gets cold, and I’ll tell you as much as I can about today.’

At the end of the evening, Carly held her close. ‘It’s good to see you smile again, Jessie,’ she said. ‘I know you’ve had a really tough time of it, this last year, and it’s been hell watching you go through it and knowing that I couldn’t do anything to make things better for you. I would’ve given anything for a magic wand to fix things. I still wish I could bring Matt and Comet back. Well, not even have them in danger in the first place.’

‘You were there for me, and just knowing that I could call you at stupid o’clock in the morning if I needed to helped a lot,’ Jess reassured her.

‘You never actually called me, though,’ Carly pointed out. ‘Because you’re too stubborn.’

Jess gave her a rueful smile. ‘I guess I just needed time to come to terms with things in my own way. I’m never going to stop missing Matt and Comet, but I’m finally learning to see the sunshine again.’

‘I just wish you’d go back to working with dogs,’ Shannon said. ‘You loved your job so much. And working as a temp doesn’t make you anywhere near as happy—even if you did get to meet the most gorgeous man in the world today.’

‘I’m fine,’ Jess said. She’d heard this argument countless times before. And she had the same answer: she wasn’t ready to go back to working with dogs. She might not ever be ready. As a temp, she kept her days too full to think, and that suited her right now. ‘See you both later. Text me to let me know you’re home safely.’

‘Of course,’ they said, rolling their eyes.

She couldn’t even use the excuse that she was a policewoman any more. She just wanted to know that they were safe.
Needed
to know.

‘Stop worrying, sweetie,’ Shannon said and hugged her. ‘Everything’s going to be just fine.’

*

On Wednesday morning, Jess spent an hour working through Ayesha’s list, then had an hour of training with Luke and Baloo before his rehearsals. She was guiltily aware that her best friend was absolutely right about Jess being happiest when working with animals: despite her initial reservations, Jess was really enjoying training the dog. She loved seeing the Labrador blossom and become more confident as her training progressed. And she’d missed this.

Maybe she should consider going back to it. Not with the police—she knew she couldn’t handle the idea of training people and their dogs to face the kind of situation Matt and Comet had faced—but maybe she could set up classes doing something like this. Or even working with the animal handling department of a film company.

‘She’s doing really well,’ Luke said. ‘I can’t believe how quickly she’s picking things up.’

‘She’s very trainable. And this will make her life easier.’ Jess paused. ‘And yours.’

‘Baloo’s not mine,’ Luke reminded her.

Oh, yes, she most certainly is, Jess thought, but kept her counsel.

As the runner came up to tell Luke that the director was ready for him, Jess said, ‘See you later. Break a leg—or is that only said for stage performances?’

He laughed. ‘It’s pretty much the same thing. Thanks, Jess. See you later.’

*

At lunchtime, Jess’s phone rang.

‘Hi. It’s Luke,’ he said.

As if she wouldn’t recognise that voice—like melted chocolate, warm and rich and sensual. ‘Hi.’

‘I was wondering if you and Baloo would like to have lunch with me.’

‘Baloo’s very partial to chicken sandwiches,’ she said. ‘So if they’re on the menu, our answer is yes.’

He laughed. ‘I’ll bear that in mind. See you at the catering tent in ten minutes, then?’

‘Hang on, I’ll just check with Ayesha.’ When the production manager confirmed that it was fine for Jess to take her break, she told Luke, ‘Yep. Ten minutes.’

And hopefully by the time she met him her common sense would be back in control. Along with her knees, which right now were doing a great impersonation of blancmange. Ridiculous. Luke McKenzie was a movie star. He was
supposed
to have that effect on women. It wasn’t real.

They reached the catering tent at practically the same time.

‘The team here is pretty good,’ Luke said. ‘I don’t know if chicken sandwiches are on the menu today, but I can definitely recommend their BLTs.’

Baloo looked hopefully at him, and Jess laughed. ‘Bacon is full of salt. Which is not good for dogs.’

Baloo hung her head and looked sorrowful.

Luke ruffled her fur. ‘Did you train her to do that?’

‘No. She’s a natural.’

‘Don’t say it,’ Luke warned, ‘because it’s not going to happen.’

Jess spread her hands. ‘Not a word will pass my lips.’ But she was thinking it, and she knew he knew it.

‘So how was your pizza last night?’ he asked as they walked over to the catering area.

‘Good. I meant to say earlier, my sister and my best friend asked me to say thank you for the photos. They were thrilled.’

‘My pleasure,’ he said simply.

The bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches were as good as Luke had promised. Although Jess refused to let Baloo have any, she relented enough to let the dog have a treat from her pocket, and the dog settled between them both with a happy sigh.

‘Care to indulge a nosey actor?’ Luke asked.

Her heart skipped a beat. ‘How?’

‘Set rules,’ he said. ‘Were you a dog trainer before you did this job?’

Apart from the last year. But she wasn’t going into that. ‘Pretty much,’ Jess said. ‘I thought about being a vet when I was at school, but I realised I couldn’t handle the tough side of it—situations where I couldn’t make an animal better and had to put them down.’ She grimaced. ‘I was never allowed to watch Lassie films as a child because I’d always sob through them.’

‘I was never allowed to watch them, either,’ Luke said.

Jess had hoped he’d be soft-hearted when it came to animals. Good. Things were starting to look that much more hopeful for Baloo.

‘So what made you think of being a trainer?’ he asked.

‘I took my dog to agility classes when I was twelve, and I loved it—I got chatting to the trainer, and she suggested it,’ Jess explained. ‘My parents were brilliant and supported me all the way. I did a degree in animal behaviour, then qualified as a dog trainer.’ Luke didn’t need to know that she’d become a police dog trainer and had spent two years as a police officer first.

‘So what made you stop?’

My husband and my dog were shot and killed.
That was a tricky one to broach. And she didn’t want Luke to pity her and treat her like a special case. She grimaced. ‘Right now, do you mind if we don’t talk about it?’

‘Sore spot?’ he asked.

She nodded.

‘Sorry.’

‘Not your fault.’ Taking the focus off herself, she asked, ‘What about you? Did you always want to be an actor? Obviously, that’s under set rules.’

‘Sure.’ He smiled. ‘Actually, I read law at university,’ he said, surprising her. ‘I was meant to join my dad in the family firm.’

Clearly that hadn’t happened, or they wouldn’t be on the film set together right now.

‘Then I joined Footlights,’ he said.

She blinked as his words sank in. ‘You were at Cambridge?’ So he was super-bright as well as gorgeous.

He gave a self-deprecating shrug. ‘I loved Footlights. I met some really nice people—people who are still close friends now—and found what I really wanted to do in life.’

But he’d just told her that his family had expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps. Had they been disappointed when he hadn’t? Or had they encouraged him to follow his dreams? Jess wished now that she’d paid attention whenever Carly or Shannon had thrust a magazine article about Luke McKenzie in front of her. It would be rude to ask him, and she could hardly grill her sister or her best friend—not without giving an explanation she wasn’t ready to give. So she just smiled at him and hoped he’d take it as an invitation to continue talking.

‘I had a deal with my parents that I’d take a year out after graduation. If I couldn’t make it as an actor within that year, then I’d join the family firm and train as a barrister.’

‘I think you’d have made a good barrister,’ she said. ‘You’ve got presence and that would show in court.’

‘Thank you.’ He looked at her, his eyes narrowed slightly. ‘That sounds as if you’re talking from experience.’

She backtracked fast. ‘I know a couple of barristers,’ she said, keeping it vague. He didn’t need to know that she knew them professionally rather than socially. ‘So obviously you made it as an actor.’

‘By the skin of my teeth—half the time in that first year I was “resting” and working as a waiter,’ he admitted. ‘It got to the eleventh month in my year out and my parents were starting to put pressure on me—but then I got my lucky break. A director had seen me play Benedick in
Much Ado
and wanted me for the lead in her new film. It was a small-budget indie production, and it was pretty likely that it wasn’t going to get anywhere, but I loved the script. So I thought I might as well end my acting career doing something I really loved.’

‘Was that when you played Marcus Bailey?’ It was the film her sister and best friend had first seen him in and fallen in love with him. Thousands of other women had clearly felt the same, because the independent film had taken the world by storm. ‘That was the one.’ He smiled. ‘Which is why I’d work for free for Libby. Without her I would’ve been stuck in chambers. I mean, I could’ve done the job, and I would’ve put in enough effort to make sure I did it well—but I would always have regretted losing my dreams.’

Her own parents had always been so supportive, Jess thought. She’d been really lucky. Whereas Luke’s parents had given him an ultimatum and put pressure on him not to follow his dreams. She wondered if his aunt Monica—the dog rescuer—had been the one to take his part. Though asking wouldn’t be tactful. Instead, she turned the conversation to something much lighter, and by the time they’d finished their sandwiches his laughter was definitely genuine and showed in his eyes, rather than being faked to put her off the scent.

‘Has anyone told you how restful you are?’ Luke asked when they’d finished.

Jess looked surprised. ‘How do you mean?’

‘You don’t need to fill all the silences.’

She shrugged. Probably because she was used to spending her time with animals. You needed to know when to shut up and let them get on with their job. ‘Is that so unusual?’ she prevaricated.

He laughed. ‘I guess I hang around with too many actors. They’re not so good at shutting up.’

‘But you use silence in films—for comic timing and what have you.’

‘That’s scripted,’ he said. ‘Or your own interpretation of the script. That’s different. I mean outside work. And it’s so nice not having someone trying to set me up on a date.’

‘Tell me about it,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘They’ve found absolutely the
perfect
partner for you, so all you have to do is go on a date with them and life will be fantastic again.’