'Stupidity on Ray's part,' he said. 'He made the mistake of trying to run two women at the same time. He was an excellent producer, but he never really achieved his full potential. I heard he was killed in a car accident a few years ago.'
The crackle of car tyres on gravel made Mel start. It was just before four in the afternoon and she'd come down to the kitchen about an hour ago out of boredom. Ever since Miles had left before lunch she'd been unable to settle to read, although she had written more to Conrad. As the kitchen was the hub of the house, and Joan and Antoine were only too pleased to have a further opportunity to chat, it seemed a good place to while away the time until Nick arrived.
Joan stood on tiptoe to peer out the small window on the level of the drive. 'Yes, it's him,' she said and waved a finger at Mel. 'And don't go rushing on that foot.'
She might as well have saved her breath. Mel jumped up, grabbed the pair of crutches Magnus had given her and hopped off at speed down the passage on one foot.
At the top of the stairs, a couple of guests stared at her in surprise, as she bounced along to the front door. Nick was just getting out of his MG as she stepped into the porch. She stopped short, leaning on her crutches and panting, overwhelmed by the rush of emotion fizzing up inside her.
In the year since she'd last seen him he'd changed from looking like a struggling artist to a man of means. He was wearing a tweed jacket, his blond hair was short and well styled and he was a few pounds heavier. As he slammed the car door shut, and turned, Mel knew instantly that she had neither imagined nor exaggerated the feelings between them.
She heard him gasp her name, and saw the joy in his eyes as he opened his arms and ran to her.
One moment she was standing, the next she was in the air, as he lifted her and twirled her round. Her crutches fell clattering onto the flagstone floor.
'You are supposed to keep off your feet!' he said accusingly, sliding one arm under her bottom and carrying her back into the hall. 'You haven't even had the stitches out yet.'
'I couldn't stay waiting in a chair like Queen Victoria,' she laughed. 'You don't know how long today has been.'
She had been longing for this moment ever since Conrad told her how Nick had searched for her. She had anticipated nervousness and fright, even a sense of anti-climax when she saw him. She hadn't expected suddenly to feel strangely shy.
He was even more beautiful than she remembered. Was it really possible for a man to have eyes so brilliantly blue, hair quite that shade of ripe corn? Or did love make everyone look special?
'I want to kiss you,' he whispered, glancing round and seeing two guests staring with interest at them. 1 can't really whisk you upstairs can I?'
'We could go in Magnus's office,' she suggested, clinging to his neck, the smell of his warm skin sending shivers of delight down her spine. 'But put me down. We're making an exhibition of ourselves.'
Magnus's fire was lit, his brown leather Chesterfield pulled up beside it. Nick put her down on the seat, then joined her cupping her face in his hands.
'My poor darling,' he whispered, running his thumbs down her scarred cheeks, and looking right into her eyes. 'I could kill that man myself for doing this to you.'
Mel felt his breath warm on her cheek. As he pulled her into his arms every nerve-ending leapt in response.
Two years of wanting exploded into passion the moment their lips touched. They devoured one another, tongues, lips, fingers touching, arms pulling each other closer still, every muscle straining for all that had been denied them.
They forgot that the curtains were open, that any second a member of staff or Magnus might walk in. Time and place ceased to have any meaning in the joy of holding each other at last.
'We must stop,' Mel gasped eventually.
Sighing deeply, Nick pulled back. His face was flushed, his lips swollen with desire. 'This is crazy.' He turned slightly to cradle her head against his shoulder, lips buried in her hair. 'I've thought of nothing else but kissing you all the way from London, but I never thought it would be quite as wild as that!'
'Me neither,' she admitted. 'What are we going to do now?'
'I don't know,' he said glumly. 'I imagined it all being quite chaste. Chatting and holding hands over a candle-lit dinner table until we got to know one another again. I intended to be a perfect gentleman until you were all healed up and we could go off somewhere romantic for a weekend.'
'Maybe it's better like this,' she smiled, pleased that his plan had echoed her own hopes. 'I've been frightened for days that I was deluding myself all this time. I was scared when it actually came to it, I might feel nothing.'
He lifted her face, looking down at her with such tenderness that all her anxiety slipped away. 'You do feel the same as me, don't you?' He kissed her eyes and caressed her cheek. 'For me it's like a gnawing pain inside – the need to hold you, to reach inside you.'
The last time Mel had been with a man was back in Ibiza, over three years ago. She had hardly thought of sex all that long time; it was as if her mind had shut away the memory. But now Nick's words were turning the key and unlocking that part of her.
'I want you too,' she whispered, taking his hand and kissing the tips of his fingers. 'Body, mind and soul. But not here, it wouldn't seem right.'
He laughed softly and cuddled her to him. 'Funny isn't it? People come and stay here all the time to put the sparkle back in their marriages, for honeymoons and illicit weekends. But us two who belong here can't do it.'
'My stitches come out tomorrow,' she said, kissing his nose, eyes and lips. 'Couldn't we go back to London and stay in your flat?'
'You wouldn't like that much.' He nibbled at her lower lip. 'It's very seedy and the other tenants are noisy. Let's slip away tomorrow night to another hotel for a few days.'
Mel didn't reply for a moment. Magnus was arranging a surprise party for next Friday to coincide with the first showing of
Delinquents.
There was an official launch party being held in London for it, but because of the circumstances here, Nick had declined his invitation. Magnus felt that such an important event should be celebrated, and he'd invited Sophie, Stephen and their respective husbands and wives, along with some of Nick's old friends to Oaklands.
Miles had put forward a suggestion that Mel and Nick could come and stay in London with him for a few days before, while all the preparations were being made, with Helena joining them if she could get some time off from filming, to arrive back here at exactly seven thirty when all the guests would be waiting. Mel had promised Magnus faithfully that she wouldn't give the game away, but now she had a feeling Nick's idea might mess up the whole plan.
'If we're going to go away we'd better make it a whole week,' she said. 'Because I think Miles was planning to invite us up to London next week.'
Nick made a horrified face. 'I don't fancy that, he's a bit crusty.'
He had been absolutely stunned when Mel had told him all about Helena and Miles – delighted, but a little overwhelmed too. He doubted Mel had even considered what having such an illustrious grandfather and famous mother could mean for her, but he had.
'He is my grandfather and he grows on you,' she laughed. Until half an hour ago Mel had thought it was a wonderful idea, and a golden opportunity to get to know both Miles and Helena better. But Nick's arrival had changed everything. 'But I must admit I'd sooner be alone romping with you than minding my "p"s and "q"s in London.'
'I'll speak to Dad,' Nick said, nuzzling into her neck. 'He must know we need to make up for all this lost time, without any distractions or prying eyes.'
Mel was sure Magnus would understand. But she also knew he was becoming increasingly anxious that Edward hadn't been caught. She was worried enough herself, though she was putting on a good act of being unconcerned. She hoped he would feel able to let them out of his sight.
Nick kissed Mel's nose as he helped her out of his car outside Helena's cottage. It was two days since he'd arrived back at Oaklands and Mel had been invited over to Helena's cottage for the evening.
'I'll just say hullo and then shoot off,' Nick said. 'I'll come back for you about ten.'
It was too dark to see the cottage in any detail, but the bright light in the porch showed up enough of the lattice windows and the shrub-filled garden to sense it was the kind of cottage seen on chocolate boxes.
The door opened before they reached it and Helena came rushing out to greet them. 'I've been in such a tizzy,' she said excitedly. 'I didn't get home from the set until six and I've been rushing around straightening everything up. Do come in. It's a bit chilly tonight.'
'This is such a lovely room,' Mel said, looking around her. Nick had gone back to Oaklands and she and Helena were sitting by the fire with a bottle of wine. This cottage really did look as if it belonged to a famous actress, all the things missing from Edward's house were here. Flowers, a basket of fruit, framed photographs, so many of them of herself as a small child, and heaps of glossy magazines. Helena had obviously added many of the homely touches to an already beautifully furnished room. There were big, bright cushions on the deep comfortable settees, a couple of large china cats on the mantelpiece and a huge parlour palm on a low table by the windows.
'I just love it,' Helena said with a wide smile. 'It's the sort of home I always wanted. I hope I might be able to persuade the owners to sell it to me. You should see the garden, it's got a view to die for. I relish the thought of the changing seasons. I missed that in Hollywood.'
The evening had none of the tension of their first meeting. Over the wine Helena told Mel many vivid and funny anecdotes about her touring days with Bonny back in the forties. Mel told Helena a little about her time in London, about Bee and how she came to Oaklands and found Magnus.
It was as Helena showed her the other rooms in the cottage that Mel saw the real similarities in their characters. Both were at heart homemakers, even though neither of them had had much opportunity to settle into a real one. Helena had a girlish enthusiasm to learn about cooking, gardening and interior design which Mel related to.
'Will you help me do up this room?' Helena asked, showing her the biggest of the bedrooms. It was a pleasant enough room, with low lattice windows and black beams, but it was decorated in a dull blue and it seemed chilly. 'I'd like it as my room, because it's bigger than the one I'm in now. But I don't really know where to start.'
They sat on the bed and discussed colour schemes and how one wall could be fitted out with wardrobes. Mel suggested a deep rose-pink wallpaper. 'Not something pretty-pretty,' she said. 'One of those dramatic Victorian designs, perhaps just one wall and then the rest plain. You could have a splendid four-poster bed, the room's big enough, with cream lace drapes, and a thick, thick, cream carpet.'
When Helena opened her vast wardrobe, Mel felt as if she was fourteen again and back in her mother's bedroom. Helena had even more clothes than Bonny, and dozens of exquisite evening and cocktail dresses.
Helena seemed to sense Mel wanted to look at them all, and drew one after another out, telling her about parties she'd worn some of them to.
Mel sighed over an emerald-green chiffon one, holding it up to herself the way she always did with Bonny's dresses.
'Try it on,' Helena urged her. 'I've put on a few pounds recently and it's too tight for me now. I bet it will fit you perfectly.'
It fitted as if it had been made for Mel. As she swirled in front of a long mirror, with Helena looking on smiling, she had a feeling of having come round in a big circle, back to home.
'You must keep it,' Helena said. 'I doubt I'll ever lose those pounds, not the way I've been eating lately.'
'I love it, but you can't give it to me,' Mel said. 'Besides I never go anywhere grand enough for it.'
'You will soon,' Helena said. 'With Nick about to be a big star, and Miles and I dying to take you out with us and show you off, you'll need lots of glamorous clothes. Besides it feels good to see you in it, a bit like old times. Bonny and I used to wear each other's clothes.'
'How did it go?' Nick asked as they drove home later, Mel holding the dress across her lap.
'The time just flew by,' Mel said. 'I thought it would be kind of sticky in places, but it wasn't. I like her so much. It was almost as if she'd always been part of my life.'
'All ready?' Magnus asked as he came up the stairs to help Mel down and carry her case. Nick had driven down to a garage to get some fuel. It was Saturday morning now. The stitches in her foot had been taken out on Friday as arranged, but it was too sore that day to leave immediately.
'Just about,' she said, leaning on a walking stick. 'I feel a bit guilty at leaving you to do everything for the party.'
'You would only be in the way,' he said with a wide grin. 'Just make sure you get him back for Friday night.'
She nodded and blushed.
'It's okay,' he smiled and tweaked her hair. 'I may be getting old but I have my memories. Love is very precious, Mel, and you two have waited a very long time. Just be careful with that foot. No long walks or running through the dew barefoot.'
'It's a bit cold for that,' she laughed. There had been a light frost when she looked out this morning and though the sun had come out now, it was still cold enough for gloves and a thick coat 'But I'll promise anyway if it makes you happy. Just you promise me you won't tire yourself out getting this party organised?'
'Nick!' Magnus called from the doorway just as he was preparing to drive away.
'What the hell does he want now!' Nick frowned with irritation and turned off the ignition as his father beckoned.
'He probably wants to tell you the facts of life,' Mel joked. 'Listen to him, he may have a few handy hints.'
Nick got out of the car and went back into the porch. 'What now?' he frowned. 'Yes, I've got enough money and I've checked the oil in my car.'