Page 22 of Hollywood Games
‘I wish everyone was this happy to see me,’ he said.
Zoe ran over and squeezed him as hard as she could. ‘I’m always happy to see you, but this is about something else. I need to speak to you about the castle’s plumbing and electrics.’
‘Oh joy. My specialist subject,’ he replied drolly, sitting down and pulling her onto his lap, kissing into her hair.
‘So, you know the castle needs a tea room that’s not a dungeon and accessible from outside, and it needs a gift shop to sell its famous spiced shortbread?’
Rory’s head jerked back. ‘What shortbread?’
‘I forgot I haven’t told you about that yet.’ Rory raised an eyebrow and she ploughed on. ‘When I was giving Brad his grand tour, I made up some bollocks about one of the countesses inventing spiced shortbread, and how now only Lord and Lady Kinloch and Morag know the secret recipe. Fi, Morag and I made a few batches the other day and I gave the best version to Brad.’
‘Spiced shortbread?’
‘Yeah, we chucked orange zest, mixed spice and cayenne pepper in it. The first lot nearly blew our heads off, but the third one was actually quite good. I got some photos of Brad with it, and was going to chat to the bakery about going into larger-scale production and fulfilling online orders.’
Rory’s mouth opened and he looked blankly at her for a few seconds. ‘You’re unstoppable, aren’t you?’ Zoe beamed. ‘I leave you alone for twenty-four hours and you’ve rewritten history. But what has that got to do with plumbing and electrics?’
‘Aha!’ Zoe bounced with excitement. ‘This is genius!’
Rory lifted her off and readjusted himself before pulling her back down. Zoe felt his hardness digging into her bottom. Rory gave her a pained expression. ‘Well, if you will jiggle about like that, there will be consequences. However, I’m sure when you ask me about the castle’s utilities, things will start deflating.’
She tried to suppress a giggle. ‘Okay. The film crew need offices for the time they’re here, and the castle needs a gift shop and new tea room. So, my idea is to try and overlap the two jobs. Whatever we need for the relaunch of the castle, we try and get the film to pay for it. What I need to know from you is what needs to be done to the electrics and plumbing to make it safe and suitable for the crew. Oh, and I also need that info for the bedrooms as well. Brad wants to stay at the castle.’
‘He what? Where?’
‘Well, he wants the biggest bedroom of course, and it will need to have a functioning en suite. Then there will be Crystal and Barry and whoever else he needs, and probably the co-producers and heads of departments. Oh, and his co-star, Kirsten Bjorkstrom wants to stay too, plus whoever she needs to look after her. Valentina Valverde who plays his American wife will probably want in as well.’
Rory’s groan was audible. ‘Jesus. Anyone else? Do they have any idea what it’s like to be in one of those rooms? You need to go to bed wearing all your clothes, the mattress is about as comfy as a bag of rocks, and if you use the loo, you’ve got a high chance of whatever you put down there refusing to flush. I don’t want to spend all my time attacking Brad Bauer’s turds with a plunger.’
Zoe stifled a laugh. ‘And they’ll need Wi-Fi.’
‘Anything else I should lay on? Underfloor heating? Twenty-four-hour concierge? Jacuzzi?’
Zoe gave him a kiss. ‘So, I was thinking…’ she began cautiously, ‘… if we can get them to pay for new mattresses, heating, Wi-Fi, safe electrics and working bathrooms, then when they leave, you could rent the rooms out for tourists to stay in.’ Rory was silent. ‘At least it would be more comfortable if you ever wanted to move back into the main house?’
‘My mother is going to have an absolute fit,’ he said wearily, dropping his head to her shoulder.
Zoe bristled. ‘Does she want the castle to survive or not? I’m not suggesting these things to piss her off. I’m telling you what any management consultant would. And if you can get Brad to pay for this then you’re laughing all the way to the bank.’
Rory lifted his head. ‘You’re right. This is an amazing opportunity to do things we haven’t been able to afford for years. But what’s the likelihood of it actually happening? We might have had to sell the castle by the time he commits.’
‘You’re right, but this is our best shot so I’m going all in. I’m going to make sure I’m on hand to answer any queries, and if you could help me with what they’d need to do to the place, that would be great.’
Rory looked at his watch. ‘I’ll give you three hours. Then you’re going to help me deal with my appetite.’
‘Steak?’
‘You got the first letter right,’ replied Rory with a grin, bringing his head down to kiss her.
Over the next week,Zoe could feel Rory’s stress levels increasing. He was trying to support his mother, but she was turning her fears about the results of the biopsy into bile directed at Zoe, insisting Rory dump Zoe and stop all communication with Brad.
Even though Rory assured Zoe Barbara never visited the estate office, each time she heard footsteps in the corridor, her adrenaline spiked. In addition, further documents had arrived from Colquhoun Asset Management, demanding more money in their continued legal action against the estate. Zoe suspected Rory’s ex, Lucy, was behind it. She was a key player in her family’s business and idolised Brad. Maybe she was pissed off that her celeb crush had arrived in Kinloch a year too late for her to get a snog in, and was pushing for revenge.
Zoe was spending at least ten hours a day fielding calls and emails from Crystal and Brad’s production company, but still didn’t feel like anything was a done deal. To try and move things along she told Crystal the castle was about to take bookings for several weddings, so if they didn’t produce a deposit they couldn’t guarantee the castle would be available. With her eye on other potential revenue streams, she also set spiced shortbread production in motion. She took her recipe to Margaret and Donald who ran Kinloch’s only bakery, and they agreed to get back to her with prices and feasibility of shipping it out. She then drafted ideas for the packaging using the photos of Rory she had taken for the castle website, put a design brief on an online freelancer site to find a graphic designer, and contacted four packaging companies for quotes.
It was another cold afternoon in the estate office when the phone rang. Zoe picked it up. The voice on the end sounded like it belonged to the queen’s elocution tutor. ‘Good afternoon, this is Lady Cassandra Moncrief. I’m calling fromTatler, I was wondering if I might speak to the earl?’Tatlermagazine was the posh person’sVogue, and even though Zoe knew what it was, she was several classes below their target market and had never read it.
‘I’m afraid Lord Kinloch is currently unavailable. May I help at all?’ she asked in her poshest voice.
