Page 27 of Hollywood Games
‘Well, at least I know now how she really feels. I don’t want to make things difficult for you with your mum. But I don’t know what I can do to make her like me.’
Rory looked at her intently. ‘You don’t need to do anything. You’re perfect just the way you are. There’s nothing anyone can do for her right now except understand how unhappy she is and wait for her to sort it out.’ He kissed her. ‘But it doesn’t mean you have to sit back and take that kind of behaviour. I’ll speak to her again.’
‘Do I have to see her?’
‘Not if you don’t want to. Eventually, there will be occasions where it’s impossible to avoid her.’
Zoe’s frown deepened. ‘Like what?’
He gently held her face, smoothing away the creases in her forehead with his thumbs. He hesitated. ‘You’ll work it out. Want to go and make a bonfire?’
There wasno easy way to cart the contents of the courtyard to the side garden, especially with ice making the cobbles so treacherous. So they loaded her truck and drove it around the castle, dumping the papers, boxes and files onto an exposed patch of grass, crunchy with a thin layer of snow. Rory was exacting about constructing the pyre, and when it was lit, they stood back, held hands and watched the past go up in smoke.
Zoe looked at Rory, illuminated by the golden flames. He was a god, his hair rivers of fire, his skin blazing, his eyes glowing in the icy darkness. He pulled her into him, holding her tightly, sharing this moment of change, knowing this was the beginning of a whole new chapter in their life and that of the castle. As the flames died down, Rory turned to her. ‘I’ve got an idea. Wait there. Give me five minutes.’ He gave her a quick squeeze and ran off.
He soon returned, pushing a wheelbarrow. He took out a big bag which he put to one side and a collection of pieces of iron.
‘What are you doing?’ said Zoe.
His teeth flashed in the light from the fire. ‘Channelling my inner caveman.’
‘I don’t think there’s anything inner about your caveman. I think he’s completely outer.’
He grinned and constructed the pieces of metal into a grill that he suspended above the embers. He then opened the bag and took out a big wooden board, steaks, and salt. He salted the steaks, then placed them on the grill over the heat from the dying fire. ‘How do you like yours?’
‘A fraction less alive than yours.’
‘There’s a groundsheet in the wheelbarrow.’ Zoe pulled it out, as well as a stainless-steel bottle of water, two enamel cups, plates, and cutlery wrapped in a tea towel. She put them next to the fire and spread the groundsheet out, watching Rory cooking the steaks, completely in his element. After a couple of minutes, he turned to her. ‘Can you bring the plates? I think they’re done.’ She brought them across and he lifted them off the grill with a pair of tongs. They sat back in front of the fire and ate, warmed from the inside out. When they finished, Rory laid her down on the groundsheet, his body protecting her from the cold air behind them, her head resting in the crook of his arm. She looked up at him.
‘We’re not going to…’
He smiled. ‘If we could be guaranteed privacy that’s exactly what we’d be doing. But for now, we’re just going to have to settle for this.’ He brought his hot lips down to hers and she melted into his arms.
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14
The next two weeks were the busiest yet happiest times Zoe had ever experienced. They were working constantly to prepare the castle for the arrival of the film crew. However, despite Zoe needing to be online in the estate office, and Rory needing to be in his workshop or the cabin, they found themselves naturally adjusting their work to ensure they spent as much time together as possible.
The website and online shop were finished and live, and the spiced shortbread was ready to ship. Margaret and Donald had come up with a much more stable product than the one she’d made with Morag, and they had successfully trialled sending it in the post, first to Zoe’s parents, then to a delighted Brad in LA. Now they just needed their first orders. She still managed to see a lot of Fiona and Morag but didn’t see Barbara once. She knew there would come a time when they had to meet and be civil to one another, but as far as she was concerned that could be a ‘sometime never’ task.
Whilst their days were filled with work, their nights were filled with one another. The cabin was their private space. No one ever went there. Sleep was an unfortunate necessity, but when they weren’t sleeping they were loving each other. Rory’s appetite for her was insatiable. Each time he undressed her, every time they made love, he had awe, wonder and lust in his eyes. Zoe had never felt so worshipped and cherished. A tiny part of her knew this time they were spending, with just the two of them in the cabin, might never be repeated. If her plans worked, then after the chaos of the film shoot, the publicity gathered would mean the castle might be open year round. If that happened, Rory’s time would be even more precious. So, she met his need and desire with her own, banking as much love as she could to see them through the leaner times ahead.
Brad was in touch on a daily basis, each message sounding more and more excited about seeing her and staying at the castle. Crystal was also emailing her multiple times – day and night – with lists of his requirements, leaving Zoe convinced she was a robot who never slept. As well as Crystal and Barry, Brad was arriving with a personal chef and two extra assistants to work with him once pre-production started. Valentina Valverde was arriving without an entourage, but Kirsten was coming with a personal assistant and someone Crystal referred to as ‘His Holiness Vladyka Mirov’.
Everyone wanted to stay at the castle. Once the producers and heads of department had been allocated rooms, all the state rooms had been taken. The pecking order was clearly established, with Brad at the top of the tree in the late earl’s chambers, the assistants in the attic. Rory had kept two rooms back. One was potentially for an old army buddy, Charlie, who he hoped would come and keep an eye on the castle. The other room was for him and Zoe. If they needed to stay at the castle, they weren’t using his old bedroom in the flat he shared with his mother. As far as Rory was concerned, the flat was her space now and he was going to leave her to it.
Halfway through February, a small army of carpenters, electricians and plumbers arrived to bring the castle up to Brad Bauer’s exacting specifications. As well as all the rooms and bathrooms needing a complete refit, they were turning the downstairs rooms into production offices and modernising one of the kitchens to the specifications of Brad’s personal chef.
Outside the castle, the abandoned kitchen gardens were to be filled with trailers, including temporary accommodation for the lowliest of the crew. Anyone else would be spread between Clive’s pub in the village and hotels in Inverness.
After working non-stop for weeks, Zoe got an email from Crystal to say Brad was coming to check on progress and wanted to meet ‘the earl and his family’. Zoe knew that Brad’s obsession with tracing his ancestry to every royal he could find had reached fever pitch. To keep him on side they were going to have to provide the full Scottish gentry experience. Unfortunately, this would require Barbara. After convincing Rory of the necessity of pandering to Brad, Zoe sent him to find his mother.
Barbara wasin the living room of the flat, doing needlepoint and listening to classical music. Rory turned it off and sat down in front of her. She finished her stitch and secured the needle. He cleared his throat. ‘Brad Bauer is coming in a couple of days to check on progress and wants to meet us.’
Barbara raised a perfect eyebrow. ‘Does he want to meet me and you, or the Earl and Dowager Countess of Kinloch?’
‘The Earl and Dowager Countess.’
