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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
JESS’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.’
* * *
