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“Alright then,” he agrees. “Come by and visit. Mara will give you the address. But I’m not changing my mind,” he adds, warning.
“Of course not!” I agree.Yet. But give me an hour and a cup of Earl Grey, and I bet I can talk him around.
“And JJ, you won’t say anything? About, you know… Max.”
“My lips are sealed!” I promise, hanging up.
I exhale with a whoosh.
“Well?” Fraser demands, looming over me.
“He says we can come visit,” I report. “And that he’s not coming back to set. But I still think there’s a chance!” I add, before Fraser’s scowl can get any deeper. “I could hear it in his voice when he talked about the movie… He loves that role. And he’s spent his whole career working for a part like this. I bet we can make him see that he doesn’t have to choose between Max and Mr. Darcy.”
“I hope you’re right,” Fraser mutters, raking a hand through his hair.
He looks stressed, and disheveled, and I can’t help wanting to wrap my arms around him and take a moment to just hold him and feel his heartbeat, the way I did in bed last night…
I fight that urge. Hard.
“How far is this island anyway?” I ask, as we rejoin Mara in the kitchen. We got on the road so early, it’s still only eleven a.m..
“About four hours,” Mara replies. “Take the bridge across from Kyle and you should be able to make it by teatime.”
“Fantastic,” Fraser says dryly. “More driving.”
I elbow him again. “Hugo said you had the address?” I ask Mara, and she writes it down for us. This time, I’m learning from our mistakes, so I have her write out the directions from a map as well as programming it into my phone. Weak cell reception won’t get the better of us again.
Then the doorbell rings.
“That should be the guy for the cabinet,” she says, smiling. “Listen, good luck with your whole quest thing, but it seems to me that Hugo’s done with the whole Hollywood thing. I’m rooting for him and my brother.”
“I get it,” I tell her, with thanks for her help. What I don’t get is why Hugo seems to think it’s an either/or choice. Sure, coming out might cause a few ripples, but there are enough gay leading men around that it wouldn’t spell the end of his career—especially if he had a megahit like thisPride & Prejudicemovie lined up and ready to release. With any luck, I can make him see, he doesn’t have to choose: He can have his new love,andthe role of a lifetime.
And we can keep this production holding together, after all.
We get backinto the car and hit the road. I wince at the thought of another morning cooped up inside the ancient car, but it’s still grey and rainy outside, so I curl up in the passenger seat, and try to get comfortable as we hit the highway, leaving the suburbs of Glasgow behind.
“Thanks for doing all the driving,” I say, glancing at Fraser jammed there behind the wheel.
He tries adjusting the seat, his long limbs clearly uncomfortable. “Won’t be much longer now,” he says. “It’s a straight shot to the bridge. Then this ridiculous manhunt will be over.”
I fall silent. Now we know exactly where Hugo is, and we’re not swept up in the urgency of following his trail, there’s no avoiding the memories of last night—wild and reckless in Fraser’s arms.
God, it was incredible.
Incredible, and dangerous. I already catch myself glancing over at him, wondering what he’s thinking. How he’s feeling.
If it seemed as perfect and right to him.
Down girl.
I grit my teeth. I wrote it off as an inevitable slip and judging by the empty bed beside me this morning—and how quickly Fraser agreed—he feels just the same. And even if he didn’t…
I can’t open that wound again, knowing just how long it took for my heart to heal.
“So, this is Scotland,” I say brightly, gazing out of the window at the dramatic hills and distant peaks. We’re driving up right beside Loch Lamond, with the grey waters frothing gorgeously in the wind like something from a Turner painting. “Can’t see what the fuss is all about, myself.”
“Youwhat?” Fraser demands, furiously loyal to his home country. Then he sees my smile and huffs a laugh. “Christ, woman, you nearly had me going there.”
