Free The Perfect Hero by Victoria Connelly

does.’
    ‘I didn’t mean—’
    ‘It’s okay.’
    ‘Would you like to come in?’ Kay asked, not quite sure what she was going to do with a screenwriter/producer but feeling it was the polite thing to ask.
    ‘This place was empty for a while, wasn’t it?’ Adam said, stepping inside and looking around. ‘It’s good to see you’re breathing new life into it,’ he said with a smile.
    ‘I’ve just had all the bedrooms redecorated, and the dining room. The rest will have to wait, I’m afraid,’ she said, leading him into the living room.
    ‘Ah, yes. I see what you mean.’
    Kay nodded as Adam took in the nicotine-coloured wall-paper and swirly patterned carpet.
    ‘An acquired taste, perhaps,’ Kay said. ‘And one I have no intention of acquiring. Oh,’ she suddenly added, ‘I’m Kay.’
    Adam smiled and stretched out a hand to shake hers and then his eye caught the book she’d left open over the arm of a chair.
    ‘You’re reading Persuasion ?’ he said.
    ‘It’s one of the reasons I’m here in Lyme now. I was reading it when Teresa arrived and told me she was filming it right here in Lyme.’ Then something occurred to Kay. ‘You must be staying somewhere else?’
    ‘In a way. I’ve got a little place a few miles away.’
    ‘Oh, you’re local?’
    ‘Born and bred,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a few acres of land in the Marshwood Vale.’
    ‘What do you use the land for?’ Kay asked.
    ‘To walk on, mostly,’ he said with a smile. ‘Although I’ve been thinking of getting a horse. What do you think?’
    Kay’s eyebrows rose. She wasn’t used to strange men asking her advice about equestrian matters.
    ‘I used to ride but I got out of the habit when I had to work for a living.’
    ‘Well, I’ve got nothing against horses,’ Kay said. ‘All the best heroes have them.’
    ‘Heroes?’
    ‘In books.’
    ‘I see,’ he said with a nod of recognition. ‘I suppose horses were the status symbols of their day.’
    ‘But where would you park a horse in Lyme?’ Kay asked.
    ‘That’s a very good question,’ Adam said. ‘Still, imagine the fun of turning up to work on a horse with your briefcase in your hand.’
    Kay laughed. She’d only known Adam for about five minutes but she already liked him.
    It was then that the front door opened and closed.
    ‘Kay?’ a voice called. It was Gemma. ‘Oh, Adam!’ she said as she came into the room and Kay couldn’t help noticing how Adam’s face suddenly lit up and – in true Emma Woodhouse style – she had them matched and married off in a blink of an eye. After all, Adam wasn’t bad-looking now that she came to think of it. He had dark brown hair that was a little bit tousled as if he’d been cycling down a windswept hill, and his eyes were an intense grey behind his glasses and his smile was very cute too.
    ‘Everything all right?’ Kay asked.
    ‘Teresa wants to know if we can borrow your copy of Persuasion . She wants to check something and nobody has a copy. Can you believe it?’
    Kay picked up her copy and handed it to her.
    ‘Thanks,’ Gemma said. ‘We’ll bring it right back.’
    ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘Not good. We think we might get a couple of shots in but the wind’s really picked up and it’s going to rain,’ Gemma said.
    Adam nodded. ‘It’s meant to be quite heavy.’
    ‘Oh, dear,’ Gemma said, looking anxious.
    ‘It’ll be all right,’ Adam said. ‘You worry too much, Gemma.’
    Kay observed the look that passed between Adam and Gemma, and smiled. They were so cute together.
    What Kay didn’t notice, however, was the fact that Adam’s gaze soon left Gemma’s face and returned to hers.

Chapter Eleven
    Of course, it shouldn’t have been Gemma who’d run back to Wentworth House to find a copy of Persuasion but she’d taken off before Teresa could stop her. Any excuse to get off the set for a while and postpone the inevitable.
    And Adam had been there. He’d even walked back with her, giving her