‘Don’t. I think ‘I must need brain surgery.’ This time she laughed. All of a sudden, the Bruno fiasco didn’t seem quite so terrible. Guy had certainly been right when he’d said it helped to have someone to talk to.
‘OK, so now you forget him,’ he declared briskly. ‘He’s an unscrupulous little shit and he’ll get his comeuppance sooner or later. With any luck,’ he added suddenly, ‘it’ll be with Maxine.
Punishment enough for any man, I’d have thought. Even a bastard like Parry-Brent.’
By the time Guy rose to leave it was gone three o’clock. Janey, opening the front door for him, found herself suddenly and unaccountably overcome by shyness.
‘Well, thank you.’ Clutching the door handle for support, she shifted from one stockinged foot to the other. ‘For um ... bringing me home. And for staying to talk.’
No problem,’ said Guy easily. ‘I’ve enjoyed myself.’
Without her high heels, she was dwarfed by him. And since he’d seen her lose both her dignity and her makeup, Janey realized, there wasn’t a great deal of point in being shy. She owed him so much for having come to her rescue, the very least she could do was reach up on tiptoe and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
But her courage failed her, and she remained firmly rooted to the carpet. Some people, like Maxine, did that kind of thing all the time but she herself just wasn’t the quick-kiss-on-the-cheek type. Besides, thought Janey, how awful if Guy thought she was making some kind of amateurish pass at him .. .
‘I’m glad you decided to sneak away from the charity dinner, anyway,’ she said hurriedly, before he could read her mind.
‘Not half as glad as I am.’ He grinned. ‘It was pretty dire.’
‘And I hope Charlotte isn’t too furious with you for abandoning her at the party.’
‘Well at least you’ve managed to stop apologizing,’ said Guy, sounding amused. ‘All you have to do now is stop feeling guilty on my behalf. If I’m not worried about Charlotte, I don’t see why you should be.’
‘Oh, but isn’t she—’
‘Absolutely not. She’s a friend, but that’s as far as it goes. And shame on you,’ he added in mocking tones, ‘for even thinking otherwise. What has your fiendish sister been saying about me?’
‘Nothing at all,’ lied Janey. ‘I’m sorry. It was just me, getting it wrong as usual. I suppose it was because Charlotte seemed so ... well, so keen.’
‘She did?’ Guy looked genuinely surprised. Then he shrugged. ‘I’m not encouraging her, anyway. As I told you once before, I gave up behaving like Bruno Parry-Brent a couple of years ago. It isn’t worth the hassle.’ He paused, then added severely, ‘And whilst we’re on the subject of faithfulness, who was that chap I saw you with at the theatre the other week? I don’t suppose you mentioned him to Bruno.’
Aaargh, thought Janey, blushing in the darkness. Just when she thought she’d got away with it. ‘Oh, him. He wasn’t worth mentioning,’ she said, her tone off-hand. ‘I hadn’t even met him before that night. A so-called friend set me up on a blind date.’ She shuddered. ‘I could have killed her; I’d never been so embarrassed in my life.’
‘Until tonight,’ Guy reminded her. ‘And I’m afraid you’re really going to have to learn not to feel guilty on your own behalf.’
Janey’s blush deepened. ‘What do you mean?’
‘After you’d left, I was introduced to your blind date’s sister,’ he replied evenly. ‘She told me he’d met you through a Lonely Hearts column in the local paper.’
‘Oh God,’ sighed Janey, mortified.
‘I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed,’ Guy continued briskly. ‘He might have a loud laugh but he can’t be as much of a bastard as Parry-Brent. You need to make up your mind about what you really want.’
Now he’d managed to make her feel deeply ashamed of herself. Was there no end to this man’s talents?
‘Sleep, I think.’ Janey glanced at her watch. It was three-fifteen.
‘I’m going. Just one more thing.’
Eyeing him warily, she said, ‘What?’
‘Something you said earlier.’ Guy broke into a broad grin. ‘It’s been bothering me. Do you really think I look like Marje Proops?’
Chapter 28
‘Oh please,’ Maxine begged, thrusting the letter into Guy’s hands. In her excitement she’d almost torn it in two. ‘Look, the audition’s tomorrow! I’ll just die if I can’t go up for it ... and think how thrilled Josh and Ella would be if I was chosen! They’d be able to see me on television
...’
‘Sitting on the loo,’ said Guy acerbically, having scanned the contents of the letter.
‘Maxine, this is an audition for a toilet-roll commercial. It’s hardly Macbeth.’
‘You mustn’t say that word; it’s always referred to as the Scottish play,’ she replied in lofty tones. Then, because she didn’t want to irritate him, she waved her arms in a gesture of apology.
‘But you can call it anything you like.’
‘I still call this a toilet-roll commercial.’ Guy remained unimpressed. ‘And I can’t imagine why you should even want to do it. What’s happened, have they run out of puppies?’
Maxine was practically hopping up and down with frustration. It was all right for him, she seethed; he was already successful and famous.
‘It’s a brilliant opportunity,’ she explained, struggling to control her impatience and giving him a beseeching look. ‘It means I’d be seen by millions, and that includes other directors. A break like this gets you known. And the pay is fabulous too. All those repeat fees!’
‘It’s still only an audition.’ Guy frowned. ‘I don’t know what makes you think you stand a chance anyway.’
‘I do,’ said Maxine happily. ‘The casting director’s a friend of mine. Oh please say I can go! It isn’t too much to ask, is it? If I catch the eight o’clock train tomorrow morning I can be home again by six.’
