CHAPTER 43
@starzwatch: Word on the set of An Irish Inheritance is that Spencer Torres is avoiding his fellow actors, preferring to spend alone time in his luxury cottage in the grounds of Linford Castle. Could there be real trouble between the loved-up stars? #TheLinfordCurse
@AfricBrooks: Tnx to everyone asking how I am. Bit tired atm but Spencer and I all good. #AnIrishInheritance
“See you later, darling.” Mel planted a loud kiss on Spencer’s mouth, before taking Snuggles’ lead from him and turning to catch Jess’s eye.
Automatically, Jess flashed them both a smile and a cheery wave.
Don’t react, Jess. Pretend you haven’t just caught them in a lip-lock.
Not that they were being exactly secretive about it.
In fact, if they were having an affair, wouldn’t they be keeping those kind of see-you-laters behind closed doors?
It struck Jess that Spencer was more like the favourite child. Or in this case, the favourite star.
“Hey there, Jess.” Mel stopped to talk.
Jess was relieved to see that Snuggles was muzzled. Mel started to rub the dog behind his ears. “Remind me where this big guy goes when he’s in the castle?”
“Oh, Gerry, one of our staff, looks after him – he has a bed in the basement.”
“Who? Gerry?” Mel chuckled.
“Ha-ha, very good. Um, I could take him from here if you like?”
“No, it’s okay, I got him.” Mel gave her a long look. “You look like you’re going somewhere.”
“I am, yes.” She flicked a look in the direction of the stables where she’d planned to spend a bit of time.
Anything to try to shake the sense of unease she’d woken to that morning.
It probably shouldn’t be surprising, given that her life had become so messy and complicated again.
And she was laying the blame for that squarely at Adam’s door.
If he hadn’t shown up with his new girlfriend and started kissing her – his ex-girlfriend – and fought with Robert and rescued her when her horse had spooked, then maybe her thoughts wouldn’t be so scattered.
But after a morning where she’d managed to get absolutely nothing done, she’d realised that things weren’t going to get any better unless she got out of her own head for a while.
And the fact that she was wearing a pale-grey trouser suit wasn’t about to stop her either.
She found Noah in the tack room.
“Jess!” He looked pleased to see her. “How are you?
She pushed her hands into her pockets. “Actually, I needed to get out of the office for a while. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
“Hmph.” He pointed to her dark-grey court shoes. “What are you, a six?”
“Five and a half.”
“Close enough.” He handed her a pair of Wellingtons. “Hang your jacket in here and I’ll give you some overalls. They’ll be a bit big, but they’ll do the job.”
“Thanks, Noah.” Jess took off her jacket and hung it on a hook. Already, she was starting to feel a bit better.
Three-quarters of an hour later, Jess had worked up a sweat, but one stable had been mucked out, swept and restocked with clean hay. Noah wandered over as she closed the half-door and gave the gelding a gentle pat.
“You came the right day,” he said. “We normally have them all fielded from early morning but, if there’s a lot of outdoor filming happening, we can’t always do that.”
Jess nodded. “Have you enough stable hands?”
“Plenty. Don’t feel you have to do this.” Noah rubbed his nose. “Not that I’ve any objection to you being here, you’re always welcome.”
“Have any of the film people taken the horses out while they’ve been here?” Jess asked.
He thought for a moment. “Spencer Torres rides well. And that English pal of his, Ben. Hasn’t he gone off back to England now? They were both able to handle Zeffre, not a bother on them.” Jess guessed that was a subtle dig at Robert.
When she said nothing, he added, “Afric’s a good horsewoman too, but I haven’t seen her since her announcement. She and that fellah from Donegal went out riding together a few times.”
“Dermot?” Jess looked at him.
Noah shrugged. “Don’t remember his name. About your age. Tall, longish dark hair.”
“Sounds like Dermot.” Jess paused. Hadn’t he said that he didn’t really ride? “Does he ride out a lot?”
“Come to think of it, he stopped coming when Afric Brooks did. ’Tis a pity because these beauties really need to be exercised.
” He sighed. “Mr Neary and I had a sit-down before the film people arrived and talked about the possibility of lending four of the horses to public stables for the duration, but then we were told that a lot of the cast and crew ride and asked to keep our six horses here.”
“And they haven’t been riding?” Jess frowned.
“Ah, they have, I suppose – just not as much as I’d expected.” He shot her a wry look. “But a lot’s been going on that none of us expected.”
A couple of teenagers, wearing old clothes and riding boots, came in, and Noah greeted them.
“Brandy Boy’s stall is finished. Get started on the others.” He turned to Jess. “I’m sure I’ve kept you long enough.”
She hid a smile, suspecting that Noah was talked out for the day, and went into the tack room to change back into her jacket and shoes.
Why hadn’t Dermot mentioned that he and Afric had gone riding together, she wondered, as she headed back up to the hotel.
In fact, why had he said he didn’t really ride at all?
What exactly was he keeping a secret? The fact that he could ride?
Hardly. It was more likely the fact that he and Afric were close.
And she hadn’t questioned his reluctance to talk about Afric that evening.
Should she say anything to Emily? She knew how Emily felt about Dermot and she didn’t want her jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Except that Dermot and Afric had known each other a long time. Afric had even managed to get him onto the crew for two big Hollywood movies. What if Dermot was the guy Afric had got involved with towards the end of their last movie? And she and Spencer were just … what? Pretending?
She broke into a cold sweat as the possibilities of that unravelled in her head. Dermot had been on set in the States while they’d been shooting the early scenes of An Irish Inheritance. Which was when Afric had to have become pregnant.
But that didn’t make any sense. Both of them were single, so why would they keep it a secret from everyone?
Dermot seemed like a nice guy – a sort of what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person.. But now she thought about it, she had the distinct impression that Dermot was keeping something to himself. She just hoped that Emily wouldn’t get hurt.