Chapter 12
She wasn’t sure why she’d invited him to stay. No, that wasn’t true, she thought as the bottle rattled against the edge of the glass as she tried to pour them a drink. A gentle hand steadied hers for a second.
‘Shall I do it?’
A little embarrassed but not so much that she wasn’t grateful for the offer, Frankie yielded the bottle to Ed and stepped back. ‘Sorry, I’m still a little shaky.’
‘It’s not surprising, given you’ve had two unpleasant shocks from me in less than twenty-four hours,’ Ed said as he finished pouring them both a drink and handed her one of the glasses. ‘I’m not sure how many times I can say that I’m sorry, but I really am.’
Frankie managed a wan smile before she raised the glass and took a sip. ‘It’s not just that. We filmed one of the most important scenes in the show today, so I was already riding an emotional roller coaster before you knocked.’
Ed settled his back against the kitchen counter. ‘I can’t say I know what that’s like as my only acting experience was as the angel Gabriel in the school nativity when I was four or five.’
Handsome as he was now, Frankie would bet he was equally gorgeous as a chubby-cheeked little boy. ‘I can picture you now, wonky halo and all.’
‘Oh, my halo has always been wonky,’ he replied with a grin that promised all sorts of things Frankie had no business wondering about. ‘So, what’s it like, pretending to be someone else for a living?’
Better than the alternative. Frankie kept that to herself. ‘I find it really freeing.’ She hesitated, trying to find the right words. ‘I get to live a multitude of different lives and experiences. I can also explore different aspects of my own character through these other people I inhabit.’
Ed’s expression grew thoughtful as he seemed to ponder that for a minute. ‘I can see how that would work. It’s not quite the same, but I’ve being doing something similar while I’ve been travelling.’
‘Is that what you meant earlier about your grand plan for growing up?’
He laughed and nodded. ‘Yeah. Look, I love Halfmoon Quay, and being the baby of the family and getting spoiled rotten seems fun when you’re a kid, but it’s not so funny when people still see you as that when you’re in your mid-twenties.
I found myself too constrained by expectations and kept falling into unhealthy patterns of behaviour because of it.
No one pushes the wrong kind of buttons more than family, you know what I mean? ’
Frankie shook her head. ‘Not really.’ When Ed frowned at her, she realised she’d painted herself into a corner. ‘I spent a fair amount of my childhood in care, so I don’t have much in the way of what you would consider family.’
‘That can’t have been easy for you.’ Ed took another sip of his wine. ‘And makes me feel even more of a spoilt brat for grumbling about my own circumstances.’
Frankie shrugged and smiled. ‘You weren’t to know and I was the one who asked the question. Go on with what you were saying, please.’
Ed studied her over the rim of his glass for a second before continuing.
‘As if growing up with three bossy older brothers and two cousins equally ready to tell me what to do wasn’t bad enough, I also had quite a bad accident when I was younger, so that gave everyone even more of an excuse to fuss around me. ’
‘Is that where you got the scar from?’ She’d noticed it earlier when he’d been staring at her through the letterbox.
‘This, you mean?’ Ed grinned as he tapped his eyebrow. ‘That’s nothing compared to the ones on my leg. I properly smashed myself up on some rocks below the castle and it took months of rehab to be able to walk again.’
‘Oh, you poor thing! Your leg’s okay now, though?’
‘It gives me a bit of bother when it’s cold, which was another reason I’ve been enjoying myself abroad.
’ He smiled. ‘But it also meant I couldn’t go anywhere without one or other of my family insisting on tagging along.
Growing up with an enormous safety net meant I never had to suffer the consequences because there was always someone ready to rescue me – mostly from myself and my own stupidity.
’ When he laughed this time, it was darker, more self-deprecating.
‘I must admit I wouldn’t have minded a better safety net when I was growing up, but I suppose at least I learned quickly that I only had myself to rely on.’
Ed nodded. ‘I guess we always feel a touch of envy for something we’ve never had and always craved. I’m not sure I’d recommend running off to the other side of the world, but it worked for me.’
‘You look well on it,’ Frankie said, admiring his deeply tanned skin and well-honed physique. ‘What have you been doing?’
‘I have a PhD in marine biology so I’ve been working on a conservation and education vessel in the Caribbean.’
The declaration took her completely by surprise. When he’d said he’d gone travelling, Frankie had pictured him backpacking around the world, picking up a bit of bar work here and there.
Ed burst out laughing. ‘You don’t have to goggle at me like that! I know I haven’t shown much aptitude for critical thinking, but I do have a brain in here somewhere.’ He tapped a finger against his temple.
Frankie felt her cheeks heating. ‘Sorry.’
‘I guess I do look more like a beach bum than a scientist,’ he admitted, rubbing a hand through the longish hair dangling over his collar. ‘Getting a haircut is something else I need to sort out while I’m home.’
‘I like it,’ Frankie said, without thinking.
‘Yeah?’ Ed turned towards the dark panes of the kitchen window and studied his reflection for a moment.
He brushed his fringe off his forehead and it immediately flopped back to almost cover his eyes.
‘Maybe I’ll just get this trimmed so I can see again.
’ He turned back to her with a grin. ‘Midnight Black certainly suits me better than sex-pest red!’
Frankie frowned for a minute as she tried to figure out what he meant.
Then she remembered the photo the girls had shown her that morning of Ed in nothing more than a towel around his waist and the orange-red stain in the back of his hair.
Her cheeks heated and not only from embarrassment about the way she’d attacked him. ‘I’m really sorry about the spray.’
‘Didn’t we already cover the fact you’re not allowed to apologise for that?
Anyway, I got some dye at the chemist so the hair’s not a problem.
’ Ed held up his free hand to show his stained palm.
‘Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything that will remove this from my skin so I’ll have to hope that it fades soon. ’
Don’t think about his skin. But it was too late and she was picturing his nearly naked body again.
‘I honestly didn’t think it would stain so badly,’ she muttered, hoping she was better at hiding her thoughts than he was.
Frankie pressed her cold glass to her flaming cheek.
Her heart began to pound as the lingering edges of too much adrenaline stirred again.
‘Hey, don’t start that again!’ Ed hurried towards her, clearly intent on comforting her, then ground to a halt as though his brain had caught up with his feet and warned him he was inside her comfort zone.
She appreciated it when he took a step back.
‘I completely understand why you did what you did, Frankie. I’m not angry or upset about it.
Well, I’m upset that I upset you, but that’s all. ’
She nodded and tried to smile past the tension inside her.
‘I really am okay. The flowers were more of a shock than anything. And like I said already, it’s been a day of heightened emotions so it didn’t take much to tip me over the edge.
’ The adrenaline spike faded and suddenly she was bone-tired. ‘Shall we go and sit down next door?’
Ed followed her through and took a seat in the armchair while she curled up in her corner of the sofa. Frankie pulled the throw over her lower body, suddenly conscious she was still in her pyjamas.
‘If I’m outstaying my welcome, you only have to say,’ he told her, edging forward in the chair as though he meant to stand again.
‘No, you’re fine.’ Frankie smiled at him. ‘You’re more than fine. I’d like you to stay a little bit longer if you don’t mind.’ She suddenly recalled what he’d said about needing to see his parents. ‘Unless I’m keeping you from your other plans?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not in any rush for the bollocking my dad is going to give me.’
Frankie had only met Jago Penrose in passing but he hadn’t struck her as a man to be wary of. She’d been around enough men with tempers to have a sixth sense for it, even the ones who were all smiles in public and quick with a fist behind closed doors. ‘How angry is he going to be?’
‘Angry enough that he’ll scold me for at least two minutes before he gives me a hug and kiss,’ Ed replied with that ever-ready grin.
Relief spread through her and she let out a little laugh. ‘Oh, that bad, eh?’
‘Yeah, it’ll be brutal.’ He pulled out his phone and checked the screen then tucked it away again.
‘Honestly, I’ve got plenty of time.’ His expression grew serious.
‘Is there something I can do that will help you relax?’ Frankie barked out a laugh and Ed caught what he’d said at the same time.
‘Oh, shit, that is not what I meant at all, I would never!’
He looked so horrified that she might think he was trying something on that she couldn’t help but tease him. ‘Gee, thanks!’
His cheeks blazed as red as his palms. ‘I didn’t mean never! You’re absolutely gorgeous and any man would be punching so far above their weight being with you. I just meant that in these particular circumstances it wouldn’t be appropriate and it was the furthest thing from my mind…’