in The Bungalow, the Miramar’s hip Moroccan bar, and ordered martinis.
After some small talk and a lot of alcohol, Eddie handed Macy his iPad. ‘So, this is the valley.’
Images of rolling green hills, burbling streams and sun-dappled woodland flashed across the screen.
‘And the village. And the farm.’
‘Wow.’ Macy looked genuinely enraptured. She was drunk enough to be buzzed, but not so drunk that she couldn’t appreciate what she was seeing. ‘It’s gorgeous. All those little stone cottages. It’s like the village from Beauty and the Beast.’
‘Like a fairy tale, you mean?’ said Eddie. ‘Exactly. And when you see it for yourself you’ll realize the pictures don’t do it justice. The Swell Valley is everything that Americans love about England – it’s quaint and idyllic and old-fashioned; but it also has glamour, the kind of glamour that simply doesn’t exist here.’
‘Who’s that?’ Macy interrupted him. An extremely attractive blond man had suddenly popped up in the slide show.
‘That’s Gabriel Baxter. Your co-presenter. He’s lived in the valley all his life and owns Wraggsbottom Farm. His wife, Laura, is the writer/producer.’
‘They called their house “Wraggsbottom?”’ Macy asked incredulously.
‘It’s an old name. They inherited it.’
‘Can’t they change it?’
Now Eddie looked incredulous. ‘Of course not. It’s part of local history. That’s what I’m trying to get at. “Celebrity” has become such a cheapened commodity, Miss Johanssen. But class, history, aristocracy … those things still have cachet. It’s why you Yanks can’t get enough of “Duchess Kate”, as you so charmingly call her. Because you have no home-grown equivalent. That’s why this show is going to sell. But we need you to sell it.’
His enthusiasm was infectious. Combined with the lethally strong martini and the intoxicating images she was looking at – not just Gabriel Baxter, although he certainly didn’t hurt. But swans gliding beneath weeping willows, stone footbridges that looked like they must be a thousand years old, exquisite, beamed farmhouses, like something out of Hansel and Gretel. Macy sighed. It was all such a long way from her world.
‘Why me?’
‘Because you have class too,’ said Eddie. ‘Uniquely amongst attractive, female American television presenters, in my opinion.’
‘Thank you.’ Macy looked up from the iPad. Her eyes met Eddie’s and she felt an instant, familiar jolt of desire. He definitely had something.
‘I’m not complimenting you,’ Eddie insisted. ‘I’m being honest. You’ll appeal to a British audience, and you’ll bridge the cultural gap for an American one. Paul told me you’re concerned about getting out of the US market and I understand that. But we will sell this show in the States, Miss Johanssen. We will.’
He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Macy found her fingers entwining with his, returning the pressure.
‘You have a room here, right?’
For an instant, Eddie thought about Annabel, asleep in bed at Riverside Hall. But only for an instant.
He signalled to the waitress for the bill.
Back in Eddie’s bungalow, Eddie locked the door behind them.
‘Would you like another drink?’
‘No, thank you. I think we’ve both had enough.’ Reaching up on tiptoes to put her arms around his neck, Macy kissed him on the mouth. It was so long since Eddie had had a woman – since he’d come home from prison Annabel had barely let him touch her – that his dick sprang up like a jack-in-the-box.
Macy grinned. ‘Wow. That was quick.’
‘I’ll try to slow it down,’ Eddie murmured, slipping a warm hand beneath the waistband of her trousers and caressing her perfect bottom.
‘Not on my account,’ said Macy, who’d already started to unbutton his shirt. ‘It’s nice to be appreciated.’
She wriggled out of her clothes in seconds. Eddie scooped her up into his arms in her underwear and laid her on the bed. She was so tiny, it was like lifting a doll.
‘Christ, you’re lovely.’ He bent down to kiss the tops of her breasts, rising like two freshly baked rolls beneath the pale grey lace of her bra. Moving downwards, he kissed the smooth, flat plain of her belly, then down again. Macy could feel the roughness of his stubble against her inner thighs and his warm breath between her legs. She reached down to take off her underwear but Eddie stopped her hand with his. ‘Not yet.’
The next few minutes felt like hours to Macy as he teased and caressed her till she wanted to scream with pleasure and frustration. At some point he must have taken his clothes off. Macy ran her hands over his back and shoulders and butt, pleasantly surprised by what great shape he was in for a man of his age. As for his dick, it was perfectly proportioned and solid as a rock, the kind of erection that would make a nineteen-year-old proud.
‘Do you still know what to do with that thing?’ Macy teased him. ‘I’m guessing it’s been a while.’
‘Let’s find out, shall we?’ said Eddie, ripping off her knickers at long last and launching into her like an Exocet missile. Macy had to grab on to the headboard to prevent herself from flying head-first through the wall.
They made love for hours. It was a long time since Macy had had such good sex. Her last boyfriend, Chris, had been a thoughtful and imaginative lover. But Eddie fucked like a starving man who’d just sat down at a banquet. It was intoxicating and empowering, and she devoured him back, happy to have found a partner with a libido to rival her own.
When they finally released each other and collapsed, sweating and exhausted, onto the bed, Macy reached down for her purse and pulled out a long plastic cylinder. For a moment Eddie panicked it was a phial full of drugs. But then she put it in her mouth and inhaled.
‘What on earth is that?’ asked Eddie, as the end of the tube flashed with a neon blue light.
‘It’s an e-cigarette,’ said Macy. ‘All the nicotine but no tar. The only thing hitting your lungs is water vapour. We call it “vaping”. Wanna try?’
‘No!’
‘It’s good.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’
‘Listen,’ Eddie began. ‘Tonight was amazing. Truly.’
‘Thanks.’
‘You’re a completely incredible woman. But I’m married. If we do end up working together …’
Macy held up a hand to stop him, simultaneously smiling and exhaling a cloud of steam, like an amused dragon.
‘You have nothing to worry about. I had a great time, but I don’t do commitment and I’m not interested in a rerun. We couldn’t top that
