Her Scottish Mistake (A Perfect Escape)

by Michele De Winton

  Janie was worth the chance of having his ego thrown in his face. Worth the chance of shaking up his career. Worth the chance of rethinking what the future meant.

  Now that his brother was safe he cared more about what someone like Janie thought than the press. She was real. Someone who had the life and well-being of her community wrapped up in her heart.

  He was just a guy when the cameras stopped rolling. A guy who wanted love and had found it.

  Coming to a handmade wooden bench, Blaine sat down and pulled out his phone. Blaine had been putting off this call for a couple of days, but he was here now. All or nothing time. He punched in the number for his agent.

  Chris answered on the first ring. “About time you checked in again.”

  “I want a job in the U.S. I’m going to stop hiding from the press. Hell, I’m going to invite them over for dinner. And I’m going to apologize to Janie and ask her to date me.”

  Chris took in a long breath. “Seriously? Even if it means you miss out on work back home? You’ll probably lose money before you make any.”

  Blaine checked himself and gulped at the thought of not being able to make sure his brother was okay. But Hamish had given him the rocket he needed. It was time to look out for number one for a change. Screw it. “Yes.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. I am.”

  The breath exhaled down the phone. “Finally.”

  “What?” Blaine’s eyebrows rocketed.

  “This is what you need now to take yourself seriously. If you don’t, no one else will.”

  “What? You were the one who told me to get out, to go to Thailand, to hunker down.”

  “Only because of that crazy woman Stephanie. But you were worried about what the press were saying well before her, worried that you were going to spoil things with The Highlander’s Cure team. Hell, you even pulled some clan honor shite on me. If I’m honest with you, you’re not going to make any money quickly over there, but if you want to make it in this game you have to think big and act bigger.”

  “You’re telling me all this now?”

  “You weren’t ready to hear it before.”

  “You sound like my brother.”

  “For all his fuckups, he’s a smart guy, your brother. So it’s time to stop worrying about him, and stay the hell away from anyone he owes money to.”

  Blaine laughed. “That is no problem.”

  “I’ve had a lot of clients, but only a handful have the balls and the talent to make it really big. You could be one of them if you want it. If you’re hungry enough for it to get there no matter the cost. And I mean cost. What you’ve got in the bank? Call double or nothing on it. Going big means burning some bridges sometimes. Not by being nasty, but by focusing on the end game.”

  Double or nothing, when gambling was half the reason Hamish was such a mess? Blaine shuddered but made himself straighten. It was only money. He could start over again if he had to.

  “I don’t want to piss people off.”

  “And I wouldn’t let you. Everyone is connected in this industry, but you can’t let yourself get pigeonholed this early in your career. If you want to go to the States, let’s do it. But let’s do it big. We’ll spin this snake stuff somehow, and who knows, you might keep the gig on The Highlander’s Cure till they kill you off in a bloody battle. But otherwise we’re not taking anything else in the UK for the next six months.”

  Blaine sat back in his seat. Was he really going to do this? Go big or go home?

  “Galloway? Are you in? If you’re ready, really ready, to throw your hat in the ring, I’ve got a couple of things I’ll follow up. But it means not giving a toss what the press say. They’re not going to like it. They never like people ignoring them.”

  What did he have to lose? Another dent in his ego? Debt? All of that was nothing compared to not getting to see Janie again. And he wanted his career to be bigger than being a kilted pinup. He wanted it all. “Let’s do it.”

  “Good man. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”

  “Define stupid.”

  His agent laughed. “Fair call. Don’t talk about your next move with the press, that’s all.”

  “What if my next move is going after the girl?”

  “The snake girl?”

  “Her name is Janie.”

  “She have anything to do with those pictures getting into the press?”

  “No. She was horrified.”

  “Good. The girl sounds like a good idea. I saw the clip of her giving the press a lecture on snake handling—she was good. The line about the adder was genius, might even get you some brownie points with the production team here. But dignified silence and polite conversation is what we’re after now.”

  Blaine paused. “Okay, now I’m wondering if you’re off yer head. Or is this a thing, just agree with everything I say and hope for the best?”

  “I don’t do that.”

  The smile felt good on Blaine’s face. Better than good, it felt right. “Okay. Good. I’m going to talk to her now.”

  “Do yourself a favor and talk to her face. A phone call never works as well.”

  “That’s the plan. I’m going to see her today.”

  “Isn’t she American?”

  “I’m in Texas.”

  His agent paused again, but Blaine fancied he heard a smile in the older man’s voice when he spoke. “You really are serious. I’ll call you back soon.”

  Blaine looked around for someone to ask directions to Janie’s place and his eyes returned to the elderly woman in her garden. He got off the bench and headed over.

  “Excuse me,” he said, but the woman gave no indication of having heard him.

  “Excuse me?” he asked, a little louder.

  Still no response.

  “Hello?”

  A screen door banged and Blaine looked up at a skinny young man, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. “You bugging Ma? We already paid the power bill. I told you over the phone.”

  Looking down at his jeans and dirty white shirt, completely creased after the flight, Blaine wondered on what planet anyone from the power company came to collect money dressed like this.

  “Um, does anyone know where I might find Janie Milan?”

  “Depends who wants to know.”

  Putting out a hand, Blaine walked toward the guy. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to harass your mother, only asking if she knew where to find Janie. I’m Blaine. Blaine Galloway.”

  The man took a drag on his cigarette and looked Blaine up and down. “You chasing her for money? I heard she went to some tropical island and got herself all in the paper getting nekkid.” His accent was thicker than treacle on a stack of pancakes. “Who knew she had it in her? I would have given her a go if I’d known she were kinky and all.”

  Blaine would have groaned if the guy hadn’t been standing right in front of him. “Figure she damn near lost her job over it too.”

  Bollocks. So Janie had been right. Being with him and bearing the brunt of the media circus had made it back to her hometown, and worse, to her employer. He straightened. “I need to find her. It’s my fault that she ended up in the paper, and I need to apologize. Properly.”

  “That right?” The guy peered behind Blaine. “And you drove all the way from, where did you say you were from?” The guy paused before he cracked up and changed his accent. “Just messing with you. Hell, you musta thought I was about to pull out my banjo and get all yokel on your ass. Janie lives here right enough, but I don’t know as she wants to see anyone much. And definitely not some wannabe movie actor who got her in the shit so bad.”

  “I really want to see her. To say sorry.”

  “Damn, long way to come, so you must be serious. Her brothers’ll give you a licking if you do anything out of line. She lives up the road some. Three streets over, behind the tractor repair shop. Big red building.”

  Right at that moment the old woman turned and stared at Blaine with as m
uch venom as a cobra. “You treat that girl bad and you’ll know about it. Watch yourself, boy.”

  “Um. Okay.” Either the old woman wasn’t hard of hearing after all, or she had some sixth sense that he didn’t want to know about. Blaine walked, quickly, to the tractor repair shop.

  He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t the hard flash of anger he saw in Janie’s eyes when she realized it was him at the door. “You have some nerve. If you want to make me even more of a talking point, you go ahead and keep standing there.”

  “That’s not what I came here for. Janie, please. We need to talk.”

  “Sure. About how famous you are and how I don’t understand.”

  “No.” He held up his hand. “About how sorry I am that I said any of that. I realized after you left what an idiot I’d been and how much…” He took a breath. “I’m here. Now. Offering to make it up to you. To show you what you mean to me.”

  The frown on Janie’s face made him nervous, but her eyes weren’t on him; they’d moved over his shoulder.

  “Oh, good. I’m glad someone got it on camera. That might win you an Oscar or something.”

  Blaine looked around and yep. Someone was standing taking photos. “How did they find me here?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. That’s Bobby. He read the piece on me. Probably figures he can sell the pictures for money.” She waved. “I wouldn’t bother. Blaine here was just leaving and I sure as shit ain’t going with him. So there’s no story to sell.” Janie stepped back inside the dark cool of the house and slammed the door in Blaine’s face.

  Shit.

  “You giving my sister trouble?”

  Turning around, Blaine looked into the broad chest of another man. Blaine was tall. But this guy was massive. Practically a giant. Holding up his hands, Blaine looked up into the giant’s face. “Not trouble. I was trying to apologize.”

  The giant cocked his head. “You’re him, ain’t ya? The guy that got her splashed all over the internet.”

  This was what it was going to be like. “It was the schmuck who sold the photos to the paper who did that technically, but yes, it’s my fault it happened. If she hadn’t been with me they never would have done that to her.”

  The giant eyeballed him for what felt like a good minute, and Blaine felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to give up and make plans to leave rather than standing up for so long.

  “Well, you bothered to turn up to say sorry, that’s something. And now that you’ve seen the town you know she ain’t got nothing to steal, so there’s that. Figure there’s not much more harm you can do, unless you stick around too long and break her heart some more.”

  “Break her heart?” Blaine wiped his hand over his face. “That’s not what I wanted. She doesn’t deserve that.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “I need to talk to her some more.” Putting his hand up, Blaine made to knock on the door again, but The Giant moved in the way. “Don’t think she cares all that much what you want anymore.”

  Blaine took a step back, his heart sinking faster than a pound of old porridge. “I care about her,” he said, hoping that perhaps she might still be listening at the door. “More than she knows. Everything in Thailand, it was real. I want to move here. Try to make a go of building a career in the States. Stephanie…the reason I was hiding out from the press isn’t a worry anymore. My brother is safe.”

  The Giant’s stare didn’t waver. With a sister like Janie, maybe he’d heard more than his fair share of impassioned pleas. Whether he had or not, nothing Blaine said at the moment was going to do him any good.

  “Well then. If you could let her know I’m not going anywhere, I’ll stay in town for the night if she changes her mind about talking to me.”

  “Staying? Where you staying?”

  The shrug was half-hearted. “I saw a sign for a hotel back a block.”

  The Giant laughed. “Have fun with Tiny. I’d say watch your back, but it looks like you’ve already got Bobby doing that for you. The Scotsman’s staying at Tiny’s,” the Giant called across the road to the guy still loitering with a camera around his neck.

  Great. The feeling of dread sank to below Blaine’s knees. Nothing about staying the night in town sounded very promising.

  As he went back toward where he’d seen the sign for accommodation, Blaine’s phone rang.

  “You’re in.” No hello, no pleasantries. Chris, his agent.

  Sucking in a deep breath seemed the only way to fight the sensation of the old porridge rising up to try to regain access to his stomach. Because with those two words from Chris, excitement like newly released champagne bubbles started zinging around his stomach too. Hell, his emotions were taking him on a breakfast buffet roller coaster today. Time to get a grip. “In where? With who?”

  “It’s not a huge role, but it’s an in and the director is great. Apparently he’s already seen The Highlander’s Cure. I didn’t think anyone outside of Europe had access to it, but there you go, the internet can be your enemy and your friend all in one.”

  “He liked Highlander’s Cure?” The battle in Blaine’s stomach was starting to be won by the champagne.

  “No. Hated it. But he liked you. You’ll play a doctor flown in to treat some wounded vets in a war zone. Some decent dialogue, couple of really meaty scenes. Enough to get you noticed if you do a good job. And it’s film rather than TV. Shooting starts in three weeks in L.A.”

  The ideas rushing around his head tied Blaine’s tongue to the floor of his mouth.

  “This is the part where you shower me with platitudes.”

  “I haven’t gone all L.A. yet.” Blaine paused. “I’d rather say thank you and have you know how much I mean it. You’ve always had my back.”

  Now it was his agent’s turn to pause. “You’re going to do well now I think. Whoever this girl is, she’s done a right number on you. You should thank her for it. It might be the making of you. Just keep your kilt down in public.”

  “I’m trying, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”

  “Well, try harder. Yell it to the world. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

  An idea flashed a short burst of light into his eyes, and Blaine pulled the phone away from his ear a moment. Yes. Yes, that could work. “Can I announce it?” he asked his agent. “The role?”

  “It’s not really what we talked about. Playing it cool, not talking to the press.”

  “I know,” Blaine said. “But I have an idea. You said Janie was good for me. I need her back, and this might show her I’m serious.”

  “Once you’ve signed the forms, it’s on. The film is already green-lit. So as long as their people are okay with it, I guess it’ll be fine. Make sure to say you’re shooting in the UK off-season until I’ve worked out if you’ve completely burned your bridges with The Highlander’s Cure team.”

  “I’ll call you in a couple of hours.”

  “Okay, but don’t do anything until I give you the go-ahead.”

  “Sure. Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  His agent snorted. “Talk to you soon.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Seemed like a legit guy.”

  Looking at her big brother Hunter—whom everyone called Huge—Janie felt her eyes widen so far she thought they might pop right off her face. “Legit? In the oh let me lie to you about who I am and then throw you under the bus when the press come calling way?”

  Hunter shrugged. “I don’t reckon he meant to hurt you.”

  “Who meant to hurt who?”

  Janie groaned as her pop, and Dave and Tony, her two other brothers, stalked into the room.

  “That guy. From Thailand,” Hunter said.

  “The one you lot won’t tell me about?” her pop asked, and the four of them all looked at him. “I know you all think I’m stupid, but when Hank knows about it, don’t reckon there’s much chance I ain’t hearing some of the story.”

  Janie swallowed, but forced herse
lf to ask the question. “Did you see…”

  Her pop waved her off. “I don’t want to be looking at anything on the interwebs, and I sure don’t want to know what that idiot Tom posted about you for everyone to see. Maybe people will start giving him some grief for a bit.”

  Her shoulders relaxed as Janie let out the air she’d been holding. At least he hadn’t seen anything. But when she realized her pop’s friend Hank had probably seen the whole thing, a bunch of times, the tension came back with a vengeance. She flopped down on the sofa and put her head in her hands. “Everyone’s seen it, haven’t they?”

  “I wouldn’t say everyone,” Tony said. “Mrs. Green hasn’t, for starters.”

  Janie looked up long enough to give him her best impression of a ninja death stare. “Mrs. Green’s glasses are thicker than preserving jars. I had to stop her from getting into the well on Hank’s place a couple of weeks back because she thought it was her son’s car.”

  “Sure, maybe. But I know for a fact that Art and Fran haven’t looked at ’em either, or Missy and Helen,” her brother Dave piped in.

  “Or Mitch and Veronica. They swore they weren’t gonna give that gossip rag the dignity of looking at their half-baked story.”

  The groan escaped again before she could stop it. Everyone in town had heard about it. It was nice that some of her friends hadn’t indulged in the tabloid trash, but still, they knew it was out there, and nothing would stop anyone in Little Acre from talking about it. Nothing this exciting had happened since…well, since her ex had jilted her and run off into the beet-tinted sunset. Her sigh was deep and long, and she left her face in her hands. When she’d gotten back to work and seen the look everyone gave her she almost quit on the spot. Luckily, though, her boss was made of sterner stuff than that and she still had a job, for now. Dragging her hands away from her face she looked up again. “I’m doomed to be stuck here cooking and cleaning for you guys forever. I might as well start growing out my armpit hair now.”