‘Not quite all, but it sounds great.’
‘It will be great with you playing the lead.’ She smiled to herself. She was getting quite good at this Hollywood hype herself. ‘And I imagine you’ve heard who your co-star’s going to be?’
A look of apprehension crossed his face. ‘I know. Laney Travers. That’s amazing… I think.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I just hope she isn’t going to act me out of the movie.’
Emma slipped seamlessly into her agony aunt persona. ‘Don’t do yourself down, Ethan. You’ll knock ’em dead.’
‘Here’s hoping. Anyway listen, while you’re in Italy, I need you to find me somewhere sexy in the moonlight. I love those scenes.’ He grinned for a moment. ‘That way, nobody sees the wrinkles in the half-light.’ His eyes flicked over her shoulder and back again. ‘Sorry, sweetie, but that’s my agent over there beckoning. Looks like I need to press the flesh. No rest for the wicked…’ He waved at Rich, blew her a kiss, and carried on making a tour of the room. Needless to say, there wasn’t even a hint of a wrinkle on his face.
Chapter 3
Their flight landed at Turin airport in the early afternoon and Emma was glad to get out into the fresh air. They had flown from LA to Munich earlier in the day and had had to wait there for a couple of hours before getting their connecting flight. Although the transatlantic part of the journey had been in business class with a lie-flat bed, Emma hadn’t been able to sleep much and was looking forward to an early night.
First things first, however, she pulled out her phone and called Elliot. He was the executive Dexter had found to take over her work at JMGP and she had spent twelve hours a day with him every day over the past week, doing her best to ensure he was going to be able to take her place – as much for her sake as for his. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him to do a good job, but it would be her reputation on the line if things went pear-shaped, and after the years of toil, sacrifice and burnt midnight oil it had taken for her to claw her way up to her current position in the company, she wasn’t going to see that thrown away by somebody else. Still, grudgingly, she had started to come round to thinking that he might be all right, but she was determined to keep a close eye on him, even from six thousand miles away.
‘Emma, hi. You’ve arrived?’
‘Hi, Elliot, what’s new?’
He reeled off the latest developments and she felt reasonably reassured. For now, at least, things appeared to be running smoothly but with shooting starting on Monday, she knew the real acid test still awaited. She threw him a few queries about thoughts that had occurred to her in the plane and his answers were what she wanted to hear. As she wished him luck and ended the call, her fingers were firmly crossed.
The hazy June sunshine was not dissimilar to Los Angeles and she was looking forward to the warmth after the air-conditioned interior of the aircraft. Unlike LAX, passport control here in Turin took barely a few minutes and they were soon reunited with their bags. Richard piled them onto a trolley and they made their way out into the terminal building where they found their guide waiting for them. To Emma’s surprise, this turned out to be a woman, and a fairly young one at that, certainly a few years younger than her. Emma hoped Dexter had got it right. They needed somebody really good.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she gave herself a mental telling-off. Just because this woman was younger than she was didn’t make her any less likely to be good at her job than if she had been middle-aged.
As she saw them, the young woman waved the sign marked JMGP and hurried towards them.
‘Good afternoon and welcome to Italy. I’m Marina and I’m going to be your guide. Can I give you a hand with your luggage?’ She had a noticeable Italian accent, but her English was very fluent and Emma gave a surreptitious sigh of relief.
Seeing as Marina barely came up to Emma’s shoulder it was debatable how much help she would be able to provide when dealing with the two hefty suitcases, but it was nice of her to ask. Emma shook her head and went over to her while Richard pushed the trolley along behind her.
‘Hello, Marina, it’s good to meet you. I’m Emma and this is Richard.’
They all shook hands and Emma was quick to find out what Marina had in store for them. The reply sounded reassuringly organised.
‘I was told you’re on the lookout for beautiful, romantic places that are a bit out of the ordinary and you want to start in the Alps somewhere. That’s right, isn’t it?’ Emma nodded. ‘Well, tonight we’re booked into a comfortable hotel right in the centre of Turin and there’s nothing planned. I’m assuming you’d both like a rest after your flight. But tomorrow we start work if that suits you.’
Emma nodded again. ‘I’d certainly like an early night. What about you, Rich? A quiet night in or are you thinking of hitting the bright lights of the city?’
‘Something to eat and then I think I’ll head for my room.’ He gave her a little smile. ‘I’ve been reading the screenplay on the plane and I really want to finish it.’
Emma was glad to see him smile and glad he was reading it, but slightly disappointed that it had taken him over two weeks to do so. After all, this was her job on the line here, not to mention the bottom line of his father’s company’s balance sheet. She was more than ready to show Rich the ropes as his father had instructed, but she had hoped he would show a bit more enthusiasm. Still, she told herself, they were both jet-lagged and, the main thing was that he was reading it.
‘Are you enjoying it?’
‘Yes, I am, more than I thought I would. I haven’t really been in a romantic mood for a good long while, but I’ve really got into the story now and I want to find out how it ends.’ He glanced across at Marina. ‘Have you read it?’
As she shook her head, Emma explained. ‘It’s for our eyes only for now. Sorry, Marina, but the precise details are very hush hush.’
‘That’s all right. My boss already explained that to me. I know it’s set just over a hundred years ago, but that’s about all. You just tell me what you feel I need to know. Now, if you’d like to follow me, I’ve got the car outside.’
The car park was only a short distance from the terminal and the late afternoon air temperature was high, but not unpleasant. The sky was cloudless and they could clearly see the semicircle of the Alps curling away to the horizon on both sides of them. Although it was June, the tops of the mountains were still covered in snow that sparkled in the sunlight. She took a deep breath and felt a burst of excitement flood through her. Here she was, back in Italy after so many years and the memories came flooding back. The last time she had been over here, she had been right at the start of her career, filled with hopes for the future, but even she couldn’t have imagined back then that she would find herself here; now in charge of a team scouting for locations that could make or break a multi-million dollar project. There was a lot riding on this, but it gave her a terrific feeling of responsibility and she felt a shiver of pride. All those long hours at work after everybody else had gone home, all those missed parties, refused invitations and cancelled dates were paying off. Her eyes flicked up to the snowy peaks. Yes, the sky was the limit.