He smiled at her as we swept en masse into the drawing room.
‘Oh, no, I’m just an admirer of your work,’ she said, and something about the fervour of her tone made me exchange eyerolls with Rosie. ‘Oh, lord, so many beautiful things!’
‘If you want to know about any of them in particular, ask Sarah. She’s the resident expert.’
‘I will.’ She crossed to the area by the fireplace. ‘This reminds me of the fireside scenes in the script,’ she said. ‘Are we going
to film here?’
‘No,’ said Jasper. ‘I have another house in mind for the location. But it’s not unlike this room, I suppose.’
She went and pulled a buttoned leather footstool out in front of the crackling fire and knelt in front of it, then she actually bent over it.
All of us were agog at how casually she made this move. I had several memories of this very footstool, which made my cheeks suffuse with sudden heat.
‘This is in the script, isn’t it?’ she said, looking sideways at Jasper with a cheeky smile. ‘I’m sure there’s a scene where the girl bends over a footstool just like this one.’
‘There is,’ said Jasper. ‘You must have been burning the midnight oil. Those scripts could only have been sent out a couple of days ago.’
‘Oh, I had to go through it the moment I got it. I mean, I know I don’t have any lines to learn, but I want to make sure I know what I’m in for.’
‘Yes,’ said Jasper, smiling wickedly. ‘No lines … to learn.’
He was thinking of the caning scene. That was the scene with the footstool. How bizarre it would be to watch Trix taking the caning in my place, pretending that her bottom belonged to me. I would have to act the anguish bit, not that that would be difficult. Even looking at Trix in that position was making me suck in a breath and stretch my facial muscles.
Jasper continued, ‘Dimitri has the easy part to play. He just has to look as if he’s having sex. You have to take some pain, I’m afraid. But I know you’re very good at that.’
Trix got back to her feet, grinning at us all.
‘I’m famous for it.’
‘Would you like to see your bedrooms?’
‘Please.’
Dimitri and Rosie were next door to us, while Trix would occupy a room further along the corridor with a view out to the rear of the house.
Jasper and I left them to unpack and sort themselves out, with promises that lunch would be on the table for one o’clock.
The Ocado man appeared in the nick of time, full of apologies and tales of icy roads on the higher ground.
Jasper and I set to preparing a meal together in the kitchen.
‘What do you think?’ I asked, working on a big winter salad. ‘Are they what you expected?’
‘I’ve met Trix before, so yes, she was.’
‘Oh, right. You know her from that club?’
‘That’s right.’
He didn’t seem to want to elaborate. I thought they’d probably done something of a kinky sexual nature together, but it didn’t bother me. I knew that anything between them would stay in the past, where it belonged.
‘Dimitri’s quite a character, isn’t he?’
Jasper laughed as he scored the skin of a chicken breast.
‘Yes, I was warned. Great guy, though. I think he’ll be an asset to the project. Maybe I’ll use him for something else sometime. Has he been with your friend long?’