Making Jane Proud

Chapter 4 - Butter Chicken & Lust

Ellie was only listening with one ear to what the tour guide was saying because Tom was busy talking into the other, adding little snippets of interesting information about the stage craft or costume pieces and pointing out small items only seconds before the guide did. She loved hearing about how they produced special effects in the 17th century and also being up in the top balcony looking down over the stage, imagining the actors moving about engaged in a fierce battle scene or climbing a tower to woo a lady.

Whenever she could she snuck secretive glances at Tom and was fascinated by the rapture - she couldn't think of any other way to describe it - on his face; he completely loved this brief immersion into Shakespeare's time. It was totally adorable.

After leaving the theatre they set off down the walking path towards Westminster Bridge and Ellie was surprised that Tom replied in the negative when she asked him if he worked as a guide at the Globe himself.

"You'd be perfect for the job, Tom, you knew more than our guide did."

He looked embarrassed. "Oh um, I just love Shakespeare. I guess I've picked up a bit of information over the years." A hand ran through his blonde curls, making them stand up in tousled abandon. Ellie bit her lip and concentrated on looking straight ahead for a while, startled at the affect the simple gesture was having on her. "Actually I ... I've acted in quite a few of Shakespeare's plays at university and at RADA. That's what I do, I'm an actor."

"Oh! Well, that makes sense. Knowing so much about Shakespeare, I mean." She gave him a smile. "Are you working in anything at the moment?"

"Um, well, I did a couple of TV series last year and a TV movie documentary."

"Really? You're on TV? In what? Will I have seen it? Actually, I have to admit, I don't watch much TV at all, but I might have heard of it."

"Wallander. It's a detective mystery."

She frowned, thinking. "Is that the one in the little villages where heaps of people get murdered every episode?"

"No, that's Midsomer Murders I think. Wallander is set in Sweden. Kenneth Branagh plays the lead."

"Oh, I have heard about that one. What part do you play?"

"I play Magnus Martinsson, one of his team."

She stopped, thinking about why that name struck a chord, then blushed furiously as a tide of embarrassment swept over her. She remembered her colleagues Penny and Cath talking about a character called Magnus - more specifically, talking about what they thought of the actor and his physical charms and what they would like to do with him ...

Noticing that Tom had stopped too and was looking at her in a puzzled fashion, she struggled to think of something to say to cover the redness in her cheeks. "Sorry I ... I haven't seen it."

He smiled winningly. "That's alright, it doesn't matter in the slightest." He threaded her arm through his and set them off walking again. "Will it get me in trouble again if I ask what you do?"

Ellie laughed and shook her head, grinning at him. "No, I think you're safe now." He grinned back and she continued. "I'm a primary school teacher, eight and nine year olds mostly. Actually, my whole family are teachers - my dad's a headmaster and my mum, my brother and two sisters are all teachers."

"Wow! That's ... pretty intense."

"It is rather." She laughed again. "Does anyone else in your family act?"

"My younger sister. And my mum used to be a stage manager, so there's a theatre connection there. Seems we both have a family business."

"'Whatya gonna do? Nice college boy, eh? Don't wanna get mixed up in the family business?'" The line popped out of her mouth before she even had a chance to think about it; Tom stopped walking abruptly and stared at her, a look of surprise on his face.