Excellent. The disguise was working.

On board the plane, ensconced in his hideously uncomfortable economy-class seat, Ben thought back over the events of the past few days. The studio spies had told him that, yes, there was a woman who not only fitted Natalia’s description, but also called herself Natalia, on Bottle Beach. Yes! He had called Poppy to tell her the exciting news and thank her, and she had been thrilled that she’d been right. She had sounded fairly subdued though, and when Ben had asked her why, she’d told him about Damian’s melodramatic departure.

‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do once you find him, Pops,’ he’d said, feeling awful that he had been partly to blame. He had no doubts at all that she would find him, just as he had no doubts at all that he’d find Natalia. It struck him as quite funny that while Poppy was heading out west across the States in search of Damian, he was heading even further west in search of Natalia (though it did seem strange to be flying west to get to the Far East).

Ben was incredibly excited that he’d be seeing Natalia in less than twenty-four hours. He had been dreaming about her, night after night, her beautiful long back, her beautiful long legs, the way she looked at him when she said, ‘I love you, Mr Movie Star.’ But it was her shy smile, which revealed the little gap in her teeth, that stayed in his head always, even when he was awake.

‘Sir?’ The air stewardess, a pretty Malaysian girl, was looking at him curiously. ‘Would you like a drink?’

Ben remembered to stay in character.

‘U-huh. Beer would be cool,’ he drawled, as though every single word were a massive effort. The girl was looking at him more intently now and Ben started to wonder if he might be overacting a tad.

‘Do I know you from somewhere?’ she asked.

Shit. He decided to take a chance.

‘Maybe we met in a previous life, my little lotus flower.’ He put both his hands on both her arms, and stared up at her through his aviator shades.

It did the trick.

‘Oh, no, I think probably not, sir. Here is your beer.’ And she moved onto the next passenger as swiftly as she could.

Ben downed his tiny beer in one, then pushed his chair back, smiling to himself. He was too excited to sleep, so again he ran over his plan of action. From Bangkok he had to take an internal flight to the island of Koh Samui, and from Koh Samui a boat to Koh Phangan. From the main village, Haad Rin, he then needed to take yet another boat to Bottle Beach, where he planned to sweep Natalia off her feet. The idea of the romantic reunion was thrilling. She would be so overjoyed to see him that she would agree to everything he said – of course it made sense to go to the police about being blackmailed. Then they would swim naked and make love under the stars, and everything would be perfect again. He couldn’t wait.