‘What the fuck is that old bitch doing behind that tree?’ She pointed in Natalia’s direction, but Natalia had thrown herself to the ground, commando-style, covering herself in sand for camouflage purposes.

The entire crew looked over, Ben’s fists clenched as though he wanted to hit Amy, but all they could see were several coconut palms, swaying in the light breeze.

‘Hey, hey, babes, calm down.’ Guru Mogadishu sauntered over and put an arm around her uptight little shoulders, reminding himself that anything was better than Basingstoke, where he’d grown up, and he’d be back with his boyfriend in LA soon enough. ‘Karma, gorgeous. Beautiful trees, huh?’

Amy looked at him and gave a snort of derision.

‘Fucking trees. Seen one palm tree, seen ’em all.’ And she stalked back off to her beachside trailer, her little bottom in its frilly red-and-white polka-dot bikini quivering with rage.

Once he was sure that the rest of the crew was concentrating on the last take, on the massive digital video screens, and not taking any notice of him, Ben gave Eloise a brief hug that left her breathless with longing and sauntered over to the trees behind which he knew Natalia had been hiding.

‘Nat? Darling, where are you?’

‘Here,’ she whispered, waving a slender foot at him from behind a beach hut. Following the trail in the sand, he saw that she had slithered at least twenty feet, snake-like, on her belly, until she was sure she could sit upright without drawing attention to herself.

Now she was absolutely covered in sand, trying to shake it out of her nose, mouth and long blonde hair. Her eyes were still shut, her shades and hat clutched in her hands.

‘Oh, sweetheart.’ Ben laughed. ‘Look at you!’

‘Pffffft.’ She spat sand out of her mouth and started moving her hands towards her eyes.

‘No, careful of your eyes. Wait till I’ve got the worst off, then you can open them.’ Ben started brushing the fine granules down her cheeks with extreme tenderness.

‘It’s OK, I am not made of porcelain!’ Natalia laughed. ‘But I thank you, sweetie. That is better.’ She opened her eyes, which drank him in unashamedly, just as they always did now when alighting on his face. ‘Have you finished for today?’

‘Pretty much. Actually, nearly finished full stop. All of my scenes with Jack Meadows are going to be filmed back in LA, on set. Can’t say I’m sorry, really. I’ll be glad to see the back of the insufferable Ms Lascelles.’

‘Yes, I can understand that. Does that mean you will be going soon?’

‘Don’t sound so sad, Nat. I can stay another couple of weeks, I’m sure, and then – well, surely you can come back to LA for a bit?’ Ben was still on Cloud Nine, full of that bouncy optimism where everything seems possible.

‘Yes, I could do that.’ Natalia smiled. They hadn’t discussed what might happen once filming finished, neither of them wanting to burst their beautiful bubble.