Chapter Thirty
James
Descending the illustrious carved staircase in the Livingston mansion, James blew out a nervous breath and smoothed his lapels.
Once he reached the bottom, he rounded the corner and bounded down the hallway to head for Cassian’s study, pausing to check one of the longcase clocks on the way.
Any minute now, Maggie would arrive. James had opted not to meet her at the pier since seeing large bodies of water still made him nervous from time to time.
He’d have hated for their first in-person interaction in months to be sullied by one of his shaking fits.
So, he and Cassian had suggested that Mr. Quinn take Cassian’s Rolls-Royce to fetch her.
But the fact that James had remained back at Cassian’s house meant that he’d had a whole heap of extra time to fret over everything and anything having to do with Maggie’s move to the States.
He’d made what would soon be her bed twice now, changing the sheets from a plain pattern to a pretty floral one and then back to a solid color.
He’d bathed, completed a couple of chores, and then bathed again.
And, last but not least, he’d spent a full half hour fixing his hair.
At least he hadn’t needed to choose his outfit for the occasion.
Cassian had picked it out in the morning, as he always did.
And James liked it that way.
Now, though, James had to make sure that Cassian was ready for Maggie’s arrival too. He wanted their first meeting to be absolutely perfect.
“Are you ready?” James asked as he entered Cassian’s study.
Cassian was seated at his desk, scribbling something in a notebook. He looked up at James with a slightly befuddled expression.
“Ready for what?” he asked.
“Maggie will be here any minute!” James said.
“Oh. Right.” He shrugged and resumed writing. “Yes, I suppose so.”
“Should we wait out front, maybe? Or in here?” James began to chew on his fingernails. “Do you think I should make tea or something? It’s fairly warm today, though. So, maybe not. Or, well, maybe she’d still want some.”
Cassian chuckled. “If she happens to want some, then you can make some for her once she’s here.”
“I feel like you should be more nervous. You’re meeting her for the first time.”
“Yes, and I’ve paid for her relocation from Europe, so if she possesses even a modicum of sense, then she will like me.”
James started to pace around the area rug in a little circle. Once. Twice. Three times. He stopped and eyed Cassian with suspicion.
“What are you writing?” he asked, moving closer to him.
Abruptly, Cassian slammed his notebook shut.
“Just a letter confirming everything for the move in a couple of weeks. Also, a list of obligations I have before mine and Ethel’s wedding next month.”
“Can I read it?”
Cassian let out a hum-laugh as he stood and then walked over to James.
“It’s not for you to worry about, my lovely steward,” he said, cupping James’s cheek.
Shutting his eyes, James let out a contented sigh and basked in Cassian’s touch. Cassian was the most physically affectionate person James had ever met in his life. Cassian was always caressing him. Or kissing him. Or . . . showing his love in other, even more intimate ways.
And James loved every second of it.
James fluttered his eyes open as Cassian pressed a kiss to his lips. Then, Cassian’s hands found James’s bow tie, and a pleased smile crept across his face.
“You look so handsome in this,” he said, pinching the fabric.
Despite the fact that Cassian was likely complimenting his own choice of bow tie, rather than only how James looked in it, James’s stomach still swooped and his cheeks flushed.
“Thank you, Cassian,” he replied.
Just then, a knock on the front door echoed through the hallways. James sucked in a breath.
“Good God, Maggie is finally here.”
“Let’s go see her, then,” Cassian said, smirking.
Together, James and Cassian walked through the too-enormous house to the front entrance. Right when they reached the reception room, John Quinn opened the door. The man had only knocked earlier to signal their arrival. Before James could react, Maggie bolted past John and barreled into him.
“Oh, mercy, it’s really you,” Maggie said as she pulled him in for a bone-crushing hug.
James squeezed her back. “It is.” He buried his face in her hair, which was piled high on atop her head. “You made it, Mags. I’m so relieved. I missed you so much.”
“No one can be more relieved than I am right now. Ever since April, I’ve been practically aching to see you. I needed to prove to myself that you were all right.”
“But I promised you as much in my letters.”
“Even so.”
They hugged for a little while more. Once they finally parted, Maggie let out a forceful breath and looked over at Cassian.
“All right, James, is this the handsome, heroic man who has stolen your heart?” she asked.
“Yes, it is,” James said warmly. “Maggie, this is Mr. Cassian Penn Livingston. Cassian, this is Miss Margaret Byrne.”
“Handsome and heroic, she says?” Cassian remarked. “I like her already.”
“His words, not mine,” Maggie clarified, sticking out her hand for Cassian to shake.
Cassian crooked an eyebrow, and James realized that he was probably feeling a bit baffled by her forwardness.
Ultimately, though, he moved to take Maggie’s hand.
Just before Cassian grasped it, however, Maggie spluttered something like “Oh, to hell with it” and lunged forward, wrapping Cassian up in a hug instead.
Cassian’s eyebrows shot up, and he froze for a second before he finally hugged her back.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Cassian. I promise I’ll be as formal as you want me to be once I start officially working for you, but first, I needed to thank you properly for looking after our James,” she said, pulling back from their hug. “On that enormous ship and ever since.”
Huffing a light laugh, Cassian nodded once. “You’re welcome.”
“Thank you for paying for me to come over here as well. And for handling the paperwork. James said that it’d be even easier coming here to work for you than it would have been had I wanted to come on my own. And I think he must have been right, considering how short the screening process seemed.”
“Anything for James,” Cassian said with a falsely modest shrug.
“Ah, see, I like him already, too, then,” Maggie said to James.
James beamed at both of them. Thank God everything was going well.
“Excuse me, Mr. Livingston,” John Quinn said, holding up a couple of Maggie’s bags. “Where should I put these?”
“Upstairs. Fourth bedroom on the left,” Cassian instructed.
John hurried off.
“Fourth bedroom,” Maggie repeated, seemingly impressed. “Out of how many?”
“Nine,” Cassian replied.
“Nine bedrooms. And you’ve been on your own here, managing the whole house by your lonesome?”
“John and I have been working together,” James said. “I like the challenge of it. Which isn’t to say that I’m not behind on plenty of chores here. But I know that of this is temporary. Cassian said that the other house won’t be nearly as big.”
“James has been a treasure,” Cassian confirmed. “And I’m perfectly fine with how he’s been running things for the summer, especially since this arrangement was the best thing that I could come up with to ensure us some privacy.”
“And I’m really only as behind as I am because Cassian bothers me constantly,” James remarked in a playful tone.
Cassian leveled a look, and James held up his hands in mock innocence while Maggie laughed.
“Alright, Mr. Household Steward, may I have some tea, please?”
“Of course, Mags,” James said, hooking his hands behind his back. “I’ll make some for the both of us.”
“Coffee for me, James,” Cassian said.
“Cream, no sugar,” James confirmed with a nod. “I know.”
Cassian threw him a wink.
James turned to leave. Walking down the hall, James listened to Cassian and Maggie becoming engaged in conversation as they soon followed.
When James reached the kitchen, the melodic sound of Maggie’s laughter caused a wonderful warmth to bubble in his chest, the feeling spreading as Cassian began to laugh, too.
Pausing in front of the kitchen, James looked over his shoulder to see Cassian and Maggie heading into one of the sitting rooms, and he caught Cassian’s eye. He was about to turn back around when Cassian encouraged Maggie into the room and then seemed to excuse himself. He started over.
Curious as to what he wanted, James faced him more squarely and smiled a confused smile.
“Do you need something else?” James asked when Cassian reached him.
Without a word, Cassian pulled him in for a fierce kiss. James chuckled as their lips moved together, and then Cassian cupped the front of James’s trousers with one of his hands, causing him to break away.
“Cassian!”
“You, sweet James, will have to be punished for that little remark you made earlier about me bothering you,” Cassian purred.
“You’re lucky that I’m not yet so comfortable around your friend—who seems to be every bit as wonderful as you said she was, by the way—as to make her wait while I take you in one of this house’s many bedrooms.”
Arousal coursed through James’s veins, and his stomach fluttered.
“Later, though?” he asked, a hopeful, pleading lilt in his voice.
“Later,” Cassian confirmed.
Cassian caught James’s mouth in one more bruising kiss and then moved to leave. Just before walking away, he snapped his fingers and whirled back around.
“Bring some of those little wafers, too, with the coffee and tea.”
“Not a problem.”
Cassian left for the sitting room. Smiling to himself, James headed into the kitchen, happy to care for the people he loved.
***
In the middle of the night, James bolted upright in a panic. Beads of sweat were peppered across his skin, and he let out a shaky breath as the faint echoes of screams faded into the recesses of his mind. Beside him, Cassian stretched and sat up too.
Groaning, James hung his head.