Chapter 10 #2
I rang Howard Marks, my head trustee, the next morning.
Richard’s anger stemmed from his fear for me. I knew that. He’d lost his brother and sister-in-law in the crash and had to step in to manage two traumatised children, so I understood. Yet, I still requested the board’s approval to let me live and learn with the McRaes.
My uncle claimed that I’d betrayed him. It hit hard.
My dream shifted to my wedding day.
The bride raised her veil, and a stranger looked back. I baulked, horrified, as how could I say yes? How?
My uncle took my arm. “Don’t argue. Agree and be silent.”
“James,” the woman in white said. Beth’s voice came from her mouth. “It’s me.”
Gentle hands shook me. “Wake up. It’s me. You’re dreaming. Oh, you’re burning up again. I think your fever’s back.”
I dragged in a breath and bolted up, panicked. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Beth held my face in her hands, stilling me. “You were groaning. You said ‘no’ over and over. Then something about trust. Or trusting someone.”
My gaze took in the corners of the room. White plaster walls, stone outlines around the doors. The pillars of my bed. No wedding. No bride. No Richard.
Beth brought my attention back to her. “It was just a dream. You’re safe.”
“I need to get hold of those papers. I’m the earl, they can’t refuse me. There has to be a way around it.”
“Aw, baby. You’re still dreaming,” she said and swung her bare legs from the bed. She wobbled as she stood, her hands clutching her stomach. “More painkillers, I think. That’ll drive the illness away.” Then her hand shot to her mouth. “Drive! Car! The test drives this morning! We forgot.”
I waved dismissively, hauling my shirt over my head. I knew she’d want me to cool down. I didn’t care about my scars now. Didn’t care about anything, other than talking to Beth. “I booked that in my real name. We’ll just rearrange it. They were jumping at the chance.”
Beth squinted adorably, like a cute animal. “Your real name?”
“The Earl Fitzroy. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“That’s twice you’ve said the earl thing. Are you joking?”
“No.”
She might have paused, but time was moving strangely.
“What does that even mean?”
“Right! So much.” Eager words fell from my mouth. I knew it was the fever permitting me to speak so freely, but at last I could share the whole set of facts. Beth cared, she liked me. Though not as much as I worshipped her. I grinned and took her hips, lifting her onto me.
“The earldom I’ve had since I was eleven. But what’s awkward is the trustee board who take care of Belvedere. It’s not legally mine for another couple of months. Probably a good thing, as I wouldn’t have had a clue how to run it. How old are you by the way?”
“Almost twenty-two,” she answered faintly. “How old are you?”
“Twenty. Twenty-one in a few weeks,” I rattled on.
“The house is mostly closed down, but the housekeepers, Mrs and Mr Hinchcliffe, are the best. They manage the gardeners and open the long gallery and the Elizabethan drawing room every other weekend. If they didn’t, we’d have to pay so much tax.
Richard despises the government for that.
He thinks our ancient name should be enough to protect us from taxes. ”
“Who’s Richard?” Beth’s voice sounded strained.
I loosened my hug.
“Richard’s my uncle and also my steward. He hates the McRaes. Richard cared for me, but I don’t think he knows all that much about what I’ll be facing after my birthday.”
“What you’ll be facing?”
“When I inherit. When I finally take control.”
Silence met my ears.
I dropped back onto the pillows, smiling at the canopy overhead. Beth had to come to Derbyshire, to Belvedere. I could show her all the places I treasured when we’d been a family of four. The lake we swam in, the waterfall steps.
Places I hadn’t been, since…
Hey! The summerhouse had a day bed and a hammock. We could lie there together in the sun.
“It’s so pretty,” I said, out loud. “We’ll picnic there. You’ll fall in love, I swear.”
“Wait. James. Is all this true?”
“Is what true?”
Her face appeared above mine. Under her pale, pale skin, pink flooded her cheeks. “That you have a title and a…a whatever Belvedere is—a house? Like you’re some secret prince?”
“All true, but I’m not a prince. We are related to the current monarchs, though. Ella always thought that was embarrassing, and she hates her title. You have to meet my sister. She’ll love you. I never know what to say to her, it all being my fault.”
Beth dropped back on the bed with a long groan.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. What did I do wrong? Panic took over. I dived forwards, straddling her. “I’m sorry. Come back. Don’t hate me. Too many people hate me.”
“Who could hate you, James?”
She pushed my chest and rolled me over, sitting on top of me now. Directly on my groin. Not that I could get an erection now if I tried.
“You’re gentle and beautiful, a fucking earl, for fuck’s sake.”
I loved it when she swore. “I’m not, I’m selfish but I’m learning.
Please, tell me everything there is to know about you.
Everything. About your foster mother. What’s she like?
Did she teach you how to be so kind? Richard might seem harsh when you meet him, but it’s the only way he knew to handle me. I was a difficult child.”
She muttered something. It sounded like ‘conditioning’, then she leapt off the bed, and my world spun. I’d told her everything. Aside from one fact. My ace card to drive her away.
Can’t mention that.
My manic outbursts repeated in a loop. It upset her, the title. Why?
Why, why, why?
Christ, had these sheets always been so rough? So freezing? Needed her.
Then a warm hand lifted my head and fed me tablets with a sip of water.
“More sleep, fewer mind-blowing revelations,” Beth’s voice said.
My eyes had closed of their own accord, but I knew she was still there.
“I killed my parents,” I said, remembering the thing I wasn’t suppose to say. “Too much chatter. I distracted Dad in the car. My fault, all of it. Agree and be silent is what Richard’s told me since, but if only I’d known that then.”
Then everything went black.