Chapter 24
I turn around in front of the mirror, watching as the emerald silk shines under the overhead lights. The dress hugs my body like a second skin down to my lower thighs, where it flares out in a subtle mermaid skirt. The strapless bodice fits over my breasts surprisingly well and cinches at the waist like only an amazingly designed corset could.
I’ve never worn anything this intricate. Never attended such a lavish event. Nate hadn’t been able to come with me to pick out the outfit, and I worried over whether I made the right decision or not, that is until the attendant told me in no uncertain terms that this was the one. It looks like a grown-up version of a fairytale dress.
Using his credit card that he gave me had been another thing to fret about.
But he had made the argument, and made it well, that it was only right for him to take care of the expenses. He invited me to this event because he didn’t want to go alone. You’re doing me a favor, he’d said.
So here I am, an hour before the premiere, standing in the bedroom that’s become my own. Strapped into a dress that cost a small fortune, with my makeup done and my hair in a sleek ponytail down my bare back. I straightened the curls out for the occasion.
I look at the mirror. “A movie premiere,” I say quietly and run my hands down my sides. Over the sleek fabric. “I can’t believe this is my life.”
“Talking to yourself, Harp?”
I glance over my shoulder. Nate is leaning against the doorframe to my bedroom, wearing a tux again. He looks good.
He always looks good in a tux, but now…
Seeing him makes me feel warm inside. I can’t look away from the snug fit at his shoulders and how he seems to be even taller in that garb.
“You’re admiring me,” he says, and his own eyes drop over my body in a slow sweep that makes my cheeks blush.
My throat feels tight. “So are you.”
“Oh,” he says, lips curving up, “I certainly am. And I won’t deny it. You’re gorgeous.”
I perform a tiny twirl. “Good choice of dress?”
“Fantastic. I’m just sad I couldn’t be there to watch you try the rest of them on.”
“Mm-hmm. Maybe it’s good that you weren’t,” I say. “This wasn’t exactly cheap.”
He snorts, like that doesn’t dignify a response, and comes closer. That’s when I realize he’s holding a navy box under his arm. “I have something else for you.”
“You do?”
“Yes. An accessory.” He holds up the box and unfastens the lock. Opens the lid facing in my direction…
My breath seizes inside my lungs.
“Nate,” I whisper. Nestled on pearlescent velvet is a diamond necklace. The gems glitter in the light. Dangling off the brilliant stand are several pendants. At the center of each is an emerald, but it’s surrounded by a small row of diamonds that enhance the deep green sparkle.
It’s the kind of necklace classic movie stars would wear. Millionaire heiresses. Royalty.
“I called the store attendant after you left,” Nate says. “She mentioned you chose a green dress. So I picked out a matching necklace.”
I reach out a tentative finger and run it over the stunning display. “You got it on loan?”
“It’s not a loan. Turn around, Harp.”
I do, and catch the sight of us in the mirror. Him in his tux, standing behind me. Me in my green silk dress.
Nate brushes my hair to the side, baring my back, and places the necklace around my neck. It’s heavy and cold, and the green perfectly compliments my strapless gown.
I feel his fingers against my nape as he closes the clasp.
“Nate,” I say again. “I’ve never worn anything this beautiful.”
He runs a hand over my ponytail, pulling the strands back into position. His fingers wrap around the mass. “I’ve never seen your hair straight before,” he murmurs.
I try to meet his gaze in the mirror. But he’s not looking at me. His eyes are fixed on the ponytail in his hand. “I don’t straighten it often. It’s so much work.”
“I can imagine,” he says hoarsely. “Your curls are all gone. They’re beautiful.”
I chuckle weakly. “They’ll be back. A shower or some inconvenient rain is all it takes.”
“Mm-hmm.” He clears his throat and lets the tresses fall. “Let’s go, if you’re ready.”
“I am.”
I keep touching the necklace the entire way down the stairs and out to the car he’d hired for the night. I don’t want to ask how many carats it is. I don’t want to know how much this is worth. It’s just a loan, and it’s just for tonight. No, I just want to live in this moment, as fully as I can, so I can continue to relive it later when it’s over.
Nate opens the car door for me. “Not driving yourself tonight?” I ask.
He looks rueful. “No. I contemplated it, but… I do want to have a drink. Or two.”
“Good,” I say. “You’re fun when you drink.”
His eyes linger on mine, and the awareness sparks there at the same time I realize what happened the last time he’d been drinking. When I had, too.
Us, making out in the dark hallway of the house at our backs.
We haven’t kissed since then. We’d done… other things… while stranded at the inn, and then in the luxurious heat of his bathroom.
But we haven’t kissed.
“Get in the car,” he nearly growls.
My lips tug into a smile. “Yes, sir.”
We ride in silence to Leicester Square and the movie theater—the cinema—that’s hosting the premiere. I glance at Nate out of the corner of my eye. I’ve seen him dressed to the nines before. I’ve also had breakfast atop a London skyscraper while he wore a rumpled tux and didn’t give two shits about it. But something about seeing him in one again, now after… after so much has transpired between us, hammers home the point of just who he is. How different our worlds are.
I’d forgotten how imposing he really is. How wealthy. But here I am, wearing a necklace that’s probably worth more than the combined GDP of several small nations, and heading to an event where more than money is needed to get through the door.
Nate’s phone buzzes, and he offers a quiet sorry to me before answering. I listen to the tone of his voice and look out the window at the city as we pass by. He also sounds different with others than when he’s just with me.
“No, not that week. The week after can work. … No, I’m not. … It’s a good idea. … Are you taking the company plane?”
I swallow hard. Company plane. Right. Contron has its own jet. I wonder how much it gets reserved for the Connovans themselves.
My eyes drift back to him. Nate is ten years older than me. That age gap has never been conspicuous between us, but hearing him talk as he is now, seeing him command respect just by entering the gallery where I work, or being able to simply drop two hundred pounds for a tip at the small inn on the weekend…
It highlights those differences between us.
I’m nowhere near where he is in life.
Age is one part of it, but he came from a different background than I did. Just like Dean did. Advantages I never had. Nate also has a clear direction in his life. Confidence, self-assuredness, maturity… in many ways, it feels like he has it all figured out. Like he’s pleased with where he is.
I bet he’s never written a Thirty under Thirty list in an attempt to find himself again.
He hangs up with a soft click. “Sorry about that.”
“No worries. Work?”
“Partly. It’s only early afternoon back in New York.” His eyes rest on mine, and I get the sense that he’s hesitating. “My family is considering coming to London.”
“They are?”
“Yes,” he says. “We’ll see if it happens.”
“That would be fun. Your siblings?”
“Yes, and their partners. My niece and nephew.”
“Aw, they’ll love London, I bet.” But then I frown. “Although, they’ve probably been here before, right?”
“They haven’t, at least not all together,” he says. “With work, my brother flies out alone whenever needed.”
I lean my head back against the seat. “He usually stays in my room, right?”
Nate’s jaw tenses. “Yes. He does.” His eyes shift away, towards the window. “We’re almost there… remind me what this movie is about again?”
I roll my eyes. “You’re the one who invited me!”
“Yes. But it’s a Jane Austen adaptation, and I know you’re the expert.”
“The first big-screen adaptation of Sense and Sensibility that’s been made in almost thirty years,” I say. Excitement, like a current, has flowed through my body all day, and it seeps into my voice. “Do you think we’ll see the actors?”
“I could probably speak to them, if you’d like.”
My eyes widen. “You’re not serious.”
“I am,” he says with a crooked smile. Confident. “They’ll be busy, but there’s no harm in trying.”
“You just go through the world like that, don’t you?” I ask. “With completely unfounded confidence.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t say it’s entirely unfounded.”
A blush rises in my cheeks. It happens in an instant, my mind jumping directly to the way his long fingers had felt, stroking my insides.
His smile turns smug as he reads the thoughts on my face.
“Okay,” I admit. “Maybe not entirely unfounded.”
“Tell me about this movie,” he says. “What’s Sense and Sensibility about?”
“Okay, so Elinor and Marianne are sisters, and they’re living with their mother and younger sibling at a beautiful estate. Their father has just died.”
Nate’s lips twitch. “I see we’re starting at the beginning.”
“It’s important,” I say. But then, the car pulls to a red light just a block from Leicester Square, and all it takes is a single glance out at the crowds of people and the erected metal barricades on the sidewalks to derail my thoughts. Is that a…
“Nate,” I say. “We won’t be walking a red carpet or anything, will we?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the main entryway, yeah,” he says. “But the paparazzi and throng of fans will be focused on spotting the celebs who show up. They won’t care about us.”
My chest tightens. “You think we’ll have to walk the red carpet?”
“We might,” he says, eyebrows drawn low. “Don’t worry, Harp. It’ll be okay.”
“I didn’t realize we’d be like… that close to the celebrities.”
“They’re just people.” He puts a hand out on the middle seat between us, and I take it without thinking. His palm is warm as his fingers close over mine. “It’ll be an adventure.”
I nod. That’s true. And that’s what I want. The excitement isn’t gone, it’s just tinged with nerves and a hint of performance anxiety.
They’re going to photograph us?
“Keep telling me about Sense and Sensibility,” he says. His thumb moves in a slow circle around the back of my hand. “Tell me what happens. The father just died…”
I explain it to him as best I can. Linger on the four main players, leaving out as much about Willoughby as I can. I tell him about Marianne and the patient love of Colonel Brandon.
“My favorite is Edward and Elinor, though. I love how tormented he is, how he clearly wants her,” I say. “But he can’t be with her, and you can see how it eats at them both up until the very end.”
Nate’s forehead is furrowed. “And why can’t he be with her? That makes no sense to me.”
“Because he’s already engaged to a woman he met years prior, but it’s a secret.”
“That’s idiotic,” Nate says. His deep voice is matter-of-fact. “If he truly loves Elinor, he would break that off.”
“Yes, but that would mean forfeiting his honor. He’d given his word!”
“Then, he should at least tell her how he feels, so she isn’t misled.”
“But that would also ruin his honor. Don’t you see? He can’t confess his feelings, knowing there is no point in encouraging her to return them, because he can’t offer marriage. That wouldn’t be honorable, either.”
Nate’s brow is furrowed. “I don’t like that.”
“It does seem a bit old-fashioned,” I say.
He shakes his head. “Doesn’t seem old-fashioned to me. But I still don’t like it.”
“Don’t worry,” I say teasingly and tighten my fingers around his. “There’s a happy ending.”
“Well, thank God for that,” he says bitterly. “We can’t have fictional people suffering.”
He looks ahead at the sprinter van in front of us. A pair of glamorously dressed women are getting out of it, and my heart rate skyrockets. It’s our turn next. Our driver has already had to lower his window and give our names and invitation to security.
Something warm touches my skin, and I turn to see Nate kissing the back of my hand. His eyes are on mine. “We’re making memories tonight,” he tells me. “Have fun, Harp. Enjoy this moment.”
I swallow my fears and focus on the excitement instead. He’s right. This is a night I will remember forever. A night I can’t wait to tell my mom about. I know she’s been planning to take some of her students to see this adaptation.
“Let’s kill it,” I say.
His lips break into a wide smile. “That’s my girl.”
My heart skips at his words and the emotion in his eyes. But then, my car door opens, and I’m waved out onto a deep red carpet and to the surrounding commotion.
Nate is at my side a second later and offers me his arm. We walk on the red carpet together and into the dazzling sea of celebrities, photographers, and elegantly dressed as if we do this every night.