Chapter 15 The Ride #2
“I am quite certain, even if Christian’s seen me walking to the studio, he has zero interest in me.”
“And you can be quite certain of that because…?”
I walked right into that one.
“Just…a girl knows.”
“Mm.”
That was a very dubious hum.
He had reason to be dubious.
And I had reason to keep him thus.
“If I ask nicely, will you let it go?” I requested.
“Is that you asking nicely?”
“Yes.”
“Then, yes.”
I was relieved.
“For now,” he finished.
I stopped being relieved.
But, for now, I’d take what I could get.
We drove in silence for a few minutes before he said, “You dropped quite the bomb about the butler’s ledgers before you hung up on me Wednesday.”
“I didn’t hang up on you. We were done talking.”
“Did you say goodbye?”
I did not.
Mostly because I’d hung up on him.
I decided not to answer.
He let it go and asked, “You think two footmen were bribed?”
“They were given three hundred pounds in bonuses. Their annual salaries were forty pounds a year. Adjusted for inflation, those bonuses were ten thousand pounds. I did not peruse it in detail to the point I could memorize it, but I did it carefully, and I saw no other bonuses for any staff in that ledger. It covers years of expenditures. Not a single bonus. Except those. And they were recorded the day after Marie’s entry about something happening at The Downs. ”
“That does seem suspicious.”
“My guess is, they saw what happened and were paid to keep their mouths shut.”
“What’s your course to see if you can find something out?”
“Go to the local newspaper and ask to see their stacks. Maybe something was reported around that time.”
“Are you going to go to the newspaper to ask to see their stacks?”
“I want to, but it might have to wait. You see, I have this overprotective duke who I’ve foolishly given approval over my chapters.
I’m uncertain he wants me speculating or uncovering nefarious dealings that happened at his country seat, recording them in a book, and publishing it for all the world to see. ”
He chuckled.
And then he urged, “Follow your trail, Vivi. It was eighty years ago. Anyone involved is probably dead. We’ll see what you uncover and deal with it if you find something.”
Nope.
I was wrong earlier.
I couldn’t fall for this guy, hard, and for forever.
I was falling for this guy. Hard. And in a way that felt like it could be forever.
And I was that girl.
That girl who thought stuff like this should be out there so both parties knew what they were dealing with.
So I put it out there.
“I really like you, Battle Talyn, Duke of Burleigh.”
Instantly, he held his hand to me again.
I put mine in it.
He then took it, turning it, and he kissed the inside of my wrist.
A lick of heat raced down my arm, smoothed over by the featherweight sense of deep affection.
That was the best response he could give me, but he one-upped it.
“And I very much like you too, Ms. Vivienne Dupree, bestselling novelist.”
He pressed my hand to his chest and then again placed it in my lap.
I let that moment dwell between us with all the warmth and exquisiteness it could give for a few miles.
Then I requested, “Can I ask you something else?”
“You can ask me anything, darling.”
Totally really liked him.
“You’ve mentioned Prue drawing. Tempie has too. But Prue has never mentioned it.”
He was visibly surprised. “She hasn’t?”
“She also didn’t tell me she had cats. When I asked her about it, she shared she thought I’d think having six cats would make me think she was a crazy cat lady.
After what you said about what she endured at school, I understood.
Someone thinking she was weird and not wanting that.
But drawing isn’t weird, so I don’t know what to do with the fact she never told me she does it, and it seems, she’s very good at it. ”
“She isn’t very good at it. She’s exceptional.”
“So I don’t get why she would keep that from me. It seems obvious it’s her thing.”
Battle said nothing, until he muttered, “Bloody hell.”
“What?”
“She draws, yes. She also writes.”
Oh my God.
Another thing Prue never told me.
“She writes?”
“Both. She produces graphic novels.”
Holy crap.
“Seriously?”
“Although they’re not my usual genre, I’ve read them, and they’re all superb. It could be bias, but I don’t think so.”
“Are they sci-fi? Fantasy? Goth?”
“Fantasy romance. Fae and dragons and things like that. The imagery is beautiful, and the stories have depth.”
“Has she looked for an agent? A publisher?”
He glanced at me, and he didn’t have to say anything because I read it from his glance.
“She hasn’t,” I stated what I read in his expression.
“She’s hiding her light under a bushel again.
And she didn’t tell me because she thinks…
I don’t know. Maybe that I might think she’s using me for my publishing connections, or she doesn’t think her work is good enough, or whatever those fucking bitches at her school, and your fucking father who didn’t protect her from them, make her think. ”
Battle was again silent.
And I realized I’d allowed my mouth to run away from me.
So I rushed into damage control.
“That wasn’t my place. To say ‘your fucking father.’ I never met him, and I shouldn’t say things like that about your dad.
But I can’t hide that it really upsets me, the effect his decision had on Prue.
Tempie told me more about it. How she didn’t have sleepovers or get invited to parties.
It must have been really, really bad, but he didn’t intervene.
And it had to be so bad, she’s thirty-one years old and just met the designer she adores whose boutique is a two-hour train ride from her home. ”
“My fucking father was a fucking piece of shit. I don’t mind you pointing out that truth.
But this won’t work, Vivi, if you don’t feel you can speak your mind.
I thought you already knew that, and it was one of the multitude of things that attracted me to you.
Many dance around me to curry favor. From the beginning, you didn’t.
It was refreshing and incredibly alluring. ”
Well.
Gee.
Was I blushing?
“It’s clear we won’t see eye to eye about everything,” he said.
“It’s also clear we have the capacity to discuss it if we don’t.
And I have questioned my sanity about this since I met you, but the truth is, I enjoy rowing with you.
You demonstrate a quick wit, a strong will and courage every time you do it. So please don’t bury that habit now.”
Okay.
It was safe to say it might only take a car ride across England to fall for this man.
Boy, I was in trouble.
“Are we agreed?” he asked.
“We’re agreed, honey.”
“Brilliant.”
“And we might share the same mental ailment, because I think it’s hella fun to bicker with you two.”
“We don’t bicker.”
“Battle, we totally bicker.”
“We have words.”
“Okay, Your Grace, however you want to look at it,” I teased.
He shot me a quelling look.
I grinned at him.
Then I pointed out, “Like we just semi-kinda bickered about bickering.”
He heaved a sigh.
I let it go and said, “I hope it’s curry. I haven’t had a truly good curry since I was in England the last time.”
At that, within moments, the dash was ringing.
Tempie picked up. “Everything all right?”
“Vivi wants curry for dinner tonight,” Battle declared.
“Battle!” I snapped, turning to slap his rock-hard biceps.
“Anything particular?” Tempie asked through the dash.
Battle raised his brows to me.
“Get what you want,” I said. “If you want to go to the chippie, that’s cool too.”
“I was getting curry anyway,” Tempie replied.
Battle raised his brows to me again.
So he’d pay attention to the road, I gave my order.
It was long.
Battle was chuckling at the end of it.
“Well, it would appear we’ll have plenty of leftovers to nosh on over the weekend,” Tempie drawled when I was done. “I consider my mind is a steel trap, even so, perhaps you can text all of that to me so I don’t forget anything.”
“I will, Tempie,” I said.
“Excellent. Is that all?” she asked.
“Yes, love. We’ll see you soon,” Battle said.
“Ta-ra,” Tempie replied and disconnected.
“That was unnecessary,” I spoke the minute I knew she was gone.
“She was getting curry anyway,” he pointed out.
I huffed in my seat and crossed my arms.
“And now she’s irritated because she’s getting what she wants,” he murmured, but he sounded amused.
“Oh, do shut up, Your Grace.”
“As you wish, darling.”
Totally amused.
Ugh!
I decided to shut up myself.
Of course, this only lasted about five miles before I took another five miles (approximately) to text Tempie my curry order.
And then I just had to share about the see-through purple monstrosity Francois told me I just had to try on, and I did, but I didn’t buy it, and not because it cost two thousand pounds. But because it was a monstrosity.
And what did Battle ask after I told him this?
“It was see-through?”
Because…
Of course he did.
And I’d walked right into that too.