Chapter 4 #3
‘I can’t lose this place, Soli, and I’m definitely not going to let it go to my money-grubbing cousin because we messed up the small stuff,’ Xavier said, echoing her thoughts.
‘Okay. No problem,’ she said, trying to sound reassuring. She’d do everything in her power not to let that happen.
‘Good. Well, now you’ve had a look around I’ll bring your cases in here and you can get settled in.’
Following him out of the bedroom and back to the grand entrance hall, she tried not to let a feeling of being on the very edge of control overwhelm her.
She needed to focus on the positives, such as this amazing place being her home for the next year.
It would be so exciting to be here.
Or terrifying – depending on which way you chose to look at it.
Xavier seemed like a good guy though, if a little cold and reserved.
Everything she’d found out about him had been positive, she reminded herself.
Especially the things she’d read about his business practices.
And her father wouldn’t have rented a property from a shyster after all; he’d always been a very cautious and thorough businessman himself.
‘Why did your great-aunt want you to be married in order to inherit this place?’ she blurted as they reached the front door. It had been playing on her mind as he’d shown her around. ‘It seems a little extreme in this day and age.’
He turned back to face her with a grimace.
‘Yes, well, my great-aunt had very traditional values. Her marriage was arranged by her family and she stayed married to my great-uncle for forty-three years, until he died of a heart attack. I think she had some romantic notion that if she forced me into getting married, I’d end up the same way she did. Blissfully happy.’ He pulled a face.
‘Not convinced, huh?’
‘Not one bit.’
‘Shame.’
He frowned. ‘What do you mean?’ From his tone she suspected he was unnerved to hear her talking about marriage in such a positive way. Perhaps because he was worried she might become more attached to the idea of being his wife than he was comfortable with.
‘Don’t worry,’ she reassured him quickly. ‘You’re really not my type. When I get married for real it’ll be because I’m in love with my partner and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. That won’t happen with us.’
He continued to look at her in that unnervingly intense way he had, as if he was trying to read her innermost thoughts and catch sight of any lies she might be telling him. She stared boldly back, trying not to think about how devastatingly attractive he was.
‘I promise you, I will not want to stay married to you after the year is up,’ she reiterated firmly. ‘I’ve got too much going on in my life to be a wife and mother right now.’
She was sure she saw him flinch when she said that, but before she could say anything more he nodded curtly and said, ‘Anyway, you’ll need these for the doors.’ He pulled a plastic key card and a key for her apartment out of his pocket and handed them to her.
‘So you’re not planning on keeping me locked up inside all day, then?’ she asked in as jovial a tone as she could muster.
‘Of course not,’ he said, waving away her words as if they were completely ridiculous.
Her skin prickled as she remembered how reluctant he’d been to introduce her to Hugo as his wife earlier, but she bit her tongue. She really didn’t want to have a row with him on their wedding day. Not that it seemed they were actually going to celebrate it in any way.
This was confirmed when Xavier said, ‘Well, I’ve a lot of work to do today so I’ll let you get settled in. There’s food in the fridge if you want to eat in tonight.’
Disappointment trickled through her. ‘We won’t be eating together?’
‘Not tonight. I need to deal with something that’s just cropped up at work right away.’ He gestured towards his phone. ‘I’ll put your bags in your apartment and catch up with you tomorrow.’
‘No, don’t worry, I can take them.’
He paused, then nodded distractedly, and she watched him walk away and mount the stairs, heading up the wide staircase to the landing.
She suddenly felt very small and alone in the huge, dark house.
Looking down at the sheath dress she’d made especially for the ceremony out of one of her mother’s old dresses, she felt a heavy sense of trepidation sink through her.
No, Soli, don’t let it get to you.
Why she’d thought she needed to look good for this farce of a wedding today, she had no idea now. But it had been important to her to make an effort, even if Xavier hadn’t appreciated it. He’d not said a word about how she looked.
She hadn’t sewed her own clothes for a very long time, but being strapped for cash and not wanting to waste money on buying a proper wedding dress, even a second-hand one, she’d decided to make her own.
She’d worked for three nights straight on it, and was really pleased with the results.
Whilst working on it she’d remembered how much she’d enjoyed designing and making her own clothes before her mother had become too ill to look after herself and her father had died, requiring her to step into his role as carer, parent and breadwinner.
Experiencing that had made her appreciate just how hard he’d worked to keep them all in the lifestyle she’d taken for granted.
She wished fervently now that she’d had the opportunity to tell him how grateful she was to him for providing that for her.
She hoped he would have been proud of her for what she was doing here – making sure that her sister and mother were well looked after.
The way she needed to look at it was that Xavier was providing her with a unique opportunity to set them all up for the rest of their lives.
All she had to do was make sure she didn’t do anything to jeopardise it.