Page 24 of Duke It Out
“Droit de seigneurwent out with the dark ages, little brother,” he says crisply.
Jamie is sprawled loose-limbed on his chair, wine glass held casually in his hand. My writer brain kicks in. It’s not hard to imagine the scene – he turns up with his easy charm and that big smiling mouth, laying claim to the ancient feudal rule of lords having their way with their subjects.
There’s a long beat of silence and then the corners of Jamie’s mouth twitch.
“I’m bringing thatGame of Thronesenergy back to the estate.”
Rory closes his eyes, shaking his head. “That might be amusing if I wasn’t half expecting a string of pretty young staff members turning up on the doorstep, demanding you fork out for child maintenance payments.”
Jamie shrugs. “And if they do, that’s my problem.”
I shift awkwardly in my chair, pulling down the hem of my dress. I look up a moment later. Rory’s eyes are on me, his expression unreadable. I tuck a strand of hair back behind my ear.
“So,” I say, “how many people work here on the estate?”
Rory’s brow arches almost imperceptibly and he stiffens in his chair.
“Do you need to go and get one of your new notebooks, or is this just a general conversation?”
Jamie snorts.
“No, thank you,” I say, primly. “I was just wondering.”
“I’ll give you the full rundown tomorrow when we ride.”
10
RORY
“Darling, how’s it going?”
I should have let it go to voicemail. I’m dialled in waiting for Theo to come online from Palo Alto when Annabel purrs down the line from London. Jamie’s headed back to the cottage to do God knows what or who, more likely, and thank fuck Edie Jones is out of the picture until tomorrow morning.
“Good, thanks.” I scroll through emails, deleting mercilessly. Hattie, my PA, is supposed to filter out the dross, but there’s still a never-ending stream of unread crap piling up the moment my back is turned as it has been today. I’d kill for an espresso to kick my brain into gear for this meeting, but I grudgingly acknowledge that’s a bad idea, especially as I’ll have to be up and at the stables first thing. Working across three time zones is a killer.
“Just wanted to check Edie was settling in okay.” My godmother sounds chirpy as ever. She’s like the Duracell bunny – probably all those drugs she took in the eighties when she was modelling still working their way round her system. Whatever it is, she’s outlived both my parents, somaybe she’s onto something. “Sorry to leave you today, but I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to check up on how it’s all going.”
“How what’s going?”
“The book, Rory, darling. Poor Edie has a hell of a job ahead of her.”
I suppress a groan. “I have everything under control.”
She chuckles. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
“What are you talking about?”
My phone buzzes – Theo apologising for running behind but he’s just grabbing a juice and he’ll be right with me. Of course he bloody is. He’s gone full LA since he went over there to oversee the school and library project we’re working on.
“You can be a little bit intimidating, and Edie’s a sweet girl.”
I tap my pen against my chin and think about the look on her face when she walked into the study earlier today, an image I’ve been trying my best to suppress. I need to keep myself focused on the task in hand.
“She’s here to do a job.”
“And I wouldn’t have recommended her if I didn’t think she was more than capable of making some sense of Dickie’s ramblings. But you seemed a little on edge earlier, which is why I’m calling. She’s here to work, not to be eaten alive. You know what you’re like, darling, when you get defensive. And Edie’s not the enemy. I don’t want you making things hard for her.”
If only she fucking knew. The only thing that’s hard for Edie right now is my dick, and that’s despite the fact she turned up this afternoon dressed like she was interviewing for a middle management role in Marks and Spencer.Despite the ugly boots and terrible woollen suit, all I’ve been able to think about since the moment she walked in the door was the image of her, naked and tangled in a sheet at 3 a.m. when I walked out of the hotel room that night.
