Page 106 of Thick as Thieves
I turn back and laugh, relief in every note of my voice. “No, all good on that front.”
He smiles at me. His eyes crinkling at the corners. Fucking hell, my heart is going into overdrive. Never mind women with hormones, I think mine are running riot. I see him frown at me, but he pats me on the back. We’ve never overtly displayed our relationship to others, and I’m not bothered about starting now. And certainly not here in this house with Rowena as part of the audience.
“Casey, ring that gong, man,” Marcus calls into the hall.
I hear quiet voices in the hallway, women’s voices. They move on and then Casey comes in.
“Just a last minute adjustment, your lordship.” Casey answers so formally, and as the butler leaves the room again, I see Levi and Gabe grin at Marcus. They’ve never gotten over Marcus being a Lord. To be fair, I don’t actually think Marcus thinks about it at all. Other than the bare necessities, he never does anything with his title. He leaves the estates to Bug, and all the other stuff to his mother. Although he says her bit is not really needed, she thinks it is.
“Ready for rockstar's answer to Downton?” He asks everyone, laughing.
Casey returns, sprinting in his usual manner. I think announcements are his favourite part of his job. It’s when he takes centre stage, and all eyes are on him. “The Dowager Countess of Stockton.”
Rowena regally glides into the room, but she’s not alone—she has a few courtiers in tow. We have an unwelcome, welcoming committee. Clearly Rowena doesn’t intend to tackle anything on her own. She’s assembled backup in the form of Chrissy, Isobel, and, of course, Betty. As it turns out, Betty—real name Bettina—is a second cousin once removed from Chrissy. What a surprise.
Casey announces them all formally as they file in. Betty baulks when she spots me in the room. They clearly didn’t expect me, and certainly don’t want me here. They need to slag me off and don’t want me here to witness, or contradict, it.
I smirk at her. “Betty, I’d like to say it’s nice to see you again, but I don’t actually think it is.” I say it so nicely, she smiles before her brain computes the words. I hear Tim try to stifle a laugh, and see Rowena frown at me. I’m supposed to put up and shut up. I’m Marcus’s toy, for him to use and abuse as needed, how dare I have an opinion, or a voice.
There’s a further knock on the door and yet again Casey has an opportunity to be the leading man. I have to say, his announcements are pure theatre. “His Lordship the Earl of Sutherland, Tarron Barclay, is here to see you ma’am,” he states imperiously.
I glance over at Marcus. “Did you call him?” I ask.
He nods. “I needed that package,” he says grimly.
“Fuck me,” I sigh out, looking to the heavens. How can you go from total heaven to pure hell in a few hours?
I hear Rowena gasp dramatically. “Do you mind, Xander. We don’t use that sort of language in this house.” Anyone would think she’s never heard an expletive. She must zone Marcus out. He’s the worst culprit.
“Yes we fucking do,” snaps out Marcus on cue.
Rowena turns her lips inwards. It’s not her house and she knows it. She doesn’t rule the roost. Marcus does. “Well I’d rather none of you boys use that language,” she explains primly.
My dad comes striding into the room, greets us all in his usual way, but pulls me into a hug. I could cry, the need to tell him he’s going to be a full one hundred percent, bona fide grandpa almost too much to bear. But I would never tell him in front of these people. I won’t share my joyous news here.
“I’ll help, son. Don’t worry, I’ll help.”
He steps over to greet the ladies, ever the gentleman. I see Chrissy fluff her hair before he gets to her.Not in this lifetime,I think, but watch as she makes a fuss over Dad.
“Can we please have dinner served now? Everyone is starving, we never ate on the plane, and I want to go home,” Marcus grumbles.
“You are home, silly boy,” Rowena answers, playing up to her audience, who all titter at her joke. “Of course we can start.” She indicates to Casey and then carries on with, “We need to talk, which we can do over dinner, but Marcus, just be prepared. We haven’t changed the room, so…”
She’s definitely a player of parts. At the minute, she’s a victim of a crime. Her eyes are wide and fearful, and she looks over at the three other women as they all grimace.
I wonder what I’m going to walk into.
“I hope it’s not like what she did to that dining room in Devon,” Gabe whispers to me. He pretends to swing a baseball bat, his eyes popping as he does.
We walk in, and the room looks… normal. Until you spot the poker coming out of the grandfather clock face. And a long-handled fork embedded in the face of a portrait.
Marcus walks over and inspects the clock. “Leave this here. No one is to touch it, and the same for the picture.” He sounds stern when he turns to his mother. I can see the relief on her face, she thinks he’s going to side with her. But I see the laughter in his eyes, he’s desperate to set it free.
“Yes of course, Marcus darling. I’ll contact the police in the morning, get a photographer in, and file a complaint,” she crows.
“No, no police. This is a family matter,” he commands. “I’ll deal with whoever did this.” He doesn’t reference Evie, and I notice Gabe and Levi passing confused looks between each other. They know he knows who did what. Rowena is looking even more relieved, and I see a grin pass between the other three women. What a set of bitches. Can’t wait to throw Evie under the bus. I see Marcus smirk to himself. His mother better get ready. If she thinks the poker is bad, this is getting worse for her.
We set about dinner, eating and talking. The banter is formal but light-hearted. I see Isobel desperately trying to get Marcus to talk to her one on one. “How’s Jude?” I hear him say, and just barely stop my laughter. He’d told me about Issy at the birthday party and what she tried to do.
