Page 44 of Love, Academically
“After my undergraduate degree, I worked full time at Dallimores for a few years, skipping from one department to another. I hated it,” Rhys said with a dry half laugh. “There was absolutely nothing I enjoyed about corporate business. So, I decided to do my Masters part-time whilst I was working. I liked history, so thought, why not?”
Lila watched him avidly.
“I can’t explain it. It felt like home. It felt… right. The smell of the library, the Latin, the thrill ofunderstandingpeople from so long ago. That’s when I realised I didn’t want to be at Dallimores, I didn’t want tobea Dallimore.” He shrugged. “So I left.”
“That’s why you were ‘late’ to academia.”
“Yes. My father was not happy about it. Academia, that is. ‘What a waste of time’, ‘I’m cutting you off’, ‘you’ll never be a success’, ‘what’s wrong with the family business?’, ‘you’re wasting your life’, ‘I’ve given you everything’.” Rhys looked at the table, those words still causing a dull ache in his chest after all this time. “He gave me five years to make a success of myself.”
Lila’s eyes darkened as if she was personally affronted.
She reached over and laid her hand on his arm. He couldn’t meet her eyes, couldn’t risk the rawness of his throat betraying his emotions, but nodded in what he hoped she took as thanks for her comfort. He had nevereversaid those things out loud before.
The softness he knew would be in her eyes would ruin him.
“What does ‘success’ look like?” Lila’s voice was smooth and warm.
Rhys swallowed the pain in his throat.
“The Fellowship. That’s what we agreed on. I was cocky and arrogant. I didn’t fully understand how academia worked.”
“Oh Rhys,” she said, squeezing his arm.
“We didn’t speak for three years, not even birthdays or Christmas. It’s only recently, probably because of my mother, that things have been less… well, we’ve talked once or twice,” Rhys finished.
He took another long gulp of his pint, Lila’s hand falling away from his arm.
“I see,” she said quietly.
“It’s not just work.” Rhys twisted his mouth into a semblance of a smile. “If you’re there as my girlfriend, I can show that I’m successful in my private life as well. With someone who doesn’t just want the Dallimore name and money.”
“Surely, you can get a girlfriend, Rhys. You’re an attractive guy,” Lila said and a pink flush crept up her neck. “Even if you are a bit prickly.”
He jerked his eyes to hers.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” His smile this time was less a semblance, more a real one. Lila Cartwright thought he was attractive, she’d just said so, and now she was blushing.
He took another drink, bolder now.
“I mean, I’ve not been celibate for the last five years. But peoplefind out my name, my family, check theSunday TimesRich List and it all changes. People don’t like me for me, they like me for what they think I can give them. Connections, money, a certain lifestyle.” He shrugged and looked into his pint. “I don’t want that anymore.”
“That’s why you’re an Aubrey.”
“That’s why I’m an Aubrey.”
Lila sucked in a long breath.
“Well, Rhys Aubrey,” she said lightly. “I can’t guarantee that I won’t use you for your connections in the construction industry and, uh, Parliament or whatever ‘connections’ you rich people have.”
He snorted into his drink.
“But I will charm the pants off your family. They’ll all see you’ve made the right decision for you.”
Rhys looked up at her and his heart lifted.
Apparently, affirmation from Lila Cartwright was exactly what he needed to soothe his anxious mind.
Lila
