Page 23 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
Cecil hummed in response, both of his hands clasped over his knee as he looked up at James. Reading his expression was suddenly incredibly difficult, and James was not sure why he was looking at him in such a way.
“I suppose I will see you later then,” Cecil said nonchalantly.
For a moment, James had felt as though he were back in his parent’s home and waiting for them to give their approval over something that he was going to do. He was not sure why Cecil was trying to assert himself in such a way, but James did not like it. He was a guest in his home, but he was acting as though this was his house and James was the one intruding.
Chapter 11
“Any news?”
Andrea had not expected Lily to still be over. She had her own family to take care of, and she had already done more than Andrea had been expecting. She had been a mess all day, and no amount of Lily’s consoling had worked.
Andrea wished he had responded quickly and that the postal service was quicker. She even found herself praying that there would be a sudden increase in the frequency that the mail arrived. But it all came to no avail.
“Nothing,” Andrea groaned. It was perhaps her seventh visit down to the tray in which the post was usually laid out for the morning. There was still nothing there aside from a few letters addressed to her father.
“It is all right, you are just going to have to try and get some rest. Perhaps he will call in the morning for you?” Lily offered support.
“You really think that he will call? What if he calls to laugh at me and what I wrote? I am not sure that either way I particularly want to talk about my feelings to his face,” she said, scrunching up her nose at the idea. It had been difficult enough to write it all down, she could not imagine having to face James and being able to get through it all.
“I am sure this is all not as big of an issue as you are making it out to be, Andrea,” Lily said whilst chuckling to herself.“Now, I suggest you try to at least get some rest. If he does call, you do not want him to see you with dark shadows under your eyes now, do you?”
“I suppose not,” Andrea huffed as her shoulders sagged.
“I will see you tomorrow, and I hope to see that you are well rested.” Lily was speaking to her as though she was her mother instead of her friend.
“I will try my best but I refuse to make any promises,” Andrea said before bidding her friend goodbye.
*
James scratched his head as he stepped back through the door. His gentle stroll along the grounds had amounted to nothing. He had kept within the glow of the castle and surrounding buildings so that he had at least some light in his path, but he was still no wiser about talking to Andrea.
However, he froze in the doorway at the sight before him. Cecil wore circular spectacles as he waved the piece around in his hand.
“You never told me that you were courting someone!” Cecil said whilst cocking one of his hairy eyebrows up.
“That is because it is none of your business.” James cleared his throat before speaking.
He managed to shift out of the shock so that he could close the door behind him and banish the chill of the night from his house.“Cecil, why have you gone through my things?”
“I did not go through anything.” Cecil was suddenly incredibly defensive in his tone.“I was simply looking around your lovely home and saw the letter sitting on your desk. I did not do any rummaging or anything, I promise.”
As he spoke, a small smile was creeping onto his expression that caused James to distrust anything the man said.
“Well, it still was not your business to read through the letter,” he pointed out in a flat tone. Where Cecil found the situation rather amusing, James could feel his blood beginning to boil at the situation he was in.
Those were personal words between Andrea and him; they had not been intended for the eyes of anyone else.
“So, who is your dearest Andrea? Not your landlord’s daughter, is it?” Cecil asked, feigning shock at the notion.
“Lady Andrea Pitt is indeed the daughter of the Baron Rivers and his wife,” James said in a wooden voice.“We are going to begin courting officially soon, but we had a little…setback.”
“She sounds like quite a determined woman, are you sure you are up to the task?” Cecil asked whilst laughing.
“Give me the letter, Cecil, I do not wish to discuss this with you,” James said, unable to let his patience hold any longer.
“Oh, but is this not fun? You are not going to tell me about yourself really unless I do a little investigating. It is merely harmless.”
“I am not sure about that. You are reading a letter that was only meant for my eyes,” James remarked.
