Page 44 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
“Right, well I suppose there is a wedding on the horizon that we must begin planning for,” her mother declared as though she were the one who had broken the news. “We must begin preparations at once, even if it is so long away. We are going to have the wedding of the season.”
Andrea was beginning to realise that her mother was going to use every opportunity that she could to make a comment about how long she was going to have to wait for the wedding. But it was a small price to pay, and one that Andrea felt she could tolerate for the time being.
Chapter 19
“For someone with a knighthood, I thought you would have possessed the intelligence to know when you are not wanted somewhere,” James groaned at the familiar face on his doorstep.
“Sorry to inconvenience you, dear friend.” Cecil smirked as he spoke. “I just thought I would drop by to catch up. So much can happen so quickly that I thought I would see if you had any news.”
Cecil barged past James and straight into his front room. James was too stunned to speak as he turned around in confusion and watched Cecil recline back in a chair as though it were his home he had just walked into.
James knew Cecil was playing some kind of game, so he was careful with his words. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Since it sounds as though you have not got any news, I thought that I would share what is new with me,” Cecil continued. “Say, you do not happen to have a good bottle of champagne around here, do you? I am in the mood for some celebrations.”
James was eyeing his former friend carefully. He did not want to say anything that could anger Cecil and spur him into revealing James’ secret to the world, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
“All right, I will bite,” James said, holding up his hands in defeat. “What do you have to celebrate, Cecil?”
He was playing into Cecil’s hands, but he did not have any other option.
“I am going to be married!” Cecil exclaimed and clapped his hands together. James felt his heart drop. “Is not that miraculous? I am finally going to settle down and be a husband.”
James could tell Cecil wanted him to ask who he would be marrying. But James feared he already knew the answer to that.
“What have you done?” he asked in a whisper.
“I have pursued happiness and I have finally taken something away from you, just like you have done to me for all those years.”
James felt his eye twitch as he tried to swallow down the boiling anger that was slowly rising up inside of him. His fists were clenched and breathing regularly was suddenly difficult to do.
“Why are you doing this to me?” His voice was hoarse and low. “Why cannot you just go back to where you came from and leave me alone?”
“Because there would be no fun in that,” Cecil said with a smirk.
James laughed bitterly and shook his head whilst pacing about. He kept his legs moving as an outlet of everything that he was feeling at that moment. The last thing he wanted to do was to lash out at Cecil and give him a reason to take his revenge even further.
“You are not going to get away with this!” James finally shouted. It felt good to raise his voice at the man who was causing him so much strife. “You are going to make her miserable and ruin her life just because you want to tear me down. You cannot sit there and tell me that sounds fair.”
“You are right,” Cecil saidas henodded. “Though I think I have done a good job at charming her so far, she’s quite easily fooled.”
“Do not speak of her like that!” James snapped. He knew he was playing right into what Cecil was intending, but he did not care. His anger was too raw for him to make calculated decisions any longer.
“Well, she seemed quite pleased that we are going to be married,” Cecil continued and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “I am only telling you how she acted.”
James shook his head and glared at the man he had once considered a friend.
“If she knew the truth about you, she would call it off instantly.”
“Is that a threat?” Cecil gasped. “Because you know what I have against you, and if you do anything to get in my way, I will not hesitate to reveal the true identity of a certain author.”
James was seething. He could feel his blood boiling under his skin. It was flushing his cheeks and causing a thin sheen of sweat to develop on his brow.
“I will not have to do anything. I am sure that in time your façade will fall, you will make a mistake somehow, and then she will discover the truth,” James said with more confidence in his voice. “You will be unfaithful, and you will drink and be lousy. I feel that you will reveal all of that on your own.”
It was only a small blow, but James took the victory of seeing that Cecil was slightly bothered by his words.
“Perhaps,” Cecil said after waiting a moment to calm himself. “But I will be her husband, and so there is nothing she can do about it.”
