Page 19 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
“You are hoping to stay here with me so that you can save yourself a little bit of money?” James asked, shaking his head.
“I am staying here with you so that I can rebuild the best friendship that I have ever had in all thirty years of my life.”
James rolled his eyes at Cecil’s words. The two had fought together at one point, and it was in those moments of danger when James had ultimately learned that he could not trust Cecil with anything. Even if James were to leave his life in Cecil’s hands, James was almost positive that he would end up dead.
“You are going to have to keep a low profile whilst staying here,” James warned him.“I am a tenant, not an owner. That means I do not make the rules, I just have to follow them.”
“And you are not allowed guests?” Cecil asked whilst cocking an eyebrow.
“I am not allowed to have someone living with me without the landlord knowing,” James corrected. He did not count Cecil as a guest, not now that he knew he was simply there because of money troubles.“Why could not you have just stayed with my mother and father? They have plenty of room and you would have been sorted without having to bother me.”
“That is not a nice way to talk to a friend you have not seen in years,” Cecil fired back, his mocking tone pretending to be hurt by James’ words.
“I am just saying, it would have meant less awkward conversations.”James sighed.
“What do you do out here all day anyway? It feels as though you are just in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do,” Cecil said whilst peering around his home.
“Oh, if at any time you are not liking it here, please feel free to leave.”
“James, your manners have slipped whilst you have been out here in the countryside,” Cecil called after him, but James was already walking off deeper into the house.
At first, there had still been a part of him that had been willing to give Cecil the benefit of the doubt—no matter how small and reluctant that part had been. It had been many years since they had fought together, and it was no secret amongst men that not every man was good at fighting in a battle. However, Cecil had still retained many of his old habits that were the reason James had disliked him so much in the first place.
It was the small lies that slowly built up, things that could so easily be found out, and yet could also be so easily avoided. James did not understand how one man could be so filled with deceit and yet not feel any remorse for the choices he had made in life.
“It is so kind of you to let me stay here,” Cecil remarked as they sat together for breakfast one morning. If James had had his way, he would have waited another hour before having his breakfast, but he had not anticipated Cecil would be waiting for him to join at the table that morning.
Sleep still clung to James’ eyes as he tried to block out Cecil’s voice.
“I am sorry, it is still rather early,” James grumbled as their breakfast was served.
“You fit in well to the lifestyle out here. You are a marquess with practically no responsibilities at the moment, and it is showing.”
“What does that mean?” James asked as he dipped his warm bread into a runny egg yolk.
“It means you have let your standards slip in favour of the countryside,” Cecil pointed out.“It is not a bad thing, it is just a lifestyle change.”
“At least I had standards in the first place.”
James knew it was a low blow, but he did not care. Cecil had done some awful things over the years, and it was only after they had stopped being friends that James started to realise just how much he had tried to overlook.
“Ouch,” Cecil pouted whilst clutching the left side of his chest.“Do you remember that time we were on watch together? We had to stay up for the entirety of the night and talked to get ourselves through it.”
“That was different. We both had no sleep and were beginning to see things that were not even there,” James spoke with a tight frown knitted in his brow.“I do not count that as a time that reflects our past friendship very well…especially because you fell asleep anyway.”
Cecil was rolling his eyes playfully. If he understood that James really did not like him anymore, he had a funny way of showing it.
“I was hoping you would not remember that part,” Cecil muttered whilst tucking into his breakfast.
“I remember lots of things, Cecil,” James spoke in a tone of slight warning. He wanted to let the selfish man know that he was not going to fall for his tricks again, especially not in his own home.
The image of Cecil running away from danger and leaving people to fend for themselves was one that would never leave him. James had a mental list of all the people he had not been able to rely on whilst in the military; of course, Cecil was at the very top of that list.
“All right, well, I am sure there are other examples of times when we were much closer than we are these days.”
“If that is true, then they were moments of weakness when I was craving the weakest form of companionship from you,” James said in an attempt to distance himself from the man sitting across from him.
“You should not be so harsh on me, especially now that I’m a changed man.”
