“Left, then right,” he yelled so loud, I swore the paintings on the wall shook around us.
“Can you keep it down?” I whispered.
“Why? So people don’t know yer taking me to your room? I think they already know,” he slurred.
“Ugh, I hope you don’t think this is cute.”
“No, but you’re really cute. Like a little duck.” He pushed his thumb on my nose. “Quack, quack.”
I was used to carrying drunk guys home. Chris had done it more than once, and I’d been his designated driver from the bars. But when Chris was drunk, he got surly, usually yelling at me that he hadn’t drank too much, and we’d get into a fight in the middle of a parking lot until we broke up and I’d steal his keys, telling him to take an Uber home. Of course, the next day he’d have forgotten all about it and asked me to make him hangover breakfast.
But this…there was something distinctly different about this.
“Boyfriend, you need to sober up.”
“So ye do like me calling you my girlfriend? That’s cute. We’re cute.”
“How much did you have to drink?”
“Pft, not that much. The Webleys actually do know their good scotch.”
Once we got to our room, I pushed the door open and walked toward the couch, trying to push Jacob down onto the warm leather but ending up tumbling with him, our limbs and legs in a tangle. I tried to unwind us, but instead we laid chest to chest, the heat of his body pressing into mine and warming me to my very center.
His smile slowly faded as his eyes went from glassy to hooded. His hand pushed back a strand of my hair behind my ear, his fingertips lingering near my neck, sending a shiver all the way through me.
I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the heavy beating of my heart. “We’re not going to do this again, Jacob.”
“Do what?” he whispered, his head bending toward my neck, his breath tickling the bare skin above my shirt.
Heat pooled between my legs, and I tried to ignore the pressure of his length against me.
“You know.”
“No, I don’t. Tell me.” His lips brushed against my skin, and a soft sigh escaped my mouth. His chest heaved against mine, and it took everything I had to sit still and not push myself closer to him.
Instead, I pressed both of my hands against the couch and then untangled myself from his limbs before standing. “I need to shower, and I’m not having this conversation when you’re drunk.”
Or ever.
He leaned back against the sofa, his head lolling against the armrest. “I’ll give ye that one, but you know we will end up talking. Or not talking. Or both.”
I shook my head, ducking it as I quickly shut the room door. “Take a little nap.”
“Already done,” he mumbled.
I stared at him; he was peaceful with his eyes closed, a serene smile on his face.
Dammit.
Why did he have to be cute?
Why did he have to be sweet?
Why did he have to reject me?
This push and pull was getting old, and I had to not only protect my own heart, but my sister’s as well. I refused to do anything that could ruin her wedding, and Jacob was suspect.
He was here for a reason, and I was going to get it out of him.
Maybe now that his tongue was loose from alcohol was the time to ask.
Slowly, I sank back down to the couch. “Jacob?”
“Hmmm?”
“So I did a little bit of research on your family…”
“Ah, the MacWebleys. Odd duck, as the fine English Webleys like to think of us. Quack, quack.” His eyes stayed closed, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
It wouldn’t be long before he fell asleep and maybe he wouldn’t remember this conversation.
“What are you really doing here, Jacob? Is it because of money? Is that why you got drunk with Hugh?”
“You wouldn’t understand. I can’t hurt you or your family,” he muttered, so garbled I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.
“Hurt me and my family?” I leaned in closer. “Jacob, what are you talking about?”
“It’s all gonna work out. Maybe,” he mumbled.
“What will? Jacob? Jacob?” I shook at his shoulder, hoping to rouse him for at least another half response. But he was already out, his chest now rising and falling in a steady beat.
Dammit.
Maybe that was the most I’d ever get out of him, but I had to hope there was another way to understand it.
At least he didn’t want to hurt me.
But would he?
My stomach twitched. Of course he would.
I needed to protect myself in all of this.
So I stood up and headed to the bathroom, letting him sleep off his morning scotch.
I’d try and put everything he’d said to the back of my mind as just a drunken stupor. But no matter how hard I tried, I’d never get him or his words out of my head. So it was time to do some investigating of my own if he wasn’t going to answer.
…
A few times I put my hand over Jacob’s face to make sure he was breathing. He was still passed out on the couch after I’d showered and dressed. Still there when I came back from lunch. And as night started to fall, I figured it was probably time I woke him up.
“Jacob, Jacob,” I called, shaking his shoulders.
He moaned slightly, shaking his body to the side.
“Come on, you’ve been sleeping all day. You at least need to shower before dinner.”
He squinted, stretching out his arms. “Dinner? What about lunch?”
“You slept through that.”
His eyes sprang open. “What? Why didn’t you wake me earlier?”
I rolled my eyes as he sat up, and I moved to the other side of the couch. “I tried, but you were pretty out of it.”
He shook his head, running his hand through his hair then down his face. “Shite, that scotch was stronger than I thought.”
His gaze trailed toward mine. Even with sleepy eyes, the brilliant green color of them locked me in place. “I didn’t do or say anything strange, did I?”
“Well, you did announce to everyone we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Which feels like something a middle school boy would do then proudly wear the girl’s scrunchie?”
He wrinkled his nose. “First off, I’m not sure what a scrunchie is and why a boy would wear it, and secondly, I don’t think I would call it announcing.”
I raised my eyebrows. “So you do remember? Then you also remember taking my scrunchie and wearing it on your wrist proudly?”
He glanced down at his hands and jerked in surprise at the scrunchie around his wrist. I couldn’t help the bubble of giggles that erupted from my mouth. “I put it there while you were sleeping, but the fact that you believed me made this whole thing ten times better.”
Sitting up, he leaned his back against the sofa, letting out a breath. “Okay, damsel. You win. And I guess I have some apologizing to do.”
“To your family?”
“They’re your family, too, aren’t they?” He turned toward me, blinking slowly so his long eyelashes fluttered.
“I guess technically they will be after the wedding. I don’t know. I guess I never thought of them as my family.”
“Me, neither,” he muttered under his breath.
“Do you still?” I asked bluntly.
“Still what?”
“Not think of them as your family?”
He shook his head, raking his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, honestly.”
“Then why stay?” I blurted without even thinking. I should have taken it back or closed my big damn mouth.
“Are you asking me why I’m still here? Because of you or them?” He tilted his head
, and the heat of his stare intently focused on me.
I should have looked away. Should have made an excuse. But something in his eyes gave me the courage to keep up with my epic spill of questions. “Yes. Both. I don’t know what’s going on with us or your family, but I feel like there’s a lot you aren’t telling me, and I don’t know if you’re going to or if we are just going to continue to dance around everything.”
He blinked again.
Damn those eyelashes.
Then he gradually let out a breath, nodding. “You’re right. And obviously there’s something on yer mind, so come out and ask it, if we’re being honest here.”
I opened my mouth to speak then closed it again, racking my brain for what to say. Did I ask about what I’d seen online? Or about us? Or both?
Before I could figure out the correct thing to say, a knock came at the door, and I jolted in my seat.
“I’ll get that,” I blurted, jumping up and padding toward the door.
On the other side was one of the maids in her starch gray uniform, hands folded together as she smiled up at me. “Miss Madison, Miss Natalie is heading for the dining room shortly and has asked me to check on you and Laird Jacob to make sure you’re coming.”
My hand stilled on the door.
Shit.
Was it already time?
And I hadn’t asked him the question I needed to.
A warm hand pressed on top of mine, and the scent of toffee surrounded me as Jacob sidled up to the door beside me. “We’ll be down there shortly. Thank you, miss.”
With that, she nodded, and Jacob closed the door.
“I need a quick shower and to change, but before I do, do ye still want to ask me that question?” He raised his eyebrows, his smile bringing out those damn irresistible dimples.
This was it. I could ask and get a simple answer for anything.
But instead, I took the coward’s way out. “I just…I wanted to ask if you think this dress looks okay for dinner. I guess some other guests are coming and one of the maids dropped it off earlier. I’m guessing it’s from Cecily. Or my sister. Or someone.”
I took a step back, trying to ignore the now cold spot that lingered without being near him. Grabbing the ankle-length skirt in my hands, I focused on the lace overlay material and how it felt against my skin instead of the way his eyes roamed from the tips of my toes and up the gold fitted dress and cap sleeves, up to my neck that he’d been kissing earlier.
I had to get a damn grip or my face was going to be blotchy and he’d know exactly the effect he kept having on me.
“The gold in the dress matches those little flecks in yer eyes.”
“Um, thanks,” I muttered, staring at the skirt instead of him.
“I’ll see if I have a tie that matches,” he said. “I’ll just be quick in the shower, then we can head down together.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
I waited until I heard the bathroom door close before I finally let out a breath. No matter how right it felt to be near him, to let his warm words envelop me, I needed to stop letting everything about this guy get to me. It was only a few days until the wedding then he’d be gone.
I’d be gone.
Unless I stayed like Mom wanted.
Then what…?
I’d have to tell her about school.
Would I bring even more shame as the low-class family with the girl who’d dropped out of college?
By the time Jacob emerged from the bathroom dressed in his same blue suit but now with a golden tie, I had already worked myself up into a mental frenzy.
“Madison,” his tone commanded, and I looked up to see him approaching me with purpose. His eyes were narrowed.
“What? Something wrong? I used all of your shampoo?”
He shook his head as he closed the space between us. His fingers brushed against my chin as he forced me to meet his eyes, and I swallowed hard against his hold on me. “You’re biting yer lip and fidgeting. Something is bothering you, and I have a feeling it has to do with that question you were going to ask me, so out with it.”
“Um…” I made sure I wasn’t biting my lip as I rolled the tips of my toes, trying to think of the right thing to say. “You know if we don’t hurry, we’ll be late, and we wouldn’t want to be late.”
“I don’t care about that right now. I want to know what’s bothering you, and I’m not leaving this room until you tell me.” His stare darkened, more intense with each second his jaw ticked.
There was the family resemblance. The one that intimidated me and shouldn’t have been causing a flame low in my stomach at the same time.
“My mom is moving to a cottage here and wants me to move as well.” I pushed out the first thing that came to mind that wouldn’t completely embarrass me.
He stilled for a second before dropping his hand. “Is that all? Really?”
Putting my hands on my hips, I frowned. “That all? It’s a pretty big deal to pack up everything and move to another country, don’t you think?”
He shrugged, but there was a brief second when something crossed his face. The slight quiver of his chin as he pulled his collar. What did that mean?
“What’s stopping you? What’s back in America that you can’t get here?”
“Well, for one…” I paused, thinking of a reasonable explanation. “A job. I don’t have that here. And don’t even know if I could get one without a degree.”
He raised an eyebrow, that dimple popping as he smirked. “Why couldn’t you? You said you went to school for art. Why not do that here? Hell, London isn’t that far, either, with some of the best art schools. The world is at your fingertips.”
“Easy for you to say.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I’m the same lad who came to see his long-lost family on a whim without a plan, and yet here I am. In the manor. With a gorgeous date, about to head to a dinner with my English family.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” I muttered.
He laughed, putting his arm out. “Come on, let’s get down to dinner. Before they start talking and think I’ve passed out and you’re still miffed at me for calling you my girlfriend.”
I stiffened before putting my arm through his. It was an instinctive thing I’d seen so many people do here. But combined with his words and the way just the touch of him sent jolts of electricity low in my stomach was enough to have my brain going haywire.
“I wasn’t miffed.”
“I’ll make sure to correct that tonight and apologize to yer mother,” he said plainly. As if it were that simple.
We headed to the large dining room and arrived to find people milling in groups instead of sitting around the large table. My sister, Mom, and Cecily stood together, all looking like regal dignitaries in their long gowns in different shades of blue and their elegant updos. Then there was Gavin, his brother Hugh, their father, and some men I didn’t recognize, all in dark suits, sipping from rocks glasses.
My whole body went rigid when Lady Helena approached us with another young woman on her arm.
Lady Helena was of course as regal as ever in her dark blue, long-sleeve, boat-neck gown that appeared to be made from the lightest material available so it just floated on her body. The woman next to her was no exception for exuding grace, either. Her long dark hair was pulled back with a fancy crystal clip, accentuating her sun-kissed skin. The black velvet gown clung to her curves, making her look like a royal pinup beauty.
I found myself glancing at Jacob, wondering if he’d soon be striking up a conversation with the buxom brunette with the way she smiled at him. But all the color seemed to drain from his face as he stared wide-eyed back at her.
“Madison, I’m so glad you and your date could join us,” Lady Helena said with that luxurious accent that always dripped with a little bit of condescension. She
then turned with a large grin toward the woman next to her. “This is Baroness Everly from London, in for the wedding. I believe you two have met, Laird Lachlan.”
Her smile became wicked as she looked at my date.
“It’s been a long time,” he said, taking Lady Helena’s hand and kissing her knuckles but stilling when Baroness Everly offered her hand.
Baroness Everly laughed. “Yes, I believe the last time I saw you was when you called off our engagement.”
He what now?
A cold shiver ran over my body as I looked from the giggling woman to the wide-eyed man next to me.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
Chapter Fourteen
Jacob
Out of all the spiteful and low-level things that could be done, they’d brought Everly. Not only one of the most despicable human beings I’d ever met, but also the one my parents had tried to set up an arranged marriage with as a way to help our family really quick.
Of course, I shot down that idea, much to my parents’ disappointment.
At the time, Everly had almost seemed relieved to hear the news. But now she was acting as if I’d stood her up at the darn altar.
“As I remember it, you told me to piss up a tree when I said I would never agree to a marriage with you,” I said, trying to control my voice.
I wanted to yell, to get in Lady Helena’s face and demand what in the fuck she thought she was doing.
But now wasn’t the time.
I’d already embarrassed myself drunkenly earlier in the day and fought another cousin with swords. Every step I took in this damn manor seemed to keep me falling farther and farther from grace.
This had to stop.
Madison’s grip tightened on my arm, and I felt the slow circle of her thumb against my bicep. The same motion I’d done to calm her down with horseback riding.
Shite, the thing worked.
Lady Helena’s nose scrunched up as Baroness Everly laughed again. Which I wasn’t sure the girl could actually do with that stick so far up her arse. “Still haven’t changed a bit, I see, Lachlan.”
Heirly Ever After Page 16