I slowed at the front gate and pulled my helmet off, nodding to the guards.
“Mister Cooper, sir. Pleasure to see you. Did we expect you so soon, sir?” one of the guards said. I think his name was Cliff.
“No, Missus Reginald will give me a right telling off, but there is something I need to do before Miss Morley overtakes the place tomorrow.”
Cliff and his friend nodded. “Right you are, sir. Shall we let her know you’re here?”
“No, I’ll see her soon.”
“You going passed the lake, sir?”
“As always.”
“It’s good to see you younger Coopers keeping on with tradition, sir,” the older guard said. James, maybe, had been a young boy in the tail end of my grandfather’s tenure at Pemberley.
I bowed and went to pull the helmet back on.
“Did you want us to take the bike to the house, sir?”
“That’s fine, thanks, I’ll walk it.”
They nodded, bowed and stepped aside to let me in. I drove down to the lake and parked on the bank. I sat and looked around for a while, thinking about our lives here when we were young. Mum and Dad on the bank, staring at each other like two love-sick teenagers, while Jax, Amanda, Cassandra, sometimes Williams, and I played in the water, squealing and splashing each other. They were some of my fondest memories and I had always regretted we’d not been able to make more.
Sighing, I pulled off my helmet, jacket, jumper and shoes, laying them on the bike. God, even in the middle of the day, it was cold.
“Who am I kidding?” I asked myself. “Of course it is; it’s the middle of fecking winter.” I shook out my arms and legs. “Too bad, mate, it’s tradition.”
I took a deep breath and plunged into the tepid water. At least it wasn’t freezing; thank God for modern water heating! Though, I wondered what our ancestors would say about that.
I swam myself back to the bank and shook the water from my hair and clothes. I pulled on my shoes and flicked back the kickstand before walking the bike towards the building.
My mind must have still been on fond memories, since I was sure I saw Lily walking towards me across the grass. I shook my head, knowing such fantasies were stupid and only asking for more trouble. Lily wanted nothing more from me than friendship, and I would deal with that. Picturing her as a part of me wanted to, walking around Pemberley like she owned the place, wasn’t going to change-
“Austin! What the hell is this?” The image in front of me got closer and was yelling at me in a way I was sure fantasy-Lily wouldn’t. At least, I hoped fantasy-Lily would have better things to do than yell at me.
I smiled. “Not a fantasy, then.”
Chapter Forty-Three: Lily
Austin Cooper stood in front of me in all his gorgeousness, sopping wet and wheeling a motorcycle. His ash-brown hair, darkened with water, dripped into his face, his nigh-on-see-through white shirt clung to his body in a way that made me picture him without it far too readily, and his jeans looked like they hung nice and low on his waist.
I probably would have been drooling if I hadn’t been so confused by his words. And, oh my God, dismayed by the fact he’d found me practically snooping around his house like some sad little fan girl.
“What do you mean not a fantasy?” I asked.
He smiled crookedly. “Never you mind.”
That face and that tone sent butterflies coursing through me. I stamped them down. “What’s this?” I asked again, trying to take my mind off where my thoughts were wandering.
“I might ask you the same thing.”
I flushed. “Aunt Nadine suggested we tour the house since we were in the area. Your housekeeper said you weren’t due back ‘til tomorrow, so I figured why not. If I knew you’d be here...well...” God, I never would have come here. Imagine seeing me here after the way I’ve been acting. So embarrassing...
He nodded, raking a hand through his hair and shaking droplets everywhere. “Missus Reginald often sees people through the house. It’s no problem.”
I still felt like I’d barged in on his privacy. And the unmistakable amazingness of the whole place just seemed to pale in comparison to the man standing in front of me. I mean, the place was seriously just so pretty; rolling green lawns, huge building made of stone with windows glistening in the sun. But, the windows’ glint had nothing on the one in Austin’s eyes.
Focus, Lily!
“And, you? What’s all this?” I asked.
He looked down and grinned. “Jax gave it to me for my birthday. It’s pretty sweet. I’m sure you don’t approve, but I promise it’s not as bad as it looks.”
“What?”
His look of pride fell, to be replaced with confusion. “The bike...”
“Jesus, I don’t care about the bike, Oz. I don’t know anything about bikes! Plus, what you get up to on your own time is no concern of mine.” Stop babbling. “Why are you standing in the middle of an English winter soaking wet.”
He grinned again. “Well, I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t stopped me.”
I flushed again, and not just because he’d moved and the faint lines of his tattoos showed even stronger against his shirt. Seriously, I swore the guy was tormenting me on purpose.
“Why are you wet?” I said, more harshly than I’d intended in my discomfort.
He looked down. “Old family tradition.”
He grinned back up at me as he balled the bottom of his shirt in his hand and rung it out, letting me see rather too much of his abs than was necessary for me to keep sensible brain function.
“Can you just... That is very distracting...” I said, putting my hand over his.
“Sorry.” He smirked and let the material go.
“Just... What family tradition?”
He looked behind him and back to me. “See the lake?” I nodded. “It has long been tradition in the Cooper family to jump in the lake when you come home after a long absence.”
“All of you do it?”
He raked his hand through his hair again. “The master of the house, historically. Wasn’t proper for the women-folk back in the day. Jax does when it’s hot enough, which is almost never in his mind. My dad, my grandfather before him, his dad, way back to the regency and probably beyond. It’s stupid,” he shrugged, “but traditions often only make sense to those they belong to.”
“Of course.”
Silence stretched between us for a moment and I kind of wished his abs were still on display. At least, then, I could blame my lack of conversation on the distraction of his body. Who am I kidding? I’d practically memorised it! I didn’t need to see it to be distracted by it. Damn, I could even still feel it under my hands the time we’d-
“How have you been?” he asked, finally.
I pulled myself out of the gutter. “Fine, you?”
“Good, yeah. Your Christmas went well? Family still...well?”
I smiled. “It was…eventful. Penny Foster asked Kate to go to Melbourne with her for the holidays, so she was parading around the house with that while Gemma’s in tears all over the place. Claire half-ignored it all, and Dad’s bloody useless. When he wasn’t out socialising, he was parading around with Kate.”
He seemed to supress a laugh and started undoing his buttons. Then, his face changed as he looked at me, and he merely pulled his jumper on.
I wondered at it for a moment, but at least it stopped me drooling.
I’d found myself feeling very odd as we’d walked around Pemberley, seeing pictures of the boys with their family, a girl the housekeeper had called Amanda, a few with Cass or Williams, even a couple of Liam.
The housekeeper had had nothing but wonderful things to say about Austin the boy, Austin the brother – both to Jax and Amanda – and now Austin as master of the estate. According to her, he was already more wonderful than his beneficent father and he’d only properly taken control of the estate three days earlier.
Hones
tly, it had to set a girl’s heart to swooning. The way Mrs Reginald’s eyes were alight with nothing but respect and devotion to him as she talked about him, his generosity, his fairness, his intelligence. I was practically ready to marry him on the spot.
I’d had a ridiculous thought that I could have shared in this grandeur had I not turned Austin down. That, even as we stood in the mighty halls, I might have called the place more like home than any other I’d had in England. Aunt Nadine could be here as a guest...
That had sobered my fantastical imagination; there was little likelihood that any of my family could be expected to be welcome at Pemberley, least of all me after the way I’d behaved.
I cleared my throat and tried to smile. “Not like you to forego a strip show, Austin.”
“Who’s going to a strip show?” Aunt Nadine asked, coming up behind us.
“Hopefully, no one I know.” Austin smiled at her charmingly and extended a hand. “Austin Cooper, I’m sorry if I get you a little wet.”
I choked on a laugh; I had not imagined that innuendo.
Oh my God, Austin Cooper was being charming, like Williams-level charming. The kind that would charm the pants off even his aunt...if that wasn’t gross...
I couldn’t blame Aunt Nadine batting her eyelids at him and stammering a response as he kissed her hand. I was feeling a little hot and bothered myself.
“Uh, Austin, this is my aunt, Nadine Gardiner.”
“Missus Gardiner, lovely to meet you.”
“Oh, please,” Aunt Nadine giggled like a school girl, “Missus Gardiner is my late husband’s first wife, call me Nadine.”
“Nadine, then.” He inclined his head.
“We were told you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow?”
“I wasn’t meant to be, but I had business to attend to before the rest arrive then. You’re staying nearby, I assume?”
“Lambton, yes.”
“Wonderful.” Austin smiled widely.
This Austin wasn’t even the Jax-impersonator. This Austin was all Austin, but it was like he was the Austin with no censor, the guy he really was inside. Or, who he wanted to be, but felt the world wouldn’t let him. I had no idea why this Austin was out in force now. Surely it wasn’t because of me? It was probably brain damaged from standing around in wet clothes in the cold... Oh my God, he has to get inside!
Nadine nudged me and I realise my mind had wandered off again. “That would be lovely, wouldn’t it, Lily?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Austin’s invited us to brunch tomorrow, with Amanda.”
I stared at him, gobsmacked. “He’s done what now?”
Austin grinned at me. “Amanda would love to meet you, and Jax and I have some things to set up for her before the party, so I thought I could bring her to meet you?”
My stomach churned. Austin wanted me to meet his sister... His sister wanted to meet me... Why did he want me to meet Amanda? He’s wet.
“You should change.”
Austin hid his laugh at my abrupt change of subject. “I’ll take that as a yes and see you tomorrow. And, now I shall, as you suggest, Lily, go in and change. I think I’m starting to chafe.” He looked like he was about to rearrange his pants, but thought better of it.
I nodded. “Yes, okay, you do that and we’ll see you tomorrow, then...”
“Again, lovely to meet you, Nadine. See you in the morning.” He bowed and left.
“Same to you, Austin!” Aunt Nadine called, then nudged me again as she led me back to the car. “Well, he was a bit lovely.”
I barked a shaky laugh. Aunt Nadine was certainly nothing if not an appreciator of the masculine form. And Austin had played her like a well-tuned violin.
“He...could be called quite lovely, I’m sure.”
“The muscles on that boy!”
“Aunt Nadine!” I laughed.
“What? I can’t appreciate a fine form? He was, to be sure, very aristocratic, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I saw none of this pride in him you were so fond of ranting about. Liam was a very attractive boy, but there’s something je nais se quoi about that Austin Cooper. Where you got those ideas about him, Lily, I’ll never know!”
“Trust me, Aunt Nadine. That young man was not the one I met at Netherfield on my first day. That one I suspect might be the true Austin Cooper.”
Aunt Nadine gave me a funny look – one sort of appraising, but also like she knew a secret – but said nothing as we drove away from the building.
The sun still shone merrily on the front and I was more than a little sad to be leaving it. Maybe I shouldn’t have refused to go to the party.
No, stay the course, Lily. Give yourself time to get over him before you submit yourself to being with him in the same room as alcohol. Plus, Hunter will be there...
Chapter Forty-Four: Austin
I tried to contain my excitement as I saw Amanda’s car pull up in front of the house. She unfolded her elegant frame out and glared at me across the roof as she pushed her sunglasses onto her head.
“Had you given me a little more time, I’d look more respectable,” she huffed.
I grinned. “Manda, you’re meeting Lily Brewer, not the queen.”
“No, I’ve done that already and grew out of that dress ten years ago!”
“Lily’s not going to care what you look like,” I said, rolling my eyes at her.
“That’s not quite the point, Oz, is it? I am an extension of you, therefore my looking good makes you look good.” She hung half out of the car as she talked to me.
“Again, not necessary.”
She laughed. “My! Cocky much?”
I shrugged. “It’s the truth. Lily thinks I’m hot, I don’t need to do any more work on the whole physical aspect of myself. It’s more a work in progress on all the…other stuff.”
“Firstly, I want to tell you she doesn’t think you’re as hot as you think she does. Although, I feel like that might be hitting below the belt a little. But, more importantly, Oz, you’re lovely, and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t worth your time.” The big sister glare of protection came out then and I smiled.
“Would you believe me if I told you I may not have been on my best behaviour when I first met her?” I asked, feeling a little embarrassed about the way I’d treated Lily since we’d met.
“Entirely.” It was Amanda’s turn to roll her eyes. “How much fallout am I actually dealing with?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. Just, work your magic and see what you can do for me?”
“God, you don’t ask for much, do you?” she scoffed.
“You’re my big sister, I thought you were supposed to do this sort of thing?”
She studied me for a moment. “Is she really worth it, bro? I’m only pulling the big sister act out for someone special. And, I got the emails whining about her, and her friends and family.”
I looked down and scuffed my shoe on the driveway. She knew me well enough to know exactly what that meant.
“Oh, seriously, dude? No wonder she hated you! Seriously, Oz, man. I love you to death, but you have got to stop being such an arrogant wanker.”
I looked up at her, eyebrow raised. “Really? I hadn’t noticed, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Yes, you knew that. Of course, you did. Thank you, Mister Sarcastic. Still, let’s get going and I’ll judge for myself just how much damage control needs to be done. Get in loser, I’m driving.”
I grinned, we climbed into the car and she took off. “Where’s Jax?” I asked.
“Meeting us there. Said he needed another half hour to do something.” I could tell she was staring at me as much as she could while she drove, and she had questions.
I’d never been good at lying to her and Jax would kill me if I gave the secret away, so I looked out the window and watched the countryside pass by.
“Fine, tell me about Lily, then. The real Lily. Not the one you made up i
n your head when you met her. What am I to expect?”
I felt myself smile. “She’s great. All sorts of kind and smart and beautiful, and she puts me in my place with no hesitation-”
Manda laughed and I could tell she didn’t believe me.
“No, you should hear some of the things she calls me. ‘Numpty’ is one of her personal favourites, she even punched me once.”
“Oh, I like her already,” Manda chuckled.
I ignored the dig. “I told you, you would.”
“And, he’s gone into serious-mode,” Manda sighed, heading into Lambton. “Honestly, Oz, it’s not that big a deal.”
I sighed and dragged my hand through my hair, which wasn’t growing nearly fast enough. “Mand, I’ve screwed this up more times than I care to count, forgive me for being a little nervous.”
“Unless you’re planning to propose to her, you’ve got nothing to be nervous about. We’re just going to go drink tea and eat food that’s super delicious, but way too tiny. We’ll talk, you’ll have Jax and me as a buffer so you can hide any awkwardness. Just, please tell me you’re passed all that hostility-to-cover-awkwardness stage, at least with Lily?”
I couldn’t answer her as I was focussed on the first part of her tirade, which seemed to just shut down my brain; there was nothing up there but static for a few minutes. Why the hell did the idea of proposing to Lily send my heartbeat into overdrive and my hands sweating?
Stupid body…that’s why.
“Oz?”
“Hm?” Say something to move the conversation along. “I may have flirted with her aunt, but I think we’re a go on lack of hostility.”
“Lord, dude. What the hell am I going to do with you? So, now I just have to watch out for you sending the right signals to the wrong girl? Joy!” Manda sighed, pulling into a car park. “All right, you ready?”
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