Page 45 of Consequences of Their Wedding Charade
‘Two weeks, Raymond? A fortnight? Give you young things plenty of time to start sorting out the details about where you’re going to live. Of course, far be it from me to say anything about the folly of bringing up a baby in central London, however big the mansion might be, but then that’s just the opinion of an old fool...’
Those words were ringing in her ears when, less than five minutes after Raymond had gone, William offered his godson’s services to return her to her house.
‘Although, my dear, you’re more than welcome to stay here.’ He shot them both a crafty look from under bushy brows and grinned. ‘Curtis, your room’s made and I dare say a double bed would do for the both of you...?’
She promptly opted for the ride home and waited in dithering low-level panic as William bustled off upstairs, waving down her offer to help tidy the kitchen, whilst Curtis disappeared to store her bike in the garage.
No sooner was the car door shut on them and the engine started than she spun to him and said, restraining herself from shouting, ‘Whatis going on, Curtis?’
Fists clenched on her lap, she peered at his averted profile as he calmly manoeuvred the four-wheel drive down towards the lane at the bottom of the front garden.
She realised that whilst she had been panicking for most of the evening as she’d felt herself sucked deeper and deeper into a trap not of her making,hehad remained firmly in control, giving nothing away, as charming as he always was. Charming and doing absolutely nothing to avert the impending storm on the horizon.
Underneath the charm, if only she could read what he was thinking, but she couldn’t. He was a marvel when it came to concealing just exactly what he didn’t want to reveal and right at this moment she was at a loss to decipher his thoughts. She assumed that surely he must be thinking as she was, alarmed at the fact that they had somehow found themselves manoeuvred into a situation they hadn’t anticipated.
‘It seems,’ he drawled, concentrating on the road, taking it slowly as the snow gathered in swirls around the car, spraying against the windscreen wipers, ‘that William is in something of a rush to get the formalities out of the way.’
‘Is thatallyou have to say on the subject?’ Jess all but cried in utter frustration.
‘I can’t focus on driving if you talk.’
She snorted, glowering, but fell into impatient silence as he carefully wended his way to her house, easing the car to a stop directly in front and killing the engine.
‘Before you launch into a full-scale post-mortem of this evening,’ he began, unbuckling his seat belt, ‘let’s go into the house. I need warming up with some coffee.’
There was no need to look at her to know that the unfolding of the evening had horrified her.
Her silence had been telling. He had almostfeltthe stiffness behind her responses and had done his best to paper over it.
In truth, he had been as startled as she had been by the presence of the local vicar. The revelation that his godfather and his friend had concocted a hastened schedule towards a wedding had shocked him, but he had kept his reaction firmly under wraps.
Anything else would have been inappropriate.
And really, how surprised should he have been by both developments? Not very. It had become clear over the past few days that his godfather’s disapproval of his private life ran deeper than Curtis had ever imagined.
That hurt. Of course he knew that William was fashioned along more traditional lines. Of course he knew that his godfather didn’t care for the revolving door approach to relationships that Curtis favoured, but in the past there had been no overt discussions on the topic.
However, things had changed dramatically on that front.
In short order, Curtis had been made aware of just how much William despaired of his history of brief liaisons. There had been relief when he had broken off his engagement with Caitlin because, as William had finally told him in no uncertain terms, wherever that match had been made, it had definitelynotbeen in heaven. But since then...? Curtis’s return to his bad old ways had been a source of deep concern and disappointment.
That had been the very word William had used and never in his life had Curtis felt so wretchedlylacking.
So now that he and Jess were together, with a baby on the way, William couldn’t have been happier. Threaded into that happiness, though, he had managed to bluntly inform his godson that any return to his ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ways would be unacceptable.
It shouldn’t have come as a shock that William wasn’t going to tolerate a loose timetable when it came to tying the knot and he had therefore taken matters into his own hands and hurried things along at a pace that had left Curtis spinning.
The fact that hewantedto marry the mother of his unborn child was also a source of intense frustration.
Throughout the course of the evening, he had slanted surreptitious looks at Jess and he knew her well enough to establish that she was no closer to accepting his marriage proposal now, in the face of the rushed schedule William had chosen to spring on them, than she had been when he had first suggested it.
She didn’t want to marry him. She liked him, she had fun with him, and they were sexually more than compatible, but shestilldidn’t want to end up with him permanently by her side. Underneath the liking and the fun and the good sex, it was clear that he just didn’t quite cut it.
Now, as they stepped into her small house and he began removing his coat, he realised that thathurt.
Why? Why did that hurt? When he had always taken such care to protect himself from anyone having the power to inflict any sort of emotional pain on him. He suddenly felt a wave of nausea wash over him, temporarily dulling his ability to think straight, then his head cleared and he wondered whether it was just a case of his ego having taken a blow.
Made sense, didn’t it?
