Taking him, p.6
Taking Him, page 6
‘Look, I know we agreed a payment for you to marry me, but truly, as my husband, what I have is yours.’
He considered her words. It kind of felt like she was just paying a bigger price tag for his services, but he got the sentiment behind it. She was trying, at least.
‘Okay, Victoria, I get it, but maybe… Maybe no one else finds out about this, yeah?’ She nodded her head vigorously.
‘Promise.’ She mimed zipping her mouth shut. ‘And I’ve already spoken to my sisters about keeping things private. They’ve promised not to mention it again.’
‘Even Henrietta?’ he asked, sceptically. He had a feeling she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. He wasn’t completely sure of the story between the two sisters, but he knew there was a rift. Geri had told him of it when she’d been rabbiting on about the Snapes since the moment Victoria had left the club. There were various theories floating about—and he’d heard a few from his friend—but Cormac had a feeling it was more than just jealousy or a fall-out over their differing lives.
‘Even Hattie,’ she said, solemnly.
‘And you’re not frightened I’m going to run off with this and bleed you dry before the big day?’ he asked, the beginning of a smirk on his lips as he stared up at her. He was about to list a good number of insanely expensive things he could run off and buy, when she licked her lips and shook her head.
‘Something inside me tells me I can trust you. That you’re probably the only person I really can trust right now.’
The smile fell from his lips as she spoke. She couldn’t trust him; he’d already betrayed her trust before she’d even thought she could have it. He rubbed his hand over his face. This was such a mess. He didn’t even know if he had the right to be offended by what Henrietta had said.
‘Okay.’
‘Okay?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Yeah, but gimme some time, alright?’
Victoria nodded enthusiastically. ‘Okay. But just one thing?’
He sighed. ‘Yes?’
‘Well, I had a call from the palace… Our engagement party has been moved to Saturday night; do you have some guests you’d like to invite?’
Cormac groaned as he slunk down in his chair and squeezed his eyes closed.
‘I am never gonna hear the end of this…’
CHAPTER THREE
'And you’ve been reviewing the files Kirstie sent to you?’
‘Yes,’ Cormac called back exasperated, as he stood in front of the mirror, frowning at the strip of fabric wrapped around his neck. It didn’t look anything like bow ties should. Why the store had insisted he have a real one instead of a clip-on, he didn’t know.
How the hell did people do these things? He was supposed to look like James Bond, all suave and sophisticated, not a freaking adorable puppy in a shop window waiting for pats on the head and scratches behind the ear.
‘What are you doing?’ Victoria asked as she stepped into the dressing room, affixing an earring in her earlobe.
A smile quirked her lips as he faced her, and she saw his “bow tie”.
‘What have you done?’ She chuckled, and the warmth within it curled around Cormac’s insides, turning him to mush. They’d been tiptoeing around one another all week, being polite and courteous at all times. She was waiting for him to indicate to her that everything was okay between them again, that they could begin to build something of a relationship—be it friendship or something more—and move on with their lives. And Cormac ached to bridge the gap between them, to fix whatever was broken, but he had a feeling it wasn’t something between them that needed fixing—it was him.
He’d been wrestling with his conscience, wondering if he should tell Victoria what he’d done, but while the reasonable voice within him kept saying yes, she’ll understand, the other voice—that sounded even more reasonable—questioned why?
It was over and done with. He hadn’t actually betrayed her, and it wasn’t as if he was ever going to have anything to do with O’Malley again.
He offered his own lopsided smile as she came over to him.
She raised her hand slowly towards him, giving him the chance to lean back and pull away if he wanted. Instead, he stood fast, and her elegant fingers gently tugged at the bow to unravel it.
‘I’m guessing you’ve never worn one of these before?’ She undid the knot from under his bow and began to untwist the lengths. He shook his head.
‘When my mum hired my tux for our formal dance at school, she got me one that was already done and just fastened around my neck with a clip.’ Victoria tutted at the confession as she began to fix the mess he’d made. ‘I’m pretty useless with things like this; can’t do anything fancier than a simple knot in a tie either. Luckily, James’ school tie is elasticated.’
‘He’ll have to wear a proper one at Highbourne,’ she told him as she made the bow before slipping the other side under and over the back of it. ‘They insist on a Windsor knot there.’ Cormac groaned. ‘Hey! At least it’s not something ridiculously complicated like an Eldredge or a Van Wijk. Although, the Trinity knot always seems to catch my eye. I think it’s the way it looks; it’s quite hypnotic. There,’ she said as she pulled the tie tight. She rested her hands lightly against his chest and tilted her head one way, then the other as she took in her handiwork.
She licked her perfect red lips before glancing up at him through her long dark lashes. ‘Perfect,’ she purred.
She was, he agreed, as he nodded his head along with her own. He reached up to touch the tie and brushed her fingers with his as he brought it away again. He watched the sudden rise and fall of her chest as she took in a shaky breath at their contact.
Why couldn’t he just reach down and kiss her? Why couldn’t he just get over this stupidity he seemed to be suffering?
‘James will be waiting,’ she whispered as she ran her fingers down the lapels of his jacket, making sure they were symmetrical. ‘But don’t worry,’ she told him with a far too bright grin. ‘He’s got a clip on.’
Cormac watched her leave and cursed himself again.
Cormac stared out of the window overlooking the immaculate gardens as the partygoers mingled behind him. He pulled at his tie for the millionth time, the feeling it was choking him not going away, when another hand slapped at his.
‘What the—’
‘Stop fidgeting,’ Geri said as she scowled up at him. Cormac couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face at his blue-haired friend. ‘You look like a film star,’ she told him casually before taking a long sip of her colourful drink through a straw.
She stared at him through ultra-long bright blue false eyelashes. She was wearing her black contacts tonight, and it looked rather perturbing, but he figured that was what she was going for. She wore the most feminine dress he’d ever seen her in; an all-black floor-length, skin-tight number, decorated with beads and lace all. Really classy.
‘When did you get here?’ he asked. ‘Did you come with the guys?’ He peered over her head, looking for his other three invitees. Victoria had told him he could invite as many people as he wanted, but he’d struggled to think of anyone other than Geri.
He’d considered Axel, Harry, and Nick, thinking he could probably trust them not to go and sell their stories to the media, but he hadn’t been sure if he was close enough to them to ask them to such an event. Finally, he’d caved; he hadn’t wanted to look utterly pathetic with only one guest on the list. Victoria had ensured she’d kept her numbers down, her closest friends and her family—who were all total arseholes, he decided as he glanced over the heads of everyone for his friends.
‘Why Geri, you look lovely!’ Geri said. ‘Where did you get that dress you spent two months wages on just for my little engagement party that I totally forgot to tell you about? I’m so sorry you had to find out about it only when some fancy-ass, weirdly dressed dude showed up at your door. Oh, and I’m also sorry I never called to even tell you I was engaged to a woman I only just met and—’
‘Okay, Geri,’ Cormac interrupted, taking her elbow lightly in his hand and steering her even further away from the crowd behind her. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry?’ She looked wholly unimpressed and quickly shook his hand away. He’d forgotten her no-touching rule.
‘Yes, I’m sorry. I meant to call, but I don’t have your number.’
‘Cormac, we all know you don’t do phones,’ she replied with an eye-roll.
He smirked down at her before reaching into his inside pocket and pulling out the shiny black phone just enough for her to be able to see it.
‘Well, as I live and breathe!’ she said in quiet surprise as her eyes fell on the device. ‘You’ve finally stepped into the twenty-first century. Gimme!’ She made grabby hands towards it and with a sigh, he handed it over to her, knowing it was easier to just do it than argue. She huffed an annoyed breath before pinning him with an unimpressed glare through her long fringe.
‘You need a password on this,’ she whispered so no one else could overhear, before dropping her gaze back to the device in her hand and began tapping away. ‘There, now you have my number and’—she pressed the call button and allowed the line to connect with one ring before hanging up—‘now I have yours. There’s no escaping me now, Cormac Blake! I want regular updates on how the other half live.’ She held the phone back out to him. Cormac glanced at the tiny bag at the end of a chain over her shoulder.
‘How’d you fit your phone in that? No, wait, I don’t want to know where you’ve stashed it.’
‘Ha, ha,’ she said dryly. ‘You told us not to bring them. Your guy who made us sign the NDA before we even got to touch the posh envelope said it was so we can’t sell any pictures or recordings’—Cormac’s brows rose in surprise—‘which is annoying as I figured the least you could do was let me take a few snaps of you and Lady Snape together.’ She eyed him speculatively before adding. ‘You know, I’d be able to buy one of those cute beach cottages up on Wessex Shores if I told them how the two of you actually met.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ he snarled, an instinctive response as he recalled that night with perfect clarity. Geri instantly held up her hands in surrender.
‘Down, big boy. One, I was joking, and two, do you really think I’d want to be in the papers? Anonymous or not?’
He knew she was telling the truth; she gobbled up the gossip rags like they were going out of fashion, but she did say that anyone who went to them to spread those kind of things deserved to be squished under a perfectly sparkling stiletto shoe of the socialites, heirs and heiresses, and anyone else they betrayed.
‘Not funny, Ger.’
‘What’s not funny? Prince Artie’s tuxedo? Because trust me, it’s hilarious,’ Harry said as he joined the duo. ‘He’s acting like it’s some fabulous new thing with the way he’s courting compliments. Bitch, please. It’s a two-year-old Ralph Lauren, and anyone who’s anyone knows it. Deval Vine is winding him up over it, and he doesn’t even realise.’
‘Deval Vine is here?’ Geri said, instantly standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck to try and see over the crowd. ‘Axel, lift me up.’
‘No!’ Cormac hissed as the giant bouncer—who looked more like the incredible hulk squished into formal attire—reached down to pick her up. The man stood like a deer caught in headlights as he stared at Cormac with his hands on Geri’s hips. ‘Just behave, everyone, like normal people.’
‘Bitch, we are normal,’ Harry scoffed. ‘It’s this lot that aren’t.’
The group considered his words as they gazed out towards the party guests.
‘I have no idea who Deval Vine is,’ Cormac admitted, breaking the silence that had descended over them. He grabbed the glass of whisky from the waiter who brought over his drink and downed the amber liquid in one gulp before putting it back and asking for another—this time a double.
‘He’s only the editor of Chic magazine,’ Geri told him.
‘The magazine of the fashion world,’ Harry said as he grabbed a weird-looking piece of food from a different waiter’s tray.
‘Why would Victoria invite him?’ he asked, glancing around the room to see if he could spot Prince Arthur. He’d made a point of learning who Victoria’s cousins were, just to be able to avoid the ones she’d desperately insisted on. Arthur—or Artie as he’d been known by the public since he was a baby—was number one on that list.
‘Um, maybe because you have an interview coming up with the magazine…’ Geri glanced towards Harry who stared back at her agog at Cormac’s absent-mindedness. ‘You know, before the wedding.’
‘We’re doing interviews?’
Geri blinked rapidly as she processed his words, while Harry shook his head, mouth hanging open;
‘Since it started in 1892, Chic has interviewed every royal couple before their big day,’ Axel told him. ‘They’re also the ones who always get the rights to the wedding photos when they’re ready to be released. What?’ he asked as all eyes turned to him. ‘I know stuff. Just because I throw people out on their arses don’t mean I can’t appreciate nice things.’
‘We are going to have to have a talk. Soon,’ Harry told the giant, before turning back to Cormac with a really, Axel knows this shit and you don’t? look on his face. At least, that was what Cormac took from the expression the other man gave him. Cormac dropped his head back between his shoulders and made an exasperated groan.
‘There’s so much to learn. My head is going to explode.’
‘Just do what I do,’ Nick finally spoke up. ‘Just smile and nod when people tell you things. Then you don’t have to remember because they just think that you agree with them.’
‘That’s… Yeah, anyway,’ Geri said, turning back to Cormac, but he thought Nick might have something there. ‘Have you met any of the royals?’ She glanced around her and Cormac knew she was looking for an introduction.
‘I’ve met Victoria’s sisters,’ he said with a shrug. ‘But this lot, nah. Victoria said to stay away from them for as long as I could, and so far, none of them have done anything other than cast me side-eye, so we’re all golden.’
‘Wait, none of them?’ Now it was Harry who looked perplexed. ‘Not a single one of them has come over to actually speak to the man who just magically popped up into Lady Snape’s life?’
Cormac shook his head. ‘Nah, Victoria reckons they’re pissed at me, because now it means they can all be married off by King Richard. That means no more of the carefree good life. Instead, it’s babies and titles and more responsibilities.’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Geri said, scanning the room again. ‘I’ll bet Alistair will be next.’
‘Ugh, please don’t say that,’ said a new voice. The group turned as one to see His Royal Highness, Prince Alistair of Avalone, standing just at Cormac’s left shoulder, peering into the group. A collective gasp sounded before a flurry of motion kicked into them all; the men dipping in bows, while Geri tried to curtsey in the tight dress she wore.
‘Oh, no, don’t do that,’ Alistair said quickly, motioning for them to stand up. ‘Not here, not in front of all my cousins; it’ll only give them more ammunition.’
‘Ammunition?’ Harry asked, while Nick smiled and nodded along. Cormac rolled his eyes.
‘Yes,’ Alistair said forlornly as he glanced out at the rest of the room. ‘You try being the thing between them and the Crown and see how well you stand up.’
Nick nodded again before wincing as Geri shoved her elbow into his side.
‘Your Royal Highness—’ she began.
‘Please, call me Alistair. I mean, Cormac here is going to be family soon, and you’re all his friends, so…’
This time, everyone seemed to do a Nick as they smiled and nodded. Cormac made to speak when a fanfare sounded, scaring the shit out of him. He wasn’t the only one in the group to jump. All his friends did the same, but Alistair merely groaned, dropping his head back to stare at the ceiling before focusing his attention on the doors at the other end of the room. The group followed suit.
‘Their Royal Majesties, King Richard and Queen Katrine of Avalone,’ the herald announced to the room. The beginning notes of the national anthem began to play from the string quartet in the corner, as the doors to the ballroom swung open. A small silver-haired man strode into the room, one hand shoved deep into his pocket, with his diminutive queen at his side.
‘They say he has one hand smaller than the other,’ Geri whispered to Cormac. ‘That it was affected by polio as a child or something.’
‘You’re half right. It’s actually caused by Poland’s Syndrome,’ Alistair hissed behind Cormac’s back to the blue-haired wonder. ‘By the way, I love your hair.’
Cormac heard Geri giggle, and he knocked her with his elbow to get her to shut up.
The King of Avalone was here. The fucking King! He was going to meet him. Victoria had said it would be tonight, but he hadn’t really understood what that meant until now, with all these people standing around with hands on hearts as they sang the anthem of their nation, of their Royal Family.
‘Are you okay?’ Alistair asked, genuinely concerned. ‘You’ve gone a little pale.’
‘I gotta meet the King,’ he breathed. Alistair seemed to understand as he merely responded with an ah, to his dilemma.
‘He’s not too bad.’ Cormac glanced at the prince from the corner of his eye. ‘Okay,’ Alistair relented ‘Just learn to blend into the background. It’s what Victoria and her sisters try and do. It seems to work for them.’
‘Not an option for you?’ Harry asked, his curiosity piqued.
‘Not when you’re in direct line to the throne.’
‘And how the hell am I supposed to do that when it’s my engagement party?’ Cormac asked. Geri’s hand slapped his again as he reached up to tug at his bow tie, but no one gave him an answer.
When the anthem finished, they all began a round of applause and Victoria suddenly appeared in front of the King, dipping into a curtsey so deep Cormac didn’t think it was good for her knees. She seemed to hold it forever, and he frowned, wondering why the King wasn’t letting her up.
