Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 142801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“I had the jeweler put the velvet band on to match the color of your hair—no easy feat, given its brilliance.”
“If you ever get tired of property, you could always consider a career in hairdressing,” I say to our reflections as he fits the final pin. “Or a lady’s maid.”
He pauses, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. “Doesn’t that mean I’d get to help you from your clothes every night?”
“Like you don’t already.”
“Tonight, I’ll leave the tiara.” From behind, he presses his lips to my neck. My breath quickens as my thoughts blur, everything inside me turning molten at the touch. “There, the lily is gilded.”
I inhale shakily as his hand slips down my shoulder. I look like a princess. Cinders in her borrowed dress. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not quite as beautiful as you.” His voice is rough as his hands slide around my waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you for helping me get to this point.”
“Northaby?”
“With everything. I wasn’t joking when I said you were the best thing to fall into my lap this year. I just didn’t realize at the time how lucky that made me.” My heart fills, but he’s not done. “I know we had a less than promising start, but I can’t wait to see what life brings us.”
“Me too.” I cover my arm with his, and his smile spreads sweet and slow like spilled honey.
“We should probably leave.” Yet his arms tighten. “I’m sure your second-most-ardent admirer is pining for the sight of you.”
“Bo?”
“That dog loves no one but himself.” He’s out for a walk right now with one of the porters. They’re going to keep him company tonight when we’re out charity ballin’. “You know I mean Mandy.”
“Too funny,” I say as he takes my hand.
“Who’s laughing?”
I turn to the back window, still marveling as Ted maneuvers the Bentley through Northaby’s entrance. “I love how it’s like a mini Arc de Triomphe.” I turn back as the road opens up to the miles-long driveway, flanked by rolling green lawns and majestic trees. And not a lion in sight. “I’ll get to see the animals tonight, right?”
“Was it not enough that the monkeys almost destroyed Mandy’s Land Rover last time?”
“They were rhesus macaques, and Mandy’s Land Rover is built like a tank.” That’s not to say the other cars there that day fared so well. The macaques chewed on aerials, pulled off windshield wipers, and chewed anything they could snatch.
“I’m afraid alcohol and beasts tend not to be a good mix. Add in a safari park full of wild animals, and it’d be a health and safety nightmare.”
“Har. Har.”
“But I have seen the keepers walking the grounds with some of the less fearsome animals at events before.”
With Lucy, I’ll bet. The thought curdles my mood like sour milk.
“What kind of animals?” I ask, trying for an upbeat tone.
“I think I saw koalas last time. Snakes. And I’m sure there was a baby alligator. Yes, someone made a comment about it being the ideal handbag. Mandy wasn’t very pleased. In fact, I’d never seen him so fierce.”
This warms my soul. “Mandy is on my list of favorite people.”
“Long list?”
“Just four people. Don’t worry, I am considering adding you to it.”
Oliver laughs.
As we draw closer to the house, the topography changes to reveal a lake and a quaint-looking boathouse. Beyond, straight lines of manicured hedging hints at a formal garden setting. Ted turns the corner, and we get to view the house from another aspect. Tall, the buttery stone gleams in the setting sun.
“What is it?” Oliver turns. Maybe I gasped in surprise or delight.
“We didn’t come this way before.”
“No, we went to the other entrance.”
“I just realized you’re buying a Pemberley.” In this light, at this moment, Northaby House looks like something out of a Jane Austen novel—made for TV!
“I’m buying a Northaby,” he says with an amused shake of his head.
“Shut up!” I sound almost offended. “A safari park and Pemberley? It’s good for you we met before I got to know Mandy.”
He looks at me like I’m the funniest thing ever. He obviously doesn’t know that bitches love a Pemberley.
Ted joins the queue of fancy cars waiting to reach the red-carpeted entrance. Honestly, when your house looks like this, a red carpet is overkill. Not that it stops me from feeling like a princess as the door is opened for me by a for-real, live, liveried footman.
And the house. Oh, my gosh. Mandy was so patient with me at the palace, but my first time here, I saw how mundane being there must’ve felt to him. Like wandering around his kitchen in his slippers. Northaby is so swanky, I’d totally wear my tiara to breakfast if I lived here.
“At the risk of repeating myself,” I murmur, leaning into Oliver. “Wow. Wow. Wow.”
“You like the place, don’t you?”