Dirty Aristocrat (8 page)

Tawny Maxwell

I
padded down a corridor with oversized modern art on the walls, not sure where I was going, but utterly unafraid of what I would find. I knew where I was and whom I was with.

The corridor opened out to a large living room with a high ceiling and light pouring in from tall windows. The décor was minimalistic with a spare color palette of white stone with black accents, and a mixture of modern and mid-century pieces. It was a perfect man cave. It even had the black bear rug.

How strange though? I did not have even the faintest memory of any of this. Whatever drug they had administered to me, it was certainly powerful. I should ask Ivan what the doctor said, if there would be any long-lasting side effects.

I walked through that space and found Ivan in a large, spotless, black and white kitchen, beating eggs. The radio was playing
How Long Will I Love You
and the air was scented with the aroma of the brewing coffee.

He turned to look at me with a puckered brow. ‘Could you not find your shoes?’

‘I know where they are, but I’m a Southern girl. We like being barefoot. I used to walk to the store in my bare feet all summer long.’

He looked at me as if he didn’t quite know how to respond to that bit of unsolicited information. ‘Right.’ He paused and scratched his chin. ‘Well, there’s a hairdryer in the second drawer to the left of the door in the bathroom.’

‘Thanks, but I usually just let my hair dry naturally.’

‘Fine.’ Again he seemed at a loss. He looked down at the bowl of eggs he had been beating when I came in. ‘I’m having eggs. You should have some too. You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday, have you?’

I ran my tongue along the inside of my right cheek and winced. ‘I don’t think I’ll eat anything. I have sores on the inside of my mouth and my jaw hurts.’

He frowned. ‘Yes, you were grinding your teeth in your sleep. Want me to heat up some soup instead? I think there might be some cans somewhere around.’

‘No, I’ll just have coffee first and see how I feel after.’

He walked to the coffee machine and facing me asked, ‘Cappuccino, espresso, filter, latte?’

‘Filter, please.’

He put a mug into the slot and hit a button. Coffee splashed into the mug. ‘Milk, sugar?’

‘Milk and two sugars, please.’

I lifted myself onto one of the tall stools around the island and he placed a steaming mug in front of me. I smiled my thanks and, grasping the mug with both my hands, brought it to my lips. I blew at the surface before taking a small sip. The fragrant heat travelled down my gullet, warming me.

‘Mmmm,’ I said.

He glanced at me, but did not say anything.

Quietly, I watched his strong, sure hands pour the beaten eggs into a pan greased with butter and scramble them slightly before scraping them onto two plates. He then buttered four slices of toast, placed them on the sides of the plates and put one plate in front of me and one at the opposite side of the island.

‘Bon appétit,’ he said.

‘Same to you.’

Sitting down he began to dig into his food.

I picked up the fork and put a small piece of egg in my mouth. I didn’t think I could eat, but the coffee had stirred my appetite and the eggs were surprisingly tasty. The sores only hurt if I let food scrape against them. I took a bite of toast. Our eyes met. His were level.

I carefully chewed on my good side, swallowed, and said, ‘Thank you for my breakfast.’

‘I would have done the same for anyone,’ he said expressionlessly.

This was exactly why I hated this man. He could drive a preacher to drink. I put the fork down. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Do what?’ he asked forking more egg into his mouth and chewing unconcernedly.

‘Throw my gratitude back in my face and try and turn every encounter into an argument,’ I said fiercely.

‘I don’t want you to be grateful to me and neither am I picking an argument with you. We argue because you insist on having a conversation when none is necessary.’

‘Wow! You sure know how to deflate a girl.’

He stopped chewing. ‘I’m not trying to deflate you. We are two people who have nothing in common. However, we seem to have been thrown into each other’s company for the time being. Until I find a workable scenario, I guess we’ll just have to tolerate each other, but I’m not going to pretend to be excited about the prospect, and I don’t expect you to be either.’

I jumped out of my seat. ‘Well don’t bother. I can take care of myself,’ I said furiously.

‘I made a promise to Robert and I’m keeping it,’ he said quietly.

That stopped me in my tracks. ‘You made a promise to Robert?’

He nodded.

I climbed back into the seat that I had vacated in a daze. ‘When?’

‘I used to go and visit him when you were in London.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah. He knew how I felt about you so he used to invite me around when you were gone.’

I shook my head in disbelief. ‘Oh my God. He never breathed a word about it. Not once.’

He shrugged and bit into his toast.

God, he had really good teeth. I mean like really white and really straight. I shook my head to get my thoughts back on track. ‘What did he make you promise?’

He sighed. ‘I suppose it’s not a secret. He made me promise that I would make sure his children did not hurt you. He wanted me to watch over you until you reach twenty-one. After that he said you would be able to take care of yourself.’

‘That’s crazy … he wanted you to watch over me until I am twenty-one!’

‘It may be crazy to you, but it was very important to him. He had never asked me for anything before that.’

‘Twenty-one. That’s more than a year away.’

‘I know,’ he said gloomily.

‘How long do you think it will be before you find a,’ I lifted my hands up to face level and made air quotes, ‘workable scenario’?’

He sighed. ‘Just give me a few days to think about it and come up with something workable. We don’t want a repeat of yesterday.’

My shoulders slumped. He was right. I shouldn’t be sitting here hollering at him. I should be trying to figure out how yesterday happened.

‘What exactly did you tell James?’

He picked up his mug and took a sip. ‘As a matter of fact, James is no longer working at Barrington Manor.’

‘What?’ I cried in shock.

‘I gave all your staff their walking orders.’

I stared at him in amazement and mounting fury. ‘You did what?’

‘I gave them all six month severance pay in lieu of notice. Theresa will hire a few people to close down the house and hire a caretaking couple. The gardening and stable staff will continue to maintain the gardens and grounds,’ he explained arrogantly.

‘Why?’ I spluttered in disbelief.

‘Because I don’t know who to trust and I don’t have the time to find out right now.’

I stared at him in horror. ‘So you fired them all!’

‘Yup.’

I shook my head. ‘That is unbelievably high handed, and anyway you can’t do that. You can’t make decisions like that without consulting me. You’re the executor of the estate so I need to come to you if I need to make a large purchase, but you can’t fire my staff or stop me living in that house. It’s mine.’

He shrugged casually. ‘You’re welcome to speak with a solicitor. You will find that I am able to take any decision that I think is in your interest. The house and its management also come under my jurisdiction.’

‘How is it in my interest to close down the house and fire all
my
staff?’ I demanded angrily.

He looked at me as if I was stupid. ‘Tawny. Have you fucking forgotten what happened yesterday? Someone you know and trust at the house drugged you. Effortlessly, I might add. Just think what would have happened if I had been overseas, or if I had not seen your call when I did. You would have spent the night outdoors, terrified out of your mind. You might even have frozen to death. You were blue by the time I found you.’

I subsided and covered my face with my hands. This couldn’t be happening. I needed time to think.

‘I need my wardrobe,’ I whispered almost to myself. I was thinking of that wonderful space that I used to steal into when I needed to be alone, but Ivan’s lip curled with distaste.

‘You’re rich enough to buy yourself a whole new wardrobe.’

‘I didn’t mean the contents. I meant … never mind,’ I said wearily.

‘Look, I’ve got to go out. Please don’t leave the apartment. The doctor said you could get flashbacks. I’ll get Theresa to call you and you can ask her to bring what you want. Food, clothes, toiletries, magazines.’ He spread his fingers out. ‘Whatever you need.’

He pointed towards a closed door to the left of the kitchen. ‘That’s the spare room. A new mattress will be delivered later this afternoon. You can set up in there until I figure out the next course of action.’

I glanced in the direction he had pointed. ‘Um … I know I don’t seem like it, but I am very grateful for what you did yesterday.’

‘No problem. I’ll be back for lunch. We can go out if you want.’

‘You don’t have to take me out. I’ll be OK.’

‘As you wish,’ he said indifferently, and walked away from me. I heard him go into his room and shut the door.

The eggs were cold so was the coffee. I sat on the stool and sighed deeply. What an ugly, ugly mess. Robert had been right to be worried. His children were far, by far, more venomous than I had given them credit for.

I fell asleep on the sofa an hour after Ivan left for work. I guess I must have been more devastated than I thought. When I woke up I felt horrible, depressed and kind of numb. Dead inside. And so lonely. Horribly lonely. I knew some of it would be the comedown effect of the drugs, but another part was the way life was turning out. The truth of my situation hit me. Without Robert I had no one.

No family. No friends. Not a single person in the world actually cared for me. Even Ivan made it blatantly clear that I was a nuisance to him and that he couldn’t wait to be rid of me. I was all alone in this world and now I didn’t even have a home I could go to.

Oh yeah. I seemed to have acquired a bunch of enemies too.

My head hurt.

I walked around Ivan’s beautiful apartment listlessly. Then at 2.00 p.m. Mrs. MacDonald came around.

‘Please, call me Theresa,’ she invited.

‘Then you must call me Tawny.’

‘Come and have a look at what I’ve got for you,’

She had brought some groceries, toiletries, and some clothes. A pair of jeans, a couple of T-shirts, a pair of sweats, and a shimmering cocktail dress. They were all in super bright colors that I would never have chosen for myself. It was as if she thought I was still a teenager.

‘Look, I even brought you some make up,’ she said cheerfully.

‘Thank you,’ I said politely. ‘But I definitely won’t be needing that.’ I held up the cocktail dress.

‘Oh, I believe you will need that. His Lordship is taking you to dinner tonight,’ she informed me with an approving smile.

Well, that was a strange way to find out someone was taking you to dinner. ‘No, I don’t feel up to it yet. Would you be kind enough to convey my apologies to him.’

‘Should I call a doctor?’ she asked, a frown creasing her forehead.

I shook my head firmly. ‘No. I just feel a bit down. I’d be terrible company.’

‘If you’re sure. Do you want me to get you anything else?’

‘Thank you, but no, I’m fine.’

‘All right. I have to be somewhere else, but your new mattress will be coming in the next hour.’

Once the mattress had been set up, I found sheets in one of the cupboards and made up the bed. Then I flopped into it and fell into a deep, black sleep.

I never even heard Ivan come in.