We acknowledge the script note that there’s an awkward pause as Dominic and Georgiana start dancing. Clearly, she has about as much to say to him as I do to Josh Lander.
Josh begins. ‘I hear you are most fond of reading, Miss Kenworthy.’
‘I am, Your Grace. I find it more diverting than needlework, at any rate.’ I shoot him a look and raise my eyebrow in the droll manner I imagine Georgiana would adopt.
‘I dare say anything is more diverting than needlework. Although your delicate fingers are far better suited to it than mine would be, I fear.’
He holds my gaze and speaks without consulting the script. When we shoot this line, Dominic will brush Georgiana’s fingers with his. Finally, eye contact, and it’s as searing as I expected. It’s as if Josh is having an entirely different conversation with those bottomless brown eyes than with his words. I’m reminded that his eyelashes have always been unfairly long and thick. His pupils are huge as he stares at me, making his eyes improbably dark and impenetrable. Maybe he’s on something to take the edge off. I wouldn’t put it past him, given what I now know about him.
I stare back defiantly. There’s no way I’m consulting my script if he doesn’t need to. And this conversation between Dominic and Georgiana suddenly seems far less innocuous when Josh and I are drinking in each other’s faces.
‘Your Grace need not fear any imminent need to acquaint himself with the technicalities of needlework. I’m sure your hands are admirably suited to the duties your position requires: shooting, and writing, and… other things.’
Poor Georgiana: too innocent to have more than a vague hunch she’s entering dangerous territory, and too well-bred to allow for any awkwardness in the conversation. She pivots, quickly. ‘But do you read, Your Grace?’
‘I read as much as I possibly can when my time allows it. Which is not as much as I would like. But tell me, Miss Kenworthy, what reading matter interests you the most?’
Josh watches my mouth as I answer. To be fair, there is a note in the script that Dominic’s gaze is fixated on Georgiana’s mouth as she speaks.
I realise too late that I’ve licked my lips.
That’s definitely not in the script.
Josh’s mouth curves up ever so slightly.
‘My choice of books, Your Grace, is limited to my late father’s library. He favoured Christian works, philosophy and science.’
‘Did he, now? So your late father was both a man of God and a progressive?’
‘He was.’ My voice is quiet.
‘I should like to have met him. I dare say I should have relished the opportunity for a good debate with your father. I have a vast library at my seat in Coventry, Miss Kenworthy, and a more modest one in London. My tastes lean more towards economics, agriculture and art. But I should be honoured to show you either library one day, should you wish to sample some new subject matter.’
I smile at him blandly. Georgiana is humouring Dominic. She has no idea at this point that he’s already formulating a plan to marry her. She knows him to be an infamous rake, but he’s a smart one, using her beloved books to reel her in.
‘Your Grace is too kind. I should like that very much.’
‘Not as much as I should like it, I dare say,’ Josh mutters darkly. And I’m mortified to admit, we’re both still staring at each other when the read moves back to my mother.
CHAPTER 19
Elle
Ihad no idea table reads could be so exhausting. I’m lying on the sofa in yoga pants and a cosy jumper with Olive on my tummy, completely pooped after the emotional turmoil of today. In the space of a morning and an afternoon we’ve read through two episodes, which means I’ve met Dominic, he’s fallen for me, professed to Rugby his desire to marry me, professed the same desire to my cousin, proposed to me and married me. All against my will.
I’m bloody knackered. Thank Christ Episode Two ends with the wedding ceremony, so Josh and I didn’t have to grunt and moan our way through the dreaded wedding night today. Not that Alyssa would make us do that at a table read. I hope.
We’ll be shooting out of sequence, as far as I can tell, given the amount of locations we’ll need to use, but Alyssa’s planning on shooting the intimate scenes sequentially, to help Josh and me find our feet as Dominic and Georgiana.
I suppose it makes sense. It means that any nerves from the actors during the early kissing scenes will be channelled into making the characters’ nerves more believable, and it also means I can plausibly be shitting it during the wedding nightscene. (Although there’s nothing clever—or funny—about using that turn of phrase when you have Crohn’s.)
To be clear, the wedding night scene is So Hot. I lapped it up when I read the book. And the screenplay. I wasfanningmyself. Which means the prospect of acting it with Josh Lander, perpetrator of the best sex of my life and breaker of my heart, is So Scary.
But presumably, by the time we’ve coasted through the honeymoon scenes, I’ll have completely got over myself and we’ll be going for it like old-timers. That’s the plan, anyway.
Nora has miraculously extricated herself from the office in good time today, and Mara has shown up with a couple of bottles of lovely organic red. My friends are nothing if not obvious. But I know their presence here tonight is twenty-five percent nosiness, seventy-five percent fierce concern for me. Okay, maybe it’s fifty-fifty. But that’s fine.
Mara folds herself elegantly on the floor like a cat and shakes her hair out. ‘So, I don’t need to spin any unfortunate murders just yet?’
