I sigh. ‘He’s my hero. Forget the delicious duke—Pete’s my man. Have they let you see the library yet?’
Nicola’s eyes widen. ‘No. But I can’t wait. Are you excited?’
‘About having Josh’s head up my skirts all morning?’ I shrug. ‘There are worse jobs, I suppose.’ And we dissolve into giggles.
I’m making Nicola promise to Face Time Nora with me later, because Nora willdieif she gets to meet her, when there’s an unmistakable voice behind me.
‘Good morning, ladies.’
‘Here we go,’ I murmur. If I’m honest, just hearing his voice hits my skin with a smattering of delicious goosebumps. And if I’m even more honest, I find I’m having to watch myself when we’re around the crew and the rest of the cast to make sure I’m not being too buddy-buddy with him.
That’s crazy: I’m actively having to stop myself from being publicly nice to Josh Lander. That his ability to deliver earth-shattering orgasms has more of a bearing on my behaviour towards him than all the shit he threw my way is plain wrong.
Nicola is staring over my shoulder as if the second coming of Christ is playing out behind me. ‘Oh my fuck.’
I turn to see Josh smirking at us. He’s looking particularly easy on the eye today, in all his Dom glory. As he’s preparing for a sumptuous, NSFW feast with his wife—and on his wife—he’s in his gorgeous billowing shirt and waistcoat (fun fact: it was pronouncedwes-kitin those days). I eye him greedily. He is good enough to eat.
‘Your Grace,’ I say breathlessly, for Nicola’s benefit.
‘Your Grace. My beautiful wife.’ He turns to Nicola. ‘Her Grace is ravishing, is she not?’
Poor Nicola. Having Josh Lander doing full-on Dominic cosplay must be completely overwhelming for her. Her mouth hangs open.
‘Ms Marchant may need her smelling salts, Your Grace,’ I tell him. ‘Do go easy on her.’
Josh relents, giving her his best Hollywood grin (which is pretty fucking fabulous) and lapsing into his own voice. ‘Nicola. Josh Lander. It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’m a huge fan.’
Nicola holds her hand to her heart. ‘You are so perfect. I’m overcome. Oh my God. It is such a pleasure; you have no idea. I’m so thrilled you’re both playing my favourite characters.’
‘I’m honoured. Dom is a lucky bastard, isn’t he? Thank you for creating such a troublesome but beguiling wife for me. Now, shall we go see if this library lives up to the hype?’
He offers us each an arm and escorts us to the farthest sound stage that, until today, has been shut off. I’m excited, and I’m glad Nicola is here to share this moment with us. I can’t imagine what it must be like for her, seeing this world and these characters she’s held so dear for years come to life in front of her.
‘Mind if we sneak in here?’ Josh asks one of the crew.
The guy holds the plywood door open for us andoh my God.
It’smagnificent.
Seriously—I want to move in here. Or at least have them make me up a bed in here. This place is magical.
The space above us, where the domed ceilings should be, is open to the studio roof, but all around is a book lovers’ paradise. Carved white bookshelves with ornate, gilded mouldings line the set, which covers three sides of a room. Not only that, but the shelves are chock-full of books and each one is bound with a pastel-and-gilt jacket.
It gets better. There’s another level, a mezzanine-type balcony on top of the bookshelves that goes the whole way around and contains another full storey of identical bookshelves on top. I have no idea if we can get up there, but I raise my face and turn slowly on the spot as I take in the breathtaking level of craftsmanship that’s gone into this set.
And best of all, in the middle of the floor, which is tiled with three colours of marble to form a 3-D cube pattern, lies a large velvet throw piled high with pastel-coloured silk cushions and cake stands full of food. There are four people at work on the floor, putting finishing touches to the cakes and macarons and tiny sandwiches the stands bear.
Myriad emotions hit me in the gut. It’s partly allowing myself to experience this through my character and knowing how much this gesture by her husband will mean to Georgiana. By having this library picnic arranged for her, he’s showing her how much she means to him. How important to him her wellbeing is. How far he’s willing to go to make her happy.
It’s also the emotion of being part of a large TV crew family and taking a moment to revel in the sheer amount of talent and labour and dedication so many people are bringing to this astonishingly beautiful creative outpouring.
And it’s maybe a tiny bit the fact that as I stand on the spot, rotating in awe, Josh comes alongside me and brushes my fingers with his. He looks down at me, and I pause mysweep of the view to meet the chocolatey comfort of his gaze.
‘You love it, don’t you?’
‘I’m blown away,’ I tell him. ‘I want to move in—I could be very content here.’
Josh smiles down at me. His smile is tinged with wistfulness. ‘I think if that’s the reaction Dom gets from his wife, he’ll be a happy guy.’
