“No, nothing.” I shake my head innocently.
“When we get down there, people are going to ask questions. You can explain that we’ve been dating for a year or so. Thatneither of us expected any of this to happen, and that you had affairs of your own to organise before you could join me here. It would be far too rude for anyone to ask what those affairs were, and trust me, these people take manners and etiquetteveryseriously. I’m not even sure it’s appropriate for unmarried couples to reside together here in the dark ages,” he explains, looking below us and seeming almost nervous.
“Residing together?” I almost choke.
“You don’t think I’d have my girlfriend residing anywhere else, do you?” He raises an eyebrow at me.
“That’s something we will be negotiating,” I assure him, questioning what the hell I’m doing and why I’m not trying to run.
“You can make up the story of how we met. I’m not good with that kind of thing.” He starts moving us on.
“Wait.” I quickly tug him back.
“What do I call you in front of them? I don’t want to make myself look stupid.” Oddly enough, I don’t want to make him look stupid either.
The grin he shoots back at me tells me I’ve done a good enough job of that already.
“Jack…you call me Jack. Or darling, if you’d like. It kind of has a nice ring to it.” He chuckles as I jab his ribs with my elbow.
“That won’t be happening,” I promise.
“Come on, Grace, it’s time to feed you to the wolves.” He goes to move us forward again.
“Wait…” I haul him back a second time. “How did you…? I never told you my name.” At least I don’t think I did; usually I’m pretty smart with that kind of thing, but around this guy I seem to lose all my senses.
“No, you didn’t, but whoever's been screaming at you through that cute little earpiece you're wearing made it pretty obvious.” His hand gently slides up into my hair, causing myskin to prickle, and when his finger scoops the device out of my ear, I wonder how he made the extraction feel so hot. “Best to lose it for the rest of the evening, it’ll only give you a headache.” Tucking it into his top pocket, he takes the first few stairs, and it doesn’t take long for everyone's head to turn. I glance at all the shocked faces, noting the shock and disappointment that every female here struggles to hide, especially the blonde who I saw greet him so enthusiastically earlier. But there's one of them who can’t hide the anger she’s feeling — the woman in the red dress, who’s staring at my neck and seething.
“Fuck,the necklace…! We forgot to take it off.” I slide my hand over it subconsciously while Jack continues to lead me down his elaborate staircase.
“Ooops.” The shrug he makes is accompanied by a clever smirk. It tells me that this man rarely makes mistakes, and the fact I’m still wearing this extremely expensive necklace is not one of them.
“A word,Jack.” The woman in red speaks sharply as she heads towards us.
“What can I do for you, Cecelia?” He smiles at her with perfect charm.
“I think this is a discussion we should have in private.” Her eyes sharpen like daggers as they zone in on my neck again.
“How rude of me, I haven’t introduced the pair of you. Gracie, this is my stepmother, theDowagerDuchess of Fairfax.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I hesitantly offer her my hand, and the rude bitch stares at it as if it’s covered in faeces.
“Jack, where onearthdid you find this girl?” Her nose creases in disgust. “A festival. Whoa, that was a wild night,wasn’t it…darling?” I answer for him; he was the one who suggested I make up how we met.
“A festiv—Jack?” The woman looks to him in dismay.
“We’ve been dating over a year now.” I clutch his hand in mine and hang off his strong, muscular arm like a woman wrapped up in the clutches of lust would. “But Jack here promised to keep things under the radar. I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not really accustomed to this kind of lifestyle. I find it all quite overwhelming.” I fake a laugh before fluttering my eyes up at the man I supposedly adore. It’s wrong that I get a kick out of how proud he looks.
Cecelia looks to Jack for some kind of explanation, and he simply shrugs before putting his arm around my shoulders and squeezing me tight.
“What can I say? It was love at first sight,” he tells the disgruntled woman with a huge grin.
“You know what that is, don’t you?” She eyeballs the eight-million-pound necklace that I currently have fastened around my neck.
“Of course, I know what it is. I’m a Ravenshaw. This is a huge part of my history. In fact, I do recall having a photograph of my mother wearing it. I thought it would be fitting for my fiancée to wear it when making her debut appearance.”
“Fiancée?” Her eyes stretch wider, and once I take in what he just said, my head turns to look at him so fast I almost give myself whiplash.
“You never mentioned anything about a fiancée?” Cecelia fakes a smile to the couple that passes, but she fails to hide the panic in her eyes.
