Dirty Aristocrat

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.’