“About what?” Maybe he had a good reason for avoiding her this week. Maybe it really wasn’t his fault.
“Your friend’s hen do, remember?”
“Of course.” Or maybe not.
“Listen, I was thinking, I have loads of ideas and would love to go over them with you, but we should get together soon, seeing as the party is supposed to be end of next week.”
Oh, God, that’s right. Bonnie had been doing such a good job focusing on each day as it came, she’d completely blocked out what was next. “I appreciate the offer, I really do—”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” Tabitha cut her off.
“I’m not?” Why did Theo’s sister care about this anyway?
“Are you free tomorrow afternoon, around teatime?”
“Yes, actually.” Tomorrow was Friday, and she was done chaperoning excursions.
“Take the train to the same station Theo picked you up at when he borrowed my car, the one near the Abbey. I’ll come fetch you. You remember what my car looks like, right?”
“Sure…”
“Brilliant. See you then.”
CHAPTER 25
STILL NOT COMPLETELY sure why she’d agreed to this, on Friday afternoon, Bonnie stood on the train station platform and watched for Tabitha. She recognized the car Theo had picked her up in exactly one week ago and stepped off the curb as it screeched to a halt in front of her.
“Hey!” Tabitha offered Bonnie a grin. “You in?” She peeled out of the parking lot before Bonnie had time to respond.
Bonnie buckled her seat belt and double-checked to make sure her door was securely locked. Of the two siblings, Theo was undoubtedly the more conservative driver.
In minutes, Tabitha was zooming past a gatehouse. “Here we are,” she said, waving to the attendant as she flew by, twisting and turning along a neatly groomed gravel road through manicured gardens and parks. Bonnie spotted several deer as she stared out the window, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Theo’s home.
Finally, after a mile or so, they rounded a bend, and Bonnie got her first glimpse of the Emberton family seat. If she’d had her doubts before, seeing Theo’s house confirmed it. House was inadequate. Even mansion didn’t begin to cover it. This was a palace. A residence fit for royalty … or the highest-ranking non-royal peer of the realm.
“Whoa,” Bonnie breathed. It was the only sound she could manage.
“It’s a lot to take in, I know,” Tabitha agreed, her voice tinged with a good-natured note of self-consciousness. “One gets used to it.”
Does one? This was not some fantasy; it was real life. And for Bonnie, it marked the beginning of the end to any dreams she may have still harbored in her heart for a future with Theo. What business did she have thinking she could be with a duke? Their lives were further apart than Lizzie and Darcy even.
Setting a brisk pace, Tabitha led Bonnie inside and through a maze of halls. Overwhelmed with the urge to dawdle and gawk at everything, Bonnie struggled to keep up. She could easily imagine how this place employed most of a town. It was the size of one.
Passing through another series of arches, Bonnie followed Tabitha as she rounded a corner into a small foyer. An older woman was exiting a room, tray in hand.
“Marjorie.”
“Yes, Lady Tabitha?”
“Are they taking tea in the blue drawing room?”
“They are indeed.”
“Brilliant. I believe we shall join them.” Tabitha flashed a curiously wicked smile in Bonnie’s direction. “This way.”
It was odd to hear Theo’s sister, the girl she’d met laughing and joking in Piccadilly Square, the girl who drove like she was qualifying for the Indy 500, referred to as “Lady.” Tabitha walked like she was racing too. Bonnie quickened her steps, catching up to Tabitha just as she was opening a wide double door.
“Tabitha, you’re late,” a woman’s cool clipped voice observed. Bonnie followed Theo’s sister into the room and the voice added, “And I see you brought a guest.”
The utter disapproval mixed with a strong dose of irritation made Bonnie pause, but Tabitha kept moving, briskly crossing the elegant room lined in pale blue wallpaper. In a moment, Tabitha had arranged two chairs near each other and was waving Bonnie over. Forcing her feet to move, Bonnie joined them.
Unfazed by the less than warm welcome, Tabitha offered the older woman seated next to a large tea tray a breezy smile. “Mama, I’d like you to meet my new friend, Miss Bonnie…” Tabitha trailed off, glancing back at Bonnie.
“Blythe,” Bonnie supplied. Should she curtsy or something?
“Bonnie Blythe,” Tabitha repeated.
Bonnie smiled weakly.
“Tabitha,” Theo’s mother sniffed, ignoring Bonnie completely, “if you’re planning to remain, do sit down and get on with it before the tea grows cold.”
Bonnie took the seat Tabitha offered her, thinking if the tea was cold, it was probably due to Theo’s mother’s frosty glare. Ice cubes clinked in Bonnie’s stomach as she sat. Tabitha poured out a cup for each of them, nodding at the two girls seated together on a settee. “These are my sisters,” she began.
“Thalia and Tessa, right?” Bonnie asked, recalling her conversation with Theo.
“Right. I’m Tessa,” the younger-looking girl of the two replied, rolling her eyes. “Not ‘baby Tessa.’ And don’t get me started on the T thing.”
“You’re talking to Bonnie Blythe, remember?” Bonnie grinned, relaxing the tiniest bit.
“Good point.” The other girl laughed. “And I’m Thalia.”
“Theo.” Tabitha’s grin turned sly as she glanced at her brother. “I believe you’ve already made Miss Blythe’s acquaintance?”
“Yes,” Theo grunted, hands fisted awkwardly at his sides, blue eyes icy as he returned his sister’s smile. That he was pissed, was obvious. It was the why Bonnie wondered about. He’d been the one ignoring her calls. He turned toward Bonnie and nodded his head. “I’ve had the pleasure.”
A rush of heat crept up Bonnie’s neck at his choice of words while her brain provided a few reminders of exactly what kind of pleasures she and Theo had shared. Good God, this was awkward.
Theo’s mother coughed loudly.
Unperturbed, Tabitha turned her attention to the woman seated next to Theo. “Lady Camille, how’s it going?” Tabitha asked.
“Lady Tabitha, it’s ‘going’ quite splendidly, thank you.” The woman smiled at Tabitha before turning her attention to Bonnie. “I believe we’ve met as well, in Chicago.”
“Oh?” Bonnie looked more closely at the woman and realized she did look familiar. She’d been having tea with Theo last time she saw her. “Right. At the Drake.” She forced her lips into a smile. “Nice to see you again, uh … Lady Camille.” Was this woman the reason Theo had been ignoring her? Why he hadn’t called? Was she part of the big emergency that he’d raced home for, forgetting Bonnie even existed?
“Camille is fine,” she said, giving Bonnie a sweet smile. Loose blond curls that reminded Bonnie of Sadie bobbed as she shook her head.
Despite herself, Bonnie returned the smile. The woman’s sunny nature and kind face put her at ease. Unfortunately, that ease didn’t last long.
Theo’s mother tilted her chin, managing to stare haughtily down at her son despite being more than a head shorter. “Am I to understand you had tea with both ladies? How terribly rude of you, Theo, to be entertaining one guest and then invite another.”
“That’s not what happened,” Theo said, voice so clipped it could trim hedges.
Bonnie followed the conversation, head bobbing like a ping-pong ball. Did “have tea” mean something else in England? Because really, what was the big deal?
“It was all quite civil, Your Grace,” Camille assured Theo’s mother. “Merely a happy accident. Your son was the perfect gentleman, and I was delighted with the opportunity to meet one of his friends.”
“That is kind of you to say, my d
ear girl, but I would expect nothing less from a well-bred lady such as yourself.”
If Bonnie wasn’t mistaken, Theo’s mother had just delivered one hell of a passive-aggressive insult. What had she done to earn such venom from someone she’d never met before?
Bonne felt her cheeks heat and wished she could fade right into the furniture.
“Camille,” Tabitha said, stepping into the fray and boldly taking the reins of the conversation, “tell us what a well-bred lady such as yourself was doing in Chicago.”
One of Theo’s sisters sputtered into her teacup.
“Grad school for International Relations.” Camille offered Tabitha a smile, not a bitchy-sweet smile, but a real smile, and Bonnie wondered if the girl was super nice or super oblivious.
“Admirable.” Theo’s mother nodded her head. “She’ll make a fine partner for the right man. Don’t you think so, Theodore?”
Taking his choked reply as an affirmative, she went on to say, “Lady Camille will soon be finished with her studies; you’d be wise not to let this one get away.”
Heavy-handed there much, Lady Catherine? Bonnie had often wished to be in the middle of an Austen novel. Only now that she was, she couldn’t wait to escape.
* * *
By the time the ordeal of tea was over, and Tabitha had led Bonnie through another maze of stairwells and halls, the ice cubes in her stomach had melted, leaving a lukewarm sense of dread sloshing in its place.
“I thought we could talk in my room,” Tabitha said, opening a door and waving Bonnie inside.
Surprisingly, the bedroom of a twenty-something member of a ducal family was actually pretty normal.
“Have a seat.” Tabitha gestured at the chair in front of a desk and flopped down on her bed, pulling a cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. “Let me show you what I was thinking for the hen do.”
Bonnie sat. While Tabitha scrolled through her phone, Bonnie glanced around, taking in the photos littering the desk of Tabitha with her friends, smiling and goofing off. A soft smile lit inside her when she saw one of Tabitha posing with Theo and their two sisters. She thought of the tea party debacle downstairs. It was clear Tabitha had orchestrated their arrival on purpose.
“Why did you call me?” Bonnie suddenly asked, not caring if she sounded rude. “I mean, really.”
“Totally because I want to help plan your friend’s party,” Tabitha said, blue eyes wide and guileless.
Bonnie gave Theo’s sister her best teacher-done-taking-shit stare.
“Okay, fine,” Tabitha admitted, taking a breath before she added, “because I also want to help my brother.”
“What does he need help with?” Bonnie asked, tension lacing up the muscles along her spine.
“Pulling his head out of his arse.”
“Is that all?” Bonnie laughed, relaxing a smidge. “Why do you think he needs help with that?”
“Because he has a hero complex.” Tabitha reached for the picture of Theo and her sisters. “And our mum totally feeds into it. I’m sorry she was such a bloody dragon to you, by the way.”
“Oh, um, it’s okay.” Bonnie waved a hand, flustered.
“No, it’s not. She went full snooty dame on you.” Tabitha screwed her face into a comically accurate copy of her mother’s haughty frown. Then she heaved a sigh. “But I know, deep down in her poor, misguided, blue-blooded heart, she believes she’s doing the right thing.”
“How does Theo feel about it?” Bonnie asked. Though, really, she was dying to ask how he felt about Camille.
“My brother believes he must put the needs of the family above his own,” Tabitha intoned in a deep solemn voice.
“Is that why he pulled a Willoughby on me?”
“Pardon?”
“Willoughby.” Bonnie clasped her hands together. “He’s a character in Sense and Sensibility.”
“The Jane Austen novel?” Tabitha asked, brow furrowed. “Which one was he?”
“Very romantic. Handsome and dashing. Marianne, the heroine’s sister, falls in love with him, and he with her.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tabitha mused.
“Yes, well, it isn’t. Until Willoughby drops Marianne like a hot coal and disappears without a word. No explanations. Later, when they run into each other at a party, he gives her the cut direct while making nice with a rich heiress.” Bonnie glanced at Theo’s sister, shaking her head. “Sound familiar yet?”
Tabitha let out a bark of apologetic laughter. “Look, my brother was wrong for treating you like that, and you have every right to ditch his ass. But I don’t want him to make the most epic mistake of his life simply because he’s convinced it’s what the family needs. I want him to think about what he needs. He deserves to be happy.” She set the photo back on the desk and reached for Bonnie’s hand. “And you make him happy.”
Bonnie squirmed on the chair. This conversation was sounding all too familiar. “How would you know? You barely know me.”
“Sibling ESP.”
A wry chuckle escaped her. “I don’t have any siblings,” Bonnie admitted.
“Too bad, I was hoping you had a brother.” Tabitha grinned.
“No, just me. But I do have lots of cousins, and they are all boys.”
“Tempting.” Tabitha wiggled her eyebrows. “Trust me. I know my brother. And being with you makes him happy.” She squeezed gently. “I know he’s acting like an ass right now, but give him a chance to figure things out. Be patient with him. Don’t walk away yet.” She released her hold on Bonnie’s hand.
Bonnie stared down at her hands, focusing, for the first time in months, on her bare left ring finger. She thought of her conversation with Theo in the cottage, about figuring out what she needed. She could give him time. At the very least, the time she had left here in England. She’d be heading home in a little over two weeks.
“Okay,” she said, looking up at Theo’s sister. “I can do that.”
“Brilliant.” Tabitha smiled wide, dimples winking merrily. “Now then”—she retrieved her phone—“it’s time to get serious. We have a party to plan.”
CHAPTER 26
SUMMER SEMINAR WRAPPED up and bags packed, Bonnie had one final cup of tea in the café next to the stationary shop. She had decided to declare this place the winner, though admittedly some favoritism may have affected her ruling. Afterward, she ducked inside the stationary shop one last time and treated herself to another journal with an Austen quote, this time from Sense and Sensibility. She was determined to keep writing when she got back home. Her muse had returned, and she wasn’t losing her again.
Then she boarded her last train from Cambridge to London, this time to head to the Waldorf, where she and her friends would gather in the same suites they’d stayed in last summer. Together again in one room, sprawled across beds and chairs, it almost felt like they’d never left.
“This is kind of surreal you guys,” Ana said as she fiddled with Cassie’s hair. “Like multiplayer déjà vu.”
“I know. I told Bonnie the same thing. Who’d have thought a year after our big trip, we’d end up back in the exact same place at almost the exact same time?” Delaney shook her head.
“It was so nice of your dad to give us the hook-up again,” Cassie thanked Sadie.
“It was no biggie.” Sadie yawned, covering her mouth and flopping onto the sofa. She’d been the last to arrive, hitching a red-eye.
Ana glanced up from pulling Cassie’s light brown waves into an elegant side braid. “How did this round of auditions go?” she asked around a mouthful of bobby pins.
“I just finished the screen tests.” Sadie sighed, digging through her purse to glance at her phone. “They start shooting in September, so I should have an answer soon. My agent is supposed to call me.”
“Do you think you’ll get it?” Delaney asked, pulling her long strawberry-blond hair into a smooth ponytail.
Sadie shrugged and took out her makeup bag. “The lead was down to me and
one other actress.” She made a pout, reapplying her lipstick. “Who was at least a decade younger.”
“You’re totally going to beat out some kid,” Bonnie assured Sadie, joining her on the couch. “You have more experience.”
“Ugh, experience just means old,” Sadie grumbled, inspecting her reflection in her compact. “The character is supposed to be in her twenties.”
“You are in your twenties!”
Sadie’s mouth curled with exasperation. “I may technically be a twenty-something for another few months, but in Hollywood years, I’m ready for AARP.”
“That’s such bullshit.” From her seat in front of Ana, Cassie snorted.
“Tell me about it.” Sadie dabbed on some concealer. “In the minds of most studio execs, when they hear I’m almost thirty, I swear they see a fifty-year-old.”
“If you’re fifty, I’m a hundred,” Delaney said drily.
“Like I said, bullshit.” Cassie shook her head.
“Stay still,” Ana ordered, stabbing a few more bobby pins in place.
Cassie froze and let Ana finish pinning up her braid. “Ageism is a real problem, especially in the television and film industry. You know, once I wrap up the spotlight on women’s sports coverage, I think that’s what my next ChiChat feature could be.”
“Fabulous.” Ana patted Cassie on the head. “How about we finish your hair first?”
* * *
It was half past five, and per Tabitha’s instructions, Bonnie had made sure the bride-to-be and her friends had gathered in the hotel’s lounge, ready for a night of fun. They were, as Tabitha requested, dressed up, made-up, and ready to booze up.
“Okay, ladies, let’s prepare for our adventure!” Tabitha clapped her hands. If there’s one thing Bonnie had learned about Theo’s sister over the last two weeks, it was that she took the art of partying very seriously. Tabitha circled the group, presenting each of them with a witch hat and a penis wand.
“We’re not actually going out in public with these?” Delaney asked, eyes narrowing under the brim of her hat as she studied her wand up close. “Holy fudge bars, this is remarkably detailed for a party favor.”
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