“Good you could come,” I said, unbuttoning my cuffs and rolling up my sleeves so we’d be easier to tell apart.
“Thanks for having us. I see a fair few of the Military College boys took up your invitation,” Lily replied. But, by the way her eyes scanned the room, I suspected she was looking for a certain person.
My grin faltered, but I tried to hide it. “That they did. Gemma and Kate are somewhere, too.”
She nodded absently, then started as Sebastian cleared his throat.
“Oh, right, Austin, have you met Seb? He’s Gemma’s cousin,” Lily said.
“No, we’ve not had the pleasure.” I shook his hand, but didn’t look at him.
“It’s very good to meet you, Aus…Mister Cooper.” Sebastian and his weak handshake did not impress me.
“Sure, why not,” I said, still watching Lily.
When I noticed Lily still looking around the room, her enthusiasm falling, I felt annoyance and anger rise in me. I bowed my head and walked away to find Cassandra.
I found her in a corner. She held a cup out to me, unnecessarily full; she obviously thought she’d save me the bother of needing another any time soon. I took it with more pleasure than I should have had.
“Thanks. She’s looking for him, you know.”
“He’s not going to show,” Cass scoffed. “He wouldn’t dare. He knows you’d beat the living daylights out of him.”
I took a sip of the whiskey, watching Lily as Sebastian drew her onto the dance floor. God, she looked bored out of her mind, but she danced with him politely enough.
“What do you know about this Sebastian guy?” Cass asked.
“Not much. He’s their cousin, something about Claire Brewer’s heir or something. I don’t know really.” I shrugged.
After Lily extricated herself from Sebastian, she was chatting with a Military College guy I’d seen on the pitch that morning. I stared at her so long that I didn’t notice Cass had wandered off or that I’d run out of drink.
I dragged my eyes from Lily and headed to the drinks table. Where, I ran into Lily. In her heels, she was taller than I was used to and I was forced to look more into her eyes than usual.
“Hi,” I blurted out.
“Hi,” she replied. “Having fun? Well, as much fun as you can have anyway,”
I smiled tersely. “I’ll have you know, I’m very capable of having fun.”
“Really?” she laughed.
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
“Dance with me?” I asked her, holding out my hand before I could sever the connection between my less-intelligent head and my mouth.
I was very surprised when she put her hand in mine, and I sensed she was as well. We put down our cups and I led her into the throng of writhing bodies on the dance floor, which had become more vigorous as the night progressed.
We were pushed closer together by the other bodies and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I slid my arms around her waist and tried furiously not to think of the things that holding her in my arms elicited.
We moved against each other for a while, not saying anything – not that the music made talking all that easy – and barely looking at each other. I found that, if I looked in her eyes, I was too inclined to do other things that really shouldn’t be done. Not with Lily Brewer. She wasn’t one of my usual Longbourn girls.
Although, a gentleman’s restraint only goes so far, and mine was shattered into a thousand pieces when she leant up to whisper in my ear.
“So, is this the extent of your fun, is it, Austin? As nice as it is, it’s not terribly exciting, is it?” she asked, her lips brushing across the skin of my jaw.
My arms tightened around her as my chest constricted. I felt her chuckle as I saw Cass’ raised eyebrow across the room, but ignored my cousin. Lily pressed herself closer and I was torn between pushing her away before she felt what she was doing to me, or pulling her harder against me.
“I don’t know if you’re up for what I constitute as fun, Lily,” I said. If I could tell my voice sounded tight, then she certainly could.
She pulled her head away enough to look me in the eyes, her face very close to mine. Her green eyes flashed with humour and she bit her lip in that way she had when she was trying not to laugh at me.
“Really? And what do you constitute as fun?” she countered. “Do you sit in a room and count your money? Do you like to throw punches at innocent people? How about hanging out with Fleur?”
I didn’t have to ask who she was talking about in relation to punches and I didn’t want to know how she knew Fleur’s name. A war of emotions swirled through me and it was the only explanation I had for what I did next.
My mouth curved into a wicked smirk and I didn’t bother trying to stop my eyes showing anything I felt. I ran my hand further down her back and pressed her against me while my other hand snaked into her hair. I saw her eyebrows rise slightly before I brought her lips to mine and kissed her.
Oh, I knew as soon as our lips touched that it was quite possibly the worst idea anyone had ever had in the history of bad ideas. But, at that point, I honestly couldn’t have cared less. She felt amazing. She was amazing. Even if that kiss was the only thing we’d ever share, I wouldn’t have passed it up for anything, certainly not Aunt Celia’s title and money.
Lily’s hands slid through my now much shorter hair as she brought our faces closer. I pulled her with me as I walked backwards through the crowd of bodies. She giggled against my lips as she followed and I found myself laughing with her. My back hit a wall behind us and we laughed again.
I had only had the one drink, but I felt like I’d drunk a whole bottle of Williams’ vodka or something the way my lips curved on their own, my heart pounded, and I seemed incapable of not making a hideous mistake.
All thoughts of mistakes, or anything else, were forgotten when Lily’s lips found mine again and I was sure I actually sighed at the feel of her.
She ended up with her back against the wall as I leant against her. My hands ran down her hips as hers clutched my shoulders. My lips trailed kisses over her cheek and jaw to her neck and I felt her breath catch. Running one hand down, I coaxed one of her legs around my hip as I kissed her.
She took my face in both her hands and brought my lips back to hers.
“Oz!” I heard someone call, but I ignored them as Lily gripped me tighter, as though she didn’t want to let me go.
“Oz, where the hell are you?” I thought it was Williams, but honestly couldn’t tell with Lily so close to me.
“Austin Cooper! What the hell?” I heard Cassandra yell and felt a hand on my arm.
I reluctantly turned from Lily and saw Cass staring between Lily and me like one of us had grown a second head or something. Cassandra’s eyes finally stopped on Lily. I watched her gaze rake her up and down. Lily smoothed her hair and bit her lip while I glared at Cass.
“Hey, Cass? What’s up?” I asked her slowly, wondering at the look on my cousin’s face.
It was a look I’d never seen before… On Cass, at least. Jax had been sporting it for the last few weeks and I was beginning to worry I’d started wearing it too. But, I never thought I’d see it on the party girl in front of me.
“Um, hi Cass…” Lily smiled uncertainly.
My hand searched for Lily’s and I was gratified when she took it.
“I think there might be someone who would like to give you a good beating for this one, Oz,” she said, her eyes noticing our hands.
I instantly thought of Anders and went to tighten my grip on Lily’s hand, but she dropped mine as though scalded before I had a chance.
“Cass, why would you possibly mention that now?” I asked, through gritted teeth, my eyes shooting to Lily.
God, she was probably already planning her escape to find Anders now. I looked at Cassandra, trying to let her know wordlessly that she was seriously screwing up the one chance I’d ever have to be with Lily. And, I’d take it in whatever capaci
ty it was given. But now, it was over. There was now no way in hell I could ever risk trying something like that again and be able to walk away from her after.
“Because someone has to remind you of who can get hurt here.”
I knew she was referring to Jax. Anders had already mistaken him for me once today. Bloody hell, why had I cut my hair?
Maybe, I could convince Jax to walk around with short sleeves? In the middle of winter? Yeah, good joke, Austin…
“Just, leave off it, Cass. It’s my business and I’ll deal with it, okay?”
Her brown eyes darkened as she looked back to Lily, then walked away.
“Lily…” I started, but didn’t know what to say. How could I convince her not to go after Anders now? She was entirely going to remember it was me she’d been kissing and regret it instantly.
“It’s fine, Austin. I know all about Fleur,” she sighed. She looked around the room as though looking for the best escape route.
But, my mind was fixated on what she’d said.
“What?” I asked.
“Fleur… Your… Do you call her your fiancée?” she answered, her eyes boring into mine.
I was having a hard time thinking, and the way she kept biting her lip was doing nothing to help that situation, or the one she’d caused in my pants.
“I… How do you know about her?”
Lily’s smile was more sympathetic than warm. “I heard from a new friend. I’d like to say I’m surprised at you, but I’m sorry to say I’m not.”
New friend? Who the hell…?
“Anders.”
“Liam seems a very nice young man.”
I tried hard to steel my expression. “Yes, I’m sure he does. He’s quite good at making new friends. It’s just a shame he can’t seem to keep them.”
“Yes, well I doubt he ever really had your friendship, but the sound of it. And, I expect he’s going to pay for it for quite some time!” she huffed.
Just breathe, just breathe. Don’t say anything you’ll regret.
“I see you have no response to that, Austin.” She folded her arms over her chest.
I could see the light in her eyes as she talked about him. Dammit, she liked him. But, what could I do? She wouldn’t believe or trust anything I had to say. And, there were secrets that were not mine to tell…
“You told me once,” she continued, “that once you lose faith in a person, they will never get it back. I assume you do everything you can to retain it in the first place?”
I nodded, though she was very close to me losing my faith in her while hers so heavily rested on Anders. But, I couldn’t fault her when she didn’t have the truth of it, and I wasn’t going to give it to her. No, the fault alone rested with Anders.
“And, you’re never blinded by your snobbery?”
I shifted and shook my head.
“So, you never judge a person incorrectly purely based on who they are and where they come from?”
“I could answer your question better if you stopped pussy-footing about and just asked it,” I snarled, only just realising how angry I was.
“I’m simply trying to determine what kind of man you are, Austin Cooper.”
“Really, and what have you discovered so far?”
“Not a lot. People have such different opinions of you that I don’t know what to believe. Jax alone should be a glowing recommendation. But, then there are others…”
I rested a hand against the wall behind her and leant into her. “It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that people have different opinions of me, Lily Brewer. But perhaps it is wiser you don’t try to fathom my depths too closely tonight as I doubt I’m living up to anyone’s standards.”
“And, if I don’t do it now, then when?”
I growled, but it wasn’t fear I saw in her eyes. “Far be it for me to keep you from anything you want.”
I took one last searching look at her before I left her.
I walked passed Gemma and Kate and stopped when I heard Kate’s words.
“Oh yes, of course. Linda’s thrilled that Jax is paying attention to Anne. She’s convinced Anne’s tamed his wild, boyish nature and he will one day make an honest woman out of her.”
“She thinks they’ll get married?” Gemma laughed. “What does Anne think?”
“Totally, right out of school and she’ll be set up for life,” Kate giggled as they moved out of earshot.
Anger and a feeling of idiocy filled me as I looked around the room. My eyes stopped momentarily on Cass talking to Lily, but I continued looking for my twin. Finally, I found him, nestled in a corner with Anne. I’d give him the night, then break the news to him. Anne, it seemed, was just like the rest of the bloody Longbourn girls and Rosings fan club.
Chapter Nineteen
I woke to someone shaking my shoulder and calling my name.
“Ugh, what?” I mumbled. “I’m embarrassed enough as it is, can’t I sleep in?”
Anne chuckled. “Kissing a boy isn’t as embarrassing as it would have been to wake up next to him.”
I tried to push that thought out of my mind; after having images of Austin in bed running through my head all night, it was the last thing I needed now I was awake.
“True. And I can’t believe he sent Cass over to warn me off Liam,” I scoffed and sat up. I yawned and stretched. “What time is it, and why are you up and dressed?”
Anne smiled. “It’s about ten. I would have left you longer, but you have a visitor.”
“Doesn’t explain why you’re… Wait, visitor?”
I told myself that, no, that wasn’t my chest fluttering in anticipation that it was Liam to explain why he hadn’t been at the party. Neither was it my stomach fluttering at the thought it was Austin to go round two after last night.
Anne’s face fell in sympathy.
“Oh, no… Please, no…”
She nodded.
I groaned. “Fine, let him in.”
Anne cocked an eyebrow at me. “With you like that?”
I looked down at myself. “Sure, why not?”
“You’re a braver woman than I.”
She got off my bed and went to open the door. As I’d expected, Seb swept into the room. He was holding a rather limp daisy that he proffered as he bowed low.
“I’ll, uh, give you some space,” Anne said.
“No, Anne, it’s fine,” I said, hopping out of bed and sounding very whiny.
Anne looked between us.
“Uh, if you wouldn’t mind giving us a moment… Please?” Seb smiled and I wanted to roll my eyes at his simpering nature.
Anne threw me an only half-apologetic, half-amused look and hurried out.
“Seb,” I started, “what can I do for you?”
“Ah, well… You see,” he chuckled, “where to begin? I have, for some time, known I would need an assistant when I graduate and I feel it is only sensible to choose among my cousins. Almost as soon as I first came to Netherfield, I singled you out as the companion of my future life. In my choice, though, does come another…proposition.”
He forced me to take the wilted daisy and I stared at him, not quite sure what to say, but knowing full well what I wanted to say. Aside from the fact that everyone knew he had eyes for Anne when he first came to Netherfield! God, work for him? That sounded like the most useless trumped up waste of my life.
It turned out, I didn’t have to answer right away.
“You see, I have become very fond of you, Lily. And, I know that us being together would only enhance our…professional relationship. Aunt Claire will no doubt be thrilled to have one of her daughters work with me and, if we marry, you will inherit part of her estate through me. Without my partnership, you will inherit nothing of the company, though I would never dare remind you of that once we were married. I hadn’t realised how sensible a choice it was to have you work for me when my mind was on matters of the heart, but it all seems fated. I can only imagine how flattering it would be to work with my
partner every day. I can assure you, I will be a firm but fair boss and romantic partner. You must let me proclaim the violent nature of my affections. If you-”
“Jesus, stop!” I said, unable to take any more talk of ‘partnership’ or ‘violent affections’. “Well, you really know how to flatter a girl, don’t you?” He grinned, and I felt the sarcasm was lost on him. “But, you can’t go around making all these plans when I haven’t answered. Look, Seb… Thank you for thinking of me, and for the compliment, but I can’t say yes to any of that.”
I expected his face to fall, not for his grin to widen. “It is not news to me that strong, independent girls like you are wont to refuse a man they intend to accept in the end. You may have no fear that I will give up easily.”
Great, things just get better and better!
“No, Seb, I can assure you, I will never accept either. Violent affections and a life-long secretarial role are not what I had in mind. You couldn’t make me happy, and I haven’t the skills nor inclination to make you happy, professionally or personally.”
“Nonsense, Lily! I will take your outcry as modesty and am not put off from my admiration of you.”
“I urge you try it, Seb. Seriously, I’m not the sort of girl who torments a respectable man into fighting for her attentions. I cannot and will not accept either offer.”
Seb still grinned. “You are charming! I’m sure, when I inform your parents of my intentions, there will be no need to discuss it further.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, finally giving up. “You do what you like, Seb. I can see nothing I say will make a difference.”
He bowed again and left.
While I was getting dressed, I received a text from Dad.
Dad: You and your sisters will meet us for dinner at 7pm.
I sighed again and plonked onto the bed. I twirled the daisy around in my fingers, so not looking forward to whatever it was Dad had to say.
Netherfield Prep: A Modern Reimagining of Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' Page 13
