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23
Whatever the planwas when we came here, it’s out the window, floating somewhere over the grape vines. Presumably, this was supposed to be a temporary stay—what with the chaos back in London after all of those devices were found.
But as the days trickle by, it just becomes almost as if we’re in our own world. A world without time. Without anything or anyone else in it but us and this estate.
Now and then, real-world anxieties creep past the gauzy, rose-colored walls. The impending court case against me, for one. But maybe five days into our stay in France, Maggie calls to let me know it’s being pushed back.
“Wait, is that… good?”
She sucks her teeth over the phone.
“Goodseems like a dangerously subjective word. Let’s go withnot worseand count our blessings, for now. I’m going to call in some favors and poke into things. But for the time being, let’s just take a breath.”
Happily.
The next knife of reality stabbing into my fantasy land is the upcoming vote—the one where the board will decide on whether Noel remains at his own company.
“In light of recent events,” he says offhandedly when I bring it up one morning over coffee. “Prince has put a motion through to delay the vote another month. Obviously, he’s seen the writing on the wall with recent developments and knows this vote of his is dead in the water.”
When he turns back to his newspaper, my mind flashes back to the gala, and Noel courting his “whale” to shore up his defenses at the board table. Which is obviously what he’s talking about.
I frown.
“Noel, I would have signed whatever you wanted me to sign promising to vote however you’d like at the next meeting.” My brow wrinkles. “You didn’t have to sell off shares to bring on that whale guy, whoever he is.”
He smirks curiously as he glances up at me across the breakfast table.
“Lord Chauncey Newcastle.”
I make a face.
“You can’t be serious with that name.”
“English Aristocracy haszerochill,” he grunts, making me grin.
“And in any case, I didn’t.”
I frown.
“Didn’t what?”
He glances back down at his paper.
“I didn’t sell him any shares to bring him onto the board.”
“But… the vote…”
“The vote is secure.”
He looks up at me curiously.
“The writing on the wall Prince was seeing that I was referring to wasyou,” he growls. “And me.”
My face burns as the pieces click. My heart quickens as I hold his gaze.
“Do… you want me to sign—?”
“No.”
