Даниэла Стил - All That Glitters

Chapter 5

The rest of the house party at the castle was magical. They had a small, very good live band to dance to on Saturday night. Nigel warned her that most of the weekend parties he went to were not as well done as this one. They had started at the top. Their hosts had a lot of style, and made the weekend fun for everyone.

The men went hunting on Saturday morning, and a few of the women joined them. Coco chose to be one of them, and stood discreetly behind Nigel. She chatted with their hostess, who was a very interesting woman. She was involved in a number of social causes and had a master’s in psychology.

They explored the nearby village that afternoon, danced away the night after dinner, and this time at Coco’s door, Nigel kissed her properly, not just on the cheek, and she enjoyed it thoroughly. She still didn’t let him spend the night with her, much to his dismay. It tantalized him and just made him want her more. By the second day of the weekend, he knew that she was the woman he had been waiting for all his life. He was incredibly nice to her, and they had a wonderful time together.

On Sunday all the guests were present for a big breakfast. Some stayed for lunch, and afterward, Nigel and Coco left after thanking their hosts profusely. The marquess and marchioness said pointedly to Coco that they looked forward to seeing her again, and hoped she would visit them soon. She had left an envelope in her room with a tip for the maid, as her mother had taught her to do. She intended to send flowers to their hosts on Monday.

On the way back, Nigel couldn’t stop talking about how much he had enjoyed the weekend with her. “Their weekends can be quite boring sometimes, even if lavish and well run, because their guests are almost always married and a little older. They were a good group this time, although we were the youngest people there. But you were fantastic. Everyone fell in love with you,” he smiled at her, “and so did I.”

“I had a wonderful time too. I really loved our hosts. They’re such nice people. I liked all the guests.” It had been a memorable weekend, one she knew she would never forget, no matter what happened with him. She had heard what he had said about falling in love with her, but she didn’t want to address it yet. She knew he wasn’t serious after knowing her for two weeks. But he brought it up again himself when he dropped her off at her house.

“I meant what I said,” he said gently. “Coco, I’m falling in love with you.”

“Let’s take it slow for a while,” she said, smiling. He didn’t know about the affair with Ed, but it had only ended three months before, and she didn’t want to rush into anything. She wanted time to get to know Nigel, not just at parties, but with time alone. If it was real, it would unfold. And if it wasn’t, she didn’t want to get hurt again, or to hurt him. There was a vulnerable side to him too, beyond the good manners, good looks, and good breeding. She knew by then that he’d had a lonely upbringing, at boarding school since he was seven, with cold parents who had died when he was young, and the older brother who treated him like a nonentity as soon as he’d inherited the title and what was left of the family fortune. Nigel had had almost no love in his life and she didn’t want to tell him she loved him until she was sure she did, or to mislead him, or rush into it before she was sure of how she felt herself.

“Please don’t be so sensible,” he said longingly, as he kissed her outside her front door. “I’m in love with you. Let’s seize the moment.” He was almost begging her, and it touched her profoundly.

“I don’t want to rush into anything until we’re sure.”

“You’re too young to be that reasonable,” he complained. “What happened to the impetuousness of youth? You must be lying about your age.” She laughed. It was hard to resist him, but she forced herself to. He carried her bags inside for her, and took them upstairs. They sat on the couch in the small library, and had a glass of wine, and kissed in front of the fire he had made, and then reluctantly he left her, and texted her right away. “Call me at any hour, if you need anything. I do house calls, especially at night.” She laughed and answered him, thanking him again for the best weekend imaginable.

“How was it?” Leslie asked her the next day at work.

“Absolutely fabulous. Magical. I had the best weekend of my life.”

“Nigel is good at that. And the castle is incredible, isn’t it?”

“Everything was perfect.” Coco glowed.

“Nigel must be head over heels in love with you by now.” She smiled knowingly at Coco.

“So he says.”

“He probably means it. He’s always very upbeat, but I think underneath that, he’s a very lonely guy. He says he wants to get married and have babies. I think he probably does.”

“I’m too young for that,” Coco said, “and he wants to move too fast.”

“If you make him wait, he’ll love you forever. That always works with men,” Leslie said wisely and went back to her office. But Coco wasn’t trying to play him or inflame him. It really was too soon for her.

Two dozen red roses in a vase from a fashionable florist were waiting for her on her doorstep that night when she got home. She knew he was in late meetings, but he called her at ten o’clock when he got out, and wanted to drop by.

“Can I trust you?” she asked, and he laughed.

“No, but I’ll try to behave. I’ve had fifteen years of slutty women I never cared about. Now I’m in love, and I actually found one with decent morals. What miserable luck.” But it was also why he was falling in love with her, because he couldn’t have her easily, and she was falling in love with him too. She wanted to savor it. No one had ever been as loving in his attentions to her. She wanted to know his flaws as well as his virtues, and give it a little time.

He was there half an hour later and they chatted about their respective days at work. His roses were almost bigger than her dining table, and looked beautiful. She thanked him. She had sent flowers to their hosts for the weekend.

They kissed and cuddled and he left at midnight. They had dinner several times that week. When she told Sam about the weekend, he sounded suspicious. “Why is he rushing you? Is there something behind it?”

“Don’t be so paranoid. My boss went to school with his cousin and has known him for years. She says he’s a lonely guy. His parents sent him to boarding school when he was seven, which people do here. I think he’s starving for love. In any case, I’m being sensible.”

“Good. Get to know him. Wait,” he said in his big brother voice.

“I am.”

They stayed in town the following weekend, and did several of the things she had wanted to do since she arrived. They went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, saw the queen’s jewels at the Tower of London, which was touristy but fun, and they wandered in Hyde Park. On Sunday, they had tea at Claridge’s.

Afterward, he took her to his apartment, so she could see it. She was somewhat shocked when she did. It was in a good location, in a fashionable neighborhood, but the apartment itself was small and dark, with paint peeling off the walls. There was nothing personal about it. It looked more like a hotel room than a home, and she was sad for him when she saw it. It showed her how empty his life was. He had an active social life and many friends, but there were no photographs of his family, mementos, or family heirlooms. It supported Leslie’s theory that he was a lonely man. Then they went back to her cozy little house that looked more lived in after a few weeks than his did after five years. It struck Coco too that there was nothing on the walls at his place. There was no décor, and he had bought everything at Ikea. It looked more like a student apartment than the home of a thirty-three-year-old man. He said he never entertained there, only at his club, and she could see why.