The Actress and the Aristocrat by Katie Ashley
Chapter Twenty-Five: Randall
Ihad used the pretense of grabbing Charlie a drink to make my escape. I needed to get to Lydia before she could get to Charlie again. I needed her to know that I wasn’t going to let her do anything to Charlie.
After making a quick sweep through the house, I found her in the game room with some of her cronies. “Excuse me, ladies. I need to speak with Lydia,” I said.
Before Lydia could protest, I grabbed her by the arm and jerked her away. I drew her over to a somewhat secluded corner. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” I demanded.
Lydia had the gall to act surprised by my tone. “And hello to you, too, Randall.”
“Cut the bullshit formalities, Lydia.” Taking a step closer to her, I hissed, “I know what you did to Eliza at Ascot.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Since you seem to need a reminder, let me refresh your memory. You put drugs into Eliza’s champagne glass.”
“You’re mad. I would never do such a thing.”
“You know, I said the same thing when Eliza first accused you. There was no way someone I once loved could do something so classless and underhanded. I even broke up with Eliza because of her behavior and her accusations.”
At the mention of Eliza’s and my split, Lydia’s eyes flared. “I’m so sorry to hear you two are not together anymore,” she practically purred.
“Who said we weren’t?”
Her brows furrowed. “But you just said you broke up with her.”
“I did. But then Rob brought me the surveillance video of you slipping something into the champagne glass.”
The color drained from Lydia’s face. To add a final blow, I continued on. “Once I saw proof of your crime and her innocence, I went immediately to Eliza to beg her forgiveness. She’s upstairs right now.”
A defeated look momentarily flashed over Lydia’s expression. But she quickly jerked her chin up in a steely resolve. “What do you want me to say?”
“I would think an apology would be in order. Both to Eliza and to me.”
Flicking her wrist absently at me, she replied, “But I’m not sorry I did it.”
I shook my head in horror at her. “How can you say that?”
She shrugged. “It’s just the way I feel.”
“Regardless of whether you’re an unfeeling bitch, let’s get one thing straight. You are not to come near Eliza again. You don’t even breathe near her, are we clear?”
“And if I do?”
“The video of you spiking the drink will be given to Debrett’s Deb.”
Lydia sucked in a horrified breath. “You wouldn’t.”
“I can assure you I would. You are never going to hurt or humiliate Eliza ever again. Correct?”
“Correct,” Lydia whispered.
Throwing one last disgusted look at her, I stormed away. I didn’t trust her. I hated that I couldn’t even trust Lydia anymore. Was she always like that? Scheming? Conniving? Unrepentant? I was too fuming to go back upstairs to Charlie. Instead, I stalked right of the house and back to the stables. I didn’t even bother waiting for the groom to saddle Solstice. Instead, I did it myself.
I tore out of the stables and began riding along the hills of the property. My mind whirled with thoughts. Just as things were going swimmingly well with Charlie, Lydia had to show up. Well, I’m not sure feeling her up in her sleep would qualify as swimmingly, but that kiss was certainly up there.
After returning Solstice to the stables, I headed back to the main house. Although I had calmed down, I really didn’t want to run into Lydia or even Michael for that matter. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself not to hit one or both of them, and that was saying something since I would never raise my hand to a lady.
When I arrived back at our suite, I was shocked to find Rob sitting beside Charlie on the bed. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“Your manners towards me are atrocious,” Rob replied with a smile.
“Hello, Robert. It’s lovely seeing you. What brings you to this neck of the woods? Moreover, why are sitting on the bed with Charlie?”
Holding his hands up, Rob rose off the bed. “Easy now. We were just talking.”
“But why are you here?” I repeated.
“After she texted me about her foot, I simply had to come and check on her.”
I cocked my brows at him. “You drove forty-five minutes to check on a sprained ankle?”
Rob swept a hand to his chest. “Are you insinuating I had ulterior motives for coming?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“Fine. I really missed Alfie’s Elton party, so I decided to come down for the night.”
Charlie grinned. “Won’t we be a merry trio?”
“Of course,” I replied. Bloody hell. The last thing I wanted was to share any of Charlie’s time with Rob. “Speaking of the party, we should lay out our costumes.”
Charlie’s smile faded. “Isn’t it a little early for that?”
“It’s five o’clock, and Alfie starts his Rocketman Cocktail Hour promptly at six,” I replied as I headed over to the wardrobe. After taking my garment bag out, I brought it over to the bed. When I unzipped it, I crinkled my brows at the absolutely offending sight of sparkly silver pants gleaming back at me.
“What the…” I murmured. As I delved further inside, I pulled out a sparkling jacket that matched the pants. Upon further inspection, I realized it looked like the 18th century outfit Elton wore in the Candle in the Wind video. Tossing the items to the floor, I began manically digging inside the garment bag to find my checkered polyester jacket, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Bloody hell!” I whirled around. “The valet switched my garment bag with someone else’s.” I then stalked over to the bedside table and picked up the house phone.
“What are you doing?” Rob demanded.
“Rectifying the situation.” With a shake of my head, I added, “I should’ve seen this coming. Most of Alfie’s staff are ancient.”
“Rand, hang up the phone,” Charlie instructed.
Nodding, I put the receiver down. “You’re right. It’ll probably be quicker if I take the garment bag downstairs myself.”
Eyeing the rug, she replied, “That’s not what I meant.”
When I glanced over at Rob, he was staring out the window. It was then it dawned on me, and I slowly shook my head. “This isn’t a valet’s mistake, is it?”
When they both still refused to look at me, I barked, “IS IT?”
While Charlie jumped, Rob jerked his head from admiring the scenery outside. “No, it isn’t,” he replied.
“You two were in on this together, weren’t you?”
“Yes,” Rob replied as Charlie bobbed her head.
I jabbed a finger at Rob. “That’s why you came when you hate Alfie’s house parties.”
“Yes, it is.”
“But why?”
Rob opened his mouth, but Charlie stopped him. “It was all my idea.”
With a roll of my eyes, I replied, “Why am I not surprised?”
Charlie glowered at me. “Yeah, well, it would’ve never happened if Lydia hadn’t shown up.”
“What does she possibly have to do with changing our Elton outfits?”
Now it was Charlie and Rob who rolled their eyes. “Don’t be so daft, Rand,” Charlie replied, sounding like she did when she was Eliza. In any other situation, I would’ve laughed.
“Please enlighten me.”
“If you must know, I first got the idea of changing up your costume after you were kissing me. I wanted a way for all of your cronies to see just what a desirable man you were.”
Rob sucked in a shocked breath. “You two were kissing?”
I shook my head at him. “Let’s focus on the moment, shall we?” I then turned my attention back to Charlie. “While I appreciate you wanting to build me up in front of my friends, I’m not sure how that correlates to me objectifying myself sexually.”
“Well, then it hit me who needed to see you be desirable the most: Lydia. Not only that, but it’s just like what I said to you at the polo match—you needed to show her how you’ve changed. It’s only through your evolution that she will truly realize you’ve not only moved on, but you’re happy without her.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I countered, “And this has to be mastered by potential public humiliation?
With a shrug, Charlie replied, “It’s a means to an end.”
I huffed out a frustrated breath. I sounded not only like a jealous arse, but a pretentious one. Charlie was still trying to make me look good. Happy. I needed to calm down. “I cannot believe I’m expected to attend this party with a glittering arse and a bare chest.”
“You have an Adonisesque chest that should be on display for others to appreciate,” Charlie countered.
Glancing between us with a mischievous grin, Rob asked, “So the previous kissing led to some shirtless action?”
While Charlie giggled, I replied, “It most certainly did not.”
“Then how is Charlie so well versed in your ‘Adonis’ chest?” Rob questioned.
“I witnessed it at the charity polo game when Rand changed his shirt,” she shot back.
“Pity. I was hoping for something more salacious,” Rob replied.
A teasing smile curved on Charlie’s lips. “Do you mean something to the effect of how this morning’s rain made his white shirt transparent, so his chest was very visible when he rescued me?”
Laughing Rob replied, “Now we’re getting down to it.”
With a roll of my eyes, I replied, “This is starting to sound like a bodice ripper.”
“Kinky,” Rob teased.
Charlie’s eyes met mine. “No, he was a perfect gentleman—a true Austen hero.”
“How else would I react to a lady in need?”
A teasing smile curved on her lips. “I would say you left me quite in need when you kissed me.”
In that moment, there wasn’t anyone else in the room with us. It was just Charlie and me. I stepped towards the bed, desperate to wrap my arms around her. As if she followed my internal monologue, she rose to her feet in spite of her ankle.
“Okay, I seriously need a cigarette with all this unresolved sexual tension.”
And just like that, the moment was ruined. Grunting, I turned around to glare at Rob. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“Sadly, no, since there’s not a room for me with the house is full with guests, and I wasn’t planning on staying.” He waggled his brows as he pointed to the couch. “Of course, I could crash there. But I think I might be interrupting something.”
“I’ll pay for a room at the inn in town for you,” I replied tersely.
“I had a feeling you might say that.”
I glanced from Rob over to Charlie. “And what about your costume? We’ll hardly match now.”
Charlie and I were supposed to be twinning as Elton and Kiki Dee from the Don’t Go Breaking My Heart video. With me shining like a disco ball, I wasn’t sure how we would possible match.
“Don’t worry. I already thought of that.” As she started hobbling to the wardrobe, I asked, “Are you sure I can’t get that for you?”
She grinned. “I’m fine. The medicine knocked out most of the pain.”
“I hope so,” I replied. I watched curiously as she took a garment bag out that matched mine. Turning to Rob, I noted, “I suppose this is also your work?”
“It is.” With a wink, he added, “I happen to have a friend in the costume business.”
“I don’t think I even want to know.”
Charlie unzipped the garment bag, and I caught sight of the voluminous white material of an infamous costume. One even a Brit like me would know. It felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “You’re going to be Marilyn Monroe?” I wheezed.
“Of course. I mean, the original Candle in the Wind is about her.”
“Yes. Right. Makes perfect sense,” I mumbled. The truth was I didn’t know if my raging libido could withhold seeing Charlie dressed as Marilyn Monroe in the iconic, sexy white dress from Some Like It Hot.
Sensing my apprehension, Rob teasingly proclaimed, “In that dress, I believe our girl Charlie is going to give tongues something new to wag about.”
Bloody hell was I in trouble.