The Pearl (The Godwicks) by Tiffany Reisz

Author:Tiffany Reisz [Reisz, Tiffany]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: 8th Circle Press
Published: 2020-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

Afternoon Tea

Almost a week passed before Regan summoned Arthur again. It felt like the longest week of his life.

He waited for the doorbell all day Tuesday and Wednesday, but it never rang. Eventually, he got stir-crazy. When Charlie didn’t answer his messages, Arthur met up with friends from Sandhurst instead. They lifted weights at the gym until they were almost sick. He continued to tax himself all week, running in Hyde Park in the cold rain. At night, he visited every last one of the Godwicks’ art galleries in Greater London on the pretense of “checking on things” for his parents.

The more time that passed since that strange night with Regan, the more he managed to convince himself what had happened with the book was nothing but a coincidence. Arthur and Regan had been having intense sex. Maybe the walls had rattled, jostling the book from the shelves as the guard had intimated. No denying it was strange that it fell open to a painting of a woman in a pearl necklace, but life was strange sometimes.

And, yes, those “sometimes” often involved Lord Malcolm’s portrait…but still. No need to go mad. Yet.

When he arrived home from his Saturday morning run, he was halfway to the shower when his phone buzzed in his hand. He didn’t recognize the number. Usually, he wouldn’t have answered it. Only the hope it was Regan made him accept the call.

“Hello?”

“Tea at four on my terrace,” Regan said.

Arthur sat down on the second storey landing, sunk down really, so relieved to hear her voice it was humiliating. He’d been aching all week to hear from her. And now she was on the end of the line and he knew he would have waited a year if she’d made him.

She continued, “If the weather’s nice enough we might fuck al fresco, but as it’s London, I wouldn’t count on it.”

“I don’t know anyone named Al Fresco, and I have no interest in fucking him on your terrace.”

“Did I give you permission to be funny? I don’t recall.”

Arthur gave a cocky laugh. “You haven’t even asked me what I’m wearing.”

The silence at the other end of the line was potent. Needling Regan was his new favorite pastime.

“White tee, in case you were wondering,” he went on. “Been running. Very sweaty. I turned the heads of many women and gay men between the ages of forty-seven and ninety-eight. Want a pic? I’ll text you.”

“Why are you in a good mood? It’s annoying me,” she said.

“Why are you so cross? You’re the one who gets to fuck me tonight.”

“Are all the Godwicks like you?”

“Clever? Charming? Desperately attractive?”

“Obnoxious. Sardonic. Insufferably arrogant.”

“I get it from my father,” Arthur said.

“Give it back.”

“What happened to your redcoat? Zoot? She who lives to insult me to my face at my front door?”

“She has today off. Do you think I’m a monster?”

“Do you want me to answer that honestly?”

She was silent on the line, silent but for a soft exhalation that he almost felt in his ear.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.