Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Tessa realized Margaret was still waiting for her to respond. “I’m not convinced you’re fully healed,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
Margaret made a clucking sound. “I’m out of my cast and doing my daily exercises.”
“Which I have to nag you about every day,” Tessa reminded her. “Goodness knows what bad habits you’ll fall into without me around to annoy you.” Tessa flashed her best cheeky smile.
But her winsome grin was lost on Margaret. “You’re not giving up the chance to shack up with a movie star to keep me company, which we both know is all you’re doing at this point.” She paused and gave Tessa an inquiring look. “Most women would jump at the opportunity to work with Archer Davenport. What’s stopping you?”
Tessa blushed. Trust Margaret to call her out. But it wasn’t like she could articulate the sense of unease that weighed heavily on her chest. “I’ve seen his movies. He’s so alpha. What if he won’t listen to me?” She left out the bit about how he made her feel weak in the knees… and how a childhood crush on a big star could never end well for a normal woman like her.
Margaret laughed and unconsciously smoothed her glossy chignon, though not a hair was out of place. She’d finished one bagel slice and was already halfway through another. At least she had her appetite back. Maybe Margaret was doing better than she’d thought.
“If you can make me listen to you, Archer Davenport will be a piece of cake. Believe me. I’ve known him since he was a boy. You won’t find a sweeter nature.” Margaret smiled devilishly. “Plus, I daresay he’s a lot easier on the eyes than I am.”
Tessa shook her head, although she couldn’t quite conceal a little smile as she said, “Can’t say I noticed.”
“You’re not fooling me,” Margaret replied. “I saw the way he looked at you when we were at the party. He spent most of the evening with you. There was definitely a twinkle in his eyes.”
Tessa blinked hard. What was Margaret suggesting?
Okay, so Archer had been kind enough to show her around his family home, but she was an outsider, and he had simply been a good host. Rather than continue to deflect Margaret’s insistence, she changed tack. “I’m surprised you had time to notice anything while you fended off your many admirers.” She grinned, recalling how the older gentlemen had swarmed around Margaret, fighting over who would fetch her a plate of food. But Margaret was impervious to flattery. She had enough inner confidence for them both.
Despite the churning in her stomach, Tessa reached for a bagel—more for distraction than out of hunger. But Margaret wasn’t to be swayed. She tapped her French tips on the table, waiting for a response. Patience wasn’t one of Margaret’s virtues.
Tessa said, “You and I both know he was being nice, that’s all. There was no twinkle. He’s a movie star. His last girlfriend was Sonia Montefiore, for heaven’s sake. She was voted the most beautiful woman in the world by People magazine.”
But Margaret simply huffed, as if to say, What does a little beauty poll have to do with anything? “The twinkle in that man’s eyes was undeniable. I’ve been around for over eighty years, and I’ve never been wrong about a twinkle.” She flashed Tessa a charming twinkle of her own before her voice softened. “Even though you like to play it down, Tessa, you’re a beautiful young woman, and there is no way that boy could miss it.”
Margaret’s words were meant to soothe her, she knew, but they had the opposite effect. Tessa’s heart began to beat double time, and she set the bagel back on the plate. Of course, she felt drawn to Archer, too, so to have Margaret suggest the feeling was reciprocal was almost too much to hope.
They fell silent for a moment, a comfortable silence between two people who’d learned how to live with each other peaceably over several weeks. Tessa finally bit into the bagel and chewed thoughtfully. How was she going to get out of this situation without offending anyone?
But despite Tessa not speaking any of her thoughts aloud, Margaret seemed to catch some of her feelings, which must be written all over her face. “Archer Davenport is a real gentleman. He takes after Howie. I am absolutely positive he would never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. In any way. And his enormous family keep him as down-to-earth as they come.”
Tessa would have loved to get a word in edgewise, but Margaret was on a roll. She couldn’t decide if Margaret was intent on getting rid of her or playing Cupid. Maybe it was both. But clearly she was concerned that Tessa not be blinded by his movie-star good looks.