Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
But … “I’ll explain over a drink.”
Five minutes later, we were seated in a quiet lounge in the castle, each with a whisky in hand. “How is Ms. Howard?” I asked first.
An infatuated curl tugged the corner of North’s mouth. “She’s perfect. I am blissed out on her utter perfection.”
I rolled my eyes because he was being deliberately saccharine to annoy me. “I’m going to need more than one drink to listen to your lovesick piffle.”
“Fuck you,” North said without rancor. “Now tell me what’s going on.”
Eyeing my friend, I shrugged. “I … well, you know I’ve always had a rule about writing my own screenplays, but you also know I’ve been struggling with writer’s block.”
“Aye.” North leaned forward. “Any progress there?”
“No. But … the S. M. Brodie books … I’ve read nine of them in a week.”
He raised an eyebrow in question.
“They’re damn good, North. Damn good. The author … they reached out asking me if I would be interested in adapting them, and I turned them down.”
“But now you’re rethinking it?”
“Yes. Yet I’m not sure if it’s because I want to or because I can’t write a thing of my own.”
“What if it’s both?”
“I pride myself on writing my own shows. It’s the one thing I take seriously, don’t you know.”
North didn’t return my smirk. “It’s the one thing you’re not afraid to admit that you take seriously, you mean.”
A flare of temper caught me by surprise, but I shoved it back down. My amused tone held an edge. “Don’t psychoanalyze me tonight. I’m not really in the mood.”
My friend studied me carefully. “Adapt the books, Theo. The entire time we’ve known each other, I’ve never seen you this distracted or on edge. Others might not see it, but I do. And you need a purpose or you’ll become an even bigger prick than usual. Adapt the books. No one else cares if it’s an adaptation or not. Especially if you write the screenplay.”
“And if the author wants to help me write the screenplay?”
North snorted. “I say hell mend them.”
I chuckled. “I’m not that bad.”
“Anyone who spends even a wee bit of time around you requires a thick skin, Cavendish.”
“It seems your friend knows you well.”
I froze at the voice. Glancing to our left, I was startled to find Sebastian with Aria. For a moment, I was so shocked to see him after four years, I didn’t speak. He looked the same, if a little older. He’d inherited my father’s looks while I took after our mother. He was dark while I was fairer. Black eyes, so like our father’s, glared back at me. There was no sign of the boy I’d once hero-worshipped.
That snapped me out of my stupor. “What are you doing here?” My accusing glare went to Aria because she’d obviously let him in.
Aria’s brows drew together. “Your brother claims there’s a family emergency.”
Glowering at Sebastian, I wanted to rail at him. I wanted to physically throw him out of the castle. However, I didn’t want anyone to know anything about me or him or our family. Smoothing my expression, I stood slowly. “Let’s talk in my room.”
I gave North a nod and my friend stared at me in concern. With another nod to Aria, I marched out of the lounge, sensing my brother behind me.
“Theo—”
“Don’t speak until we get to my room.”
Tense, chilly silence fell between us. I wanted to sneak glances at him, but I forced myself to keep my gaze straight ahead and used the time to compose myself. There was no way I could let him see how angered I was by his arrival.
As soon as we walked into my room, I strode across it to sit casually in an armchair. Crossing my legs, I gestured lazily to him. “Well, you’ve obviously come with a purpose.”
Sebastian grimaced as he straightened his tie. Since he graduated university, I’d never seen my brother in anything but a three-piece suit. A gold wedding band glinted on his ring finger before his left arm fell back to his side. Of course. I’d almost forgotten he’d married two years ago. According to the papers, she was the daughter of a colleague. Ten years Sebastian’s junior. Very pretty too. He’d probably married her because she came from a suitable background and was young enough to give him children. I doubted it was love.
And North and Aria might think love is real, but in a few years, they’d realize they were wrong.
“I need you to come back to London to see Father.”
It felt like a hand fisting around my throat.
Sebastian took my silence for indifference. Fury flushed his cheeks and he took a step forward. “It is time to put the past behind us, Theo. Father needs us. My wife is pregnant, work is demanding, and as much as I hate being here to ask this of you … I can’t do everything alone.”