The Englishman (70 page)
Authors: Nina Lewis
I’m not saying the following few months were easy. But the advantage of being exposed is that you no longer have to hide. Giles accepted with wry good grace the fact that all his colleagues and an unknown number of students had now seen his naked butt, even if it was only on a grainy little photo. Tim declared in gleeful tones that the term “sneaky fuckers” had never been more apt. Yvonne came to my office and, without a word, gave me a hug; Erin stopped speaking to me. The gossip and the whispers hardly registered with me. I was too happy. If it wasn’t such bad form to kick a man who was already down, I would have sent Nick Hornberger a thank-you note. I guess they allow them to receive mail at Dillwyn Correctional Center.
Giles and I are not sitting hand in hand now. A carriage on the London Underground’s Central Line is no place for public displays of affection, at least not during the rush hour. But it is crowded enough for me to surreptitiously press my thigh against his under the cover of his briefcase and my
Guardian
. I sent him a text before I left my office on the Mile End Road, which allowed him time enough to walk from his office down to Holborn. Sometimes, like today, we catch sight of each other across the platform and he comes to find me in the car. Sometimes, like today, he pretends not to know me, a tall, silver-haired stranger who comes to stand or sit next to me. Catches my eye. Accidentally brushes against me. Holland Park is our stop, and from there it is just a couple of walking minutes into a quiet side street.
“I know it’s not Buckinghamshire,” Giles said apologetically when he first took me to see the white-washed, three-story Victorian townhouse. “But Reggie lives there with his family, and I can’t really chuck him out. He’s older than me, you see. So he has Bucks House, and we can have Holl House.”
“Dear old Holl House,” I said in my best plummy voice, seeking refuge in satire because I was so amazed.
He grinned. “But you wanted a posh English boy, didn’t you?”
“I can’t afford to live in a place like
that!”
“You can pay rent in kind. Anyway, Queen Mary College is such a hopelessly dreary place, you need something a little more attractive to come home to.”
“As it happens, I have something extremely attractive to come home to!”
“You do? Come over here under this tree and explain that to me.”
One of the changes he made to the house before we moved in was on the top floor.
“You’re not to look,” he told me very sternly. “I want this to be a surprise!”
The builders came in and drilled and hammered for two weeks. Then, one August evening, Giles appeared in the kitchen with a scarf in his hand.
“Sweetie, we have a postcard from Tim and Martin. They’re in…” I turned over the card. “In Thailand. He says they found a cheap flight back via Heathrow, so they’re coming to see us on the twenty-ninth: ‘
Threatening invasion of Holland Park love nest
.’ Well, thanks for the warning, Tim!”
“Talking of love nests.” Giles twisted the scarf into a blindfold and stepped behind me. “Do you trust me, Dr. Lieberman?”
“Um…”
When I had felt my way up the stairs, which involved a lot of hands-on help from Giles, he stopped me with his hands around my waist.
“You will pretend to like it, won’t you?” he joked in that way that betrayed his apprehension. “It’s a bit silly, really, but—”
“Dude! Let me see it already!”
He led me five or six steps away from the landing.
“Careful now. Watch your shin! Lie down.”
I crawled onto a bed, feeling the smooth softness of silken bed sheets under my hands and knees.
“On your back.”
“You’re not going to tie me down, are you?”
“No. Not today, anyway.” He loosened the scarf around my head.
“Oh! It’s—oh, Giles! It’s lovely!”
“Is it really?” He smiled, shy, a little flushed, kneeling on the bed next to me.
The two small bedrooms had been turned into one large one, with a huge black metal bed in the middle. Above our heads was a domed skylight in the neo-gothic style, with Art Deco ornamentation and mulled glass panes.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, gazing up and around.
“Could you imagine sleeping up here?”
“Sleeping—no.” I smiled and slid against him on the silken sheets. “Sleeping would be time wasted, wouldn’t it?”
It is a pleasure to see that to Giles it has a deep and peculiar significance to move back into the house his grandfather bought in nineteen eleven, and to make it his own. This is his home ground, but it took him almost twenty years abroad to want to root himself in it. He says that by leaving Ardrossan, I left far more behind than he did, but it doesn’t feel that way.
I feel that I have come home.
About the Author
Nina Lewis wrote her first story when she was nine years old, a drama of love and jealousy set in a circus. Her best friend and she performed it to themselves over and over again, for ever changing the dialogue, conflicts and endings. It strikes her as ironically appropriate that her first published novel is set on a college campus—the habitat of many a strange, loveable or fierce creature. When she isn’t busy training animals to jump through the hoops of college education, Nina is knee-deep in her second novel, which is set in England during the French Revolution—historical romance being her favourite genre of fiction. Check her Facebook page for news and updates:
https://www.facebook.com/NinaLewisNovelist
Check Out These Titles From
Omnific Publishing
Contemporary Romance
Boycotts & Barflies
and
Trust in Advertising
by Victoria Michaels
Passion Fish
by Alison Oburia and Jessica McQuinn
Three Daves
by Nicki Elson
Small Town Girl
and
Corporate Affair
by Linda Cunningham
Stitches and Scars
by Elizabeth A. Vincent
Take the Cake
by Sandra Wright
Pieces of Us
by Hannah Downing
The Way That You Play It
by BJ Thornton
Poughkeepsie
by Debra Anastasia
Burning Embers
by Hannah Fielding
Cocktails & Dreams
by Autumn Markus
Recaptured Dreams
and
All-American Girl
by Justine Dell
Once Upon a Second Chance
by Marian Vere
The Englishman
by Nina Lewis
Historical Romance
Cat O’ Nine Tails
by Patricia Leever
Burning Embers
by Hannah Fielding
Romantic Suspense
Whirlwind
by Robin DeJarnett
The CONduct Series: With Good Behavior
and
Bad Behavior
by Jennifer Lane
Indivisible
by Jessica McQuinn
Between the Lies
by Alison Oburia
Paranormal Romance
The Light Series: Seers of Light, Whisper of Light,
and
Circle of Light
by Jennifer DeLucy
The Hanaford Park Series: Eve of Samhain
and
Pleasures Untold
by Lisa Sanchez
Immortal Awakening
by KC Randall
Crushed Seraphim
and
Bittersweet Seraphim
by Debra Anastasia
The Guardian’s Wild Child
by Feather Stone
Grave Refrain
by Sarah M. Glover
Divinity
by Patricia Leever
Blood Vine
by Amber Belldene
Divine Temptation
by Nicki Elson
Young Adult
Shades of Atlantis
and
The Ember Series: Ember
and
Iridescent
by Carol Oates
Breaking Point
by Jess Bowen
Life, Liberty, and Pursuit
by Susan Kaye Quinn
Embrace
by Cherie Colyer
Destiny’s Fire
by Trisha Wolfe
Streamline
by Jennifer Lane
Reaping Me Softly
by Kate Evangelista
Erotic Romance
Becoming sage
by Kasi Alexander
Saving sunni
by Kasi & Reggie Alexander
The Winemaker’s Dinner: Appetizers
and
Entrée
by Dr. Ivan Rusilko and Everly Drummond
The Winemaker’s Dinner: Dessert
by Dr. Ivan Rusilko
Anthologies and Singles
A Valentine Anthology
including short stories by Alice Clayton, Jennifer DeLucy, Nicki Elson, Jessica McQuinn, Victoria Michaels, and Alison Oburia
It’s Only Kinky the First Time
by Kasi Alexander
Learning the Ropes
by Kasi & Reggie Alexander
The Winemaker’s Dinner: RSVP
by Dr. Ivan Rusilko
The Winemaker’s Dinner: No Reservations
by Everly Drummond
Big Guns
by Jessica McQuinn
Concessions
by Robin DeJarnett
Starstruck
by Lisa Sanchez
New Flame
by BJ Thornton
Shackled
by Debra Anastasia
Swim Recruit
by Jennifer Lane
Sway
by Nicki Elson
Full Speed Ahead
by Susan Kaye Quinn
The Second Sunrise
by Hannah Downing
The Summer Prince
by Carol Oates
Whatever it Takes
by Sarah M. Glover
Clarity
by Patricia Leever
A Christmas Wish
by Autumn Markus
Coming Soon From Omnific Publishing
Tangled
by Emma Chase
16 Marsden Place
by Rachel Brimble
Sleepers, Awake
by Eden Barbebr
Beside Your Heart
by Mary Whitney
The Runaway Year
by Shani Struthers
Maverick
by Kate Evangelista
Cry
by Linda Kage
Blood Entangled
by Amber Belldene
Table of Contents