His American Fling (14 page)

“I’ll take a Pimms.” I said.

“Pint of Guinness and a Pimms with ice.”  He threw some money on the bar as the landlord prepared the drinks.

“Where do your friends live?” he asked as he took the Guinness the landlord handed him.

“Here, in Cambridge.”

He perked up. “Oh, really?  I probably know them. Who?”
             

I felt uncomfortable telling him since Campbell and I were no longer friends. I shook my head and waved the thought away. “Oh, no one you’d know. How about you?  Are you from Cambridge?”

“Yes and no, my father has a town home in London and my mother has a house in Girton, just outside of town.”

I knew Girton was a snobby suburb of Cambridge. 

He smiled and narrowed his eyes. “You really think I can be so distracted? Alright, you must tell me all or I’ll have to think of some appropriate punishment.  Now, one more time, who were you staying with this summer?”

“Professor Campbell Adair.”

His jaw dropped and he jerked back, staring at me in shock. Obviously, he either knew Campbell or knew of Campbell.

“You stayed the summer with the Honorable Campbell Adair?”  He looked out into space and asked rhetorically, “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“Excuse me?”

“Fiona Raleigh is my sister, God forbid.  We practically grew up at Robscott Manor.”  He stopped abruptly and stared at me—
studying me in wonder.

I was supposed to understand what he was saying, but the only thing that made sense was that he was Fiona’s brother. “Robscott Manor?”

He laughed at me. “You’re friends with Campbell and you don’t know Robscott Manor?”

I was becoming annoyed. I shook my head and hid my frustration by taking a drink of my Pimms.

“Campbell is Campbell Andrew Adair IV of Portree, Scotland. His family owns Dunskey Castle in Galloway, Scotland and Robscott Manor and estates in Cambridgeshire, near Saffron Walden. His father is the Earl of Falkirk.  Campbell is the eldest; he’ll inherit the estates and the title.”

I had to hold onto the bar or I think I would have fallen off the stool. “
He’ll be the Earl of Falkirk
?” 

“Yes, but you, a lowly peon and American to boot, would refer to him as Lord Adair, Earl of Falkirk when his father dies.”

I was stunned and then I thought about his relationship with Fiona and Henry, how they all went to the same schools. “What about Henry?” I asked.

“You mean Lord Henry Pendleton, the Earl of Guilford?”

“
What
?” I was overwhelmed. I paused for a moment.  “Fiona?  You?”

He laughed again at me. “Our father is William Raleigh, Lord Stratford also known as Viscount Stratford.”

“Do all you aristocrats hang around in gangs?”

He laughed heartily. “Yes, we wear voluminous pants, comb our hair back and listen to rap music too.”  He cocked his head at me. “You aren’t really that naive are you?”

“I guess I am.”

“We go to the same schools, same social events, same political events...it’s only natural that we would all be friends and travel in the same circles. For God’s sakes Maggie, Fiona, Henry and Campbell shared baths together when they were toddlers. Fiona lost her virginity to a very drunk Campbell. From what I heard her tell a friend, she practically had to force him to do it. But then, Fiona has always known her own mind. She wanted her first time to be with someone she trusted.”

I held up my hand to stop him, “Whoa...this is way too much information.  I thought he was in love with Gemma?”

“Oh the Barracuda! He may have deflowered Fiona, but it was simply a duty well done, no desire on either side to go further.  Now the Barracuda is different...”  Nigel paused and smiled. “We could all tell Gemma wanted desperately to be Countess Falkirk, but
despite her attempts, Campbell was slow to ask her to marry him. She started sleeping around on him. We dropped hints, but Campbell isn’t the most astute man when it comes to relationships. He was working so hard at being a world famous infectious disease physician, he didn’t register what was going on until the Barracuda finally got bored and left him.”

“For the stock boy?”

Nigel almost fell off his stool laughing, “Stock boy?” He tried to catch his breath. “Oh that is priceless! The stock boy is the major stockholder in one of the largest grocery and distribution chains in Great Britain. He doesn’t have a title, but he certainly has more money than Campbell. He can buy Gemma a lot of tissues to cry over her lost opportunity to be a Countess. Nonetheless, I still think Gemma would come back in a heartbeat if Campbell agreed to marry her.”

I didn’t want to appear to be too curious, but I really did want to know. I had been asking myself why I wasn’t good enough. “Why wouldn’t he marry her?”

Nigel shrugged his shoulders. “He thinks he loves her, but we all know that he would have married her years ago if he really did love her. If you think Campbell is a sullen sod, you should have met him when he was living with Gemma. They fought all the time and he never smiled. Perhaps that is what love does to one’s soul—makes you miserable.”

“Then why stay with her?”

“Campbell is loathed to make changes.  He’s been that way since he was a child.  He’d rather stay in a horrible relationship than have to change his routine or find someone new.”  He narrowed his eyes at me, “Did you really stay with Campbell?  You seem rather ignorant about him.”

“He’s hard to get to know.”

Nigel sighed, staring out into the crowd, “I guess you’re right. He does keep things close to the vest.”

We turned our conversation to Downing and Nigel educated me on some of the characters that were residing in my building. I had already met a couple of them, but they had barely said two words to me. 

“Oh, that will change now that you know me.”

Chapter 7

Educating Maggie

“That wanker!  He kept her hidden the whole time!” Fiona leaned forward in her chair and slapped the table with her hand.”

“Now we know why he was suddenly absent from the summer events. He was too ashamed of shagging an American to show up with her.” 

Henry smirked at the thought as he tucked into his lunch. He wasn’t fond of the corner tea shop, but it was convenient.  The place felt claustrophobic to him with all the Saturday shoppers and their prams filled with babies and toddlers.

Nigel, who had been talking non-stop of his new friend, “
The American
,” looked at both of them. “She’s a rather smashing girl, despite her nationality. If I was him, I’d be shagging her and keep her all to myself too.”

Henry laughed, “Then why aren’t you?”

Nigel lifted an eyebrow. “Well, for one thing, she hasn’t shown any interest in me in the Biblical sense. But, maybe I can convince her to change her mind.”

Henry perked up. “I like Americans. I like Maggie. I think I might stop and see how she is.”  He leaned back, “Campbell is daft when it comes to women.”

Fiona picked up the teapot of Ceylon tea and poured them each a cup. “Maybe you should get the nod from Campbell before you ask Maggie out.” She looked at the figure coming through the door weaving himself through the prams. “Ah, and here comes your chance.” Fiona waved the rain-soaked Campbell over to the table.

Campbell took off his cap and coat, hanging them up by on the wooden hooks sticking out from the wall. He motioned to the waitress and she took his order. Sitting down, he shook his wet hair. “Bloody hell, it’s pissing buckets down out there.” Looking around the table, blank faces stared back. “What’s going on here?”

Henry took a sip of tea for courage. “Were you shagging Maggie this summer?”

There were gasps from Fiona and Nigel who stared in shock at the smiling Henry.

Campbell jerked back, his eyes wide, “I...I ...I...”  He cleared his throat. “I told you, I let Maggie stay at my house until the semester started.” He looked around the table at the eager faces. “The dorm was experiencing a viral infection and we were trying to find out where it was coming from.”

“Oh, so you weren’t shagging her?” Henry said mischievously, knowing full well from Campbell’s face and bright red shade that he had, indeed, been shagging the delicious Maggie.

Fiona laughed. “Oh for God’s sake Campbell, you always were a horrid liar. You were shagging her and too embarrassed to take her out among the hoard. You didn’t want us to find out that your very British wick was being dipped in apple pie.”

Campbell rolled his eyes. “Yes, I was shagging her...as much as possible. All right?  Are you happy?”

There was laughter from the table. 

Nigel looked at
Campbell with his eyes narrowed, one eyebrow raised, “So, are you still shagging Maggie and, if not, why?”

Campbell looked defensively. “That is none of your business.”

Fiona looked at Nigel and Henry, then frowned, “You stupid sod. You made a balls-up of it didn’t you?”

Campbell appeared as if he had been struck in the heart. “I did not!  It simply ran its course.”

Nigel, Henry, and Fiona each nodded and said in unison, “He made a balls-up.”

“It was Gemma, wasn’t it?” Henry asserted.

Campbell said nothing and refused to look at any of them in the eye.

Henry threw his hands up. “Fine, if it really has run its course, then you won’t mind if I give it a go and ask her out?”

Campbell snapped his head in Henry’s direction.  He opened his mouth to protest, but realized that if he did, he would be admitting that he had screwed it up. The pause was too long, but Campbell made a good show by sitting up straight and nodding to Henry. “Of course, ask her out. She’s a nice girl. I think you should.”

Henry looked deep into Campbell’s eyes and almost laughed. He knew his friend was bluffing, but Campbell’s loss was his gain.  Henry jumped up. “Well, then, I’m off to conquer the Colonies.  Cheerio!”  He threw a five pound note on the table and took off out the door.

Fiona chuckled to herself as she saw how miserable Campbell looked. She whispered at him, “Balls-up Campbell, balls-up.”

********************
*

Henry smiled at the porter, “I’m here to see Miss Maggie McGee.”

The porter stood up. “Maggie? Just a moment, I’ll ring her room. Whom may I say is ringing?”

“Henry Pendleton.”

The porter stopped short. “Lord Pendleton?”

Henry nodded, still smiling.

“Just a moment Lord Pendleton.”

Maggie was studying in the library when she felt her cell phone vibrate. She looked at the caller
I.D. and noted that it said,
Downing College
.  She stepped outside and took the call. Within minutes she was up at the Porter’s cottage.

“Henry!”  She walked up and kissed him on the cheek in front of the porters who were watching the two closely.

He grinned at her, “Maggie, it’s so good to see that you landed on your feet. I thought I’d stop by and see how you were doing.  Is this a bad time?”

She shook her head. “Come back to my sitting room.”

Maggie led Henry back to her sitting room and, after he took a seat on the well-worn leather sofa, she offered him tea. Although he’d just had a small pot of tea earlier, he nodded at her polite offer, watching her make the tea, British style, noting that she even warmed the pot. Obviously, Campbell had taught her properly.

“I just found out that you spent the summer as Campbell’s guest.”

She snickered and said without judgment, “Nigel.”

He nodded, “We tend to gossip amongst the landed gentry. Campbell informs me that the two of you are nothing more than friends.”

“Oh, we’re friends now?”

Henry winced. “Dear, dear, have I put my foot in it?  Well, whatever you are, he said I could ask you out.”  He took another sip and put the cup and saucer down. “Maggie, I wanted to ask you out earlier, but I could see there was a spark of something between you and Campbell. Perhaps I was wrong, but I didn’t want to chance that I was interfering with
something.  It’s been so long since Campbell has shown an interest in the opposite sex. But, now that he’s given me the all clear, I was hoping you would oblige me. Would you like to go out for dinner tomorrow night?”

Maggie was
sad and surprised, sad that she was now free in Campbell’s books to be passed on to his friends, but pleasantly surprised that Henry had asked her out.  She put her hand on her chest. “Dinner? With me?” 

He gave her a cheeky grin. “Are you surprised?”

“A little! Campbell seemed to imply that his friends weren’t fond of Yanks.”

“I would say that Campbell is the most Xenophobic of our circle of friends.  Perhaps he is projecting his own distrust onto the rest of us.  I’m rather fond of Americans. They know a lot more about having fun and enjoying life than we do in Britain. I like your spirit and enthusiasm.  It seems as if Americans never do anything half-hearted, do you?”

She smiled broadly.  “Well then. I’d be happy to accept your invitation.”

Henry stood up. “Brill. About sevenish?”

Maggie laughed and shook her head in mock despair. “What does sevenish mean?  I’m American. We believe in punctuality.”