Regency Romance: The Rake's Fake Marriage (Historical Arranged Marriage Romance) (19th Century Victorian Romance) (48 page)

4

For the next month and a half, Rae was in a constant state of bliss. It seemed as though Casey wanted to spend every waking moment with her, and she was glad to oblige the movie star. She began staying at his massive mansion most nights, and he took her to the most
amazing
restaurants and clubs. They never waited in lines. He took her shopping, and they didn’t even make him pay. It was enough for the clothes to be seen on or around him.

And
the sex
, it was like nothing the young woman had ever experienced. Some nights they fucked, some nights they made love, sometimes both. He
fucked
her hard one afternoon by his pool, her bikini bottoms pulled to the side by eager fingers, his cock pulling out of her and spraying its load all over her back. That night they took a bath together, entwining their limbs in the warm water as they rocked slowly back and forth.

The man was surprisingly sweet, and he showered her with gifts, both extravagant and small. She would wake up and he would have breakfast made and ready for her, bringing it up on a tray so she could eat in bed. One morning she laughed.

“Did you make this?” she asked.

“I asked Caroline to make it,” he said with a grin. She was his personal chef, and she came over in the morning, and left at night. He had maids, a driver, all kinds of people. It was strange for Rae, but Casey seemed used to it all.

She was once shopping for groceries with
Gillian
since she still tried to sleep at her old apartment once or twice a week. The two women were checking out when a group of men dressed smartly came into the
store
and singled out
Rae
and then began singing to her. They sang in French, and she couldn’t understand a word, but it was the most beautiful song she had ever heard. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and Gillian laughed and laughed. Her friend would break into fake French singing for the next two weeks, nearly every time they saw each other.

It was hard to go out, though. It was one thing to go to posh restaurants, but even going from the car to the front door was a nightmare. There’d be
a number of
men with cameras, and they’d all push forward to get their shots. Even when Rae wasn’t with Casey, they began to show up.

Once Casey attempted to take her to the zoo, but they left after twenty minutes because the paparazzi was disturbing them and everyone around them. Rae had never experienced anything like it. She realized that Casey had lived that sort of life for years. Decades
really
, and it made her admire him even more. He never complained, he never raised his voice to the paparazzo’s. He never threatened to hit them. He just went about his day as best as he could, and sometimes when it became almost overbearing he would stop, and smile, and let them take his picture. Rae loved that about him. She knew he was annoyed, she knew he was angry, but he didn’t let them know. If anything, he knew that flying off the handle would make for better pictures, and his face would be red and angry and yelling silent screamed from the cover of every magazine in the country. So he didn’t do that. He would speak softly to them, and they would fall quiet to hear him.

“Go ahead,” he would
say,
and
then he
would smile. “Do your worst.”

And the men with cameras would love him for it. “Hey
thanks,
Casey,” they would say. “Love the suit.” And he would smile and nod his head in thanks, and go on his
way
until he ran into another group of the parasites further down the block.

Rae had read about Casey, and she worried it could end at any moment. It always seemed to do so with him. She was just one in a long line of young starlets. Their movie was close to wrapping post production, and it would be out in only weeks. They had been spotted together by the paparazzi, and her name was going around town, and the nation. She landed a new film herself, a science fiction action flick where she would be playing a woman in the galactic army, intent on taking down invading aliens. She began working out for the role, hoping to look a little tougher in her uniform, which of course would be ripped
by an alien
claw to show off her toned stomach. There were no more commercials for her. She even managed to get Gillian a small role in the film, and her friend was
ecstatic
.

And then it all came crashing down. Rae had missed a period, and she began feeling sick throughout the day. She worried she was pregnant, but
she
put off taking the test until she missed
a second
one.
She
went back home, huddled around the bathroom sink with
Gillian
after peeing on the little white plastic stick, and they watched as it revealed that she was going to have a baby.

Rae went to see Casey that night.

“I can’t have a kid,” he said, shaking his head and catching her off guard.

“What?” Rae asked.

“I can’t have a kid. I can’t. We aren’t married, and
…
I… the press, the public, they just… I can’t.”

“
Well,
I’m not going to get rid of it!’ Rae said, feeling hot tears stinging her eyes.

“I never said that!” Casey said, standing up. They were in his spacious living room, on the ground floor of his massive mansion. “And keep your voice down, the cook might hear you.”

“Oh, the cook? Of course the cook is here. Why wouldn’t he be? You’re too
rich
to take care of yourself, right? How long is it going to be until you find another me? One without your child growing in her belly?”

“What are you
talking about
? Casey asked, coming forward and trying to take her arms, but she stepped out of his reach.

“Forget it,” Rae said, and she didn’t know why she was so angry, or so hurt, but she turned around and hurried out of the man’s home. He had bought her a car, and she felt horrible driving in it, but she had no way to get back home, so she did so.

Days passed, and Casey tried to call her, and when she wouldn’t answer he showed up at her apartment, but Gillian told him to go away and he did so. Rae spent most of her time crying, and the days turned into weeks.

The day before the big premiere of Rae’s first movie, she and Gillian sat on her bed, talking. Already, Rae was showing, her stomach pushing against her shirt uncomfortably.

“I’m here for you, girl, but I don’t understand… why…”
Gillian
said, but she didn’t know how to finish her sentence.

“Why I’m keeping it?”

“I guess… I didn’t want to say it like that, but yes.”

“I don’t know. I would be a good mom, you know? I will be a good mom. Like my mom was. She came out here with me. But now we hardly talk. I haven’t even told her about this, but… I just want to do right. You know, I have this cousin, and she didn’t live where I lived. She didn’t have the same opportunities, and as hard as it is, as hard as it was, and has been, to get work here, as much as I was overlooked, she came from somewhere else. She was pregnant at fourteen, the dad was just some kid, she was just some kid, and she didn’t keep it. And she acted tough, you know? She had to, living where she lived. But it killed her. I could see it in her eyes. I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to act tough. If Casey doesn’t want to do it with me, to raise this kid, then fine. But I can’t give up on him. Or her.”

Gillian smiled softly, and she hugged her friend. “I’m here for you. Remember that.”

Rae smiled, and then she began to cry, as she so often did.

5

The premiere of When Love Speaks was another point on the long list of
things
Rae had never thought she would experience. There was a red carpet, and she
was let
out of a limo along with Gillian,  her plus one. They posed for pictures, smiling and laughing,
intent
of having a good time. There was a group where people stood, simply fans of movies, or fans of celebrities. Some of them called Rae’s name, and it was shocking, but it delighted her. She went to see them, the
normal
people, and she felt terrible that she thought of them that way. She signed anything they pressed into her hand, and she leaned close to the railing that separated them from her, smiling into cell phone after cell phone as she took thirty selfies. They neared the historic theater where the
premier
was taking place, and Rae froze in her tracks. There was Casey, smiling with Amelia Stevens, who
was dressed
as nicely as Rae was, and who looked a little bored. She had done a premier a hundred times. She wasn’t excited anymore, but Rae was sure she had been once.

Seeing Casey brought a painful twinge to Rae’s chest, as if her heart was literally breaking. He saw her, his eyes flickering over to her, but then the people taking pictures were calling his name, and he was smiling again and looking at them. Bright bulbs flashed.

“Rae, go have a picture with your co-stars,” one man with a camera yelled out after noticing her. Rae forced a smile on her face, and went to do so. She stood next to Amelia, pointedly putting her between Casey and herself. But the older actress soon tired of the charade, and she smiled to Rae.

“He’s all yours, sweetie,” she said, and she headed into the theater. Rae hesitated, but Casey moved over and put his arm around her, smiling
for
the
camera men
as they took a hundred photos. Rae smiled too, but she wasn’t sure how she was
managing to
. She put a hand protectively on her stomach as the bright lights blinded her.

“Are you two still together?” one man asked. “No one has seen you together in months!”

Rae didn’t want to answer him, was going to ignore him, but Casey stepped forward, and he held his hands up.

“I’d like to address that
head-on
,” he said, and the cameras stopped clicking. Some nearby reporters hurried
over
and held digital voice recorders up. A camera crew and reporter from television hurried up as well.

The months I’ve spent with Rae Coleman have been the greatest months of my life,” Casey said, and Rae didn’t know what to think. Was he going to lie about their relationship? Why was he so concerned what people thought
about
him? The man went on, and she listened.

“I have to say, I can get caught up in all of this,” Casey said.
“There're
all of these
rules;
there’s
all of these things. Focus groups tell us what they like in movies, and what they don’t. I get hung up on them, and I think about them in real life. Everything I do
is scrutinized
. It’s exhausting, but it’s part of the game. It’s what I do, and it’s what affords me a privileged life. So I do it.”

Rae looked over to Gillian, who held up her hands in an exaggerated shrug, and Casey went on.

“I’ve dated a million girls. Most of them young, all of them beautiful, and they all meant something to me. But never like this. Never like this woman standing next to me. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s insanely talented. I’ve done this for a long time, and when someone comes in, so young and fresh, and she can teach you something about what you do, you take notice. You're about to see that in this film tonight.”

Rae didn’t know what to think. Was he buttering her up? Trying to get her to take him back? She didn’t want him back, not like that. She wanted him to own up to it all, she wanted him to be a father.

Casey continued. “What I’m ashamed of is how I’ve acted recently. After I learned that Miss Coleman was pregnant.”

There was an audible gasp from the gathered crowd, and Rae thought it was like something out of a movie.

“She told me she was pregnant, and I didn’t step up. I’m an idiot, because I lost her. I was worried about those focus groups. I was worried I would be done. Women, they have this idea that I’m available, it’s fine if I date, but to Michelle in Michigan, I could be hers. When she watches one of my movies, I am hers. But if I’m a dad. If I have a wife… she can’t do that. Well I realize now, that sorry to Michelle from Michigan, but I don’t care.  I want to be a dad, and I want to have a wife, and Rae, I have to ask you….” Casey said, trailing off and turning towards her. He pulled something small out of his pocket, and she saw it was a box. He knelt on one knee, and opened the lid of the box. Inside was the most beautiful engagement ring she had ever seen.

“Will you marry me?” Casey asked, and Rae realized there was a stream of tears rolling down her face. She nodded, her hand clamped over her mouth. Casey
smiled
and
rose,
and they hugged. And then they kissed, and the camera started up again, but neither of them noticed the flashes.

****

THE END

The Russian’s Secret Love Child – Ella’s Story

''Welcome to PB Real Estate, Ella,'' Steffi Rushden said.

''Thank
you,
”
Ella replied. “I'm so happy to be here. It's not easy finding a good job these days.''

''You were by far the best candidate, and we had a lot of applicants. Here's your desk. Do you think you'll be comfortable here?''

Ella glanced
around the office
she was going to
work in
. She'd applied for the position of junior management accountant without having much hope of actually landing the job. To her surprise,
she
was now standing on the fourteenth floor of a luxury office building in Manhattan with Steffi, the woman who had interviewed her, just a few days ago. ''Yes, it's perfect,' Ella said as she looked at her new work station, a glass desk with chrome frame and a leather chair
on
chrome legs. ''I know I'm not here to
look at
the view, but wow, you can almost see Europe from here,'' Ella added, as she looked out past the Statue Of Liberty.

''It's a
really
great place to work, for all sorts of reasons. Now let me introduce you to Mike. He's the company management
accountant,
and he'll be looking after you for a few
weeks
until you get the hang of how we operate here.''

Mike Johnson was the sort of man Ella had always thought would be an accountant. He was of medium height, slightly overweight and bald. His
silver
rimmed glasses were too big for his face, and they clung perilously to the end of his nose. She did note, however, that his suit and shoes were of the highest quality and must have cost more money than most people earn in a year.

''Hello, Ella. It's a pleasure to meet you. I thought we could spend a few minutes getting to know each other before we start work,'' he said. Ella was relieved to note his friendly disposition. She had been woken in the night by an awful dream, in which she
was lumbered
with an ogre of a boss.

''Great, I'd like that,'' Ella said as Mike gestured to her to sit down. Ella's desk was in a small office, which contained to two
work places
. One for her and one for Mike. The company was
expanding,
and Mike had asked Pavel if he could have an assistant to help him.

''So tell me a bit about yourself, I met you briefly at the
interview
, but it was Steffi who
really
got to know you. She
told me
you will be a star and that your qualifications are second to none.''

''It's kind of her to say so. I'm very pleased she thought so highly of me. Well, I don't
really
know where to start,'' Ella said as her thumbs wound around each other. ''I'm
twenty-three
, and I've just graduated from Pace. I was born into a pretty poor family, my
Mom
and Dad are
second-generation
African Americans. Dad works in cold
storage,
and Mom's just lost her job. She was a packer at a fish factory. It was terrible
work,
so I'm not unhappy she's lost it. She's got crippling arthritis from the damp, cold conditions.''

Ella wondered whether she was telling Mike too much background information, but he seemed to be smiling and nodding, and not at all bored, so she continued. ''They did everything they could to give me a good start in life. I couldn't have wished for better parents, but they were desperately short of money all the time. We live in a tiny apartment in Bedford, and do our best, like all the other residents, to avoid getting shot or stabbed. I went to school, seemed to do okay,
and got
a place at Pace. Mom and Dad were so proud of me when I landed this
job;
I can't tell you.''

''Well, you certainly seem to be working your way up in the world. I
really
admire you for that. What about hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time.''

''I love
reading,
and I've done a bit of part time modeling. Nothing glamorous, but I've been in a few catalogs.''

Mike could quite see why. Ella was striking. When
she'd walked
into the room, he'd been very surprised to see how tall she was. He estimated five ten and
she
was wearing flat shoes. Her black skin shone with the healthy glow of youth, and he loved the way she wore her hair. She'd tied in
up,
and she looked quite the business woman. She had remarkably fine bones and a whiter than
white
smile. Mike liked to think of himself as a kind soul who would never look at a woman in an inappropriate manner, but faced with
Ella;
he was struggling to live up to his
self-image
. He found his eyes falling to her breasts and lovely legs far too often for his liking. Ella was wearing a
skirt,
and when she crossed her legs, Mike was embarrassed to feel a stir in his groin.

That’s nice,'' he said averting his eyes as Ella once again shifted her weight from one buttock to the other. ''So what do you know about PB Real Estate?''

''I know it's owner, Pavel Belyakov is a Russian, and that the company is quite new. I believe the company has existed for two years and that Mr Belyakov buy and sells residential properties in the Manhattan area,'' Ella said.

''That just about sums it up,'' Mike said, trying his best to keep eye contact. ''Our job Ella, is to complete the financial paperwork on the deals Mr Beljakov agrees. Our work calls for a high degree of accuracy, and in most cases speed. I have never seen a deal go past me that was for less than five million dollars, and most of them are above twenty million.'' Mike noticed Ella's eyes roll as she tried to image such sums. ''It's the lawyers job to make sure the contracts are
water tight
, and our job to make sure the money gets from Mr Beljakov's account to the vendor, on time.
In addition
, we are responsible for keeping an eye on how the investments perform over time. We need to check rental incomes against maintenance expenditure and so forth. As time goes by, you will learn how we do that. Any questions before we
start to
work?''

''No, I don't think so. I guess I'll have a thousand questions once
I
get started, but
for now,
I don't.''

''You've joined us at a great time
actually
. Last year Mr. Beljakov threw a
mid-summer
party,
and he's decided to do so again. It's next week, and all his employees
are invited
. So you'll meet him then,'' Mike added as he stood up.

Ella sat at her
desk
and looked down to the street below. She'd never been so high before, and she was amazed to see how tiny the people looked as they scurried around. Mike gave her some easy tasks to do, to ease her into the job but before
she
began. Before she began, she took a moment to realize where
she
was, and what she had achieved.
She
, a black woman from a
low-income family
, had landed a
well-paid
job in a real estate firm, with luxury offices somewhere up in the sky. She smiled to herself. She was on her way in life, and nothing could stop her now.

*****

''Ouch, Mom, that hurt,'' Ella squealed.

''Sorry honey. I'm just trying to get these pins in. I think I need some new glasses,'' her mom said, as she held the hem of Ella's dress. ''It's a pity this party is taking place before you've got your first paycheck. You could have gone downtown and bought yourself something beautiful instead of this rag.''

''It's not a rag, mom. It was very nice of Jenny to lend me her best dress. I told her I would replace it when I got paid. It fits okay doesn't it?'' Ella was petrified. When Mike had told her about the summer party at Mr. Beljakov's, she had given no thought whatsoever to what she would wear. With two days to
go , she'd
suddenly realized that she didn't have a dress. Not even an old one. She'd
managed
to buy a couple of skirts for work, but a dress was well out of her financial reach, so she'd called her best friend and pleaded.

''It'll fit fine when I've finished with it,'' her mother said without managing to convince her daughter.

Ella looked at her mother as she knelt in front of her, trying to pin the hem of the borrowed dress. Ella felt a knot in her stomach when she saw her mom's arthritic hands struggling with the tiny pins. Her Mum had gone gray, quite suddenly after
she
'd lost her job. She'd thought her world had come to an end because she and her husband desperately needed the money. Ella hadn't told her mom how much her new job paid. She wanted it to be a surprise when she came
home
and gave her more housekeeping in a
week
than her mom could earn in a month at the fish factory.

''There, that's the last pin. Now go and have a look in the mirror,'' Ella's mom said.

Ella stood in her bedroom and looked at herself. ''It looks okay,'' she shouted back to the sitting room where her mom was rubbing her sore joints.

''
Of course,
it
looks
okay
. You're a beautiful
girl;
you can carry anything off with your figure. Whoever you fall in love with, will be a very lucky man indeed.''

When Ella had first seen the dress, she hadn't been sure at all. It
was made
of shiny red silk, and she'd thought it too trashy. It was also low cut and showed a lot more bust than
she
wanted to. But after her mom's alterations, she felt more confident.

*****

''Are you okay, Ella. You're trembling,'' Mike shouted.

''It so high. I don't mind admitting, I'm
scared
,'' Ella replied as she stood on the roof of the building in which their office
was located
, and tried to prevent her dress from lifting in the wind.

''Look, it's coming. Only a couple of minutes and we'll be off,'' Mike shouted as he pointed towards a dot in the distance.

As the helicopter got closer to the landing pad, Ella didn't' know what to do. Either put her hands over her ears, and risk her dress flying up over her bottom, or keep hold of her dress and risk
being deafened
.

When she was safely inside the vehicle, she surveyed the damage. Her hair was all over the place, and her ears were ringing.
At least,
she'd been able to keep her modesty, she thought. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a mirror and a comb. While the helicopter flew over Manhattan, she did her best to fix her hair. She was less than satisfied with the result when she'd finished. The mirror was too small for hair, and it was a bumpy
ride,
so her hands kept moving all over the place. Heaven knows what Mr Beljakov would think when he met her, she thought.

''That's it,'' Mike said as he pointed.

Ella looked down and saw a mansion. As they got
closer,
she saw the most beautiful building she had ever seen. They landed on an immaculate lawn about three hundred meters away from the house. Luckily for Ella, the pilot switched the engine off before she got out, allowing her hair to stay intact. Mike jumped out first, and offered his hand, she gratefully accepted.

''Follow me,'' he said, once Ella had alighted. Ella looked around. They were on a large lawn, which was bordered by woodland on three sides. On the fourth side, there was
a white
post and rail fence with an open gate in it. They walked through the
gate
and down a path. When they rounded a corner, she saw it.

Windward Hall.
Eighty-seven
rooms
set in
thirty-three
acres of land. It was built in nineteen seventeen and bought by Mr. Beljakov three years ago for
thirty-seven
million dollars. Ella stopped walking and took in her surroundings. She was in awe of the place. She lived in a two bedroom apartment, in a seedy part of town, and as much as she tried to imagine what it must be like to live in such a place, she couldn't. The house was white. It
was built
in the Tudor-Elizabethan style and had an upstairs balcony
that
stood on magnificent columns. The front door was enormous and had two beautiful brass coach lamps mounted to each side of it. To the left of the main house, there was a wing
that
appeared to house a library, and to the right, another
wing
that
appeared
to contain a swimming pool. To Ella, the most impressive feature was the giant chimney stack with more pots that she could count.