Scarlet Rose

Chapter 32

Marion was eagerly awaiting for the arrival of the man who had made her heart beat quicken every time he turned his eyes on her. His whole presence enthralled her beyond anything she had experienced with other men so far. Could it be the fact that he was making it as hard as it can be, to get to know him? Or that despite him being single, sometimes she thought he must be the most unavailable man she had ever met. Oh, the mystery...the challenge. She bit her lip as she kept staring outside the window. The guests had started to arrive. Mostly they were her parent's friends. All being excited to meet John Barrymore. She could's care less. She chuckled to the thought, how inappropriate to think that. But it was true. Her mission was Terrence Graham. No one else mattered.

She had visited the theatre a few times. Dragged him out, insisting to entertain him a spot of lunch. Trying her best to know him. Like a bee, she buzzed around him, hoping to drink of the nectar of his azure stare when he spent it on her. Actors she knew were a flaky bunch, saying one thing one day, and doing another the next. But not him. Terrence Graham was his own master. No one made him do anything or say anything he didn't want or hadn't agreed to.

She had taken extra care of her appearance that evening. Wearing a fitted black Chanel dress with a drop waist and feathered skirt, heavy eyeliner round her blue eyes, lips like red velvet roses, she was happy with the way she looked. She wanted to look perfect when he arrived. She hadn't stopped gushing about him to her parents. With some clever planning, she had persuade them to throw that soiree. Having the bait of John Barrymore, she would get to spend the night with Terry. There were many quiet corners, she had hoped to get him alone. She sighed. Her friend Rose had arrived with Christian. He had grabbed her, right there on the driveway to kiss her like a man in love would. She rushed to the door. In her mind, she hoped to have her man kiss her so...

..............

Since the night Isabel and Archie had found each other, they had stayed inseparable. It was completely against his nature but Archie found himself not being able to resist the pull and the passion he felt was coursing his veins when he was around her. To have an affair outside his marriage was something that never had crossed his mind before. Everything he felt and everything he did were newfound experiences for him. Charting in unknown waters without a map...did not come without its headaches. Especially when every day he had to talk with Annie over the phone.

Those moments he disliked more and more. To lie to a woman, his wife who held from the other end of the line with all that those phone calls entailed. Each pretending to the other, fearing...

Annie tiptoed between her eagerness to hear how he spent his days away and the fear of finding out he actually had a great time without her. Archie complaining about the weight of work, the weather, the high brow of the British. Thank God for Candy he would tell Annie. Yes, he spent time with her and her friends, taking him around London. Of course he preferred to stay in, but how could he refuse to Candy?

You know how your friend is...

Thoughts unwelcome weighted upon his brow making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin. However, the moment he would meet with Isabel, all that melted away. The nights they spent in his bed. The mornings came with her between his arms, feeling her warm body stretching next to his. All day he would carry in his mind those first kisses, the soft, half asleep ones, that carried her breath on his neck and waked everything up inside him. He hardly managed to unglue himself to get ready for work.