Page 48 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“Do not say a word.” William exploded, pointing a finger at her. “Not one bloody word.” The room fell silent after his outburst and William ran a shaking hand through his hair. He glanced at his youngest, taking a deep calming breath before he spoke. “Matthew, son, whatever your mother has done-”

“Stop, Dad, just stop,” Matt shook his head wearily. “You both act like you’re better than everyone else because you have money and a good family name. I do too. You raised us that way because it’s all you know and I don’t blame you for that. It is what it is,” he paused there, a tiny smile ghosting over his lips at his use of Madi’s words. “But being with her has changed me to some degree and I like the man I am with her. I don’t want to be at war with my family, but I want you to know this; Madi has sacrificed her family for me and I will do the same for her if I have to.”

His mother gasped, the tears slipped down her face as she grabbed his arm tightly. “Matty, you can’t mean that.”

“I do, Mum.” He reached up to wipe the line of moisture leaking out her eyes. Then he took her hands and placed the signed documents in them. “Now take this vile piece of paper and if you love me like you profess to, you’ll tear it up. I won’t, because Madi made me promise not to. She makes me happy and I can honestly say she’s the only one who ever has.”

“Portia.” William’s voice was cold. If looks could kill his wife would already be six feet under. She twisted her head in his direction as Matt stepped away from her. William narrowed his grey eyes at her. “Portia.”

She held the papers in her hand then slowly tore them up. William visibly relaxed, hoping his wife’s action would appease their youngest. He watched as his son nodded once before turning on his heels and heading for the door.

Matt paused and said, “Madi and I will be leaving now. Good night.”

Then he was gone. William rounded on his wife as soon as the door closed.

“Are you out of your bloody mind, woman?” he hissed. “Did I not warn you about meddling in Matthew’s relationship? All you’ve managed to do is push him further away from us and closer to her. Goddamn it! My father was right about you. Your stupidity knows no bounds.”

“Fuck you, William.” Portia replied, shocking him into silence. It was a rare occurrence for a swear word to leave her lips. “You’re the stupid one and due to your lack of action our son is already lost to us. You were too blind to see that months ago he was becoming more and more attached to that woman. You stood by and did nothing to stop this farce from getting to this stage. You’re his father,his father,and you should have spoken to him about this from the very start. Instead you left me no choice but to try other avenues to protect our son. He is hers now and because you wanted to bide your bloody time, it is too late to do anything about it now. I am surrounded by spineless fools! I went to Louisa Gilliford, hoping she could get through to Matthew considering their longstanding relationship but she was afraid of his anger. He’d warned her months ago about interfering in his love life. Spineless! Why do you think an invitation for tonight was not extended to the Gillifords? She’s a spineless coward. It’s obvious that Madison has more backbone than you both combined. At least she’s willing to risk everything for our son! God. This is a mess.” Portia stormed over to the desk and grabbed William’s glass before downing the contents. She glared at the man who fathered her children.

“Portia,” he began in a strained voice but she held her hand up, silencing him.

“There’s nothing for it now, William. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go speak to my future daughter-in-law before she leaves, to curry her favour in the hope that she doesn’t turn my youngest son against me. I shan’t be staying here tonight. Make sure the staff complete their cleaning duties after the party and remind Hannah to contact the caretaker of our French property tomorrow. The girls are planning a ski trip with their friends and for God’s sake make your father take his pills in the morning.”

“Portia! What do you mean you’re not staying here tonight? Where will you go?” William asked in shock.

“Anywhere,” she drawled, arching a well-defined eyebrow at him as she moved towards the door. “As long as it’s away from you.”

The door slammed loudly behind her and William stared at the dark wood.What in God’s name had just happened in this room?

CHAPTER 5

Matt and Iwere having a serious discussion. To be quite clear, it was more one-sided than any ‘discussion’ should ever be. I sat atop the island in his Kensington kitchen while he held my car and house keys captive and listed all the reasons why I should be living with him instead of my own home. My focus drifted, it was the 5th of January and the New Year was shaping up to be a weird one.

Portia Bradley. My future mother-in-law was an enigma. Right before Matt, Nathan, Bella and I could leave their New Year’s party she had requested a moment of my time. Matt point blank told her no, I felt bad. Her eyes had looked red and puffy and I didn’t think it had anything to do with alcohol. I had patted Matt’s arm and told him it was fine and allowed her to take me to their music room where she advised me how much she loved her son, so much so she had torn up the prenuptial on his behest. She also said she was willing to put aside her mistrust of me for Matt’s sake, although she still expected me to sign another prenuptial before the actual wedding. She informed me since I would be Matt’s future wife and she was his mother, we both had important roles in his life and it would be best if we were civil to each other. Then she said she expected me to adhere to certain rules of behaviour whenever I was in the public eye and she would not tolerate any embarrassing media attention on my part. After all that came the final remark of how I should continue wearing my hair straight as she felt my natural curls were too ethnic. I had said only one thing after she had expended her breath and it was: Matt loves me just the way I am, curls and all. I had been shocked no doubt, my previous willingness to look at the whole situation from her point of view concerning the prenuptial had flown out the window. Portia Bradley wasn’t just an enigma, she was bat-shit crazy and no woman wanted a crazy mother-in-law. Karma was laughing at me.

“Madison DuMont,” Matt called sharply. “Are you listening to me?”

“Of course, my lovely knight.” I said with a wide smile as he paced in front the island.

I was now toying with the idea of jumping on him, wrestling him to the tiled kitchen floor and snatching my bunch of keys. Although, realistically speaking, the sheer size of him made the success of that idea an impossibility. Then I thought about flashing him my boobs as a form of distraction. Once he was under the boobie spell I would snatch my keys and make my escape. That idea was a non-starter too. Matt rarely got distracted when he was in discussion mode. My eyes tracked his frustrated movements. He looked so damn delicious in his pin-stripe suit. The only thing detracting from his business tycoon image was the state of his hair. When he came downstairs it had been in its usual sleek swept back style, not one hair out of place. Now it was wild, his hands had been going through it frequently. I liked it though, added another dimension to him.

“You’re going to be late, Matt.” I reminded him sweetly. He shot me a stern look then continued with his tirade.

“And George is quite fond of you,” Matt informed me. “Why just yesterday he mentioned how much he enjoys your daily verbal sparring.”

“Did he now?” The sceptical tone of my voice was not lost on Matt.

He ran his hand through his hair again. “Ah, well not in so many words, but that’s beside the point, poppet.”

“George is much nicer than your staff in Surrey,” I mused, remembering the awkwardness I felt while staying there.

“And you’re ignoring the cost benefits,” Matt came to a stop in front of me. He was tugging on his tie now. “With us living together here, you save on utility bills etc. Of course you’ll have to cover the Council tax for an unoccupied property, or you could rent out-”

“It’s 6:15.” I interrupted. “I thought you wanted to arrive at your office before 7am. Now may I please have my keys back?”

Matt’s jaw tightened. “No.”

“You know I have an Oyster card. I can simply get the tube or call a taxi and pay cash-” I stopped when I saw the sudden gleam in his eyes. Then I hastened to add. “Do not go through my bag, Matt. That’s an invasion of privacy and I won’t stand for it.”

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