A/N: All right all you Ringtone Fans – here's your next Ringtone Adventure! This story features the usual suspects – Ringtone Charles, Ringtone Elsie, Ringtone Richard and Ringtone Isobel – and it introduces us to Ringtone Branson and Ringtone Lord Grantham!
I had intended for it to be the usual two-or-three chapter holiday fic but this story sort of took on a life of its own. I suspect the total will be four chapters plus epilogue. It is now after midnight (eastern time) so I post this first chapter on St. Paddy's Day and hope that you enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: No matter how hard I try, I cannot loosen the grip of Julian Fellowes or ITV on these characters – no matter that it's been proven that they have a way better time in our little Downton AU – no copyright infringement intended!
"Come now, Charles," she admonished him lightly, "it won't kill you to wear the tie. It's not as if I'm asking you to wear a 'Kiss Me, I'm Irish' t-shirt or anything." He grimaced and pulled at his collar which in turn pulled his tie askew. "Hold still! There, now aren't you a handsome boy!" she teased and tidied up the end of his shamrock covered neck tie before smoothing down the front of his waistcoat. Pulling down on the lapels of his charcoal grey suit she planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth before stepping back to reach for her own scarf.
"Come here!" he commanded catching her around the waist, hands sliding over her firm round bottom and pulling her against him. "Don't I get a reward for being a good boy and wearing this awful tie with the Irish weeds all over it?"
"Don't say that in front of his Lordship," she said as she tried to pull away from him. "You know his new son-in-law is a Dubliner." She shuddered when he captured her earlobe between his teeth. "Charles…we need… to leave soon if…we're going to catch…the train on time." He nipped his way down the column of her neck and had started to nose around in the collar of her blouse when she finally pulled away and slapped him on the chest. "Behave!"
"I am behaved," he pouted playfully, "I was just trying to collect my reward!"
She smiled up at him and pushed an unruly lock of his dark curly hair back off his forehead. Charles Carson was a ruggedly handsome man with graying temples, a Romanesque nose and beautiful warm eyes that a woman could definitely lose herself in if she wasn't careful. She was wearing three inch heels but still had to look up to smile at him. She smoothly ran her fingers through the hair behind his left ear and settled her hand on the back of his neck to draw him down to her for a kiss. He lingered for a moment and felt her begin to nibble his lower lip. He started to tease her with tip of his tongue but she stiffened and pulled away so he released his hold on her waist as she stepped back and looked up at him.
"See there!" she exclaimed, "you've got lipstick all over your face now."
"And who's fault is that?" He smirked at her and leaned in to nuzzle her neck.
"Not near my silk blouse! Go on with you and clean your face before you get that lipstick on anything else." She turned to go downstairs and he swatted her bottom as she went out the bedroom door.
He walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light. Glancing around for a flannel to wash his face he saw her silk negligee draped over the side of the hamper. Visions of her shapely figure wearing that negligee last night started to drift through his mind. Elsie Hughes was a beautiful woman with deep reddish brown hair and dark blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when she laughed and flashed with fiery sparks when she was angry. He counted his blessings everyday that she had drifted into his life. He was running his fingers over the soft material as he stood daydreaming when the sound of her voice coming from downstairs reminded him that he was supposed to be washing his face. Glancing down at his watch, he realized that they were running late, so he opted for pulling out his handkerchief to clean away the evidence of their morning snog.
He loped down the staircase and found her standing at the bottom, holding out his briefcase. "Do I pass muster?" he asked standing at attention and jutting out his chin. She raised herself up on the bottom step and peered closely at his lip and chin.
"You'll do," she smirked at him and then leaned in to kiss him lightly on the corner of his mouth.
"Careful there," he warned as he leaned away from her, "that's what caused all the trouble in the first place!"
She smacked him on the arm and walked to the front door. "Got everything? Keys, cellphone, iPad?" She glanced back to see him patting the side of his briefcase with a smug smile. "Good boy!" she gushed and he laughed as they walked out the front door on their way to the Underground.
-o O o-
It had been a rather long day filled with long hours poring over conract documents and doing research on the internet. Elsie was to the point that she was going to scream if she had to watch that 'cute' Google doodle even one more time! She was leaned back in her deskchair rubbing the bridge of her nose when she sensed him standing behind her. She opened her eyes to find a highball glass with two rather large fingers of scotch floating in the air in front of her. Her breath gusted out with a snort as she took the glass from his hand.
"You are far too good to me," her chuckle turned to a groan when she felt his large hands smooth firmly across her shoulders.
"Yes, I'll be negotiating my just compensation later this evening," he whispered in her ear as he continued his ministrations. He found a particularly large knot at the juncture where her neck met her shoulder and began to dig into it with his thumbs.
"Mmm...hurts so good..." she trailed off as her eyelids slid shut. He could feel her begin to relax and watched as she stretched out her shapely legs in front of her and kicked off her pumps.
"I wouldn't get too awfully comfortable quite yet, my sweet. There's still the St. Patrick's Day do in the boardroom."
"Damn!" she swore softly and he could feel her tighten up intensely under his hands.
"Elsie, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, Charles," she said softly but with an edge to her voice, "I forgot about his Lordships little knees up…couldn't we just slip away and say…"
"No, we cannot just slip away. Isobel is counting on us to be there when she introduces Richard to his Lordship." He watched as she threw back the second half of her drink in a single gulp. "Elsie, you usually can't wait for the party to begin to get your dance card filled."
"Charles, when was the last time you saw me as the life of the party," she said sarcastically dropping her head into her hand.
"Well…you're always the life of my party," he said teasingly. She stood up from the chair and turned toward him reaching out to tug his arms open so that she could cuddle up to his chest.
"That was very sweet of you, especially after I made you wear that tie," she said kissing the side of his neck. He tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"Tell me."
There was a long pause before he heard her voice, "It's nothing, really. I did promise Isobel that we would be there for moral support." She let out a heavy sigh and pulled back to toy with the buttons on his waistcoat before going on, "And I suppose that Beryl Patmore and Lady Violet will expect to be treated like queens since they are now our top clients."
He reached down and lifted her chin so that he could look into her eyes. She turned away and settled her head back into the crook of his neck. He knew then she wasn't telling him the truth, or at least not all of it but he didn't want to push her into a corner. He would wait patiently for her to decide when the time was right.
He kissed her lightly on the ear and then worked his way along her jawline until she turned her head to meet his lips with her own. He pulled her to him and had just begun an assault on her lower lip when they heard tapping on the plate glass wall of their office. Breaking away they turned and saw their secretary, Anna Bates, give them a sarcastic roll of her eyes and then tapping her watch she turned and pointed towards the boardroom, reminding them that they were late for the Boss' client party. They both laughed and nodded their understanding as she turned and walked down the hallway.
"Why don't you go and powder your nose or whatever it is that women do these days and I'll meet you in the boardroom." She smiled and nodded, picking up her purse and walking towards the office door.
"Charles," she said turning to look back over her shoulder at him, "I love you."
"I love you too, pet," he said and watched the door close behind her. A small frown flickered across his brow as he tried to fathom what was bothering her but he finally just shook his head, straightened his waistcoat and headed for the boardroom.
-o O o-
"Charles, thank god you're here!" exclaimed Richard as he entered the boardroom through the north doors. "Isobel told me to wait here while she went to get us a drink and I haven't seen her for almost 20 minutes now."
Charles chuckled and clapped his large hand around the back of Richard's neck. "Calm down…come with me and we'll get us a drink and then find a place to sit down. The ladies can just come to us this evening."
"I don't know Charles…I wouldn't want Isobel to return and think that I'd done a runner."
"Who'd done a runner, sweetheart?" asked Isobel suddenly appearing with two highball glasses over half full of some dark amber colored liquid. She handed one to Richard who turned a curious eye to the color of the liquid but sighed appreciatively at scent and took a rather large gulp of the well-aged smoky scotch whisky. Isobel sniffed her glass and turned her nose up without even the smallest sip.
"I'll take that off your hands," said Charles reaching out to take the glass just as Isobel was about to place it on the tray of one of the passing waiters.
"Thank you!" said Elsie curtly as she promptly removed the glass from his hand and swallowed half the liquid without a squint or a grimace. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as if to calm herself. Isobel raised a questioning eyebrow at Charles and he could only shrug and shake his head.
"Charles, it looks like you and I are in need of a drink. Care to walk me to the bar?" asked Isobel linking her arm through his.
"I'd be delighted," said Charles with a small courtly bow. "Richard, looks like the sofa and that arm chair are about to be free, why don't you and Elsie wait for us over there?" He gave Richard a hard look and jerked his head towards Elsie who had just about downed the rest of her scotch in another large gulp.
"Oh right…Elsie, my dear," he said soothingly, "why don't we lowland celts fade to the edges and leave these young folk to their partying." He steered her to the sofa by her elbow and settled her onto the end near the armchair which he took for himself. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about."
"And that's why you're downing twenty-year old scotch like it was water?" It came as more of a statement than a question but he offered her sympathy with a small smile when she looked over at him.
She didn't know why, maybe it was their shared Scottish heritage but she'd always found it easy to talk with and confide in Richard. Especially about the things that she couldn't work up the courage to talk to Charles about. He was like a big brother and could usually help her sort her feelings out so that she could talk to Charles. She smiled and reached over to squeeze his hand.
"It really is something I think I can handle."
"You think you can handle?" he asked raising a skeptical eyebrow at her.
"It's just a...new employee who doesn't understand his boundaries yet," she said choosing her words carefully. She saw him start looking around the room and immediately regretted saying anything. "Richard! Stop that, I'm not going to tell you who it is!"
"Does Charles know?"
"NO! And he's not going to know!" She exclaimed.
"Alright, calm down, I won't say anything...but you do not have to put up with that sort of harassment..." He trailed off when he felt her bristle beside him and followed her gaze to the doorway where Lord Grantham, CEO and president of Grantham, Crawley and Sons, stood with his youngest daughter, Lady Sybil and her new husband, Thomas Branson. He watched as Lord Grantham led the procession up to the dais where the hired deejay turned down the music and turned up the microphone.
"Testing, testing...is this thing turned? Can you hear me now?" Everyone cringed at the sudden electronic screech that accompanied his Lordship's ramblings into the microphone. "Yes, well...I hope that everyone is enjoying the First Annual Grantham, Crawley and Sons St. Paddy's Day Celebration. This is a new tradition to celebrate the newest addition to the family and to the company...my son-in-law, Tom Branson!"
Richard joined in with the applause and turned to see Elsie sitting with her hands clenched in her lap. Charles and Isobel had returned with a fresh round of drinks for everyone. Isobel perched on an ottoman that was situated between Richard's armchair and the end of the sofa while Charles sat beside Elsie. He slid his arm along the back of the sofe and tried to rub the inside of her shoulder blade with his thumb but she stiffened and leaned slightly forward, just out of his reach. He looked over at Richard for a possible explanation but found the man studying the bottom of his highball glass.
"I hope that you'll all join me in welcoming Tom as the new Vice President in charge of Business and Contract Law," announced his Lordship with a hearty thump on the young man's back.
At this announcement, Elsie about exploded off the sofa and marched out the door mumbling something about "needing to use the loo."
Richard watched her for a moment and then turned to watch the new Vice President whose gaze was locked onto Elsie's back as he watched her walk out the door with a smug look on his face. Hmmm, Richard thought to himself.