CHAPTER 9

Bella happened to be crossing the hall when she looked up to see a navy BMW speed up the drive and glide to a delicate halt in front of the house. Drawing closer to the window she watched a tall blond man, of indeterminate age, step out of the car and walk up the front steps, with such an air of unhurried confidence that she almost expected him to produce his own set of keys.

She was already intrigued by the stranger's appearance - snakeskin boots, jeans, a very white linen shirt underneath a camel cashmere coat, hair in a ponytail, a tan, and who the hell wore sunglasses in November? The overall look screamed money, social class and a complete lack of apology or embarrassment about it. Definitely not British then, Bella decided.

But when she opened the door somehow that first impression didn't matter any more, because she was looking into a face which was so good humoured and alive, so open and ready to be amused, that all she could do was smile.

She was immediately met with a stream of incomprehensible Italian, a kiss on either cheek and another for luck, and a shrug of the shoulders which meant, I know I am quite awe-inducing, but please treat me as a normal human being and I will attempt to be gracious.

Then, smiling conspiratorially, the stranger looped his arm through hers and began to lead her in the direction of the kitchen.

His English was slightly rusty but only faintly accented. 'I assume the very worthy and delightful Mrs Cope is to be found in the kitchen as usual? I must say hello before I go to Carlisle.'

Then noticing the confused look on Bella's face he looked contrite, 'Oh, my humble apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. I am James, Esme's son - so very pleased to make your acquaintance at last.'

He bowed exaggeratedly low. Then looked sideways at her and broke into a laugh which was surprisingly high pitched and feminine. 'I am disappointed to see that tales of my utter perfection have not already reached you. It would be unforgivably impolite of me not to devote myself to Carlisle this evening and then I have a business meeting in the morning, but may I invite you to spend tomorrow afternoon with me, so that we can perhaps get to know each other a little better? I warn you I will be utterly heartbroken if you refuse.'

'Oh, in that case I can only say yes, I suppose.'

James tucked Bella's arm more securely into his side, 'I am liking you so much already and no one had explained to me how pretty you are. I am sure we will be such friends!'

Mrs Cope greeted James with a smile which Bella noticed didn't quite reach her eyes, but she sat him down at the table and put the kettle on, explaining that Rosalie was still with Carlisle so he'd have to wait a few minutes until they'd finished.

The conversation between Mrs Cope and James soon went off in a direction which Bella found hard to follow, based as it was on incidents which had mainly happened more than ten years ago, but she was happy to just sit and listen until Rosalie appeared.

If Mrs Cope had seemed a little cool in her reception, Rosalie certainly made up for it. As soon as she saw James she screamed in delight and excitedly threw herself into his open arms, then pulled up a chair beside him.

'So what brings you back to England? It must be two or three years since your last visit.'

'I have some clients who are interested in investing in the UK, specifically in tourism. And when I heard that Mike's restaurant was up for sale I decided to check the situation out. Obviously we would want to substantially upgrade. But I thought the location might be promising. For the right price of course.'

'Oh great, does that mean you might be around for a while?'

'Possibly. Things are rather quiet at home at the moment and I'd certainly like to spend some time with my English friends and family, and perhaps take the opportunity to make some additional friends.' His eyes strayed to Bella and he smiled.

'Oh that's really fantastic James, we've missed you. Can you make it to the pub tomorrow? It's darts night and most of the old gang will be there.'

'Of course, it would be a pleasure Rosalie.'

'Fantastic. I must rush now, but I'll see you there then and we'll make arrangements for you to come over to our place for supper - maybe next week, if you're still here?'

James stood up and walked Rosalie out to her car, chatting the whole time and making Rose laugh and blush in a way that Bella had never seen her do with anyone else – she was almost girlish. Then James went to find Carlisle and Bella was left alone with Mrs Cope.

Noticing Mrs Cope was still looking slightly unimpressed, Bella was blunt, 'I get the impression you don't like James very much?'

Mrs Cope sighed, 'No, no, he's always been very engaging. There were just one or two incidents…. but then you can't always blame people for their behaviour as children and it must have been difficult for James when Esme remarried and had Miss Alice. By all accounts he's turned out to be a very nice young man.'

Bella smiled at Mrs Cope's perception of James as a young man, when his age had to be at least mid thirties to fit in with Esme's first marriage and it made her remember how Mrs Cope had described Edward as a silly boy when they'd first met. She felt a pang at the sudden reminder of Edward and resolutely ignored it. 'Rosalie seems to like James though.'

'Yes that's true,' replied Mrs Cope briskly, 'and of course as Mr Carlisle's heir, it's no surprise that he's decided to pay us a visit at this point.' Her tone was distinctly acerbic.

But Bella had only taken in the first part of Mrs Cope's sentence, which had really surprised her, 'Oh my goodness, all this time I've been assuming Edward would inherit the house, because he'd be the only member of the family left.'

'Yes, but what with his father losing everything else, he'll have nothing to show for it now and I'm sure Mr Carlisle feels very guilty about that.'

'Why isn't Mr Cullen leaving the Lantern House to Edward then?'

'He could I suppose, but as the only child, James has a legal right to a certain percentage of Mr Carlisle's estate and because the house is what they call the main asset, it would end up being sold anyway.'

Bella was still puzzled, 'But I thought James was Esme's son from her first marriage? Shouldn't that mean he has a weaker claim?'

'Unfortunately, when Mr Carlisle married Esme, he legally adopted James. But after Miss Alice was born, when he wasn't away at school James chose to spend more and more time with his relatives in Italy and when Esme died three years ago, he changed his name back from Cullen to Romano.'

'Oh, that does seem rather a shame and it's really sad that Mr Cullen feels guilty about something that's not his fault. When he married Esme no one could possibly have known how things would turn out.'

'Yes, hindsight's a wonderful thing.'

James was still with Carlisle when Mrs Cope left for the day and eventually Bella had to go and interrupt, to check whether he was staying for supper.

As she approached Carlisle's study she could already hear the sound of laughter and when she opened the door the room seemed even brighter and warmer than usual. James and Carlisle were sitting close together by the fire, nursing glasses of brandy and poring over an article in Carlisle's favourite newspaper. But when Bella asked if he was spending the night, James glanced enquiringly at Carlisle as if he wasn't sure he'd be welcome.

'Of course you must stay. Will the room next to mine do?'

James looked slightly uncomfortable.

'No, no, please. I would not want to take Alice's room or risk disturbing you. I have business meetings planned from which I may not return until late into the evening. Would it be possible to have a room on the other side of the house?'

'By all means, if that's all right with you Bella?'

'Of course, I'll go and make up a bed straight away.'

-ooo-

Although Bella was sad that The Lantern House would pass out of the Cullen family and there would be no one left to remember the family history, it wasn't James's fault. And to his credit he never mentioned it, or indicated in any way that in possibly only a few months everything would be his.

In fact he turned out to be not only the perfect gentleman, but also the perfect guest and within a few days Bella felt as if she'd known him all her life. Nothing seemed to be too much trouble and he was always on hand and at their disposal, from entertaining Carlisle for hours, to running errands and driving backwards and forwards to the village for more provisions, or rustling up the occasional cordon bleu standard meal with a flourish and somehow filling the whole house with fun and laughter just by his presence.

The following day he'd been as good as his word and taken Bella on a magical mystery tour, which ended up at a very expensive restaurant on the opposite coast and a hair- raising drive back home along the narrowest of twisting lanes lined by towering hedges on both sides, which James promised was a short cut, although he'd admitted later that he'd been totally lost the whole time.

Between the wine she'd drunk and James's good humour and gentle teasing, Bella almost felt restored to her usual self by the time they arrived back at the house and by the end of a week filled with more laughter, high spirits and self indulgence than she'd ever enjoyed in her whole life before, Bella was well on her way to being thoroughly smitten.

Despite worrying about the cost, she'd even allowed James to take her shopping for a whole new wardrobe, when he'd insisted he couldn't bear the rags she was dressed in any longer. And although he was so imperious with the saleswomen that it made Bella's cheeks burn, the bill had turned out to be surprisingly reasonable and she had to admit that his taste was impeccable. Afterwards he'd insisted on treating her to a new haircut and in the glow of his approval, her confidence in her appearance soared and she felt like a whole new person.

In the weeks that followed James had continued to shower her with compliments, wine and dine her and whisk her off in the car at a moment's notice, and although many tourist attractions were closed for the winter, they'd visited all the National Trust properties which were still open, as well as the Tate gallery, St Michael's Mount and the Scilly Isles, where James's unending good humour had even made up for getting stranded, when all the flights back to the mainland were delayed by bad weather.

Bella also finally had someone to accompany her to the theatre and one off screenings at the local arts cinema on her evenings off and although she'd caught him napping halfway through a particularly long and experimental movie, in many ways James was the perfect companion - intelligent, knowledgeable, cultured and amusing, and Bella was glad that as the weeks slipped by and it got closer to Christmas, he'd still made no move to leave.

She'd almost forgotten how lonely and depressed she'd been and with James around, the atmosphere in the whole house had changed for the better. Even when the wind howled outside and the rain beat against the windows, inside it was no longer chilly and gloomy but warm and cosy. Fires burned, lights glowed and music played and the three of them sat up until late at night, enjoying each other's company and perhaps one too many glasses of wine.

And after saying goodnight to Carlisle and going up to their bedrooms, which were just along the corridor from each other in the old part of the house, Bella often spent another hour or two hanging out with James in one or other of their rooms, chatting about nothing in particular and finding it very difficult to say goodnight and drag herself away.

But when James leant in to kiss her one evening, it came as a complete shock and she recoiled. He laughed it off, apologised, and said they'd both had too much to drink, but the next day Bella was still distracted and confused. Despite all the flowery compliments he paid her, she'd thought James had understood that they were only friends and that her feelings towards him were similar to those she had for Emmett or Carlisle.

But now James had sown the tiniest seed of doubt. Without realising it she'd come to depend on him to fill the horrible gap Edward had left and the more she thought about it, the more scared she was of losing him. Perhaps she could be happy with James if that was what he wanted? Perhaps he was the sensible choice she'd always made to protect herself from the chaos of her mother's life. He didn't make her heart race, but she was happy in his company and she certainly needed to do some serious thinking about the future.

-ooo-

Emmett was about to start tidying up the potting shed when Edward rang. He pulled his gloves off with his teeth and picked up the phone.

'Wotcha mate. How's it going?'

He got an exasperated response, 'What do you think? I'm going crazy here. It was bad enough when I first left, but now I can hardly get her to speak to me and she's not even opened my last email. What the fuck's going on down there?'

Emmett felt sorry for Edward, but he'd warned him about James several weeks ago and in his view Edward had brought all this on himself. There was no point trying to cover up how bad things had got.

'Don't shoot the messenger – but it's James. He's quietly done a number on her. They're thick as thieves and Bella's spending all her free time with him now.'

'The fucking creep! Why the hell is he interested in Bella anyway? She's got nothing he could possibly want. You were supposed to be keeping an eye on her. Can't you get rid of him somehow, or try to talk some sense into her?'

'Don't blame me, you're the one who's been a right idiot. It was your decision not to leave her hanging, or make any demands or promises. You must have known you were going to risk losing her while you pissed about in London all this time.'

'Fuck off Emmett, I haven't exactly been pissing around up here. Some of us have jobs and futures to think about, you numbskull!'

Emmett could almost hear Edward pulling his hair out in frustration.

'Sorry, but there's no point in me trying to butt in. He's obviously not going to leave til he gets whatever he came for and he's done such a good job on her that she's not going to listen to anyone else at the moment.'

'Fuck. I never thought that James of all people… What the hell am I going to do Em? '

'You'll just have to hope she comes to her senses. At least he's going back home for two weeks over Christmas and New Year, so you'll be able to see how the ground lies.'

'I was already planning on coming down the minute I could get away, but I'll have to work extra hard over Christmas to get everything tied up before New Year.'

'At least you should have a clear run if you manage to get here before James comes back. Rose has decided we're going somewhere warm for Christmas and Mrs C's visiting her sister, so only Carlisle and Bella will be around.'

'Thanks Em. Sorry, I know it's not your fault. I've been so stupid! But could you at least try to limit the damage a bit until I get there?'

'Sure, I'll do what I can. But like I said, I just don't think she's in the mood to listen at the moment and it's difficult to get anywhere near her with James hanging around all the time.'

Edward rang off sounding totally dejected, and shaking his head Emmett went back to his work. He had no idea what had gone so wrong. He'd had high hopes for those two at one point, but he couldn't see how Edward had a hope in hell of turning things around now. It was funny that Bella of all people seemed to be teaching him a lesson though. Edward usually got what he wanted from women without making the slightest effort and it might do him good to understand what mere mortals had to put up with for a change.

-ooo-

'James for goodness sake, you're going to make the poor girl cry in a minute. Can't you just leave them to get on with it? I'm sure we're only getting in the way.'

'Apologies, the importance of the occasion requires a standard which appears to be beyond their comprehension.' James looked at his watch, before glaring at the cleaners again. 'You understand that everything must be ready by 4.30 when my guests arrive? They will be expecting nothing less than perfection.'

Sighing, Bella walked away. If James hadn't banished Mrs Cope from the house for the day she was sure everything would have gone much more smoothly. And she was worried that if James treated the catering team in the same way as the cleaners, they'd walk out and she'd be left to somehow produce a dinner party for ten out of nothing and on her own. As it was the whole house had been turned upside down and polished to within an inch of its life and in search of a few minutes' peace, Bella went looking for Carlisle.

She found him in his study, which was a small oasis of calm amongst the general mayhem.

Carlisle looked up from his desk when she entered the room, 'Ah, another fugitive. Emmett's already spent an hour repairing that chair over there. So you may sit on it with confidence, if it should ever take your fancy to do so.'

'Thank you, but I think I'll just sit down with you by the fire for five minute, before rejoining the fray. Is everything ok? You look tired.'

'Oh, I'm fine. As long as I manage to get a little rest before James' friends arrive, I'm quite confident of being able to survive the evening.'

'I'm sorry he's managed to create so much commotion. When he asked if he could invite a couple of business associates to stay for the night I didn't expect such an upheaval.'

'Well never mind, it's only for one day and it would be very churlish of us to refuse our hospitality. I'm looking forward to an enjoyable evening, in the knowledge that he will be accompanying all his friends back to Italy tomorrow.'

But Bella's respite didn't last long before she was dragged away to find the freshly laundered bed linen James had personally selected, to replace the sheets from the linen cupboard which had mistakenly been used instead.

-ooo-

In fact if anything Bella's day only got worse and by the end of the evening, her head was aching and she'd had more than enough. She looked over at James again and tried to somehow convey the important message that he really shouldn't be keeping Carlisle up so late. It was past eleven o'clock and although Carlisle was too polite to abandon his guests, anyone could see he was exhausted. But to her annoyance James completely ignored her and instead herded all the men back into the dining room, for one last business discussion among the brandy and cigars.

Sighing, Bella went to let the caterers know they could go, before returning to the drawing room, where she found Jessica splayed out on one of the sofas tipsily singing to herself. Luckily Aro's wife had disappeared, so Bella was left with only the lesser of two evils. It was laughable really and she'd never thought she'd be relieved to be left with Jessica of all people, but the whole evening had been truly awful as far as she was concerned.

The purpose was to introduce Mike and Jessica to James's business partner, Aro, and two younger colleagues, Alec and Demetri, who were possibly Aro's nephews, or cousins – it hadn't been made clear. All three spoke passable English, so Bella's own non-existent Italian wasn't too much of a problem. But they were accompanied by Aro's wife, Sulpicia, who was grim faced and rather scary looking and an even more scary and very large man, with the inappropriate name of Felix, who took no part in the business discussions and like Sulpicia spoke no English at all.

Although Bella didn't like the way Aro, Demetri and Alec leered at her, she could at least have had some sort of a conversation with them, but they were seated with James, Carlisle and Mike at the top of the table, while Bella was left with Felix, Sulpicia and Jessica at the other end. And because, apart from a few unsuccessful attempts by Carlisle, for the most part there was no communication at all between the two halves of the table, Bella had only had Jessica for company, while Felix and Sulpicia carried on what appeared to be a very bad tempered conversation between themselves.

To make things worse, Jessica immediately helped herself to so much wine that she was soon belligerently drunk and although Bella tried her best, she remained prickly and rude for most of the meal, before suddenly having a complete change of heart over the last course. And while Bella sat squirming and red-faced with embarrassment, Jessica insisted on revealing all the most intimate details of her relationship with Mike, including the fact that he was completely impotent.

It was the last straw when James disappeared with all the other guests, and in an effort to try to sober Jessica up a bit, Bella went to get more coffee. But on her way back from the kitchen with the fresh pot, as she rounded the corner into the hall she almost bumped into none other than Mike, who was as objectionable as ever and not only propositioned her, but took the opportunity to try to 'accidentally' grope her.

If she hadn't been feeling so tired and cross Bella might have remembered how important this evening was for James and been more diplomatic, but she'd had more than enough for one day.

'Mike, I know what this is all about now and you're just a sad and pathetic little man. But if you say anything like that to me ever again, or try to touch me one more time, I promise I will make such a fuss that you'll wish you'd never been born. Now piss off back to James.'

Mike looked totally shocked and in exasperation Bella turned him round and gave him a push in the right direction.

'Go on then! This is all so ridiculous. God knows why, but despite everything Jessica really cares about you. Why would you want to throw that away? Believe me, no one else is likely to run after you, you stupid little man!'

And stomping into the drawing room, Bella turned her attention back to Mike's wife which wasn't much more appealing. But apparently, despite her near comatose state, Jessica had overheard and she was so grateful that someone had spoken up for her, that she immediately decided Bella was her new best friend and suddenly she wouldn't stop talking.

'Bella, thank you so much for saying that to Mike. I'm so sorry I didn't like you before. Please will you forgive me? I know I was wrong about you and Edward, he wouldn't go for someone as homely as you anyway.'

'Yes ok Jessica, that's fine. Don't worry about it.'

'Not that I'd ever leave Mike anyway, but when two people have a history like me and Edward, what can you do? I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you though.'

'Jessica it's fine, forget it.'

'Anyway, now we're friends I really think I should warn you about James. He's a snake, you know.'

'Jessica, please. I don't want to hear anything about James. I know you're drunk, but it's no good trying to make more trouble. I'm not even going to listen.' Bella tried to sound stern, but Jessica was determined and the next thing she said really got Bella's attention.

'You need to keep away from James, Bella. I don't like him and he was really horrible to Edward on the night Alice died.'

'What do you mean? I thought he pulled Edward out of the water?'

Jessica snorted, 'No, that's rubbish. I heard he saw everything from the cliff and just got soaked by the rain. He went and told his stupid story to Esme and Carlisle, then met Edward outside the back door and told him not to go into the house, because they were so angry with him. Poor Edward was absolutely heartbroken.'

'So Edward didn't just run off on his own then?'

'No, I persuaded him to get in my car and drove him back to my house. He was so cold and sort of closed up that it was really scary. I managed to sneak him in without my parents knowing and found some brandy just to try to warm him up. Then he sort of drank it all and passed out on my bed.'

'Why did Rose think something different had happened then?'

Jessica looked guilty, 'Well…. that was my fault. The reason I was late for the party and turned up when I did, was because I'd had a big row with Mike. And I wanted to make him jealous. So I might have told everyone I slept with Edward.'

Jessica flipped her hair and then smoothed it down in a really annoying way she had. 'And anyway if you knew how much competition there was to get anywhere near Edward, you'd understand. Emily Young nearly scratched my eyes out.'

Jessica looked smug and Bella could definitely understand why she'd lied. Even in Jessica's own eyes her fictional night with Edward had been something magical and all these years later she still basked in her moment of fake glory.

But Bella didn't believe for one moment that James had purposely misled Edward about Carlisle and Esme's reactions and when she asked him about it later he confirmed that he'd been in the garden getting some fresh air at the time and got soaked by a sudden downpour. He had no idea why Rosalie thought he'd pulled Edward out of the water, because he hadn't even been on the beach.

Edward had appeared just as he was about to run for shelter and in the state he was in James didn't think he could handle telling Esme and Carlisle that Alice had drowned or witnessing their initial shock, so he'd told Edward to wait for a minute, while he broke the news. No one was more surprised than he was when he'd found that instead of waiting, Edward had disappeared and spent the night with Jessica of all people.

Now there were so many versions of the same story that Bella was totally confused – it was almost as if someone had purposely muddied the water. But still, as everyone had pointed out, it was all so long ago now that it didn't really matter and at the moment Bella was much more worried about Carlisle. The morning after the dinner party he was so tired and weak that she'd made him go back to bed and when James came to say goodbye, she was feeling quite cross with him.

'What is it Bella? Are you so sad to see me go that you are annoyed with me?' James teased.

'You know very well why I'm angry. What possessed you to keep Carlisle up so late last night?'

'I'm so sorry. I got a little carried away. This business venture is important to me. And perhaps for our future?'

Bella bit her lip as she looked back at him, she still wasn't sure if that was what she wanted, 'James…I don't know….'

'No problem. I will wait for your answer. But I have to tell you, you have all of me should you wish it and I will be counting the days until I return.'

'I'm sorry. I just need more time…'

James laughed, 'The time is all gone for today. My friends are waiting and the plane will not. Please say goodbye to Carlisle for me and relay my apologies for being so thoughtless in regard to his health. I truly look forward to returning to this beautiful house and I wish you both a very merry Christmas'

Then he kissed Bella goodbye and hurried down the steps.

Thank you to the Lemonade Stand for the rec - you guys totally rock!

Thank you to everyone for reading x Sue