James continued to fake (very well, I might add) to be the James which Linda knew. Ringo said very little, and listened a lot, and in return, gained a good deal of information. He wrote down information as he heard it, and ended up with a rather odd page of notes. Unfortunately, none of the tidbits--though interesting--were particularly useful.
Ringo had just finished scribbling something about James' favorite breed of dog (which happened to be German Shepherd) when Linda turned to him.
"Well..." Linda paused slightly stumped, "What shall we call you? It isn't exactly fitting to call you--" she lowered her voice, "--prince--" and then raised it again, "around here."
"Just call me Bond..." Ringo flashed a grin, "James Bond."
Linda and James just stared at him, while Ringo chuckled slightly to himself.
"Call me Ringo," he said, with his hands up, the rings glittering plainly.
"Ringo," continued Linda, "I've seen shots of your palace... It's very beautiful--"
"All palaces are beautiful from the outside," Ringo returned.
"--I'd love to paint it sometime," she finished.
"Big job for one woman," Ringo stated casually.
"Oh no, I mean do a painting..." Linda corrected.
"Did you do that one?" Ringo asked, motioning to a oil painting of a man staring into a field of wildflowers.
"Yes, lifelike, isn't it?"
Ringo got up and looked at it closer, "Is this--"
"Yes, it's Jimmy," Linda grinned at James, "Terrible time getting you to stand still long enough to get that done, hm? Remember that?" James just nodded, looking as if he had other things on his mind.
"But enough talking about myself," Linda said, "What about you Ringo? I'm sure you have some interesting stories."
"Certainly do," muttered Ringo, "I've seen things you wouldn't believe." I can hardly believe them myself, he noted mentally.
"One time my--ah--friends and I were going to--perform--for a--" Ringo started.
"Oh really?" Linda asked, "What did you and your servants do?"
"It was basically a--musical act--we were very--popular," Ringo continued, "and thousands of people must have come to see us. The crowds were terrible. But it was amazing... there was this one time where we--"
James yawned audibly, and Ringo looked up.
"Ah well, it's getting late... I'd better turn in," Ringo said, and left for the guest room.
* * *
Later that night, the house was quiet. James sat up in bed slowly, not wanting to wake Linda, who was sleeping beside him. She looks like an angel in her sleep, he mused gently. He hadn't been able to sleep, but then again, he hadn't wanted to. It was enough to be in the same room as Linda, that was restful. He couldn't believe his incredible luck in meeting Linda here of all places. It wasn't exactly his Linda, but she was the same person. James felt his mind begin to wander back to how he had first met Linda....
It had been an ordinary day, the sun was shining and so forth. Then she walked in. She was a secretary. He was a business man. Meetings like that happened all the time in the professional world. But there was something special about her. Some kind of attitude, the way she walked, her voice, her face, something that made her different. One look at her, and you could tell she would make something of herself. Of course, James didn't see much more of Linda other than her body. He had asked her out to dinner. Her response? No. James, undaunted, asked again...and again... and again. Eventually, Linda had said yes.
As James once again wooed a beautiful woman, he found something odd happening. James no longer had to pretend, he found himself falling in love with this woman, who he had approached only with the idea of sex. And the most wonderful thing of all was that, as James fell into love with Linda, he found that she loved him back.
What followed was a wonderful courtship, in the oldest sense of the word. Both loved each other, loved being around each other. Life became very easy, business was going well, as was James' "other" organization. His life as Macca nearly doubled his profit. He was helping put Linda through law school. He was making millions, had the girl of his dreams. It seemed like life couldn't have gotten any better.
And it hadn't..
Everything had been fine. Just perfect. James was just about to propose to Linda when it happened. Linda had stopped by the office to pick up James for a dinner date. James was on the speaker with one of his 'other' clients. Linda walked in a moment too soon, certain that James would be delighted to see her, even though his secretary warned her that he was taking a private call. Linda walked in just in time to hear James' client call him Macca.
Linda had been outraged. Not only had James lied to her, he was a criminal... the very thing which she was going to school to stop! But still hoping that she had misunderstood, or misheard, she asked him plain out.
He had told her the truth. James could never lie to Linda, even when he knew that she didn't want to hear the truth. She would have been much happier with the lie.
Still Linda took the shock very well. After a moment, she turned to James.
"Me or Macca," she had said very clearly. James hesitated one moment too long.
"Fine," Linda had said sadly, the anger drained from her voice, "Good bye James." With that she had walked out of the room. She had been strong. She was always strong.
James had played over the moment a thousand times. Why had he even paused? Had he been so blinded by money? They say that you only have a chance at happiness once... and he had lost his... by choice. He still had the ring. A symbol of what could have been... which never was. He had lost his Linda... forever.
But now? Now he was getting a second chance. A second chance to regain the love he had lost. He turned once again to look at the sleeping Linda.
"I'd give up anything for you," he whispered, "anything. I love you Lin..."
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