Starcross Manor: Feel-good summer 2020 romantic fiction from the bestselling author of Love Heart Lane (Love Heart Lane Series, Book 4)

by Christie Barlow

  Julia was just about to catch up with the others when she threw a bucket of dirty water out of the window.

  ‘Oi! Watch what you’re doing!’ came a shout from below.

  Quickly Julia leaned out of the window and gasped. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry!’

  Jack was standing in the flower bed alongside a couple of builders staring up at the window. Luckily, they’d moved swiftly and managed to dodge the bucket of water that had splashed on the path next to them.

  ‘Better luck next time,’ shouted Julia cheekily.

  ‘We are only here to help move some mattresses, not for a shower,’ bellowed Jack.

  Throughout the clean-up operation her friends kept her spirits up, they laughed, joked and danced along to the radio as they stripped the beds and mopped up the excess water. All mattresses were lifted outside alongside the plush fabric chairs, sofas and anything and everything that could dry out in the sun. The front of the B&B looked like a garage sale with everything sprawled on the front lawn. All the food in the freezers had defrosted and everything had to be chucked away but overall, the damage seemed to be mainly cosmetic – and at least they had the weather on their side.

  Flynn was true to his word, and just after 1pm Martha appeared with bags of sandwiches, cakes and drinks. Once again Flynn had taken off the added pressure; no one had to think about preparing food or nipping to pick anything up. He’d thought of everything.

  Whilst everyone took a break and refuelled, Julia took a walk to the bottom of the garden and perched on the bench by the side of the stream. This was her first opportunity to dial the insurance company and she immediately felt frustrated by the automated service. Finally, thirty minutes later, she’d managed to log the insurance claim – and although Julia didn’t hold out much hope of a pay-out, until she’d completed the forms there was no point second guessing whether they would or not. Julia walked into her tiny brick office that was detached from the main house, and which thankfully had no sprinkler system installed. She looked around the office and sighed, she really did need a clean out in there. Every drawer of the filing cabinet was stuffed to the brim with invoices and bills that went back years and most probably could be destroyed. After the morning she’d had, she had the bug for cleaning up and getting rid; maybe this flood was giving her the motivation she needed.

  ‘You okay?’ asked Eleni, popping her head around the office door. ‘Here, have one of these.’ Eleni handed her a cup of tea. ‘Martha brought flasks of the stuff from the teashop. Come and eat your sandwich, everyone is taking a breather and is sitting on the lawn.’

  This morning Julia couldn’t have asked for more. All of her friends had pulled together in a time of need. Jack and the other builders had made various trips to Starcross Manor ferrying all the bedding, soft furnishings and cushions that could be laundered. Everyone had worked so hard.

  ‘Look at this place, this office is on my to-do list at some point but there’s always something better to do.’ Julia knew she’d let the office stuff get out of hand.

  Suddenly Eleni swiped Julia’s arm. ‘Is that your laptop?’

  Julia nodded. ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘I was going to ask where it was, but I just assumed it was in the house and water damaged.’

  ‘No, I was working out here last week.’

  Julia watched as Eleni hot footed it over to the desk and flung open the lid of the laptop. ‘Forty-five percent battery left, which is good as I can’t plug it in.’ Eleni tapped away. ‘Bingo! We have the bookings on this system that are arriving in the next couple of days, it’s all linked.’

  Julia blew out a breath. ‘You are a life-saver.’

  ‘Are you talking about me again?’ Flynn appeared from nowhere and was standing in the doorway grinning. Julia noticed the sunlight hitting his slightly tanned face, causing his features to stand out.

  ‘Eleni has just discovered the booking system is linked to my laptop, so at least we can contact the people that are about to arrive. Even though I’ll have to deliver the bad news that we’ll need to cancel. I don’t even want to think about the income I’ll lose.’ Julia’s voice trailed off.

  Flynn turned towards Eleni. ‘Is it possible to have a word with Julia?’

  Eleni looked towards Julia for confirmation, who nodded, and then stepped outside the office. ‘Let me help you,’ offered Flynn.

  ‘You are already helping me,’ replied Julia.

  ‘You don’t need to cancel the guests arriving tomorrow. I can put them up at the hotel along with everyone else and there’s no charge.’

  His words swirled round Julia’s head. ‘It’s a very generous offer but I really couldn’t accept that or burden you any more. You are already doing too much.’

  ‘Of course you can. Let me do this.’

  Julia was unable to hide her amazement. ‘But I don’t understand – what’s in it for you?’

  As soon as the words left her mouth Julia realised that sounded ungrateful. ‘I’m so sorry, that came out wrong.’

  ‘Look, I think I owe you… and you’re in a pickle. The hotel isn’t even open yet and this would be the perfect practice run. Andrew can try out his new menu and I can work on skeleton staff. However, I would need two favours in return.’

  Julia raised an eyebrow, she knew there must have been a catch. ‘And they are?’

  ‘Firstly, I’ll need you on the reception to check your guests in tomorrow. And secondly, you were right about the colour of those curtains. You have a fantastic eye for interior design and detail. I could really use your expertise and magic to make Starcross Manor the best it can be – what do you say?’

  Julia was flattered and gave a smile; she knew she was right about the colour of those curtains.

  Flynn gave a nod of reassurance. ‘Let me help,’ he said once again.

  Julia never imagined she’d ever be in this situation. And Flynn’s offer was amazing and the perfect solution – but then Aggie’s earlier words flashed through her mind. Just make sure you keep your wits about you. What if her guests began booking their future stays at Starcross Manor instead of her B&B? Was she actually just handing over everything to Flynn on a plate?

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she hesitated.

  He touched her arm. ‘I’ve no ulterior motive, I just want to help.’

  Julia could see in his eyes that his offer was genuine, and she’d be a fool to turn him down. Hadn’t Flynn more than proved he had changed? And hadn’t they agreed to a fresh start? It was time for her to put her past feelings to one side. ‘Thank you, in that case.’

  ‘Perfect,’ he answered, as his phone began to ring. ‘I’m sorry, I really do need to take this call.’ Julia watched Flynn walking towards the stream at the bottom of the garden whilst he took the call.

  High-spirited, she walked back to the others, who were all sprawled out on the grass enjoying the afternoon sun. She was going to take Flynn’s offer at face value, and knowing that she didn’t have to find a way to refund the guests suddenly made her life a little easier.

  ‘You aren’t going to believe what’s just happened.’ Julia sat down next to them on the grass and grabbed a sandwich.

  ‘We are all ears,’ exclaimed Eleni. ‘I’ve just been filling in the girls on how spectacular our rooms were last night.’

  Julia and Eleni had also stayed at Starcross Manor. Eleni had been comical the second she’d stepped into the grand reception, her head swivelling round taking in her surroundings, reminding Julia of an owl. Once Flynn had showed the guests to their rooms, he’d led Julia and Eleni through a maze of corridors towards the back of the hotel. As they stepped into their rooms it was now Julia’s turn to gasp. A huge four-poster bed, a settee, a coffee table, and a view that overlooked the lake made for a magnificent room. Once Flynn had left, Julia peeped inside the bathroom. ‘Holy shit,’ she exclaimed out loud. There in the middle of the bathroom floor was a sunken bath with tea-lights scattered all around the edge.

  Eleni was in the a
djoining room. Julia giggled when the door swung open and all she heard was a scream from Eleni. ‘OMG, have you seen the bathroom, it’s out of this world.’

  Also on the table was a silver cloche full of food for Julia, alongside a bottle of wine with a note, ‘Compliments of the Management.’ After a bath with bubbles up to her ears, Julia had enjoyed the food accompanied by a glass of wine, then sunk into the king-size bed and fallen fast asleep.

  ‘The rooms were amazing,’ confirmed Julia, looking over her shoulder. Flynn was still deep in conversation at the bottom of the garden. ‘He’s only offered to put up my forthcoming guests free of charge until the B&B is back up and running.’

  ‘Wow! Why?’ queried Isla, sitting upright and shielding the sun from her eyes.

  ‘He just wants to help,’ replied Julia in a low voice, noticing Flynn had hung up his call and was walking back towards them, looking pleased with himself. Jack appeared from the front of his house and headed over towards Flynn.

  ‘And do you trust him? It all seems a little… actually, I’m not sure what it seems. If it’s too good to be true, something isn’t quite right,’ added Isla who was always the voice of reason.

  ‘It sounds like a perfect plan to me if it takes the pressure off and the guests can still enjoy their break, no brainer in my book,’ chipped in Eleni, crossing over her legs and tilting her face up to the sun.

  Julia understood exactly what Isla was saying: if something was too good to be true there was usually a catch, but maybe Flynn had seen the error of his ways and it was a genuine offer of help. Only time would tell.

  ‘I think we should trust him.’ Julia kept her voice low. ‘Is he really going to double-cross me? He already knows how the village might react to that!’

  ‘Mmm, you may have a point. But keep your wits about you.’ Isla echoed Aggie’s thoughts from earlier.

  ‘Good news,’ remarked Flynn, waving his phone at Jack. ‘We have the contractors back on side. They’ll be delivering the outstanding material first thing tomorrow morning, which means we can get underway with the final construction up at the hotel, and the final touches can be finished down at the Boathouse too.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ remarked Jack, giving Eleni a quizzical look, who shrugged.

  Julia smiled. She’d spoken to Hamish on the phone earlier this morning and explained that she needed him to speak to his godson and get him to send Flynn the supplies he needed. He’d taken a lot of persuasion, but it looked like he’d come good. Julia was thankful.

  Flynn gave Julia a look of appreciation and she gave a discreet nod before standing up and brushing herself down. ‘Right, ladies, we need to get back to work.’

  ‘Any jobs going at Starcross Manor?’ joked Eleni. ‘As my current boss is a slave driver.’

  Julia swiped Eleni’s arm playfully then pulled her to her feet.

  That afternoon there were the fridges and freezers to empty and clean out as well as the guest living room and dining hall, but they were nearly there. Everyone had been worth their weight in gold.

  ‘Julia, I’m going to take the rest of these curtains over to the dry cleaners, but are there any more to be taken down?’ queried Jack, giving Eleni a swift kiss to the cheek before she began walking over towards the back door.

  Julia shook her head. ‘There’s no more, it’s just what I’ve piled up on the patio table.’

  Together Flynn and Jack heaved several pairs of tweed fabric curtains over their shoulders. Julia was suitably impressed that they made it look so easy. She couldn’t help but admire their tanned, bulging biceps, and caught Eleni watching them too.

  ‘Now there’s a sight for sore eyes,’ murmured Eleni, still hovering outside and Julia didn’t disagree.

  For the rest of the afternoon they were all hard at work. Bucket after bucket of water had been scooped out. All the books taken off the shelves in the living room were now drying outside, and all the fridges and freezers had been fully cleaned. Julia looked round in amazement: they’d worked so hard it was beginning to look like her old B&B once more.

  A few hours later, with her whole body aching, Julia declared they’d finished for the evening. Everyone felt tired, their hands were dry and blistered from the constant scrubbing and cleaning, their hair limp from sweat. Just like at lunchtime, they collapsed on the grass outside, staring up at the blue summer sky. ‘Slushy moment alert. I can’t thank all of you enough for today, I really can’t,’ gushed Julia. She would never have managed today without them.

  ‘I’d say it’s been a pleasure,’ chuckled Felicity, ‘but it hasn’t.’ She held up her hands. ‘I’ve only got one long nail left.’

  ‘You lot have just been the best.’

  ‘What’s going to happen to all the mattresses?’ asked Meredith. ‘Do they need to be taken back indoors?’

  Julia sat up and glanced over to the mattresses propped up against the wall, standing to attention like naval officers. ‘I think they can stay there tonight, there’s no rain forecast and it’s another hot day tomorrow.’ She lay back down and closed her eyes. She was absolutely shattered. Julia felt like she’d lost all contact with the world today. The day had been manic, but thankfully things were beginning to look a little brighter and hopefully there was light at the end of the tunnel.

  ‘How you feeling?’ asked Eleni, lying down next to her. ‘Difficult day?’

  ‘Emotionally and mentally drained, to be honest. But we are nearly there. Everything aches, muscles I didn’t even know I had. These things come to try us.’

  ‘Don’t they just,’ murmured Aggie. ‘All this humping at my age.’

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  ‘But we always to pull together,’ added Aggie.

  Everyone was quiet and lost in their own world for a moment. Julia contemplated taking a nap in the glorious sunshine, but her stomach growled and all she could think about was a large bowl of pasta, salad, and garlic bread. ‘I’m absolutely starving, and I mean starving. Flynn offered us a meal up at Starcross Manor when we’d finished.’

  ‘That he did and look, you’ve made the headlines,’ piped up Isla, opening up the daily newspaper that had been posted through earlier.

  ‘Me, why? What have I done?’ Julia sat up and peered over her shoulder at the newspaper.

  ‘Blimey! They don’t miss a trick.’ The headlines were black and bold. ‘Millionaire Property Developer Saves The Day.’ There was a photo of Flynn standing outside Starcross Manor with all her guests.

  Julia’s stomach felt like a tumble dryer going round and around as she began to read the article.

  ‘Flynn Carter, the multi-millionaire superhero, came to Julia Coleman’s rescue after a freak accident at the Heartcross B&B left guests stranded.’

  ‘They’ve quoted some of the guests,’ remarked Eleni, reading over her shoulder.

  Mr Cullen: ‘This place is magnificent, five stars, first class! Mr Carter’s hospitality has been beyond generous. No charge for the rooms, full access to all the amenities including the spa and swimming pool. We can’t wait to come back.’

  Julia sucked in a breath. ‘I’ve got a horrible feeling,’ she gave herself a little shake. ‘No, I’m over-thinking it…’

  ‘I know exactly what you are thinking,’ Aggie interrupted. ‘Did Flynn Carter use your unfortunate position to showcase his hotel to guests that frequent Heartcross time and time again? Is this man to be trusted?’

  Julia’s initial reaction towards Flynn came flooding back – did she need to be wary of him? Was this a ploy by him to pinch her guests? Surely not, he’d gone out of his way over the last twenty-four hours to help her. He’d seemed so genuine about putting the past behind them.

  ‘What do you think Isla?’ asked Julia.

  ‘Maybe he is just doing a good deed, but he’s standing in front of his new hotel with your guests and they are looking forward to going back there.’ She shrugged.

  For a second, Julia began to doubt his generosity. Was he just p
laying her? She started to panic a little.

  ‘Let’s stay positive,’ declared Eleni. ‘Let’s not worry about things beyond our control. The hotel will hopefully bring in different types of guests, not everyone can afford hotel prices, and thankfully there are still folk out there who like basic B&B and tents.’

  ‘You’re right, I’d prefer to wake up to the sound of the cows mooing and the smell of muck spreading. Hotel rooms aren’t for everyone,’ declared Isla, shutting the newspaper. ‘And after a while you get used to the smell of cow dung.’ She sniffed her T-shirt and wrinkled her nose. ‘Or maybe not.’

  ‘Are you going to voice your worries?’ asked Felicity, folding the paper and tossing it to the side. ‘Julia?’

  Julia was lost in her own little world for a moment. ‘I am, and I’ve got a plan that I think might benefit the whole community.’

  ‘I love it when a plan comes together,’ chipped in Eleni. ‘Any hint on what the plan is?’

  ‘Not just yet, but I’m going to talk to Flynn about it first this time. If he is genuine about fitting into Heartcross, I can’t see why he would turn down my idea.’ Julia was giving nothing away, leaving everyone intrigued. She thought back to the photographs, and the list of suppliers she’d discovered on the notepad in Andrew’s room when he’d stayed a few nights ago; that list was the basis of her proposal.

  For a moment they all lay back on the grass in silence, until their blissful five minutes were interrupted by the sound of Eleni’s phone beeping. She shielded the screen and read the text.

  ‘It’s Jack. Dinner is waiting for all of us up at Starcross Manor.’

  ‘I actually can’t wait to have a snoop inside,’ exclaimed Felicity.

  Isla jumped up. ‘And I’m starving,’ she said brushing herself down.

  ‘I’ll have to check that’s okay with Fraser, the poor man has been on his own all day running the pub.’ Meredith had a look of doubt on her face.