The Earl of London

by Louise Bay

  “You know each other?” I asked. Why on earth would Logan know Ivy? She was an established commercial real estate agent in the area, but she’d lived two villages away her entire life.

  “Sure,” Ivy said. “I showed Mr. Steele and his assistant the site earlier in the week.” She turned to Logan. “I’m so pleased you liked it enough to come back. I thought it would take you longer to work through the financials, but I told you that having the utilities here already makes a big difference to the cost of the build, not to mention the time frames.”

  So Logan had already been here. I paused and bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from grinning. Had he really been looking at other sites, as he’d claimed?

  He held out his arm for me as Ivy rattled off facts and figures. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been as attracted to a man as I was in that moment. He knew this place. He’d been true to his word and he wasn’t just waiting around for me to come up with different options—he was actively pursuing them.

  “I sent the technical details that you requested to Malcolm.”

  “Thank you. I know he’s working on the numbers and I’m going to go through them with him tomorrow.”

  “The landowner was excited after your visit—I know he’s very keen to sell. Apparently, he applied to the local Parish Council to redevelop the site a little over a year ago, and they approved his plans but he just couldn’t raise the finance. Of course, your plans will be different, but I thought it was good to know that they want to see the land redeveloped.”

  “The fact that there’s previously been industrial buildings on the site means the planning shouldn’t be an issue,” Logan said. “We had that confirmed. And we’ve done some environmental searches, and they set out what you said about the units here just being used as offices and retail warehousing, which means no cleanup costs.”

  Logan sounded invested and I had to keep staring at the tarmacked ground to stop myself from grinning like an idiot.

  “I hadn’t realized that Logan was already considering this site—I’m sorry if I’ve wasted your time, Ivy.”

  “Not at all. I think it’s helpful to come back and see the place, envisage what you want to create. Did you say it was a hotel?”

  “More of an exclusive club with a few rooms.” He looked out over the abandoned industrial units and over to the trees. “The entire place is very secluded,” he said.

  “The owner was surprised he was given permission to build, but the council has set a precedent now, and at the moment, the place is an eyesore. It needs developing.”

  Logan nodded as he continued to scan his surroundings. “What was the size again? Just under two hectares, wasn’t it?”

  “Four point five nine acres.”

  Logan chuckled and slid his hands into his pockets. He liked details and I figured he appreciated Ivy’s specificity. “It’s a good size. And the landowner’s motivated to sell?”

  “Very,” she said. “He had an offer twenty-five percent below asking price last year, and I think he would take it if he was offered it again.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Would you like to walk the perimeter again?” she asked.

  Shit, I hadn’t brought my wellies.

  “I think we saw what we needed to last time.”

  “You’ve already walked through the site.”

  He fixed me with a stare. “Yup.”

  “Well, thanks so much for making the time, Ivy.” We shook hands then Logan and I headed to the car in silence.

  As soon as we were in the car, I expected him to declare business over with and demand some personal attention—which I was more than happy to provide—but before he slid into the passenger seat, he pulled his mobile from his jacket pocket.

  “Do you mind if I make a quick call?” he asked, already dialing the number.

  “That’s fine,” I replied, pulling out.

  “Head to your place,” he said as he put the phone to his ear.

  He was so bossy, but secretly I was relieved he didn’t want to go straight back to Badsley. I’d been looking forward to seeing him before our visit, and now my body was buzzing with need.

  “Malcolm, I’ve just been to see the Planton site again—yeah, I was just passing and wanted to check out a few things. The agent was helpful. She told me the landlord had an offer at twenty-five percent below asking that he wished he’d taken. I know. Plug that into the sensitivity analysis. Yep. Good.” He hung up.

  “So you’ve already seen the site,” I said, stating the obvious.

  “It would seem so,” he replied.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I did. Ivy did.”

  “I mean before.”

  “I said I’d been looking at alternatives.”

  I’d been looking for excuses not to like Logan. And I’d found plenty. But as I got to know him, they were all fading away and without them I would have to face up to how much I did like him. How much I wanted to explore what we had.

  And I didn’t know whether to be scared or hopeful. Terrified or trusting.

  Twenty-Six

  Logan

  I couldn’t get enough of the hot, naked woman beside me.

  “I feel like I’m fifteen years old,” I said from flat on my back as I stared at Darcy’s bedroom ceiling.

  She wriggled over to face me and propped her head up on her hand. “Lucky for me you don’t have a teenager’s body.”

  I pulled her palm from my chest and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

  “It’s all this sneaking around.” In the last few weeks, Darcy and I had fallen into a routine of sorts. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights I stayed over at Woolton Hall. Regularly leaving the office on a Thursday was a new thing for me but I wanted to spend the night with Darcy. Sometimes she had dinner with my grandmother and me, but we always ended up back at Woolton, and I always headed back to Badsley before my grandmother woke, which meant I was sneaking out of Darcy’s bed before sunrise.

  “Want to come to dinner tonight?” I asked.

  “Only if you’re making omelets,” she said, then bolted upright, clutching her sheet to her chest. “Shit, no I can’t.” She looked at me, panic in her eyes. “You have to go.” She pushed me out of bed, her heels pressing into my arse.

  “It’s only just before six. I’ll be fine.”

  “I mean it, you have to leave. I totally forgot that Ryder and Scarlett are about to arrive. They’ll be here any second.”

  Wait, what? She was trying to get rid of me? Our situation was unusual for me, but I’d dealt with it by not analyzing it. Over the last few weeks, I’d just done what felt right. What I wanted to do. Darcy and I had existed in a private bubble where we didn’t talk about anything in the future—we’d just agreed not to overanalyze things. It hadn’t seemed necessary to talk about what we were doing—but she obviously didn’t want her brother to know that we were doing whatever we were doing and it was…chafing.

  She squealed as a car door pulled up outside and she rushed to her window, peering down to the driveway. “They’re here already. You’re going to have to hide.” She glanced around. “Maybe in the bathroom or my dressing room.”

  I wasn’t anyone’s dirty little secret, but maybe that was how she saw me. “We’re not doing anything wrong, Darcy.” I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself or her.

  She groaned and pulled at my arm, trying to get me out of bed. “Come on.”

  “I’m serious. Why can’t your brother know I’m here?” I couldn’t quite believe the words that were coming out of my mouth.

  “And what are you going to say to him? Hey, you don’t mind that I’m banging your sister, do you?”

  “I said I felt like a fifteen-year-old boy, not that I was going to act like one.”

  She sighed dramatically and headed to the bathroom. “You’re impossible. I’m going to have a shower.”

  I followed her. “Why don’t you want him to know about us?” I asked as she
stepped under the spray, her toothbrush in her mouth as she tried to multi-task—something she always did when running late.

  I’d enjoyed making her late on many occasions over the last few weeks.

  She looked at me, water pouring over her face as I watched her from the end of the walk-in shower.

  “Why don’t you want your grandmother to know about us?” she asked.

  “I never said I didn’t—it just hasn’t come up.” She turned away from me to finish brushing her teeth.

  “Darcy,” I said. I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to say—it just felt that we were due for a conversation. I didn’t like the idea of her trying to hide me. Us.

  Even though I’d fucked a lot of women, I’d never felt so intimate with a woman. Darcy and I had fallen into an early-morning habit of starting our days together. Things had developed when I wasn’t paying attention. I’d been deliberately looking away, but now I needed clarity. I wanted to know whether we were on the same page, except I wasn’t sure what page that was.

  “What?” she snapped. “My brother and Scarlett are downstairs. They have toddlers and an American mother. There are no boundaries. They are probably about to burst into my bedroom and we’re both naked. Can we talk later?”

  She was right. We didn’t have time and I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I rarely went into conversations without knowing the outcome I wanted, but like with most things, I found Darcy was the exception.

  “I’m not sleeping with anyone else,” I said as if that solved everything. “I just want you to know that.”

  She frantically covered herself with shower gel. “Can we talk about this later?”

  Wait, wasn’t it customary for her to tell me she wasn’t sleeping with anyone else either? Granted, I was in unfamiliar territory, but I was pretty sure that was how these things were meant to go. Unless she was sleeping with someone else. “Are you?” I stepped into the walk-in shower, wanting to hear her answer clearly.

  She tipped her head to the side. “Not unless you count Lane.”

  It took a second longer than it should have to realize she was joking. “Funny,” I said, and she just shrugged as if we were talking about the fucking weather.

  I’d spent my life avoiding conversations like this, dodging questions from women by being clear upfront that there would be no second time, no emotions and definitely no commitment. But here I was, with a woman I actually wanted to have this conversation with, and she was the one avoiding it.

  “So you don’t want to talk about this?” Was she being cold or distracted or both?

  “Not now. We haven’t discussed anything about anything and we don’t have time to start.”

  Perhaps we’d both been avoiding having a conversation about where we were, how we felt and where we were headed. I had no road map, I’d never been here, felt like this. But we were at a crossroads and I wanted to know which road she saw us taking.

  Twenty-Seven

  Darcy

  What was it about Logan freaking Steele that had me losing my mind? I’d been planning for Ryder and Scarlett’s arrival all week, but a kiss from Logan and I’d forgotten what day of the week it was.

  I pulled on my jeans, watching out of my bedroom window at my brother, Scarlett and their children as they pulled things out of the car, dropped them, Gwendoline sat on them, Toby tried to climb onto the roof of the car and everyone generally messed about. It was Lane’s day off and the children were distracting my brother and Scarlett, and I’d never been so grateful. I pulled on a shirt and wrapped my still-wet hair up in a clip. At least I was clean and had clothes on.

  “I’m not hiding in the bathroom, Darcy,” Logan said as he tied his shoes.

  Had I really suggested that? “Yeah. That was a stupid idea, sorry. I’m just not ready to answer a thousand questions from my brother and sister-in-law. Not when we haven’t even talked.”

  He turned to look at me, disappointment heavy on his face.

  I stepped toward him and stroked my palm against his cheek. “I’m sorry. I lost track of my days—you’re very distracting.”

  I shivered as he kissed the inside of my wrist. Shouldn’t I be pleased that he didn’t want to hide our relationship? I’d never really thought about what we were outside the bedroom. I’d spent so long determined to hate Logan that I hadn’t allowed myself to think about what was growing between us.

  “I’m warning you—Ryder is likely to give you a hard time, and Scarlett’s going to demand to know when you plan to propose.”

  “Does that mean I don’t have to hide in the bathroom?” He pulled me on to his lap.

  “It doesn’t bother you that—”

  “We like each other, Darcy. Right?” He dipped his head, trying to catch my gaze.

  “Kind of, I guess. I mean, I like sleeping with you. And you can be funny sometimes. And you don’t bore me.”

  “Steady, or my ego is going to get overinflated.”

  I giggled. “I’m not sure a lack of ego is a problem for you.”

  “Well, I think all those things about you, too.”

  “I spend a lot of time around you trying not to smile,” I confessed.

  “Never boring,” he muttered. “So, we’re friends who are enjoying each other’s company. Right?”

  “Right,” I said. Were we friends? Just a few weeks ago, I’d hated this guy. And now he spent almost as much time in my bed as I did. “I guess we are.”

  Logan looped his arms around my waist and helped me up. “Then I suggest we go downstairs, say hi to your family and then I get back to my grandmother and the nine thousand emails that came in overnight.”

  Just like that? I wasn’t sure why this was such a big deal for me, but it was. It might have been because I’d not introduced a boyfriend to my brother for so long or because Logan and I hadn’t defined whatever it was between us. And it might have been because I was frightened. Vulnerable. My feelings for Logan were growing stronger with each day and I didn’t feel prepared.

  He stood, pulled open my bedroom door and waited for me to go first.

  “I guess,” I said. What choice did I have? I’d have to accept that I’d spend my brother’s entire visit being questioned like a murder suspect.

  We got to the top of the last leg of the stairs just as Scarlett burst through the door, her arms laden with a toddler and a bag of what looked like fake fur spilling out of the top of it—stuffed animals most probably.

  “Hey,” she called as we started down the stairs. She froze when she spotted Logan behind me. “Oh, hi. I didn’t realize…Hi.” Her grin was so wide I thought her head might fall off.

  Ryder stumbled inside, bags draped over his shoulders and his son in his arms.

  “Ryder,” Scarlett said. “Say hello to your sister and…”

  “Logan,” he said as we got to the bottom of the stairs and he held out his hand. “Scarlett, I presume. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “You have?” Scarlett glanced at me. “Well, I wish I could say the same. Very nice to meet you, Logan.”

  I tried to avoid Scarlett’s wide-eyed stare and my brother’s confused look.

  “Logan?” Ryder glanced up the stairs as if trying to piece together everything that wasn’t making sense to him in that moment.

  “You know each other?” Scarlett asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve done some business together. I didn’t realize you and Darcy…”

  “We’re friends,” I interrupted. “We’re hanging out.”

  Logan began to chuckle. Hadn’t that been what we’d agreed on? Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to repeat him word for word.

  “In a naked way?” Scarlett asked, her daughter slipping from her arms and racing down the corridor.

  Gwendoline started chanting. “Naked! Naked! Naked!”

  “How was your flight?” I replied, trying to dampen down the mortification.

  “It was just fine, Darcy, but I’m far more interested in Logan. You’re not leaving, are you?”


  “As much as I would love to stay and chat, I have to get back to check on my grandmother before work.”

  “Your grandmother?” Scarlett asked.

  “Logan spends his weekends with his grandmother at Badsley House,” I said.

  “Oh, just across the way. Well you must come back for dinner this evening.”

  Dinner? If I hadn’t been ready for Ryder and Scarlett to see Logan for a fleeting moment, I was definitely not prepared to have us all spend the evening together.

  “I’d love to,” Logan said before kissing the top of my head and heading out the front door. “I’m sorry to rush off, but I’ll see you later.”

  Jesus, dinner with my family? What was he thinking? Weren’t we trying to make this less complicated?

  Scarlett watched him leave. “Darcy, Darcy, Darcy. Where did you find him?” She turned back to look at me. “And why on Earth didn’t you tell me you were dating? This is so exciting and he’s soooo handsome. Like take-me-now good-looking.”

  “You do know I’m right here?” Ryder said.

  “Tell me everything,” Scarlett said, ignoring my brother. “How long has it been going on? Is it serious?”

  “So, you’re dating him?” Ryder asked.

  Overwhelmed, I turned around and followed the children into the library and tried to block out the questions as Scarlett and Ryder followed me.

  “Are you okay?” Scarlett asked.

  “Yes.” Was I? Why had Logan agreed to dinner? We needed to talk, just the two of us before we had other people asking questions we didn’t know the answers to. “We’re just friends,” I said with a sigh, concentrating on the children as they pulled toys out of an old trunk under the window.

  “Friends?” Scarlett asked. “Friends who like to have sleepovers and kiss each other?”

  “Don’t give me a hard time,” I pleaded.

  Scarlett slid her arm around my shoulder. “I’m just happy for you. We worry about you being lonely here in this big old house, don’t we, Ryder?”