No one spoke for a heartbeat, and then Alison said, “That sounds like a marvelous idea, doesn’t it, Mama? Our gardens are gorgeous! It can’t hurt to make some money from them, can it? And it’s not as though anyone will be trampling about the house.”
“The gardener will be overrun with work,” her mother replied in a strained voice.
“I’m sure we can find someone to help him a few days a week,” Niall said. “I don’t see that as a concern.”
Willa Mae ate some more of her breakfast while they went back and forth about her idea, glad that no one seemed ready to tackle her about the big item, which was the renovation of the inside of the house. But her elation was short-lived, for Angus chimed in, staring at her meaningfully.
“How drastic will the changes to the interior be, Ms. Jamison? Will they detract from the authenticity of the house?”
“I’m sure that his lordship will not allow the history of the house to be lost by any renovations we will agree on.”
Willa Mae knew she needed to be diplomatic, and to acknowledge the huge role that Niall would play in any decisions made going forward. She wanted to assure his family that she would faithfully execute any plans agreed upon, and respect his wishes as the lord of the manor.
Draining her coffee cup, she closed the knife and fork on her plate and continued. “Does anyone else have any further questions about the inside plans?”
She already knew the answer. Everyone had looked at Niall when she had answered Angus, and the look on his face had said they had better be silent. She grinned, making sure to keep it behind her lips, which she gave something to do by taking a drink from her orange juice.
“Regarding the other plans, the earl wanted to know how to set up and maintain a website which would handle bookings and sales from the souvenir and tea shops that he also wants to open in the section of the house downstairs. As I understand it, the butler is the only person serving the household who lives on premises, and the earl has plans which he will discuss with you regarding Mr. Andrews’ future living arrangements.”
Again, all eyes were turned to Niall, who sipped his second cup of tea tranquilly, as though nothing was amiss. Willa Mae had to hand it to him…he sure as hell knew how to handle his family. No one said a word.
“After today’s tour, I’ll be in a better position to advise the earl on the shop idea. Anything that we discuss he will share with you.”
The rest of the briefing concerned new staff, tours, connections with the village, and publicity. Once she was done, she finished her juice and waited for Niall to speak.
“Would you like some more coffee, Willa Mae?” The question wasn’t what she had expected him to say after her presentation, but she ran with it, trusting him to deal with the fallout.
“No, thank you, your lordship. In fact, if you don’t mind, I’m eager to begin the tour.”
He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and she wondered what she had done to piss him off this time. Then, as she looked at him trying to puzzle out his mood, she remembered the warning he had issued at the top of the stairs. She also remembered the punishment she had received for ignoring it. Instantly, she was back there, her lips crushed beneath his, her body trembling in reaction to his nearness and his touch and her uninhibited response to him. She looked down at her hands, wishing she had something to hold, to ground her until he made his next move.
“We’ll be out all day, once the tour is complete, Mother,” he announced after a heartbeat. “Don’t wait dinner for us. We’ll most likely be eating out again. I’ll discuss everything with you once all the plans are in place.”
He stood up, pushing his chair back under the table as he spoke, and went to stand behind Willa Mae’s chair. She stood and he pulled it out for her, waiting until she picked up her bag before pushing it under as well.
“Have a good day, everyone,” he said and turned away, his arm once again extended to her.
“Please excuse me,” she said, and turned away to take his arm. “Enjoy your day,” she added, thinking I’m gonna do my best to enjoy mine.
Out in the hallway, Niall pierced her with a fierce look. “I am keeping count, Willa Mae.”
Some daredevil in her wanted release, especially after that rather strained breakfast meeting. She couldn’t seem to control her runaway tongue.
“And how much punishment have I racked up, your lordship?” She even went so far as to smile coyly at him.
“Enough to make it impossible for you to continue to ignore me. Enough to make you wish you weren’t being so brave now. Enough to satisfy my curiosity.”
Her whole body shivered at the sensual threat in his words, and at the smoldering look he scorched her with. He turned, giving her a chance to take a deep, calming breath, and led her along to the end of the hallway to begin the tour.
“We’ve just left the breakfast room,” he told her. “The larger dining room is through here. As this will be something of a bed and breakfast, I’d like this to be the dining room used by the family for all meals, so that the breakfast room may be used exclusively for guests. It’s smaller, more intimate, and we ought to be able to put in four tables once we remove the one currently there.”
He walked her into the imposing dining room and she took in the large table, noting that there were currently twelve chairs around it.
“Does the table fold out?” she wondered.
“It does. I hired an expert craftsman to upgrade the table so that it would retain the authentic feel of the house but still be functional for large sit-down dinners.”
Willa Mae ran her hand over the dark wood. “It’s pretty impressive,” she said. “I imagine that no one can tell where the addition is when it’s fully unfolded.”
Next came the library, which would remain closed to the public. A large piano room next to it would become the family’s private sitting room, so that the smaller drawing room where she had been received the previous afternoon would become the guests’ sitting room.
“Where will guests sleep?” she wondered.
“We’ll go there next, and then on to the downstairs section. That will likely be the place where most of the alterations will need to be made.”
He led her up the stairs. “The second floor will remain the family’s quarters. Five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a small one added to the master suite.”
“How many guest rooms are there?”
By now they had arrived on the third floor. “Six up here. The largest used to be the schoolroom. It comes with a sitting area and an ensuite bathroom. The other five will share three bathrooms — there’s another bedroom with its own shower bathroom, and the four remaining ones will have a bathroom between each pair of them. The bedrooms up here are smaller, because they were once the servants’ quarters. The schoolroom had an attached bedroom and sitting area for the governess so it was larger. They can be made comfortable enough with a few updates, I’m sure. We’ll need to spend a lot on the shared bathrooms to make them equally as comfortable for guests.”
He paused, opening a door to what turned out to be the largest of the guest spaces. “We could install water closets and sinks in each bedroom, at least, so the shared bathrooms can have a full bath and shower. But it will still be a tight squeeze.”
Willa Mae took in the small but luxurious bathroom in the suite they stood in, and the queen-sized bed that filled up most of the bedroom itself. A blanket chest at the foot of the bed, a side table and an old fashioned wardrobe added to the appointments in the room. A Queen Anne secretary’s desk had been opened to be used as a dresser, with an oval mirror hanging above it to complete the furnishings.
“This is a pretty space. I’m sure you realize that you’ll have to charge more for this room.”
“Indeed, as well as any room with its own WC and sink will also cost more.”
“I’d like to have a look at them. Maybe I have an idea…”
They walked into the first of the smaller rooms, and Willa M
ae did some fast figuring. Then she asked, “Are the other small bedrooms the same size as this one?”
“Niall nodded. “Yes, why?”
“I’m just thinking that perhaps we need to reconfigure the spaces up here completely. Instead of these five smallish bedrooms, why not four larger ones, complete with their own WCs, and a sitting area for the guests instead of a third bathroom? The remaining two bathrooms can then be shared by your guests and can be more luxuriously appointed with a separate shower, tub, and sink.”
She looked over at him as she spoke. “I know you’ll lose the potential for two extra customers, but in the end, your business won’t suffer for it. Great reviews that extol the elegance and size of your living quarters will go a long way to bringing you new as well as repeat business going forward.”
Niall nodded again. “That’s at least one thing my family will approve of,” he said with a chuckle. “The fewer people in the house, the better they will feel.”
“Is there any access from this floor to the roof?” she asked next. “Is it safe to be up there, and could any visitor who wanted that experience potentially to get it?”
Niall’s eyes caught hers for a moment before he answered. “I used to go up there as a boy, against my parents’ wishes, all the time. We’ve had it secured, though, to avoid accidents.”
She looked at him sharply, a question in her eyes. “You say that as though there was at least one accident. Is it a deep, dark family secret?”
Niall chuckled. “It’s dark, for sure, but not very deep. An ancestor of mine took his paramour up there to hide her when his wife returned home unexpectedly. The woman slipped and fell to her death.” He paused, adding after a breath, “Though some believe she was pushed.”
Willa Mae’s eyes widened. “I’ll bet there’s a ghost story in there somewhere.”
“Not really,” he replied. “By the time the story came down to my grandparents’ generation, it was being ruthlessly suppressed. No one wanted to acknowledge the randy ancestor whose lover fell from the roof. They were as proper as my mother is. No damn fun at all!”
Willa Mae laughed, and he joined her. The rich sound of their merriment fell all around them in the room. Something in the twinkle in his eyes made her ask,
“Did you take someone up there as well, Niall? Is that why they closed it off?”
“Why do you ask?” He didn’t deny it, just smirked at her.
“If you were a…difficult child, I can see your mother doing all she could to keep you out of too much trouble. Including making it impossible for you to get back up there.”
“Do I give you the impression that I was a troublemaker?” He chuckled amusedly.
“You do have a certain way about you,” she retorted. “I have cousins like you. They gave my aunt and uncle nightmares. One still does.”
“I plead the fifth…isn’t that what you Americans say when you don’t wish to incriminate yourself?”
Willa Mae laughed again. “If your family weren’t so…fastidious about what they wanted done here, that story might actually also be a great PR byte, a way to get more visitors. Even if they can’t get up there, they’ll take pictures, which will put the face of your home out there, especially on the web.”
He regarded her quietly for a moment, as though he was looking for something in her expression, before he finally spoke. “Let’s go down, shall we?” he invited her without responding to her suggestion.
They made their way down to the basement level of the house, where Andrews was just emerging from what appeared to be an office.
“Ah, Mr. Niall, you’ve finished the upstairs.”
“Yes. Are you ready for me down here, Andrews?” Niall asked him.
“Yes indeed we are, sir. Mrs. Reid has also already prepared the picnic basket. I assume you’ll be using the Range Rover today?”
“Yes, thank you, Andrews.” Niall turned to Willa Mae. “The plan down here is to completely reconfigure the space, which is still pretty much the way it was a hundred years ago. There’ll be two single bedrooms down here with a shared bathroom between them, the shop, the restaurant, the kitchen and Andrews’ quarters. Have a look around and tell me what you think.”
“I’ll be happy to,” she replied, smiling at him. His eyes lit up, and the searching expression returned to them, but he only nodded and began the tour.
Chapter Five: Heat
The tour of the basement lasted just long enough that Niall wondered if Willa Mae might need a cup of tea before they left. He had been drinking her in all morning, from the way she handled herself with his family at breakfast, to this moment, when they were standing at the door that led to the kitchen garden and up to the main gardens. She was smart, creative, and enthusiastic…everything he could possibly need in a property developer. However, not even the business they were engaged in could stunt the growing attraction he was feeling for her as she extolled the virtues of a kitchen garden as part of the garden tours.
“You’ve got such a store of good things that you can do with this estate, Niall,” she raved as she plucked a leaf from the base of a plant in the kitchen window box.
He listened to her moan as she inhaled the fragrance of the leaf, and his body, which he had been fighting all morning, stirred anew at the sound of pleasure.
“This is one of my most favorite herbs,” she said. “I cook everything with basil. And garlic.”
“So you’re a good cook, then?”
He needed to keep his mind off the way his body tightened when she popped the leaf into her mouth, chewed and swallowed, and moaned again. When she licked her lips, he leaned in, and only stopped himself from kissing them because she opened her eyes just then and stared at him, as though she had sensed his approach.
“What happened on the stairs can never happen again, Niall,” she said, ignoring his question. Her cheeks warmed, her voice was resolute.
“How do you plan to stop it?” He couldn’t resist teasing her.
“I’m sure you’re gentleman enough to take ‘no’ for an answer,” she snapped, out of patience with him.
“There are two assumptions inherent in that statement,” he informed her as he led her up the steps to the yard. “Only one of them is guaranteed to be accurate.”
She stepped away from him as soon as they got to the gravel path. “You’re an arrogant man, as well, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been called worse things.”
He let her get away with the evasion. They’d be in the car for the road trip, and she’d be at his mercy, more or less. He’d have other chances to whittle away at her control. He helped her into the vehicle that Andrews had brought round to the rear drive, and once she was buckled in, he set off, the tires spitting gravel behind him. He planned to take her on a drive in the surrounding countryside, and on a visit to one of the famous castles which did good business during the season.
As always, the beauty of the countryside left him in awe. The terrain was mostly rolling hills and gentle valleys in this part of the country, and the beauty of the lochs only added to the magic. He took her through Bannock, through the surrounding villages, stopping in a meadow by a small brook for lunch. There were a few other cars already parked, as this was a locally known spot for stopping to rest and feed. He handed her the picnic blanket and told her to choose a spot. Then he followed her with two lawn chairs, in case she didn’t wish to sit on the ground.
The spot she chose was close to the water under a spreading elm tree. Andrews had packed ham sandwiches, cheese and fruit, as well as a thermos flask of tea and water.
“Please help yourself,” Niall invited her, once she had settled herself on the blanket, handing her one of the plates and a short glass that were also in the basket.
“After lunch we’ll visit a castle that doubles as a bed and breakfast before we go to dinner. I hope you’re not too tired.”
Her eyes smiled as she sipped the water she had taken. “I’m fine, thank you.” She looke
d around again, and Niall took in her cross-legged, upright body as she enjoyed the tranquil scene. She was the image of cool efficiency, of quiet charm, of effortless elegance. He was also pretty sure she had no idea that the vibes she was giving off were a sensual invitation, a challenge, almost, to his latent desires.
“If you weren’t returning to New York tomorrow evening, I would take you on a short castle tour.” He needed to keep his focus, despite the urges he was fighting to keep contained.
Scottish Swag Page 5
