The Accidental Countess (The Aristocrat Diaries 3)

“I’d love one,” I said honestly.

“Wait there, then.” He got out of the car, and I frowned at him as he walked around the front.

He opened my door.

“Thank you.” I put my hand in his and got out. The wind from the Menai Strait whipped my hair around my face, and I reached up to sweep it around to one side of my neck. “Ooh. It’s windy.”

“It’s Anglesey. It’s always windy.” Matthew chuckled and rested his hand on my back to guide me to the front door. “Come on. Let’s get inside. It looks like it might rain.”

“Let me guess, it does that a lot, too?”

“Pretty much.” He laughed, and we ducked under the awning over the gorgeous oak front door so he could fumble with his keys until he located the correct one.

He unlocked the door and let me in ahead of him, and I shuddered as I stepped inside and out of the wind. It wasn’t that much warmer in here, but it wasn’t windy anymore, so I could handle that.

The woodwork inside the hotel lobby was exquisite—reminiscent of the wooden panelling that ran through Menai Castle. Paintings hung on the walls, and the reception counter was the same, deep brown panelling that was on the lower half of the walls, so it all flowed seamlessly together.

The upper half of the walls were painted in a blue just a couple of shades off white, and it brightened a room that was otherwise dark because of the wood.

It worked.

“It’s lovely,” I said, looking around. “Did it take long?”

“Eight months,” Matthew said, putting his hands in his pockets and surveying the room himself. “There were some minor structural reinforcements that needed to be worked on, more to save time and money down the line. Once that was done and everything had been replumbed and rewired, it was pretty easy going.”

“How many rooms are there?”

“Twelve,” he replied. “All en-suite, so it’s a bit more of a boutique hotel than some of the others. There’s a small bar and restaurant through here.” He guided me into another room—the panelling continued through, but it was a light sage green instead of blue in here. “We aren’t serving dinner immediately, but there’s enough room for a buffet breakfast and table service lunch, plus drinks.”

“Will it be open to the public?”

“Yes. The door behind the bar splits off into the kitchen and a storage area where there are extra chairs and tables. We’ll bring them out on an afternoon. There’s also another living room on the other side of the stairs.”

We walked back out and through the lobby, past the staircase and lift, and into another room that really was a giant living room. There were five sofas, numerous armchairs, and a large, gorgeous, Victorian-style fireplace was the roaring centrepiece.

“This is gorgeous,” I said, walking over to the window. “The bookcase is a nice touch.”

Matthew grinned, bobbing on the balls of his feet like a child. “Thank you. There are some local books, some old photo albums, and of course some guidebooks for the area. There are a lot of walking routes, so it’s handy to have some here.”

“Do you have maps?”

“Maps?”

“Of the walking routes.” I looked across the room at him. “So people can take them with them.”

“No,” he said slowly. “I don’t.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You probably want to get some of those.”

“That’s a good idea,” he mused, pulling his phone out of his pocket and swiping across the screen. He tapped for a minute before locking it and putting it back. “Any other bright ideas for this place?”

I folded my arms across my chest and looked at him. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

Matthew held up his hands. “Not at all. You’ve got much more experience with hotels than I have since you grew up in one, and you might notice things we’ve all overlooked.”

“Do you have leaflets for local attractions? They should be on the front desk, in this living space, and in the dining room. If you haven’t already, add a section in the booking process for them to add a reason why they’re coming.” I ran my hand over the back of a sofa. “Then you can put leaflets related to their stay in their rooms before they get here—example, it’s summer, and a couple likes nature. Have some leaflets for local nature stuff. A family are coming? Family related activities, like…”

I didn’t know what there was here.

“The zoo in Colwyn Bay? The sea zoo just down the road?” he suggested.

“Exactly. Most people do research but getting it from locals always helps. And restaurant suggestions—the one thing I recommended more than anything at home was restaurants and pubs.”

He pulled his phone back out and typed it all down. “Do you think that’s the biggest thing?”

I nodded, drawing level with him. “Nobody ever knows where to eat, and everyone always wants a local to tell them the best spot. We got with a couple of local restaurants, and they gave us ten percent off vouchers, so we would recommend them and give them a little business card with the barcode on.”