Christmas in the Boss's Castle

Finlay moved quickly. ‘Slow down. Let me.’ He picked up the hamper and then the cool box. She swung the door open on the fridge and started emptying the cool box straight into it. ‘Why don’t you find a cupboard to put some of the things from the hamper? Then we can get started on the main room.’

She was like a whirlwind. He had no idea what time it currently was but Grace seemed to have endless energy. He shook his head. ‘I think we should look at the bedrooms.’

Her hands froze midway into the fridge. She dipped back and stared around the door at him. ‘What?’

He shook his head and laughed. ‘That didn’t come out quite the way I meant it to. You must be tired. I’m tired. Let’s put the food away, then go to the wing where I turned the heating on. The beds will all be stripped down. I’ll need to find the sheets and bedding and make them up.’

She started restocking the fridge and looked amused. ‘Do you have any idea where the bedding will be?’

He nodded. ‘It’s all vacuum-packed so I think it should be okay. I’m just worried the rooms will be as dusty as the sitting room.’ He’d said rooms deliberately. He didn’t want to make Grace uncomfortable.

Grace closed the fridge door. ‘Okay, then, let’s go.’

He flicked the lights on as they walked down the corridors. Some cobwebs hung from the light fittings. ‘This place feels like the Haunted House at one of the theme parks.’

Grace shivered. He stopped walking. ‘I’m sorry, did I scare you? I didn’t mean to.’

She looked surprised. ‘No, I’m not scared, silly, I’m cold.’

Of course. She’d taken her coat off and left it in the hall. The whole house was still bitterly cold. He opened the first door and gulped. It was every bit as bad as the sitting room. Grace instantly coughed.

‘Let’s try another,’ he said.

So they did. The next room wasn’t quite so bad. It only took him a few moments to realise why. He walked over to the fireplace. ‘This room has a chimney—a real fire. There’s still a chimney sweep who comes in once a year to clear all the chimneys. Between that—and the fact there’s still some air circulating means it’s not quite so bad.’

He walked over to a cupboard and pulled out some vacuum-packed bedding. Then paused. There was only one king-sized bed in here. He glanced between Grace and the bed. ‘We can find another room.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘How many others in this wing have a fireplace?’

Realisation settled over him. ‘Only this one.’

She sighed and held up her hands. ‘How much energy do you have?’ She stuck her hands on her hips. ‘This place is still freezing. No one will be taking any clothes off.’

The way she was so matter-of-fact made him laugh out loud. He’d been a bit wary about saying something. He didn’t want her to think he’d deliberately brought her up here with something in mind.

His stomach was flipping over and over. This had been his marital home. This room hadn’t been the bedroom that he and Anna had shared—that was in another wing. But Grace was the first woman he’d ever brought to this house since Anna had died. All of a sudden he was in a bedroom, in his castle, with another woman, and he wasn’t entirely sure how they’d got there.

Grace seemed unperturbed. She walked over to the curtains and gave them a shake. The little cloud of dust circulated around her like fairy dust from a film. She gave a sneeze and grabbed a chair. ‘I’m going to take these down and throw them in the washing machine. If they come out okay, we can rehang them tomorrow.’ She pointed to the fireplace. ‘Why don’t you see if you can light the fire? Once I’ve put these in the wash I’ll make up the bed. If I don’t get to sleep soon, I’ll sleep standing up.’

She was already unhooking the curtains from their pole.

The uneasy feeling drifted away. She made things so easy. Things seemed to make sense around Grace. It was her manner.

He knelt down and checked the fireplace. It was clean and ready to be stocked. He knew exactly where the supplies were. It would only take a few minutes to collect them.

By the time he returned Grace had a smoky outline on her black jumper and jeans from the curtains. ‘They’re in the wash,’ she said happily. ‘But I think I’ll need to get cleaned up once I’ve made the bed.’

She shook out the sheets and made up the bed in record time. It was bigger than the average king-size and Finlay tried not to think about how inviting it looked covered with the thick duvet, blankets and masses of pillows.