The Burlington Manor Affair

“Right.” Rex took a sidelong glance at her as he rose to his feet. “I suggest we take a walk around the grounds together.”

Carmen froze. “Why?”

“I want to hear your ideas for the place, your long-term plans.”

She broke into a smile, relieved. It seemed that he did intend to stick to his side of the bargain.

He held the door open for her. As she passed he rested his hand briefly between her shoulder blades. It was the gentlest of touches, yet there was intimacy there. Carmen was wary of it. It didn’t feel wrong, though, not after what happened between them the night before. They’d had sex and they’d slept alongside each other all night. However, that brief touch alerted her to his proximity, and his intentions. It wasn’t exactly possessive, but she did feel he could put his hands on her and she’d know what he wanted. It was exactly what he’d done the day before, and even when they met for the reading of the will he’d claimed rights in some way. This was different.

This was even more intense, because they’d slept together now.

It was a glorious morning outside, mid-September showing no signs of giving up on the summer. The trees were still laden with greenery.

The flagstones outside the lobby adjacent to the kitchens ran onto a gravel path, and it crunched beneath their feet as they walked. It was a familiar sound. The path forked, and Carmen paused.

“Lead the way,” Rex suggested, gesturing at the path that went around the front of the property toward the cricket pitch.

“Thank you,” Carmen said, then turned on her heel and went in the opposite direction.

When he raced alongside her, she glanced away so that he wouldn’t see her smile. Instead, she looked up at the exterior of the building as they went, using the opportunity to gauge the state of repair. “I want the place to come alive, to be full of visitors and parties again.”

“It obviously hasn’t witnessed any of that, not since you left.”

“I don’t suppose it has.” It was sad to think of Charles Carruthers here alone, but he’d assured her he was happy that way whenever she’d been in touch. “My first priority will be to secure the place. I see a lot of things that need immediate attention.” She gestured at a stone carved pot on top of a podium. The podium was cracked.

Rex nodded. “Dad obviously let the place go. The staff have done their best, but the resources just aren’t there.”

Was it her imagination, or did he look dissatisfied by that, ashamed even? Even a slight indication of his bond with the place made her wary.

“I intend to take up where my mother left off,” she stated as an opening gambit, claiming rights from the off. “I’ve managed her business interests well enough. I think she’d be happy with my efforts there. Now it’s time to look at the other love of her life.”

She glanced back at him. He was observing her closely.

Rex nodded. “She invested a lot of her time and funds in the manor.”

“Indeed, and many people have commented on it over the years.”

“What do you mean?” His eyebrows drew together.

“I’m often told that when our parents married, your dad didn’t have the funds to restore the place. My mother changed all that.”

“Ah, that. Well, people will talk, but we knew how happy they were.”

“Exactly. People do like to put the knife in, don’t they?” Carmen observed him from the corner of her eye. Interesting that he’d experienced the hearsay, too. Of course, she supposed he would have had the full set of accusations and suggestions that she’d suffered over the years, maybe even more so. Some of the comments had really hurt, especially close to the time of her mother’s fatal car crash—remarks about her mother’s death being conveniently timed, speculation about whether Charles Carruthers would marry again. He didn’t. It came with the territory, though. Any family who had a name, lineage or a prestige property were talked about, their lives dissected like public property.

“Aren’t you worried that people will say the same thing about you,” Rex asked, “that you are investing your personal income from the company in a crumbling British estate?” There was a mischievous look in his eyes.

Carmen was getting used to it again, though, and she felt able to manage it when it was about this particular subject. When it was about sexuality that was different. “Ah, well, I do intend to make it a personal investment, the project, a continuation of my mother’s work. I don’t have a personal cause, or hobby, so Burlington Manor will be that. But it will also be a home. I plan to spend all my weekends here. I might even work from home part of the time.”

“Alone? Or is there a partner you plan to feather your nest with?”

Amused, Carmen gave him a quizzical glance. “Isn’t it a bit late to be asking whether I have a partner or not?”

“Not really. What I meant was...you might have someone in mind. I knew you weren’t attached when I propositioned you. I asked around. We have mutual friends. It wasn’t difficult to be sure.”

For some reason the notion of him researching her relationship status before coming up with this ludicrous deal amused her.

“Besides, I know you’re an honorable sort of