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His father sighed and held out his hand. ‘Deal.’
3
One Week Later
Life is good, and the future’s going to be even better.
Striding up Milsom Street in Bath, Estelle had just the right amount of adrenaline running through her veins. It was enough to make butterflies dance excitedly in her stomach, but not enough to turn it.
She was within touching distance of her dream of staging a music and arts festival at Foxbrooke Manor, but needed outside help and investment to make it happen. After successfully securing both through a partnership with Excelsior Events the previous month, the company had, unexpectedly, been bought out. Now she was on her way to meet the new owner.
Please let them be nice. Not some cocky arsehole or society queen who looks down her nose at me.
Crossing the road, she checked her appearance in the windows of a shop filled with Christmas decorations. She’d swapped her usual wardrobe of jodhpurs, jeans and jumpers for a plum-coloured cashmere coat her mom had given her. Underneath, she’d crammed her curves into a tight pencil skirt and cream silk blouse that complemented her brown skin.
Her feet, usually in riding boots or wellies, were now squeezed into uncomfortable designer boots. The added height took her to just over six feet tall and helped her fake the confidence her parents had down to their bones.
Pausing at the window, she ran her fingers through her curly black hair and frowned at her reflection. Should she have worn make-up? Rummaging in her handbag, a gift from her aunt, she pulled out a vanilla lip balm and swiped it over her lips.
Why did they specify we have to work together in the same office?
The butterflies in her tummy flapped their wings faster. The new owner had honoured the original contract she’d signed with Excelsior, but with a few amendments, one of which was that Estelle had to work directly with whoever now ran the company.
Are they using me to get to Mom and Dad? Mammy?
A year after becoming the Duchess of Somerset, Estelle’s mom, Vivienne Camille Boucher, had fallen in love with a single mother from the village and brought her into the marriage. Arthur, Vivienne, and Dervla Foxbrooke’s unconventional relationship, as well as the sex parties they hosted at the manor, were a source of embarrassment for their six children, as well as gleeful gossip-rag fodder for the wider world.
Growing up, the eldest Foxbrooke siblings—Estelle, her twin brother, Henry, and their adopted brother, Connor—had borne the brunt of the public’s fascination with their family. Even though Estelle loved her parents deeply, she also wished they were a little more normal.
Letting out a long breath, she squared her shoulders.
Come on. You’ve got this. After thirty years dealing with Mom, Dad and Mammy, there’s nothing you can’t handle.
She continued on through the crowds of tourists enjoying the Christmas market, refusing to allow them, or her tight skirt and pinching boots, to slow her pace. Bath may have been small, but she was used to the rural quiet of Foxbrooke and the company of her dogs, horses, and small circle of family and close friends. Here, jostled by strangers, she was aware just how much of an adjustment it was going to be commuting from her comfort zone into the city.
Just breathe. The new owner is just one person. How bad can it be?
Half way up Bartlett Street was the address she’d been emailed for the new offices of Excelsior Events, now called ‘BDE Entertainment’. As she was about to ring the buzzer, a man exited the building and pulled the sign for the company from a frame to the right of the door.
‘Excuse me,’ she began.
He turned. ‘Yes?’
She nodded at the sign in his hand. ‘Are they still here?’
‘Till the end of the day. Then they’re out.’
What? Her tummy prickled with anxious confusion. ‘Why?’
He shrugged. ‘They haven’t paid their rent.’
Estelle’s mouth opened, but her brain was in freefall and all words had been lost to the wind.
‘Do they owe you money, too?’ the man asked.
Only a few hundred grand to pay for the festival… She swallowed, her mouth drier than a desert.
He punched numbers into a keypad and opened the door for her. ‘First floor. Go on up. They might not let you in otherwise.’
