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“But you spend a lot of time in here?” I ask.
He turns and looks down at me, smiling.
“Yeah, I do. There’s a more formal dining room, as well. But I eat in here.”
“I can see why. It’s lovely.”
The back wall comprises glass doors, and Hunter wanders over to them, taking me with him. He opens them, letting us out to the pool area, the magnificence of which is breathtaking. Surrounded by a wide terrace, the pool itself is rectangular and enormous, with loungers on both sides.
“There are changing rooms in the pool house,” he says, pointing to a building over to my left, on the far side of the azure-colored water, closest to the steps that lead down into its depths. “And if you come with me…” He turns, leading me around the terrace to the other side of the house, where we stop and he nods toward another building in the distance, a footpath leading between the two properties. “That’s the guest cottage.”
“Right.” I’ve never been anywhere like this before and it feels like so much to take in.
We wander back into the house, through the kitchen and living room, and then into the lobby, where he opens one of the five doors… the one nearest the front of the house. “This is my office,” he says, although we don’t go in. “You’ll be seeing more than enough of it over the next couple of days, so we’ll leave that for now.”
We move further down the hall and he opens the next door, which leads into a less formal living room, where there are more couches, covered in softer material this time, two in dark blue, and two in a slightly paler shade. There’s also an enormous television mounted above the fireplace. This has more of a homely feeling about it, and I turn and look up at him.
“You spend time in here?”
“I do… although it’s not my favorite room.”
“What’s your favorite room?”
“I’ll show you in a second… but first, the dining room.”
We go back out and across the hall, where he opens the door and I peer inside to the formal dining room. The furniture is dark wood and a little oppressive and I can see why he prefers to eat elsewhere.
“The door at the end leads into the kitchen,” he says. “So it’s not entirely impractical. Just inhospitable.”
“You don’t like it in here?” I’m slightly relieved about that, although I do my best not to let him see.
“No. I haven’t changed this room since Dad died… and it shows.”
I can’t help chuckling and he closes the door again, and leads me right to the back of the house. There are two doors here and he nods to one, which has a lock on it. “That’s the entrance to Ella’s apartment,” he says, and then pauses for a second before he opens the last door.
“Your favorite room?” I say, looking up at him as I enter.
“Yes.”
He seems nervous for some reason, and I wonder at that as I turn and catch my breath, gazing at the most perfect library in the world.
“Oh, Hunter. It’s lovely.”
He sighs. I actually hear him sigh, and I turn and look at him, to see he’s smiling.
“I hoped you’d like it.”
He did? I’m not sure what to make of that, but I’m too taken with his library to ask, and I release my hand from his and wander further into the room, gazing at the shelves and shelves of books.
“We have a library back home in Falmouth,” I murmur. “But it’s nothing like this. We don’t need one of these to get to any of our books.” I run my hand over the wooden rungs of the ladder that hangs down on a rail, and slide it along, unable to help myself from giggling. Hunter chuckles and I look over at him. He’s standing with his hands in his pockets, just gazing at me. “I can see why this is your favorite room. It’s the most perfect place to lose yourself.”
“Yes, it is. Anytime you wanna come in here, just… well, just feel free.”
“Thanks. I might take you up on that. If I have time.”
He frowns. “Yeah. I guess we’d better get started, hadn’t we?”
I go over to him and he waits while I leave the room ahead of him, although he doesn’t close the door, and follows me back toward the front of the house.
