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She gave him a curious stare. ‘How do you know that?’
He kept looking upwards. ‘Sensors. Think about it—the dome should be covered with snow—just like the rest of outside is. But the engineer who designed it knew that the weight of snow could damage it. He designed one of the first thermal sensors to pick up outside temperatures. The glass is heated—just barely—to stop snow gathering there. I had to have a specialist firm out around ten years ago to update the technology and they could hardly believe it.’
She stopped spinning and stared up at him. She didn’t seem to notice how close they were—or she didn’t seem to mind. She stared up with her chocolate-brown eyes. ‘This place looks amazing. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.’ She touched his arm. ‘Are you okay?’
Still thinking about him. Still showing concern. Anna would have loved Grace Ellis.
‘I’m fine. Come on.’
They hadn’t even closed the door behind them yet and the bitter winds were sweeping in behind them. He slammed the heavy door shut then walked to another small room to flick a few switches. ‘Hot water and boiler should be on. But this place takes a long time to heat up. There are separate heating systems in the different wings so I’ve just put on the main system and the one for the wing we’ll be staying in.’
Did that sound pretentious? He didn’t mean it to. It was a big place, but it could be morning before they finally felt warm here.
He walked over, opening the door to the main sitting room, flicking on the light switch, then stopped in shock.
Grace walked straight into his shoulder.
The artificial light seemed harsh. What greeted them was even harsher. As soon as his foot hit the floor a white mist puffed upwards.
The five windows were shuttered from the inside. The whole room covered in dust sheets. The dust sheets were covered in dust. The dark wooden floor had its own special coating of dust. One curtain was half hanging from a rail. The things that hadn’t managed to be covered in dust sheets were coated from head to foot in a thick layer.
Grace gave a huge sneeze. ‘Oh, sorry.’
He spun around, sending up a further cloud. ‘No. I’m sorry. I didn’t realise it would be quite this bad.’ He shook his head. ‘I just...I just...’ The words wouldn’t form in his brain.
She reached up and touched his cheek. ‘Finlay, it’s fine. It’s your home. It needs a bit of work.’
‘A bit of work? Grace—how on earth can we stay here?’
She folded her arms and looked around. She flicked the edge of a dustsheet and sneezed again as the air clouded. ‘It’s like that film—you remember—when the spy comes back to the old Scottish mansion house he was brought up in.’
‘Remember what happened to that house?’
She let out a laugh. ‘Okay, let’s go for another film. I could sing the Mary Poppins song as we cleaned up.’
‘You honestly want to clean up?’ He couldn’t quite believe it.
‘Why not?’ It was quite ironic. There were no airs and graces around Grace Ellis. She took off her coat and started to roll up her sleeves.
She glanced around. ‘Let’s check out the kitchen. We have some things to put in the fridge.’
Finlay winced. If this was one of the sitting rooms he had no idea what the kitchen would look like.
But he was in for a surprise. The kitchen wasn’t dusty at all. Grace ran her fingers along one of the worktops and looked at him in surprise. Then she started opening cupboards, followed by the larder and fridge.
‘This place isn’t so bad. Someone has kept it clean. Right enough, there isn’t a single piece of food in this house. Just as well we brought the hamper.’
Something clicked in his brain. ‘My mum. They did offer to look after the place and I said no.’ He was almost ashamed to admit that. He walked around. ‘But the main hall wasn’t so dusty and in here has certainly been emptied and cleaned.’ He gave a slow nod. ‘All the other rooms have their doors closed. She hasn’t gone into them. But the kitchen is open plan. She’s only kept things tidy in here.’
Grace gave a nod. ‘The surfaces just need a little wipe down.’ She walked through a door off to the side then stuck her head back around. ‘And there’s enough cleaning products through here to clean this whole place a hundred times over.’ She went to lift the hamper.
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 th
ey 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.
