It was a far ruder greeting than Pippa had expected. She straightened her shoulders, pushing aside her nonsensical reaction to his presence and glanced down at her watch to see that it was only three minutes past the appointed meeting time. Surely, he couldn’t be so anally punctual that a three-minute delay rendered him that blunt? “Actually, I did arrive on time. I was, however, outside the gates for a while waiting to be let in.” Wolfie remained silent and Pippa took a deep breath. She needed this job, and it wouldn’t do to upset her potential boss. “Apologies for any inconvenience,” she added through gritted teeth.
“Come on through.” He whirled away and Pippa followed, shutting the door behind her.
“Wow.” Pippa stopped in her tracks to take in the grandeur of the house. She hugged herself, scarcely able to believe she was finally getting to see inside. The entrance hall was long and wide, both floor and walls panelled with dark wood. The high ceiling had a chandelier suspended from it, swathed in an enormous dust sheet, but from where Pippa stood, she could see the swell of crystals through gaps in the fabric and she remembered a teenaged Mae insisting the Squires family had imported all their chandeliers from France. It had seemed preposterous at the time but right now Pippa believed it utterly. To her right was what appeared to be another wood-panelled room with a huge banquet table, also hidden under a swathe of fabric. Despite the dust and the tarps, the grandeur of the space was no less dimmed. Although, Pippa thought as she coughed, they could do with opening some windows. There was a pervasive musty smell that she could practically feel attaching itself to her clothes.
“Come along.” Wolfie was striding to the left into what looked like a library. The room was dim and many of the shelves were empty, but some books still lingered, shabby and alone. In one corner a piano lurked under a thick cover, the curved lower legs just visible. Wolfie led her to a pair of large leather wingback chairs that faced each other in front of an elaborately tiled fireplace. “Please, be seated.”
Pippa did as she was told, her heart racing unreasonably as Wolfie brushed past her to sit opposite. Once seated, he reached over to a small walnut side table at his elbow for a notebook and wire-rimmed glasses. He put on the glasses and whipped open the book. As he did so, Pippa compared him to that sulky boy she’d encountered in the maze all those years ago. He still retained that elegance he’d had even as a teenager, now dressed in sharp navy trousers and a crisp white shirt he wore unbuttoned at the neck. Pippa’s eyes drifted to the hollow at the base of his throat; the suggestion of clavicle that drew her attention to thick muscles bunching the fabric of his shirt. Everything about him spoke of a regimented attention to detail. His hair was immaculate, his nails trimmed and buffed. Even his aftershave smelled zesty and expensive. In comparison, Pippa felt very shabby in her old dress, clamping her arms to her sides in case her deodorant failed to do its job on this incredibly warm day. As Wolfie leafed to a clean page in his notebook, Pippa felt the need to fill the awkward silence. She gestured at the piano.
“Do you play?” she asked.
Wolfie’s eyes flicked to the instrument. Was it her imagination or did they soften a touch? “I so rarely get the chance.” His tone suggested he wasn’t about to elaborate on that point and Pippa sensed she should wait for him to take the lead. So she merely smiled politely as Wolfie raised his head and regarded her for a few long seconds, running a ponderous thumb over his bottom lip. It took every ounce of willpower Pippa possessed not to follow the thumb’s journey over those pink, sensuous lips.Get a grip,she told herself. It was like she’d forgotten all sense of how to behave around attractive people now that she was single.
Eventually, Wolfie cleared his throat, creaking the spine of the notebook. “Right. As you know, we need someone to watch over the house for a few months whilst Grantham deals with his … personal life.” His accent hadn’t entirely lost the broadness typical of their home county, but there was still that intimidating briskness to his words Pippa remembered from all those years ago. “The house has some valuables that we want watching and we don’t want any uninvited guests squatting here. I swing by from time to time when I have business in the area, but my work takes me away from here a lot.”
“Do you find it hard being away from home so much?” Pippa asked politely.
Wolfie’s eyes darkened. Pippa’s stomach did a loop-the-loop in response. “Let me be clear,” he said. “This place is not my home.”
“You grew up here,” Pippa said, confused.
“I grew up here,” he concurred. “But I do not consider it my home.”
“Because you spent a lot of time at boarding school?” she asked.
A sickly smile crossed Wolfie’s face, vanishing almost as soon as it appeared. “Let’s just say it’s useful as a base when I have business around this part of the country, but the place I live when not working is just outside of London.”
Pippa had never heard such an awkward way to describe home. Yet she could tell by his shuttered expression that this topic was taboo, so she nodded as if the matter was entirely clear and decided to change the subject. “I see. What is your business, out of interest?”
“Security consultant.” Wolfie leaned back, resting his ankle on his knee. “I advise corporations, high-net-worth individuals and such on their security detail. Whether that’s travel protocols, armed transportation or IT infrastructure, I help them find their vulnerabilities and shore them up.”
The role sounded a little dull to Pippa, however it was interesting to see how much Wolfie relaxed now that they had moved away from discussing the matter of home. “Is it dangerous?”
Wolfie tapped his chin. “Occasionally I come up against people of questionable moral character.” His full lips quirked. “But I can handle myself.”
“I bet you can,” Pippa said, realising too late that her reply sounded somewhat lascivious, when she’d been aiming for politely complimentary. Wolfie, to his credit, didn’t react. He merely fixed those electric eyes on hers. “That is to say,” Pippa gabbled. “It sounds like an important job.”
“It’s a living,” he drawled. “Anyway. Like I said, I’m not here often enough to guarantee Squires’ security, and alarm systems can only do so much. We relied on Grantham heavily to keep the house in good nick. Now he has some distractions in his personal life, it’s incumbent upon me to find a solution.”
Pippa hid her disquiet at his choice of words. Poor Grantham was losing the love of his life to a vicious disease and here was Wolfie Squires acting like it was a huge inconvenience to him. Although Pippa very much wanted to give the man a piece of her mind, she bit her tongue. She needed this job. “I understand,” was all she could say.
“The thing is, it’s not simply a question of residing in the house to ensure security,” Wolfie went on. “This place is old, as is a lot of the furniture that remains. Everything needs care and attention. Maintenance.” Just as Pippa was panicking about her lack of comprehensive DIY skills, Wolfie clarified. “All quite basic tasks in nature. Much of the furniture is antique and needs regular polishing. Ditto some silver. We have rugs and curtains that need beating and hoovering, so on and so forth. Plants watering, floors sweeping. The details are all in here. It’s Grantham’s Bible, basically.” He leaned over to the little table next to him and poked a thick binder that up until that moment, Pippa hadn’t noticed.
“I see.” Pippa fervently hoped she wouldn’t have to do anything too high-profile like cleaning chandeliers or precious antiques. That was a far cry from balancing books and mucking out cowsheds. “That’s a lot of care and attention,” she added with a gulp.
“It is,” Wolfie agreed dispassionately. “Of course, lodging is provided, as well as a very basic salary, as I’m sure you discussed with Grantham, to compensate for some of the special care that the contents of this house require. We also cover food. You would need to save your receipts for Grantham; and he’ll swing by when he can to provide refunds.” His electric eyes bored into hers. “We won’t pay for alcohol or cigarettes, to be clear.”
“O-okay.” Pippa hadn’t expected them to and was nonplussed by the fact he felt the need to impress that fact so strongly.
Wolfie’s gaze flicked down to his notebook. “I understand that you have been working as a…” He narrowed his eyes. “A farm manager? I’m sorry, it’s not quite clear.”
Pippa flushed, cursing inwardly for the umpteenth time that she hadn’t ever thought to formalise her role at the farm. Still, she squared back her shoulders and forced the most professional smile she could muster. “Actually, it was kind of a fluid situation.” She cringed at how strained her voice was. “I was essentially a business development manager, but yes, I pitched in wherever I was needed. Whether that was helping with milking the herd, negotiating suppliers or setting up an event space for hire. It was over two hundred acres with various income streams. Not an easy job but I … I loved it.” She felt her throat begin to close with emotion, but she forged on, determined. “I guess I simply used my skills where I … ah … I could.”
If Wolfie noticed her stutter at the end he didn’t remark on it. He nodded. “Seems like you ran the place. You’re moving on – why?”
Pippa hesitated, unsure if she could discuss Alex without bawling. “It’s not easy to talk about.”
Wolfie ran a thumb over his lip again. “Then tell me what you find easy to say.”
