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“Oh, I don’t want to put anyone out.”
Karl grabbed a suitcase off the back seat of the car. “No trouble at all—he volunteered. It’s good for you to meet a few people and Val, Chris and Dara are going to the pub later, so Val can bring you along.”
His list of the hall’s current occupants included Chris and Dara, who had been labelled as the Archive Dragons. “I must admit, I’m rather intrigued by those two. Ben said they were cataloguing the archive, I bet they’ve uncovered all sorts.”
“Oh, yes. If you get him started, Dara will talk the night away. Ask him about his current theory he has on the Regency earls, he is almost too embarrassed to admit it.”
“The mind boggles.”
“I won’t spoil Dara’s thunder, it’s quite a cracker.”
He followed Karl towards the side of the house and inside through a door a little further down from the kitchen and then up a flight of stairs. “You’ve a set of rooms next to mine that make up a self-contained flat.”
Karl opened the door into a lovely space, with a sitting room and kitchenette. Beyond he could see a bed and bathroom. It was bigger than the one he’d rented in London and he didn’t have to pay rent or bills.
It dawned on him that he was being treated like one of the estate staff, similar to a senior servant, like Karl. On reflection, it was appropriate as he was Ben’s secretary. “I daresay a hundred years ago these would have been the earl’s valet’s rooms.”
“Yes, or the butler’s. If you prefer, Ben did mention there would be a cottage available in a couple of months.”
Alex stared around. “I don’t think so—this is charming. And a cottage for one person is a bit wasteful.”
“I was offered the same, but thought similar, and I preferred to be in the hall due to my duties.” Karl set down the suitcase he’d brought with him. “I need to get back. But as a warning, Mrs Weather is very particular about mealtimes, be prepared to be mothered into eating three times a day and topped up with cake.”
He was more than happy with that arrangement, cooking was a chore he didn’t relish and he’d been happy his last boyfriend had a decent recipe repertoire. Unfortunately, an amazing penne arrabbiata could not make up for being dull as ditch water under the covers and having a personality to match. “Duly noted.”
“You’ll be safe today as it’s her day off. But tomorrow you’ll be plied with a roast dinner so if you’ve any dietary issues best let her know asap.”
“I learnt not to be fussy. My previous bosses worked long hours and I ate what was going.”
Karl chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll have that worry here. Ben’s schedule is a little erratic, the arrival of the youngest member of the household has not helped, but he’s not the type to slave away at his desk all hours.”
“It’ll be very different from my last boss. I’m not sure he slept more than four hours at a time.”
“Ben might be similar but for different reasons. David Redbourn isn’t sleeping through the night yet.” Karl checked his watch. “Have to dash.”
His new place was great. He thought to dig out his bedding first, so he would have somewhere to sleep. Not a mistake to make again, he’d once failed to set up his bed straight away, he’d been so knackered from moving he’d not had a decent place to collapse and woke up crammed into an armchair. Alex made his way back to his car, and had just wrestled a wardrobe box containing all his suits from the back seat when a gorgeous guy with a physique honed in a gym approached. “Hey, are you Alex?”
“Yes,” he managed, remembering how to speak.
“I’m Val.”
He hadn’t been laid in nearly a year and he had a good imagination about what a man with Val’s impressive biceps could do to him. But he reminded himself Val was Karl’s boyfriend. An odd match, although he could sort of see how they worked. “Oh, thanks for offering to help.”
“No sweat. I’ll go grab Dara and Chris and we’ll be done in no time and in the pub before you know it.”
He made to argue but Val wouldn’t hear any of it, and by the time Alex had returned to the car after his last trip there were two other men waiting. The older guy was nice-looking in a cuddly cousin sort of way but the blond was something special. He could hear his mother wolf-whistling in his head. Crofton Hall was going to be murder on his libido.
“This is Chris,” Val said pointing to the blond beauty. “The other Archive Dragon is Dara. They’re both used to shifting boxes around so they can earn themselves a beer by lugging in your shit.”
Val’s attitude was so refreshing. He’d spent most of the last couple of years around corporate execs whose word choices were coached down to every syllable and would have never been so crass.
“Val, that’s really rude,” Chris said, shaking his head, his long hair like something out of an expensive shampoo commercial. “You can’t call someone’s belongings shit.”
Val chuckled. “You might not feel quite so protective of them when you’ve carried them up the stairs.”
Dara’s eyes narrowed. “Stairs? Ah, Karl that fecker, I bet you’re up in the attic next to him.”
“Yes, sorry. Look, it’s all right, I don’t have that much and I could do it on my own. If you tell me where the pub is I can meet you when I’m done.”
