AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re talking to a man who went to a strip club for his bachelor party and almost passed out because nobody warned him it was the full monty.”
“No pasties, huh?”
“No underwear, either. Whew.”
Mitch smacked him again, this time on the hip. “Hurry up and get married again so I can destroy you at your next bachelor party.” She helped herself toward the bedroom she shared with Vanessa. “I know half the full-service escorts on the west coast.”
“I don’t know what that means!” he called after her.
“You will one day!”
Messing with him shouldn’t have been so easy. Like messing with Vanessa shouldn’t have been so damn difficult.
Chapter 14
Thispartofthestate was always drizzly as if seasons meant nothing in a place where drought was the biggest fear. Yet Vanessa willingly came every time, choosing to escape the wild noise of the city in favor of the countryside that she had called home for most of her adult life.
Not under the best circumstances, no, but the overwhelming sense of saudade that hit her when she came to Erica Mann’s rural estate had the strangest effect on her.
It was almost like she craved to live like this again.
“Another sandwich, ma’am?”
The young maid with a plate of cucumber sandwiches startled Vanessa, who had been left bereft on a chaise lounge set up in the western vestibule. She had taken to calling this perch her early afternoon spot after realizing the residents rarely came this way. While the space itself was small – or cozy, as Vanessa thought of it – she enjoyed the spacious views offered by the paneled windows overlooking the pastures behind the estate. The Manns’ affinity for horses was still alive under Erica’s watch, and Vanessa enjoyed the sighting of a mare grazing in the pasture.
“No, thank you.” Vanessa held her opened book against her chest so she wasn’t tempted to check her phone for the tenth time that day. “Before you go, may I ask if Erica is around?”
“They are in the study, ma’am.”
The maid said nothing about Erica not wishing to be disturbed.The study, huh?If she was in there, then she wasn’t too busy with work. Everyone knew that the estate’s study was more about playing games of chess or reading Victorian erotica.
In Erica’s case, it often meant drafting handwritten letters to her friends.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Vanessa entered without announcement. She promptly shed her cardigan from her shoulders when she encountered the roaring fireplace nearby. Although it was still daylight out, she couldn’t deny that it was chilly in the large country estate.
Erica looked up from her writing desk. “Disturb away. I’m getting away from the demands of contractors and interior decorators.” She put down her fountain pen. “Did you know that painting one of the bedrooms red might enrage future guests? That’s what a discerning designer told me today.”
“Really? I have a very different reaction to that color.”
“I agree, which is why she and I argued about it for five hours.”
“Did you win?”
Erica grinned. “Don’t I always?”
Vanessa flopped down into the giant reading chair by the fireplace. She kicked off her slippers and drew her bare feet up beneath her, the skirt of her dress hardly covering her legs. Yet she was so close to the fire that she felt like she was in a basement furnace.
“Tell me how much longer I have to enjoy this space before the spoiled women of the world descend upon it like vultures.” Vanessa pulled her hair away from her neck and fanned herself. “You’ve been teasing me with the slow death of this hideaway foryears.I thought the pandemic had finally slowed you down.”
Erica got up from her desk and poured herself some sparkling water from the bottle. Vanessa did not turn down a glass. “Unfortunately, I can’t renege on my plans, as you so desperately wish I would. My financial advisors and tax preparers have informed me that it had to be done yesterday so I’d stop paying so many penalties after the permits I filed years ago.”
The intensity of Vanessa’s fanning only grew. “If you must. As long as we get the run of it in between bachelorette parties and the inevitable orgies about to hit this place. You’re having it cleaned well in between visits, yes?”
“Vanessa, I swear, you make it sound like it’s turning into an Airbnb. Only people on a very short list have the opportunity to rent this out on their own without my invitation. Otherwise, you’re looking at my favorite place to invite friends over for my birthday celebrations while getting a sizable tax break from it.”
“Keep talking like that and you’ll sound like those rich people everyone wants to eat.”
“I already am.”
