Hot Toddy by Blair Babylon

Author:Blair Babylon [Babylon, Blair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Malachite Publishing LLC

26

Negotiation

Gen had seen pictures of Spencer House on a BBC program about the great manor houses, so she wasn’t shocked to see the sprawling Tudor mansion appear as they drove up a lane arched with trees.

The house that grew, and grew, the closer they got.

It grew from a house into a mansion into a city block.

Bigger and bigger and bigger.

The TV show didn’t do it justice.

Spencer House was a fortress, a small city within walls that rambled over the land and jutted into the sky.

They drove into the cobblestoned courtyard and turned the car around to drive past the other wings of the house to the garage area over on the side.

Ruckus looked out the back window, paws on the back of the seat, panting.

“This is your house?” Gen clarified.

Arthur said, “This is my home.”

The dove gray and white exterior rose all around the car. A man met them when they parked in an outside parking spot.

The older man had a weather-worn face with tanned, thick skin. He wore jeans and a mud-splattered work shirt.

In the back seat, Ruckus went nuts, hopping and barking a long, happy conversation at the guy.

Arthur hopped out of the car and hugged the man, laughing.

The man clapped Arthur on the back and laughed guffaws at him.

Arthur broke it off but kept his arm around the slightly shorter man’s shoulders. The guy was still north of six feet tall. “Gen, meet Ifan Pryce, the gamekeeper of Spencer House.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Ifan said, extending his hand. The old man’s eyes were bright blue, and he grinned a tobacco-stained smile. His accent was a little northern, maybe Welsh.

“So nice to meet you,” she said and shook his hand.

Arthur said to him, “Gen and I are going out to the deer park for a few minutes.”

“Ah, dark secrets, then,” Ifan mused.

Arthur smiled at him. “We’ll talk tomorrow morning, all right?”

“Ay-yep. Got a few things for you to look at on the accounts.”

“Splendid. Could you see that our things are taken upstairs?”

“I’ll get someone to look into it.”

Gen got the feeling that Ifan Pryce could order Arthur around if he needed to.

Arthur let Ruckus out of the back seat and waited while the dog greeted Ifan.

Ifan ruffled the dog’s ears and asked him, “You want to come run around with me, boy?”

Ruckus took a long look back at Gen with his big, brown eyes, and Ifan laughed, “Ho, ho!”

Arthur asked, “Gen, shall we?”

Gen followed Arthur, and when she looked back, Ruckus was trotting after Ifan.

The gravel in the parking lot area rolled under Gen’s shoes. The three-story extension of the house flanked both sides of the parking area. Back in the olden days, the stables and workmen had their shops in this small town attached to the main building.

He led her out through a path around the side. “There are formal gardens in the front of the house,” he said, “but I prefer the deer park. We have a herd of several hundred English fallow deer here, descended from the survivors of those hunted by King Charles and other royals on holiday.

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