Chapter Forty-Five
‘Letta!’
John’s voice echoed along the hallway to where she was discussing nails with some of the team. It had never really occurred to her that there was much to a nail, but since working with the carpenters and joiners, she had had her eyes opened. Though not with nails.
Calling out to the foreman she was surprised to see him jogging towards her.
‘There’s a dirty big Rolls-Royce coming down the drive – it’s not the buyers, is it? I thought you said they were coming tomorrow.’
‘They are. They were. Hell.’ Nick scrambled up from her knees. She was wearing long shorts, steel-toed boots, a sleeveless T-shirt and a hard hat – it was not the look she would have chosen to greet a prospective buyer.
‘Let me go and have a look and if it is them, call Raphael and Gabriel immediately.’
The brothers had left the place two days ago and since then Nick had been dancing on air. Gabe felt the same way she did and now she was desperate to get her life back in gear. She had been bugging her solicitor for updates on the case. The evidence didn’t stack up. From one angle she was guilty as sin, on the other, nothing had happened. She wanted it tested and thrown out. In the meantime, she wanted to do all she could to make this house a success for Gabe and Rafe. Their project manager was coming back to work next week, and Nick wanted to hand over the property and focus on her own trial.
Running to the kitchen sink she washed her hands, then looked around for something to dry them on. Sighing, she wiped them on the back of her shorts. The kitchen might have a sink but that was it, the units wouldn’t be going in for a while yet; it was too much to hope that there might actually be a hand towel.
Crossing her fingers that the owner of the Rolls-Royce was just a curious neighbour, Nick ran out the front door as a Korean couple stepped out of the car. Nick guessed they were in their mid-thirties and from the way they were looking at the house they were not passing through.
‘Mr Lee and Mrs Chung. I am delighted to meet you.’ Nick gave a respectful bow to the correct depth and was pleased to note their approval. The Lees may be the epitome of modern money, with almost limitless wealth, but that meant the traditions became more important. She most certainly would not comment on the fact they had arrived a day early. To do so would be to suggest an error. But bloody hell. She didn’t want to be responsible for screwing up this sales pitch – hell, she didn’t even know how much money the boys were planning on selling it for. She turned to Jordan who had arrived by her side.
‘Please fetch hats for our guests.’ Quietly she continued, ‘Tell Rafe to text me the house sale details.’
Returning to the couple she apologised for the delay but invited them to join her on a tour of the exterior .
‘We are happy to wait, and the weather is lovely,’ began Mr Lee Kwang-jin. ‘Incidentally, I apologise for turning up early. We were in the area, so we thought, what the heck.’
‘You are most welcome whenever you choose to call.’
By now John had returned with some hard hats and Nick asked him to start the tour of the interior. As they walked inside, the house had fallen silent. All the workers had stopped and were now somewhere out the back. John talked at length about the historical features that were being repaired and the architecture of the house. He also spoke at length about the craftsmen working on the project, where they had trained, the buildings they had worked on before, which included various palaces, castles, cathedrals, even the Houses of Parliament. Buying this house was not about the bricks and mortar but about British history and John was doing a fabulous pitch. Nick was surreptitiously trying to read Rafe’s texts.
-10 million
-What finish?
-Whatever they want
Nick was about to text again when she saw Mrs Chung Ki-soon glance over her shoulder at her and smile conspiratorially. Tucking her phone in her pocket, she grinned back and rejoined the conversation.
They walked into the large ballroom and Ki-soon clapped her hands excitedly. Nick was glad that she could see through the bare walls and the unfinished surfaces. She thought this room had a wonderful impact and although it was a little impractical for the average family, Mr Lee and Mrs Chung were anything but average .
Ki-soon spoke quickly to Kwang-jin in Korean, Nick caught the word ‘wannabe’ and laughed loudly.
‘Yes!’
‘Wannabe’ was a K-pop hit by the band Itzy – the video was set in a large ornate ballroom. It had multicoloured painted walls in a chinoiserie style and rococo mouldings, proving the old adage that ‘more can always be more’. Nick began to sing the words to ‘Wannabe’ and Kwang-jin and Ki-soon joined in, including the complicated shoulder dance and fast steps. John watched on in bemusement as Nick – who was normally so quiet and reserved – and Mr Lee laughed and danced along.
‘You know K-pop!’ said Ki-soon.
‘I love K-pop! I worked in Korea for a short spell and really got into it.’
‘Can you do Apink’s hand dance?’
‘Yes, but I don’t think we’d be any good together.’
Ki-soon frowned prettily. ‘I know I am too short.’
‘Rubbish,’ laughed Nick, ‘I’m too tall.’
‘What about SF9’s pinwheel?’ asked Kwang-jin. The pinwheel was an incredibly difficult dance and Nick told them how she and her fellow workers had tried once, and they nearly had to call out the emergency services to patch them up.
‘The pinwheel is one of my husband’s specialities,’ said Ki-soon proudly. ‘He and his friends are excellent at it. He even joined SF9 on stage once to do it.’
Nick was suitably impressed. Of course money could buy them anything, but even so, performing live with a K-pop band would be brilliant fun. ‘You know, you could always invite Itzy over here to recreate their video in the ballroom?’
Ki-soon’s eyes lit up and Nick wondered if she had just sealed the deal. Laughing, the three of them continued the tour and Nick could see they liked the property, even in its unfinished state.
By now they had wandered outside and were sitting at the patio tables and chairs that they had set up the other day. Nick was about to apologise for a lack of refreshments when she saw Mary walking towards her with a team of builders carrying trays of drinks and nibbles. In front of Mary, Ohana led the way.
As she arrived, Nick stood up and the Koreans followed suit.
‘Hello, darling. I thought you and your guests might like a drink?’ Mary was acting as if ordering builders to do her bidding was an everyday occurrence and fair play to them, the lads were laying out the dishes beautifully and pouring glasses of cucumber and lemon iced water for everyone. Nick could only applaud the speed with which Mary had rustled something up.
‘Grandma, may I present Mr Lee and his wife Mrs Chung. Mr Lee, Mrs Chung, my grandmother.’ Formality was going to be her friend here. ‘Grandma, will you join us?’
‘Will you forgive me?’ Mary gave Letta and her guests a charming smile. ‘Ohana needs her morning stroll and I think it’s going to be too hot for her later on.’
Ki-soon and Ohana had been bonding over ear rubs but when she heard the dog’s name she looked up in surprise .
‘Did you know Ohana means “family” in some Pacific cultures?’
Nick nodded. ‘That’s why I named her; family is everything to me.’
‘Are you both living here?’
‘Just for a short while. We are spending some time together and then we will go and join my sisters. I just offered to help Rafe whilst I was between projects.’
As Kevin finished pouring the drinks he turned to Nick. ‘Can I get you anything else, Lady Nicoletta?’
Nick smiled inwardly; no weapon left unused, hey, Mary? Smiling warmly she told him that would be fine, and they could get back to work now.
‘I’m glad you aren’t stopping them from working on our account. Industry must out,’ observed Kwang-jin.
‘Yes, for your own safety they stopped whilst we were in the house but soon the noise level will pick back up again.’ Although Nick was prepared to bet that John wouldn’t be using the drills or angle grinders until the potential buyers had left.
‘May I ask,’ said Ki-soon, ‘he called you Lady Nicoletta. Is that a title?’
‘It is, but these things don’t really matter amongst friends. Please just call me Letta.’
Mary chipped in. ‘And please just call me Mary.’ Nick worked hard not to laugh as her grandmother – who had no title but was acting as though she was a duchess – continued. ‘The only title we tend to pay attention to is that of Letta’s eldest sister, she is the Countess Hiverton.’ Mary paused, as though everyone would know immediately how important Ariana was. Naturally, the couple didn’t have a clue, but they understood countess was a big deal, and nodded respectfully. Nick was certain that Kwang-jin was impressed. ‘Anyway, if you will forgive me, we have taken up too much of your time.’
Standing to leave, everyone rose with her and only sat down again as she and Ohana headed for the trees.
‘I like this house,’ said Kwang-jin decisively, ‘but it is missing a few things.’
‘Such as?’
‘A swimming pool.’
Nick nodded in agreement. That would be a lovely addition and easily arranged. She pointed to a patch of land in front of them. ‘I think over there would be perfect and the views over the countryside would be incredible.’
‘It would be too cold!’ exclaimed Ki-soon, giving a mock shudder.
‘It would be heated, naturally,’ Nick tried to reassure her. She was determined to give the very best sales pitch she could.
‘And in summer the paparazzi would send over helicopters and drones to spy on us.’
‘After a few shotguns they soon tire.’
‘I usually find that threatening to bankrupt the publishers puts paid to any intrusion,’ said Kwang-jin and Nick gulped. This was some serious level of power being bandied about.
‘But in winter it would rain,’ protested Ki-soon. Good grief, doesn’t this woman want a pool? thought Nick .
‘That didn’t bother us when we were in the Japanese national parks,’ said Kwang-jin turning to Nick. ‘We had the place closed to the public and we played in Shibu Onsen.’
Ki-soon laughed happily. ‘That’s right, it was snowing, and the monkeys were all at one end of the pool with snow on their heads as they submerged themselves in the hot water.’
‘That sounds like a lovely memory,’ said Nick, ‘although I don’t think there are too many monkeys in the Cotswolds, so I don’t think you’d have to share the pool.’
‘I still don’t think I’d like to swim in the wind and the rain, though, no matter how warm the water.’
Nick thought it sounded lovely but then she wasn’t buying the place.
‘Build a second one then.’ Nick thought quickly. On the other side of the house there was a small rise of ground with the same views. ‘We’ll excavate the land and put the pool into the side of the hill, then we can landscape over the top of it and all anyone will see is a wall of tinted glass. Warm and private and great views.’
‘And how would we get to it? We’d still have to run out in the wind and rain.’ She stood up and mimed herself trying to run in the wind whilst pulling a towel around her. Her high heels clattered on the stone, and her jewelled handbag swung on her elbow. Nick was working hard to imagine the towel. Kwang-jin laughed indulgently and Nick smiled – at this rate, she wasn’t even going to build them a duck pond. Who would have thought convincing someone to have a swimming pool would be such hard work? Still, he clearly wanted one, so Nick continued .
‘Naturally, we’d build an underground passageway. I was thinking we could tile it with mosaics, like a Roman villa?’
‘And these swimming pools, they are in the asking price?’
‘That would be additional.’
‘And the asking price for this one?’ asked Kwang-jin. ‘We are looking at a few, it’s hard to remember.’ Nice touch , thought Nick, as he sought to remind her that she had competitors.
‘I believe Raphael is looking at around ￡10 million.’
‘Oh, that’s a good price,’ said Ki-soon excitedly and lapsed into a sudden silence as her husband frowned at her. Nick wondered about inviting her to play poker.
‘It is a good price, as my wife says. But I would expect a helipad. Is there one?’
‘No, but we could throw one of those in with the asking price.’
‘How about over there behind those trees?’ he said, pointing to a small copse beyond the wing of the house that she and Mary were currently living in.
‘Ah, I’m afraid that area belongs to that property.’
‘The ￡10 million doesn’t buy that property?’
‘No, that’s for this half of the estate only.’
‘Ten million is a lot of money for next-door neighbours.’ He frowned; suddenly the asking price seemed more reasonable but not the bargain he thought he had been about to scoop up.
‘You’d pay that in Kensington and you’d have a whole street of neighbours,’ said Nick, determined to keep him on the hook. ‘Still, I’m sure if you made an offer for the entire estate, Raphael would consider it?’
Nick wanted to move away from the negotiations. It wasn’t her place to talk financials and she had no idea what plans the brothers had for the second house.
‘So tell me,’ she asked, changing the subject. ‘Why the Cotswolds? Is it this property that interested you or the location?’
Kwang-jin laughed and leant over and touched his wife’s knee. ‘Ki-soon here is hoping to bump into Rupert Campbell-Black!’
Ki-soon swatted her husband’s hand away and laughed loudly.
‘Monster! Of course I’m not.’ She winked at Nick. ‘But wouldn’t it be fabulous? I fell in love with the area when I was reading the books.’
Nick grinned back at her – who indeed could resist the fabled charms of the notorious womaniser.
‘Snap. I have to confess; I would always pinch my sister’s copy when she wasn’t looking. Honestly, Jilly Cooper is wonderful.’
Laughing, the two women raised their glasses in a toast.
‘To K-pop, the Cotswolds and Rupert Campbell-Black!’