Chapter Twenty
Rex
I stand next to Noah as I listen to the tour guide share the history of the library to our audience. He is still, his arms folded across his chest, his gaze riveted to Molly, who describes in vivid detail some of the spectacular features of the room. We’re standing behind the velvet rope—we never let tourists enter a room that has lots of antiques and furniture on display—and I can’t help but wonder what Noah is thinking.
After we finished breakfast, we arrived back at the estate and introduced Mila to Petey and Hazel. They all hit it off famously, and the dogs are happily lounging in the private portion of the house. I knew the next tour was leaving before lunch, at ten-thirty, so I caught up with our tour guide beforehand and told her we’d be tagging along, but not to out me as Lady Violet to the guests so we’d have some privacy.
Now we are working our way through the rooms that are open to the public, and Molly has just finished her presentation about our family library. “Does anyone have any questions?” she asks.
To my surprise, Noah’s hand shoots up.
Molly also looks surprised, as he is with me, and she knows I can most likely answer any question he might have.
“Yes?” she asks, looking quizzically at him. “The young man in the back.”
“Can you tell me more about the painting of the woman with the red hair?”
My breath catches in my throat.
He’s zeroed in on the portrait because the woman looks like me.
Noah has no idea of the book in that painting and what I discovered about it, and I can’t wait to share that piece of information with him as soon as we are alone.
“Oh yes, excellent question,” Molly says, walking over to the portrait and standing in front of it. “This is Lady Lily Banfield, painted in 1834, prior to her marriage to Lord George Winsbrook, who later became the Earl Brook. In this portrait, you will also see the Cupid fountain, which is still a beautiful feature of the Wintersmith Hall gardens today.”
“Thank you,” Noah says.
“You’re welcome. Are there any other questions?”
A couple more are asked—one about a piece of furniture and the other about whether the current family still uses this room today.
Molly looks at me with a twinkle in her eye on the last one. “Yes, the Banfields do use some of the rooms you see on the tour. This one is often used by the family for reading and working when the house is closed for the day.”
“I’d love to have a room like this to read in,” one woman says wistfully.
“Can you imagine all the people who have read in this room through the years?” another person says. “Read those exact same books, too. Crazy.”
Once again I’m reminded of the special legacy I’ve been lucky enough to be born into.
“All right, let’s move on,” Molly says. She gives me a smile and leads the group down the hall.
Noah moves to walk with the group, but I stop him. “I want to give you my tour of the library,” I say, unhooking the velvet rope. “It’s a perk I only give very, very special guests.”
Noah’s eyes lock with mine. “Oh, is that so?”
“Yes,” I say. “But first we have to take off our shoes. The carpet is from 1862, and it’s fragile.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” he says, bending down to remove his shoes.
Once we have our shoes off, I step into the library. He moves to follow me, but I re-hook the rope to block his path. “Oh, I’m sorry, you’ll need to pay for admission, sir.”
A smile breaks across his beautiful face. “Is that so?”
“Yes. But only specific forms of payment are accepted.”
“Like twenty pounds?”
“No,” I say, smiling flirtatiously at him. “I don’t accept pounds. Or credit cards.”
“Interesting. That leaves limited options for payment.”
I put my hands on his face. “I am incredibly creative when it comes to forms of currency.”
“Like?” Noah asks, his voice low.
“One kiss please.”
He grins. “Just one? I’d expect an estate such as this to charge a lot more.”
I laugh. “I forgot to ask you if you would like the gardens included in your admission. Would you like to see the gardens? If so, that will be two kisses.”
He lowers his head and presses his lips against mine. “One,” he murmurs against my mouth. “And two.”
This time, Noah parts my lips and sweetly kisses me, his tongue doing a slow, leisurely exploration of my mouth that sends goosebumps rippling across my skin. Soon I can feel him smile against my lips, and it makes me not only smile, but my pulse quicken, too.
He breaks the kiss, and I grin and unclick the rope. “Please, come in.”
Noah chuckles and steps inside the room. I hang up the rope behind him and then walk across the hardwood floor, stopping in front of the portrait of Lady Lily.
“You asked about her because she looks like me,” I say.
Noah moves beside me, his hand finding the small of my back. “I did. I remember you saying that she was the one redhead you could find in paintings.”
“I’ve always been attracted to this portrait because of that. Now, as you can see, there’s a yellow veil on the canvas. That’s damage from being in this room with a fireplace for all these years.”
Noah moves closer to the painting for a closer inspection. “I never would have noticed that.”
“It’s my training in art. I recognise stuff like that.” I’m about to make a self-deprecating joke about how I got to roll out and use my education for once, but in a moment of self-awareness, I stop myself.
Because I’m not a joke.
For a second, I lose all train of thought because I never would have had this realisation two weeks ago.
I glance at Noah. It’s because of the way he sees me.
He doesn’t see me that way, and his view of me has changed my view of myself.
“Violet?”
I snap out of my realisation and focus on Noah. “Hmm?”
“Can the painting be fixed?”
I regroup. “Yes, it can. Now, my dad isn’t in the mood to approve this restoration right now, but I made sure Nicholas added it to the list of things that need to be done. With an old estate like this, that list never ends. It’s never complete, and it grows every day. Like in this room alone, we have paintings that need to be restored, plaster that needs to be retouched, and there’s bound to be a leak in here soon. Leaks are the bane of our existence.”
Noah shakes his head. “I never thought about how much work goes into keeping these homes in good shape.”
“It’s a lot of work and a lot of money. That’s why tourism and events are so important. That’s how we keep the estate afloat.”
“I could see you as the art expert here one day,” Noah says, shifting his attention back to Lady Lily.
“This estate will be Nicholas’s to run. But I’d be happy to help him in any way that I could. Like if I could take paintings and textiles off his plate, that would be a huge help.”
“Textiles?” Noah asks, a cute crease appearing at the bridge of his nose.
I tap that crease with my fingertip. “Yes, textiles. But I’ll explain more on that later. I’m not finished talking about this painting yet.”
Noah’s eyes light up. “Oh sorry. Go on.”
“Do you see that book in the painting?” I ask, gesturing towards it. “That tan book?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“That’s not any book she’s holding, Noah. It’s the mythology book I told you about.”
His eyes immediately connect with mine.
“That’s the book. She’s holding a mythology book next to the Cupid fountain. In the same place where you and I talked about our mutual love of it.”
A silence falls between us as he digests that.
“Whoa,” he finally says.
“I know. It’s … kind of like a sign. Kind of like what you said about your dad.”
His hand reaches for mine, our fingers instinctively entwining together. “Maybe Lady Lily had something to do with it, too.”
“I like that idea.”
“I do, too.”
“Noah?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for forgiving me for being an idiot,” I say softly.
“Butterfly?”
Swoon. “Yes?”
“I don’t ever want to hear you call yourself an idiot ever again. Or a flake, or unreliable, or any of the other words you inflict upon yourself. You aren’t any of those things. Not to me.”
I stare up at him. Noah’s eyes are unrelenting upon mine, willing me to not only hear what he is saying, but take it to heart, too.
“Thank you,” I say quietly, “for helping me see myself in a different way.”
“I will always do that for you, Violet. Especially after the gift you gave me last night.”
A gift.
Noah actually considered me pointing out that he’s not responsible for the tragedy that destroyed his family a gift.
I think I just fell a little bit in love with you.
He clears his throat. “I know we don’t have the falcon experience until this afternoon, so I was thinking you could show me more of the art in the house. The pieces you love and the ones with the best stories. I told you I haven’t seen much art before, but I want you to see the art that matters to you. Would that be okay?”
And there goes another piece of my heart to Noah.
“I’d love to,” I say.
I lead him out of the library, and we put our shoes back on. As we head down the empty hall, talking and laughing, I can’t help but think of how much of my heart he won right there in the library.
The only question is, how much more of it will he earn before the day ends?
* * *
“This is Rex,” Luke explains, moving towards Noah with a falcon on his arm. “For now, keep your hand down. Because when you lift your hand up, that’s a signal for Rex to come to you, mate.”
I can’t stop smiling as I watch Noah. The last tours have gone through the house and gardens, and now we’re standing outside next to the aviary, and it’s just me, Noah, and Luke, getting ready to have an adventure with Luke’s falcons. The sun is gentle and warm, and the sky overhead is still a brilliant shade of blue. As the breeze blows, the scent of roses and lilacs mingle together, perfuming the air with the smell of summer.
Today has been the best day. The BEST. We spent the rest of the morning looking at art, and Noah was truly impressed with my knowledge about the pieces in the house—both the history of them and how to repair things that are getting worse for wear. I showed him oil paintings, tapestries, sculptures … and he was engaged and listening the whole time.
Noah actually cared.
And even better than that?
He considered my expertise of the art at Wintersmith Hall to be brilliant.
Noah used that exact word. Actually, I think I have the phrase recorded in my head so I can keep it forever as a memory.
“You’re brilliant with this, Violet.”
Goosebumps appear on my skin as I recall the moment. I was explaining why tapestries were used in old homes, showing him one that was in the private portion of the estate. I said they were used to keep the room warm, which surprised him. Then I showed him how they become damaged over time, pointing out fading on the pattern to him and how it’s definitely something that needs to be repaired. When I told him the red floral border gave it away that it was made in Brussels, he looked at me in complete amazement and said that magical sentence.
He thinks I’m brilliant.
I practically floated through the rest of the morning on those words.
At midday, we had lunch at the café. Nicholas and Amelia joined us, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We’ve already made plans to have dinner with them on Friday night.
But now is proving to be my favourite part of the day.
Because I’m watching Noah do falconry. I’m filming it with my phone, so he can have the experience recorded for him. He already has a falconry glove placed on his right hand, and his whole face is lit up in excitement.
“Okay,” Noah says, making sure his right hand is down by his side.
“I’ll tell you exactly what to do,” Luke says. “Now I’m going to let him go. Most likely he’ll fly to the top of the aviary—he loves that spot.”
He releases Rex, who takes off right to the highest peak of the aviary, effortlessly landing there.
“He went just where you said he would,” Noah says. “Look at him up there.”
“I’m the falcon whisperer,” Luke jokes. “No, really, he’s my bird and I know him. That’s one of his favourite spots. Now I’m going to walk you through what to do, but don’t do it yet.”
“Got it.”
“When I tell you to, I’m going to ask you to put your glove up. Then I’m going to put a piece of meat on it and Rex will come right to you.”
“Okay.”
I can’t stop smiling from behind my phone. Noah and Luke hit it off straightaway, talking about falcons, and my guess is Noah loves that Luke is content to talk about birds with him rather than football, which he said is the only thing most people see in him.
“Ready?” Luke asks.
Noah nods. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Extend your arm out and hold it.”
Even though I’ve seen the falcon experience a zillion times before and have done it myself, I find myself eager to see this unfold for Noah.
He does as he’s told. Rex takes off, his wings expanding in flight, and Luke carefully places a piece of meat on Noah’s gloved hand.
Whoosh!Rex lands on Noah’s arm and the look of pure happiness on Noah’s face is contagious. He has the biggest smile, and his eyes are wide with amazement.
“Now bring your elbow down, but hold your hand up—great, just like that,” Luke instructs.
And now Rex is sitting on Noah’s hand. “I can’t believe this,” he says, his voice full of awe. “He’s incredible.”
Luke takes Rex from him and casts the falcon off, sending him flying. Rex expands his wings and circles back towards the aviary.
Noah watches him, not saying a word.
“Are you left speechless, Noah?” I tease.
He turns and looks at me. “That was amazing.”
“Brilliant, isn’t it?” Luke says. “Come on, we’ll give it another go.”
Rex lands on Noah’s arms a few more times, and then Luke takes him back. “I’m going to put him back now. Would you like to see their mews?”
Noah furrows his brow.
“His enclosure. That’s what they are called,” Luke explains.
“Yeah, I would,” he says.
Luke leads us towards his falcon enclosures, and Noah is asking him questions the entire time we walk. “How did you get into this?”
“I grew up between the UK and Australia,” Luke says. “Mum and Dad were better apart than together. Mum is Australian, so I spent most of the year with her, but my dad is British, and he moved back home to Dorset when I was seven. I would spend every summer here, and one year, he took me on a falconry experience. The second that bird landed on my arm, I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to be a falconer.”
“I know that feeling,” Noah says. “It was the same with me and football.”
“You just know,” Luke agrees.
Or sometimes you don’t,I think as anxiety creeps through me.
Here are two men who have known their purpose since they were kids. Who live and breathe for what they do and have already established themselves in their careers.
I have so much work to do,I think, feeling overwhelmed. I’m so behind.
“After that, I begged my dad every summer to take me on that falconry experience,” Luke continues. “As soon as I graduated, I moved permanently to the UK so I could learn under that same falconer. Joseph. He became like my second dad. I did odd jobs around Dorset and worked with him. He had all kinds of birds, so I learnt a lot. When Joseph retired last year, he gifted me two of his falcons. Then I struck out on my own, gathering up business by offering to do falconry shows, and I got lucky when I came to Wintersmith Hall, because they gave me a space for my falcons, and hired me to oversee their aviary. Oh, and I live here, too. Got a great rate on a little cottage thanks to Nicholas.”
“Nice,” Noah says, grinning at him. “I’ll have to talk to Declan Hawkes about my contract. He didn’t throw in housing.”
I smile at that. I love when Noah shows his sense of humour.
“You hit Nicholas up when he wasn’t in a grumpy mood,” I tease Luke.
He chuckles at that. “Have you asked Nicholas what he thinks of Carl and Roy’s five o’clock wake-up calls?”
I laugh. “The peacock morning calls are the icing on his grumpy cake.”
We walk closer to the structures that house the hawks, and Luke puts Rex inside the mew, which is what his home is called. He tells Noah a bit about how he takes his hawks out to hunt for quarry, and it’s important that they are able to do so. We chat with Luke a bit longer, and then he excuses himself to take care of the birds in the aviary.
As he walks away, Noah stares at his retreating back for a moment, and as soon as Luke is out of earshot, he turns to me. “He’s a great guy,” Noah says, smiling down at me. “I like him.”
“I do, too.”
He moves his arms around me, and I slide my arms up his back.
“What do you think about heading back to my cottage?” he asks. “We can stop at the shop on the way—I need to get some things for the weekend—and maybe we could cook dinner together tonight.”
“I’d like that,” I say, smiling up at his handsome face.
Noah is quiet for a moment, then he raises one hand to my face. “Violet?”
“Yes?”
“Spend the night with me tonight,” he says, his voice low. “I want to spend the night with you.”