Chapter 11
‘Oh, for God’s sake.’ The words were issued on a sigh.
‘You kept that quiet.’
‘I am not engaged to him.’
Isaac frowned. ‘What?’
‘I’m not engaged to Edward. Or anyone!’
He stood and grabbed my mug, taking it back to the kettle and refilling both his and mine before returning to the chair.
‘Here. You can dry out a bit longer while you tell me exactly what’s going on.’
Isaac thought it was hilarious. Of course he did.
‘It’s not funny! Edward said he was going to take care of it.’
‘I’m sure he’s on it. He’s pretty efficient.’
‘Not as efficient as Fenella Whatsherface’s grapevine, it would seem.’
Isaac took a large sip and let out a sigh. ‘Very few things are. You’re lucky it took this long for me to find out but then again, we’re just the minions down here.’
‘Great.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘That’s all right for you to say. You aren’t the one who people are going to be looking at thinking they know how you got the job.’
‘You got the job because I was away and Barnaby went by personality over talent.’
‘Ouch. Also, rude, as you have no idea how much talent I have.’
‘Clearly bucketloads if you got the lord of the manor to propose to a gardener. Did you meet at Kew?’
‘Talking of talent, you should be on the stage with that wit.’
‘I’ve thought about it. But fair enough, I misspoke. I should have said experience instead of talent.’
I blew out a sigh. ‘It all seemed such a good idea at the time.’
‘It still is.’
‘You hate me.’
‘I don’t hate you. I was just annoyed that Barney hired someone without me getting a chance to interview them, and also that you patently lied about your training.
But you’ve taken on the shitty jobs, quite literally, without complaint.
You’re on time and you’re enthusiastic which is more than I can say for some of the other applicants we’ve tried. ’
‘Does your sudden decision to be nicer to me have anything to do with you seeing a picture of my very beautiful bestie on my phone the other day?’
Isaac crossed his arms. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
I smiled into my mug.
‘Warmed up?’
‘Yes. Thanks. I’ll get back to work now.’
We didn’t need to look out of the window to know that the heavens were still open. Rain was pounding on the roof and the building, the gusts now blowing it sideways against the glass.
‘Not outside. Have you got anything to change into?’
‘Not on me.’
He stood and opened a cupboard. ‘Here.’
A few items of clothing came sailing through the air and whacked me in the face. I stuffed them down onto my lap as I looked through them.
‘Spares.’ Isaac looked me up and down. ‘Probably a bit big but they’ll do for now.’
He waited. I waited.
‘You can get changed in there.’ He pointed to a door in the corner of the room.
‘Right. Thanks.’ I gathered the bundle and opened the door to find a small but perfectly formed bathroom, something I imagined wasn’t an original feature.
Isaac hadn’t been wrong when he’d suggested the items might be a ‘bit big’.
I now had turnups an inch thick on both my trousers and the shirt and jumper.
The waxed jacket he’d lent me was clearly meant for someone more his size than mine and there was no way those sleeves could be rolled.
We improvised with some gaffer tape around the cuffs to make it usable.
I glanced down. It was certainly a look.
‘Stop laughing.’
‘No. Come on.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘The glasshouse.’
A squeal of delight escaped. The estate had two glasshouses, both stunning examples of Victorian wrought-iron perfection. I’d yet to be allowed to enter these hallowed areas but today, thanks to the weather, I was finally going to gain access.
‘Please don’t do that again.’
‘OK.’ And promptly did it again.
Isaac swung me a look as we dashed to the buggy. ‘Once more and you’ll be back on the shovel.’
I made a zippy motion across my mouth and held on as he pressed the accelerator.
* * *
There are few things as soothing as working in a warm and fuggy greenhouse as rain beats down steadily on the panes above you, a hot cup of tea beside you and satisfyingly grubby fingernails from dropping seeds into soft compost. Classic FM played quietly in the background, keeping both human and plant life content and despite the fact I looked like I’d climbed out of a skip thanks to the current attire, I was having the best time.
Caught up in contented silence, neither of us noticed that we were about to receive a visit from the lord of the manor until a knock on the glass made us look up.
Isaac waved him in out of the rain, although he was dressed for the weather, unlike my previous attempts.
A corner of my brain noted pleasingly that despite owning the building, not to mention everything in it, Edward hadn’t just walked in.
‘Filthy out there.’ He gave the long waxed coat a bit of shake as the drops from the brim of the matching hat he wore gradually started to slow.
‘Very. Cuppa?’
‘Great, thanks. I’ll do it.’ He walked towards the small drinks station that had been set up in a corner of the glasshouse.
‘Does he always make his own drinks?’ I spoke out of the corner of my mouth to Isaac, loud enough to be heard above the beating of the rain but hopefully quiet enough not to be heard by the subject of conversation.
‘Yep,’ he replied, not looking up. ‘Surprised you don’t know that, as his fiancée.’
‘You’re hilarious.’
‘Emmeline? Could I have a word?’ Edward called over as the kettle boiled.
‘You’re so fired,’ Isaac teased, not looking up. ‘Or jilted.’
I leant over and took the biscuit from next to his mug of tea.
‘Oi!’
Now he looked up and the moment he did, I popped it into my mouth whole. Isaac narrowed his eyes and I spun round and sashayed off to speak to Edward and hopefully hear that the ‘misunderstanding’ had now been successfully resolved.
There were two things wrong with this plan.
Firstly, it’s hard to sashay when your trousers are tied around your waist with string – I’d already had to limit my tea intake due to this because it was a right faff getting them back into a semi comfortable position.
Secondly, thanks to me snaffling Isaac’s snack, I now looked like a squirrel preparing for winter, my cheeks stuffed with foul-weather treats.
Edward did a double take and I didn’t blame him.
I could only imagine he was counting his lucky stars that he was not, in fact, engaged to me after all.
I put my hand up in front of my mouth and managed to crunch the biscuit a couple of times into pieces so that I could at least begin to eat it like a normal person.
‘New look?’
I swallowed the last of the biscuit. ‘Yes, I thought as a newly engaged woman, I’d try something different.’
Edward looked me up and down again before his gaze hooked back on to mine. ‘I like it.’
A bubble of laughter burst up and, from the corner of my eye, I saw Isaac glance over.
‘Good to hear,’ I replied, my features automatically arranging themselves into a wide smile in response to Edward’s with absolutely no consultation with my brain.
‘Tea or coffee?’ he asked.
I shook my head. ‘I’m fine, thanks.’
‘Isaac?’ he called over and held up a mug.
‘Coffee and two biscuits, please. A rat ate my last one.’
Edward was still smiling as he began the task. ‘I’m assuming you’re the rat, although I’d have likened you more to a chipmunk storing away supplies.’
‘I think I prefer chipmunk. Anyway, he was mean when I started here so he owes me a few biscuits, I reckon.’
‘Fair enough. Hang on a minute. Oh, here.’ He offered me the biscuits and as I felt it would have been rude to refuse, I obligingly took one. I began munching as Edward carried the rest of the packet and a large mug of coffee over to his head gardener.
‘So.’ He indicated one of the tall stools that were placed next to a nearby potting bench.
I stepped across to hoist myself up, not realising that during my earlier ‘sashay’, one of the legs of my trousers had begun to loosen from its turnup.
This now resulted in me stepping on said leg as I was mid-hoist and clattering part way to the brick floor instead.
My hands flailed out, releasing the other half of my biscuit in an attempt to steady myself and find something solid to grab onto.
That something solid turned out to be Edward. And he was remarkably solid.
‘God! Are you all right?’ His arms were now wrapped tightly around me and I was clinging to his shoulders.
‘Get a room,’ Isaac pretend-grouched over.
At least I thought it was pretend. Either way, it knocked me out of my trance and I realised that I was inches from my boss’s face and gazing into his amber-flecked eyes.
They were warm and concerned and I was ruminating on the fact that those were really nice lips. I let go in a panic.
‘Whoop!’ His arms were back around me. ‘Steady!’
I flailed about and stood on the fabric of the other leg and then bent and set about sorting out my sartorial pickle. At least hanging upside down meant I could blame my flaming face on a rush of blood to the head rather than any unexpected surge of inappropriate desire for my boss.
‘Right!’ I said, straightening back up too quickly and plopping myself on the stool a tad harder than planned as I seated myself before the accompanying head rush could add any more awkward unsteadiness to the moment. ‘What can I do for you?’
Edward flicked a glance to Isaac and lowered his voice. ‘This “engagement” thing.’ He made bunny ears with his fingers and it made me smile. He didn’t look the type.
‘Yes?’
‘You don’t need to whisper,’ Isaac bellowed over. ‘I already know about it.’
As swift as it was, I caught Edward’s expression.
‘Don’t blame me! I didn’t tell anyone!’
Isaac flung us a look. ‘She didn’t. She didn’t need to. You ought to know that as soon as Fenella gets hold of anything, it spreads quicker than an STD at an orgy.’
I wrinkled my nose.
‘What a delightful turn of phrase,’ Edward agreed before turning back to me.
‘But you’ve told Fenella now though, right? That it was a mix-up? Crossed wires, or whatever.’
‘About that…’
‘Oh, God.’ I was glad I was sitting down. ‘You said you’d deal with it. Everyone’s going to think I’m a gold digger!’
‘No, they won’t.’
‘Yeah,’ Isaac put in. ‘They will.’
We both looked over at him.
‘What?’
‘You’re really not helping things, Isaac.’
‘I didn’t know I was supposed to be.’
‘Clearly,’ Edward said on a sigh before turning back to me. ‘But if anyone does say anything in the meantime, I will deal with that.’
‘Like you’ve dealt with this?’ his head gardener asked.
Edward looked over my head back at Isaac. ‘I’m very close to firing you right now.’
Isaac laughed. ‘No, you’re not. You couldn’t do without me.’
‘Irritatingly, he’s correct. However, I can do without his commentary on this conversation. Would you mind if we went somewhere else to continue it?’
‘No, but I’m working. Can it wait?’
Edward hesitated.
‘Ooh! The lord of the manor isn’t used to people making him wait.’ Isaac was still concentrating on the trays of compost in front of him but we could both see his wide grin.
‘Oh, do shut up or I really will fire you.’
Isaac laughed and there was no hiding the amusement in Edward’s eyes.
‘You can get her some suitable work clothes if you’re taking her out.’
‘He’s not taking me out.’
‘I can take you out. Especially if this is the situation.’ Edward’s gaze drifted briefly up and down my outfit.
‘I can sort that out on my own.’
‘But you’ll get better service with him around.’ Isaac took a noisy sip from his cup of coffee. ‘Remember that scene in Pretty Woman when no one will serve her because she’s obviously a hooker and then Edward takes her out.’ He stopped. ‘Ha! He was Edward too. Funny. Anyway—’
‘Isaac?’
‘Yes.’
‘You do realise you’re digging yourself a huge hole, don’t you?’
‘Why?’
Edward and I exchanged a look. ‘Clearly, I hired him for brawn, not brain.’
‘Rude,’ Isaac commented.
‘No ruder than what you’re insinuating about Emmeline.’
It was almost possible to see the cogs turning in Isaac’s brain.
‘Ohhhhh. Yeah. OK. I can see that now. But I wasn’t meaning it like that.
Anyway,’ he continued, clearly unbothered by the fact that he’d just sort of suggested I was a sex worker.
‘When she goes out shopping with Edward, the people know him, and she gets fawned over.’
‘You know that’s Hollywood, right?’ I asked him.
‘True, but money speaks a universal language.’ He looked across at Edward. ‘Tell me I’m wrong.’
Edward remained silent.
‘I’m quite capable of buying my own clothes and I’m not particularly interested in people fawning over me so it doesn’t matter.’
‘Look, irrelevant of what Isaac said, you clearly do need better work clothes and those should be supplied by us. As I also wish to discuss some things with you, perhaps combining the two pursuits would be a good idea.’
‘I don’t really understand why we need a meeting for you to tell me that the whole pretend-engagement thing has been entirely cleared up and is probably already a family anecdote being chuckled over.’
Edward didn’t, and wouldn’t, meet my eyes. He wasn’t chuckling either.
‘Uh oh.’ Isaac grinned and returned to his seeds.
Edward chose to ignore him and focused instead on me.
‘I’ll pick you up at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. The weather is supposed to be fine until then.’
I had a feeling that my lack of suitable clothing was the last of my worries.