The House in the Clouds - Victoria Connelly Page 0,13

say.

‘Milk? Sugar?’

‘Just black, thank you.’

He handed her the mug and motioned to a pair of office chairs by his desk and they both sat down. Abi was growing more and more curious as he closed his laptop and then cleared his throat.

‘Were you very upset not to make the winning bid on Winfield?’ he suddenly asked.

Abi’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t expected such a blunt question.

‘Yes,’ she told him, thinking it merited a blunt answer. ‘I was.’

He nodded as if he’d known.

‘Have you been looking at other places since?’ he asked.

She sighed. ‘I have.’ She shrugged. ‘Nothing like this has come up again.’

‘No. It is a one of a kind, isn’t it?’

Abi shifted uncomfortably in her chair. ‘I hope you didn’t bring me here just to gloat over winning the auction.’

Edward looked mortified. ‘God, no!’ he cried.

‘Because that’s how it’s feeling at the moment.’

‘No, no. You misunderstand. I’d never do that. I asked you here because things have changed for me since the auction. My situation has changed.’ He sighed and Abi thought that he looked as if he was in pain.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked gently.

He looked directly at her then and she noticed that his eyes were clear hazel.

‘Things have got a little bit more expensive than I envisaged,’ he began, ‘and I envisaged a lot, believe me. I wouldn’t have gone into a project like this blindly. I did my homework, but there’s only so much you can guess will need doing on a project like this and it isn’t until you start physically taking walls down and going up into the roof that you realise the full extent of the work that needs doing.’

‘I see,’ Abi said, wondering what this all had to do with her and realising that he probably hadn’t invited here on the strength of her wallpaper designs.

‘No, I don’t think you do.’

‘What is it you want to talk to me about?’ Abi asked him. ‘I still don’t understand why I’m here.’

He nodded. ‘I have a proposition for you. A proposition that doesn’t involve wallpaper or decorating or anything like that.’

‘You’re selling Winfield?’

His face darkened. ‘Good lord, no! That is – not the whole place. I’ve invested too much and I want to see this project through. But I am going to sell half of it.’

Abi frowned. ‘Half?’

He nodded. ‘I’m afraid I have to. You see, I’ve just been made redundant. Winfield was already taking all of my money, but I should have been able to manage. What I didn’t factor in was, well, this happening.’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that,’ Abi told him sincerely.

‘Thanks, I’m still trying to process everything. But one thing I have processed is that I’m not giving this place up. I’ll do whatever I can to keep it and if that means selling half of it then so be it.’

Abi had literally been sitting on the edge of her seat throughout this revelation, but she sat back now, slowly digesting what he’d told her.

‘What do you think?’ he asked her. ‘I mean, you were the first person I thought of.’

Abi placed her unfinished cup of tea on the floor beside her chair. ‘You’re asking if I want to buy half of Winfield Hall?’

‘Yes,’ Edward said. ‘That’s it exactly.’ He sounded relieved now that it was out.

‘And you’ve not approached anybody else?’

‘I didn’t really want to go through the rigmarole of putting the place on the market. Not if I didn’t need to.’

‘So I can go ahead today and buy half of Winfield – right now – if I wanted to?’

‘Well, I thought we could get to know one another a little. Maybe ask each other a few questions? I mean, if this is something you want to do, perhaps it would be a good idea to make sure we get along together.’

Abi nodded. ‘This is rather a lot to take in,’ she confessed, feeling slightly spaced out by what she’d been presented with.

‘I know. I didn’t know how else to ask you,’ Edward said. ‘I mean, it wouldn’t have been right over the phone, would it?’

It was then that something occurred to her.

‘How did you find me? I mean, how did you know who I was?’

Edward cleared his throat. ‘My friend recognised you at the auction.’

‘Oh, I see.’

‘You’re something of a celebrity, I believe.’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘People recognise you,’ Edward pointed out.

‘Not very often.’

‘Well, I’m glad my friend did,’ he said, and then he glanced away as if embarrassed.

Abi got up from the chair and walked across to the