The door swung open.
A blond-haired man who rendered me momentarily frozen.
Tall and broad, visual perfection in human form. Blonde curls, blue eyes, and a face as open and smiley as a golden retriever.
He practically hopped on the spot, and his cheerfulness doused my initial impression with a bucket of cold water. 'You must be Amanda.'
God help me.
'Indeed,' I said, gripping my suitcase handle a little tighter.
'I’m Henry, gardener, dogsbody, and current keeper of the keys.'
Of course he was.
'Lovely,' I said, stepping back as he bobbed down the steps with a wild grin. 'Where can I?—'
He reached for my suitcase.
'I’ve got it,' I insisted.
'Really? It looks heavy.'
'I’ve. Got. It.'
He froze mid-reach, blinking at me with polite confusion, as if it were perfectly normal to be handing my luggage off to strangers. 'Right. Of course.'
Henry walked back up the stairs before turning to lean against the doorframe, watching me with devilry in those blue eyes. I hauled my far-overfilled suitcase up a step, flushing at the grunt I made. Determination drove me onwards as Henry watched, amusement dancing on his face.
I bit my lip to stop the next grunt from escaping.
I pushed past him into the hall, warmth surrounding me as I tried not to puff in my breath.
And then I saw it.
The tree.
Calling it a tree felt wrong. It wasn’t a bloody tree, it was… monstrous.Twelve feet of headache-inducing sparkles and colour. Red and blue and glitter covered its branches like it had drunk Christmas and puked it back up. Tartan ribbons. Candy canes. Sparkling reindeer. Baubles of every shape and size.
It looked like a Quality Street tin had exploded.
'Oh God,' I breathed.
Henry followed my gaze, hands on his hips, practically glowing with pride. 'She’s a beauty, isn’t she?’
'She’s…something,' I agreed, my brain twitching. The millionaires were expecting sleek, curated minimalism, not that abomination.‘The decorators are still here, right?’
His brow furrowed. ‘Yeah, they are dealing with some of the garlands.’
‘Oh, thank god. All of this,’ I signalled to the tree, ‘needs redoing.’
His face blanched. ‘They’ve worked so hard on it.’
‘That doesn’t matter, it’s not what I asked for. It’s as far from sleek as humanly possible.’
I set off, vaguely knowing my way from the floor plans I’d meticulously studied. Henry followed behind me.
The decorators showed some resistance until I pulled up the emails with the detailed images and instructions I’d sent. At that point, they agreed that they must have sent the van with my decorations to a nearby wedding venue. With some strong insistence and additional hourly funds, they promised to get it rectified by supper time, just in the knick of time.
