“Just let us know if you need anything.” She pressed her hand—the warm one—against her chest as he walked away. Okay, she seriously needed to get her hormones under control now that Jake was going to be living and working here on the property.
She picked up her camera and headed upstairs to her room. She and her friends Elle and Ruby had won a contest last year that had led to permanent positions as Rosemont Castle’s property managers. Since their arrival, they had opened an inn inside the castle, as well as instituting other programs that helped the property pay for its own upkeep.
As she walked down the hall toward her bedroom, she passed Ruby coming out of the spiral stairwell that led to her bedroom at the top of the tower. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Megan said with a smile. “I just met our new tenant and gave him his keys.”
“Oh, wow. He’s here early.”
“Right?” Megan said. “Hey, did you know Jake was the guy we met at Bar None that night last summer when we bumped into Theo and his friends there?”
Theo was Theo Langdon, Rosemont Castle’s owner and also the Earl of Highcastle, who—after falling in love with Elle—had chosen to live here in Virginia in the castle his grandfather built rather than returning to his home in London.
“Of course,” Ruby said. “You didn’t?”
“No,” Megan said, trying not to sound annoyed. “Do you need my help with breakfast this morning?”
“Nope,” Ruby told her. “Elle and I have it covered. Enjoy your morning off.”
“Thanks.”
With a wave, Ruby headed downstairs, while Megan went into her bedroom to get her two foster dogs—already bouncing excitedly as they caught sight of her—out of their crates. Chandler was a fluffy black dog, a mix of who-knew-what, but one hundred percent happy energy. Barnaby was as quiet as Chandler was exuberant, a tan-colored pit mix who preferred to let Chandler do all the “talking” for him.
Megan let them out of their crates and sat on the bed. She pulled her camera out of its case and started tabbing through the photos she’d taken outside while the dogs chased each other around her room. The pictures were…not bad. Pretty good, even? Okay, there were a few shots here she couldn’t quite believe she’d taken herself.
Photography had always been a hobby, but she’d saved enough money during her first year here at the castle to buy this fancy new camera, and now she wanted to make it more than a hobby. She’d been toying with the idea of offering portrait sessions to their guests at the castle, but so far, she hadn’t worked up the courage to ask Ruby and Elle what they thought of the idea.
Maybe she hadn’t felt “professional” enough to charge money for her photos. But Jake’s words resonated with her.We learn by doing. He’d learned his trade by trial and error the same way she was, and now he’d moved here to start his own horse training business. Maybe it wasn’t so crazy for her to charge for her services either. Maybe she’d run it past her friends tonight.
She pulled out her laptop and spent the next hour or so editing a few of the best shots she’d taken that morning. They would make a great addition to her portfolio, not to mention the castle’s online photo gallery. Finally, she stood and went into the bathroom to get ready for her day, blanching when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.
She’d been in such a hurry to photograph the sunrise, she hadn’t done her makeup yet, which meant…Jake had seen her bare face. Without the special concealer she applied every morning, the left side of her face was marred by a thick, pink scar that started near her scalp and ran down her cheek, jagged in areas where the tree branch had ripped haphazardly through her skin during the crash. Another scar extended from her left shoulder to her elbow.
She closed her eyes, swallowing over the tightness in her throat. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t interested in dating him anyway. She had already decided she was focusing on her photography this year. No men. Only here, in the privacy of her bathroom, with tears burning in her eyes, could she admit—just to herself—she wasn’t ready to date. Not yet.
And anyway, she’d already spent too many years indulging in meaningless hookups, flitting from one dead-end job to another, and putting herself last. This year was all about Megan and no one else. She had a chance here at Rosemont Castle to explore what really made her happy, to maybe discover a more mature version of herself.
She carefully applied her makeup. Then—armor in place—she leashed her dogs and walked them outside. “Any day now, Mother Nature,” she grumbled as she led Chandler and Barnaby over the dewy grass alongside one of the pastures. Her breath glistened in front of her as frosty evidence of every exhale. After almost a year in the mountains of Virginia, she still hadn’t acclimated to the weather. Maybe she’d always be a Florida girl at heart.
From inside her jacket, her cell phone began to ring. She fished it out clumsily with her gloved fingers and connected the call. “Hello.”
“Hi, Megan, it’s Priya.” Priya was their contact at the Towering Pines Animal Shelter. She helped them coordinate everything with the rescue pets they were fostering here at the castle in their Fairy Tails program.
“Oh hey, Priya, how are you?” Megan juggled both leashes in her right hand as she held the phone in her left.
“Great, thanks. I’m calling with a rather unusual question.”
“Okay,” Megan said, intrigued.
“A few weeks ago, the local humane society seized three neglected horses, which have been under quarantine at their livestock rescue facility. But this morning, they were made aware of a hoarding situation that’s going to require all their resources, and long story short, they need to move those original three horses somewhere until they’re adopted.”
“Foster homes for horses?” Megan turned her gaze toward the barn just visible ahead, realizing where Priya was going with this.
“Yes. These horses will still be under the care of the humane society, but since their facility is full, they reached out to us to see if we might have any foster homes that would be able to accommodate them.” She paused. “Which is why I’m calling, since, as I recall, you have an empty barn and pastures. I could probably find someone to come out and help care for them if you could take them in, even temporarily.”
Megan grimaced. She really did want to help, but… “I hate to tell you this, but we’ve rented out the barn. In fact, our new tenant is moving in today. I’m not sure how many horses he’s bringing with him, though. I could ask him if he’s got room for the foster horses.”
“Oh, could you? That would be great. Sheriff Alvarez has room for one of them at his house, so I’d just need you to take two.”