“Come on in,” she said, waving him into the kitchen. “Jake, you may remember Elle.” She gestured to the blonde beside her. “And Ruby.” Ruby waved from the other end of the counter. “They were with me that night we met in Bar None. And this is Beatrice, the weekday chef here at the castle.” Megan indicated the older woman on the other side of the kitchen. “She’s nothing short of amazing.”
“No less amazing than these ladies here,” Beatrice said with a warm smile. “Welcome, Jake. We’re so glad to have you and to see those pastures filled with horses again.” The barn and pastures had sat empty for over twenty years, when the Langdon family sold the last of their horses. Theo’s grandmother—and the castle’s namesake—Rose had been the true horse lover in the family, and after her untimely death, the barn had eventually fallen to disuse.
“Thank you,” Jake said. “I’m glad to be here.”
“There’s beer in the fridge,” Beatrice told him with a wink. “I always keep it stocked for Mr. Langdon.”
“Did I hear my name?” Theo asked as he came into the kitchen.
Conversation flowed as freely as the wine while their group settled around the table for dinner. Theo, Elle, and Ruby sat on one side of the table, with Megan and Jake on the other as they served themselves from the enormous pan of chicken pot pie Beatrice had made. Megan was hyper aware of the man beside her as she ate, his big, strong thigh so close to hers and shower-fresh scent radiating off him.
“So, Jake, tell us more about your business,” Elle said as she scooped a bite of pot pie onto her fork.
“I train horses,” he told her. “Initial under saddle work and then I also help sort out horses who’ve acquired bad habits later in life. I’ve got a client who’ll be dropping off a horse for me to work with full time, and I also have several clients I work with at their own barns.”
“Do you offer riding lessons?” Ruby asked.
“No,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “I’ve only got one horse of my own.”
“I got to meet him earlier,” Megan said. “He’s a sweetheart.”
“He’s a great horse.” Jake looked at her, and their gazes locked for a heated moment.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” Theo said, pausing to take a drink from his beer. “It’s nice to have a familiar face renting the barn.”
Megan grinned at that. “I bet you’re glad to have a friend here too after you’ve put up with the three of us for the last year.”
Theo’s eyebrows lifted. “Yes, I suppose now I can invite Jake up for a beer when you ladies are having a girls’ night.”
“Just say the word,” Jake said. He seemed to have relaxed since he’d first walked into the kitchen, and Megan hoped he felt comfortable here, because while Theo was a member of the British aristocracy, things at the castle had always been relaxed. Plus, Theo and Jake were friends since childhood too, although from what Megan knew, they weren’t nearly as close as she, Elle, and Ruby were, probably because Theo had attended boarding school in England. He hadn’t lived full time in Virginia until last year.
“Did I see Sean and Tucker out here earlier?” Theo asked, referring to two of his and Jake’s mutual friends from town.
“Yeah,” Jake told him. “They helped me move today.”
Megan dropped her gaze to her plate. She and Sean had gone out a few times last year…before the accident.
As they ate, conversation shifted to the pair of foster cats that had been adopted that morning and then on to Megan’s upcoming trip to Florida to visit her family for Purim. It wasn’t a holiday she’d ordinarily fly down for, but this year, she was using it as an excuse to see her parents, because it had been too long, and she missed them.
When Jake had cleared his plate, he stood and carried it to the sink, thanking Beatrice for the meal. “I really need to be going. Thanks again for having me up for dinner tonight.”
“Glad you could join us,” Theo told him.
“I’ll walk you out,” Megan said, standing too. She fell into step beside him as he left the kitchen.
“This place is really something,” he commented, gazing into the various rooms as they passed.
“Haven’t you ever been in here before?”
He shook his head. “I usually just see Theo around town, I guess.”
“I’ll have to bring you back up for an official tour once you’re settled in,” she told him, “because it’s definitely worth seeing.”
“I’d like that.” He turned to smile at her, re-igniting that warm, familiar tingle in her belly, before looking at something over her shoulder. “Wow.”
She followed his gaze to the library. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure impressive even covers it.” Jake walked into the room, looking around at the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
