Liv sighed heavily. ‘No sofa?’ He shook his head. ‘Anywhere downstairs I can sleep?’
‘Ten bedrooms…’ he began and hope bloomed inside her. ‘Are all on the first floor. Downstairs, there’s the library, dining room, kitchens, drawing room, toilets and snug.’
‘Maybe I’ll curl up on the window seat.’
‘Up to you but you’ll not be that comfortable and likely to fall off in the night if you roll over.’
He had a point. ‘Right.’ She set about taking the stairs slowly and one at a time. She felt ancient. Even her great-granny moved a lot quicker than this and she had an arthritic knee.
‘You may as well stay down there. At that rate you’ll not make it up here before midnight,’ he said, leaning his forearms on the banister at the top and watching her slow progress.
‘Have you thought about stand-up comedy?’
‘It’s been suggested before,’ he said, ‘but I quite like being a—’
‘Smartarse?’ she offered.
He did at least chuckle at her retort. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to help you?’
She was tired, grumpy and she ached all over. ‘Assuming you can’t perform levitation then yes, please.’ The last word she had to force out. It was hard to be polite to someone who had ghosted her. The whole situation was odd but she was a big believer in listening to her gut and whilst Fraser had done the dirty to her online she wasn’t getting any mad axe murderer vibes from him.
Fraser swept back down the staircase and without warning lifted Liv into his arms and set off back up to the first floor. ‘What the actual—’
‘You were taking far too long, this is the quickest option.’ He held her securely in his arms. Her wet-jumpsuit-clad body instantly heated up at the contact with him. ‘This way we can both get to bed. Separately,’ he added with emphasis as he put her down carefully at the top and she clutched the rail. The unexpected contact had winded her. Her senses were awash with the scent of him, which was a confusing mix of bergamot and garlic. ‘This way.’
He led her along a corridor with a deep red carpet and dim lighting. He opened a door and stepped inside. ‘Actually I’d forgotten there was a leak in here.’ Liv popped her head around the door to see water sploshing into a bucket from the ceiling. ‘I’ll empty that later,’ he said, more to himself than Liv. ‘It’s fine – there’s lots more to choose from.’
‘Ooh do I get to choose?’ This was starting to feel almost fun. The choice of bedrooms in a hotel wasn’t something you got offered every day.
‘I guess,’ he said opening another door and walking in. ‘This is smaller but the view is great because…’ Liv pointed at a picture on the wall. ‘What?’ he asked.
The dark painting was of a hunched woman all in black. The hooded eyes seemed to lock onto Liv and she felt a sensation like cold fingers creep up her spine. ‘Is that Janet the witch by any chance?’
‘It is,’ said Fraser sounding pleased. ‘It’s a copy of a famous painting. Well, famous in these parts.’
‘Can you move it please? Because I don’t think I can sleep here with Janet staring at me.’ Liv tried stepping a few feet to the left but the eyes were definitely following her.
‘Err, no I don’t think so. For health and safety reasons the pictures are screwed to the walls. Let’s look at the next room. Perhaps that will be to madam’s taste.’
‘Sorry,’ said Liv getting out of the way as Fraser turned off the light and came out. The next two rooms had either boxes of stuff on the floor or things piled on the bed, so Fraser quickly moved on to the fourth room where the bed had no mattress, making him huff a bit more.
He took her off down another corridor and opened the door to the next bedroom, switched on the light and stepped back so that she could look inside. The first thing she saw was a line of mounted stags’ heads above the bed.
‘I know you’re not going to like this and I’m really sorry to be a pain. But no way,’ she said shaking her head and turning around.
‘What do you mean,no way?’ When he repeated it in his accent it almost sounded comical.
‘I mean I can’t sleep in here with them. I’d be awake all night worrying about one falling off. And if one of those did fall on me I’d be skewered by its horns. That’s not how I want to die. No ta.’
‘Oh deer,’ said Fraser. She gave him her best withering look and he stopped grinning. ‘They’re not horns,’ he explained. ‘They’re antlers and, like Janet, they are firmly secured to the wall.’
‘Like the pointy stick thing once was? Still I won’t be able to sleep with butchered Bambi staring down at me all night.’
Fraser snorted a laugh. ‘Do I need tobuckmy ideas up?’
Despite all her aches she was quite liking the battle of the puns with Fraser. ‘I don’t expect you to befawning over me, but if there’s somewhere else I could sleep that would be great.’
‘Fine,’ he said with a shrug. ‘That rules out a couple more rooms. But I think there’s some bats taken up residence in one of those so that probably wasn’t your first choice anyway.’ He wandered off and she limped after him. He opened another door. ‘Here you go. This is the last option. The lock doesn’t work but otherwise I think it’s fine.’
