Kalina sneaked down the stairs of the large house the following morning.
It was early, just a little after six ‘o’ clock. But Kalina figured that it
would be the perfect time for her to tour the house without anyone being
underfoot.
She and Elle had fallen in love with the house last night. The
architecture was amazing, the art fascinating and the grandeur of it all truly
impressive. They had in fact both planned on inspecting the place together but
Kali couldn’t wait for Elle to wake up and early in the morning was the best
time to tour the house because very few people were up at this time of day.
She walked past the dining room and further down the hall. She stopped
in front of a wooden door and was about to push it open when she heard the
clanging of pots and pans. Someone was already up cooking it seemed. She
quickly moved past it and continued down the hall.
There were double doors just behind the staircase and she slowly opened
one and slipped inside. The room was very impressive. Tall bookcases lined one
wall of the room. They were so high that a rolling ladder was hooked onto the
shelves so that anyone who wanted to could reach the very top of the bookcases.
There were two sets of French doors facing her and sheer white curtains hung
loosely against them. She walked across the room, opened them and walked onto
the landing outside. She stilled as she saw the view.
It was incredible. The landing lead down to a large backyard, where a
sparkling pool resided. And even further was an incredibly large pond with
numerous weeping willows swaying beside it. The greenness of the grass and
trees and the pure blueness of the pool made her feel as if she was in a
different world. She couldn’t wait to jump out there and go swimming.
As soon as that thought came into her mind, she remembered that she’d
left her swimsuit at home. She hadn’t thought to bring it originally because
she hadn’t planned to have any fun out here. She frowned and walked back inside
the room, regretting the fact that she’d left her suit at home.
She eyed the rest of the room. With its’ brick fireplace, comfy leather chairs, and plush rugs, as well as the wooden bookshelves and beautiful view, she knew it would be a favourite of hers and most definitely a favourite of Elle’s as well.
Kali looked at her watch. It had only just turned six-thirty. She was sure that no one would be up for at least another hour and a half, Elle included. She was too awake to consider going back to sleep but she didn’t feel quite energetic enough to continue with her self-tour of the Attwater home.
She walked over to the bookcases and decided to find something to read to wile away the couple of hours she would have to wait before Elle woke up. She perused the titles and found the usual -- Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Poe etc. She wondered how they kept track of their titles; they weren’t even remotely close to being alphabetized. She climbed the ladder to see some of the titles on the top and was in the process of reaching for what appeared to be a P.G. Wodehouse book in hardcover when a voice came out of nowhere below her.
“Can I help you?”
Startled, she jerked her hand back, the book went flying backwards and from the sound of it, it hadn’t just landed on the floor.
She turned around slowly praying that it hadn’t landed where she thought it had. Unfortunately, her prayers were not to be answered as she noticed the guy, who had called up to her, rubbing his head and wincing.
“Oh my god. Oh Jesus,” she rushed down the ladder and went to him. “I am so sorry. Are you okay?”
“Well I did just get hit in the head with a flying book, so yeah -- I’m awesome,” he said dryly.
Kalina bit her lip. “Do you need ice or something? I’ll go get you some.” She was already halfway across the room when he called her back.
She stopped and turned around.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a slightly ironic smile on his face.
Kali hadn’t really noticed him, as she’d been somewhat too mortified to look directly into his face. Now that he was fully facing her, however, she was struck by how handsome he was. He was averaged height and lean but muscular or so he appeared in his white polo shirt and dark jeans. His hair was a dark brown and had a slight curl to it but his eyes had to be his best feature. They were this deep blue, like blueberries but richer in colour.
Suddenly she realized that she was staring at him and through her embarrassment, blurted out the first thing that came to mind, “Are you a--are you a houseguest?”
“You could say that. And you are?” he asked, his smile getting bigger.
“Oh, I’m Ka--,” Her eyes grew wide as she realized what she had been about to say.
“You’re…?” He raised a brow inquiringly.
“I’m Kalina Byron’s friend, Elle Lyndon.”
“Ah. Yes, I remember you from last night.”
“Oh…and--and you are?” she asked, suddenly curious to know how this man knew the Attwater’s.
He smiled at her before picking up the book that had put her in this humiliating predicament. He looked at the title. “My Man Jeeves.” He looked back at her. “You like Wodehouse?”
“I’ve never read his stuff but I’ve seen that show, you know, Jeeves and Wooster?” She remembered that he hadn’t answered her question. “What about you, uh…” she paused, “I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name.”
He smiled at her again and walked up to her. “No? … Well, it’s a good read. English humour is usual pretty good.” He put the book in her hand and was out the door before she could say a word.
She looked down at the book in her hand, then back at the door and blinked. What had just happened?
.
Christian walked out of the study, grinning. He had no idea why he hadn’t told her his name. She’d been embarrassed and some part of him had been amused by it. Had found it cute even. Besides, he knew what would have happened had he’d disclosed his identity. The naturalness would have faded her person and the fakeness would soon have followed. And he just wasn’t in the mood for it. Not this early in the morning.
He moved towards the kitchen and walked inside. “What’s for breakfast?” he asked, creeping up behind Nellie, their cook. She’d been with the family for as long as he could remember and she was like a family member to him.
She swatted at his hand as he grabbed a hot strip of bacon from one of the plates. “Christian! Out of my kitchen!”
He grabbed another strip and jogged out of the room as she started brandishing one of her wooden spoons in his direction.
He swung the door open and almost collided right into Elle.
He looked down at her, noticing that she was carrying the
Wodehouse novel in her hand. “Making off with the evidence?”
She looked up at him startled. This was the second time in less than fifteen
minutes that he’d thrown her completely off guard. “What?” she looked at the
book in her hand. “No, I, I was just going to go read it up in my room.”
He nodded and took a bite of what looked like bacon. “Where did you get that?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He raised both brows before opening the kitchen door very slightly so that Kali could see that they were actually standing right in front of the kitchen.
She blushed. “Right… So you, uh, you must know the family pretty well if you can walk into the kitchen and just nab food…” Oh God, she was doing it again. “I mean, not that it’s any of my business or anything.” She knew her cheeks were flaming at this point and she felt even stupider than she’d felt when she first met him, if that was possible.
“I know the family like I know my own,” he said, his eyes sparkling. If Kalina didn’t know better she could have sworn he was laughing at her.
“Oh--kay…Well, umm, maybe I’ll see’ya later. I’m going to go...” She passed him, walking quickly towards the stairs, and praying that the ground would swallow her up before they met each other again.
Christian grinned as he watched her leave. Maybe this weekend wasn’t going to be so horrible after all, he thought before popping the last bit of bacon into his mouth.
…