The Kiss (2 page)

Looking down at the now empty glass he grimaced. Dregs remained
but he couldn’t face another burn so he dropped the delicate crystal on the
side table, wincing at the sound of its shattering. Damn glasses, they were too
fine, too prone to breaking—like so many things in his home.

Adam was a big man, he’d reached six foot before the age of
sixteen and was well muscled. He wasn’t quite sure how that could be the case,
he rarely exercised. Regardless he was a man in his prime, a man who broke
things... often.

It’s not just things you break, its people too, hearts, honor...

He shook the thought off and eyed the shattered crystal again.
Grace would complain tomorrow when she had to clean it up. She’d rally at him
for his profligate ways and recklessness and he’d let her. God knows why he
did. She was nothing more than a servant in the grand scheme of things. But the
relationship between them had developed over the last decade to the point where
neither stood on formality. She’d lecture him, he’d take it, go off and do more
scandalous things, and she’d lecture him some more.

Sighing at the thought of Grace’s scoldings, Adam sat himself
down behind his desk and rubbed his head. It ached again, maybe because of the
brandy, maybe because of the late night or maybe because of the company. Truth
be told, Adam was strongly regretting throwing his latest house party. His
cronies had stayed up well past the hours of decency and only the urgings of
their ladybirds had convinced them to retire. Adam’s own
chère-amie,
the
lovely Lila, had been vastly unhappy at the late hour and it had taken more
effort than he wanted to give to placate her.

He rubbed his head again to try and ease the pain and found
himself wishing he’d spent the Christmas period in Grosvenor Square. At least
there he’d be within easy reach of his clubs and the gaming halls and the
countless numbers of women of dubious virtue. Lila’s virtue, though dubious,
was entirely too dependent on the latest trinket or false words of affection.
Adam could barely utter them anymore and he knew he was tiring of her.

He was so tired of everything.

What the hell am I doing?

The words formed, as they did so often these days, too often.
Adam jumped from his chair and found himself brandy in hand before he even knew
it was what he intended. The alcohol seemed to be the only way to shut the
voice up and God knows Adam wanted it to desist.

“
You’re a disgrace to the family name, boy.”
His father’s
words echoed from the bottom of the decanter but he ignored them. He knew he
was a disgrace, damn it, he didn’t need his father’s shade reminding him of
that fact.

“That I am, Papa, and don’t you just wish you’d had another son
to inherit the Estate and the title,” Adam said aloud.

Of course no one answered him, no Papa and certainly no brother.
There’d been no other heir; everything had fallen to Adam, straight into his
lap on his sixteenth birthday. He hadn’t been ready for the responsibility,
still wasn’t to be brutally honest. But what choice did he have? The entail
prevented Adam doing what he really wanted, which was to sell everything and go
to the devil in his own way.

The sunlight glinted off the amber liquid and Adam glanced out of
the wide arching windows, slightly startled to see how bright everything was.
He could see for miles from his position. The wide sweeping driveway, the
magnificent fountain, all was laid out before him. Miles and miles of
Winterwood land—all his responsibility. Adam couldn’t even imagine the
possibility of a life that didn’t include thousands of dependents, tenants and
servants and workers, all looking to him to ensure their livelihood. The
prospect was a fairytale, a dream, something he would never have. 

“Don’t
I
wish you’d had another son, preferably before
me,” he whispered to his father’s portrait.

Sighing, Adam poured a generous shot of brandy and resumed his
place behind his desk. Well, his father’s desk. It had never really been his,
any work he had to do was done from his own private sitting room. The study was
an escape more than anything, a chance for him to hide from the world, from
Grace, from Finn, his stoic manager, and at the moment, his house guests.

They’d be up and about soon, wondering what the night’s
entertainment was going to be, what delights Adam had in store for them. He had
no idea, more of the same probably. An extravagant feast, followed by
extravagant amounts of liquor, followed by the sort of goings on no respectable
Earl would allow. Felton had hinted he’d be willing to swap mistresses for the
night and Adam felt sure he’d been vaguely interested when drunk enough. It
hadn’t even occurred to him that Lila might not be of the same mind. Now,
relatively sober, the idea held little appeal and Lila’s feelings were slightly
more important.

Adam looked down at his brandy, rubbed his aching head again and
took a deep breath. Perhaps it was time and more to start listening to the
voice in his head? Maybe it was time to stop trying to shut it up with stronger
and stronger spirits?

“
Time to grow up, boy,”
his father’s portrait mocked.

Maybe it was time, after ten years, to finally think about
sorting himself out.

Adam lifted his glass to the stern gaze of the only steadying
influence he’d ever known, and swallowed the drink in one.

“Maybe it is, Papa, maybe it is.” And he felt the burn all over
again.

Chapter
Three

Despite the fact that the recruitment pack had said Winters
Estate, with a capital
E
, Eva hadn’t really thought about how big it
would be. They’d been driving for over an hour through country lanes all of
which the driver, who she’d had been introduced to as Finn, said were part of
the Estate. He was an odd sort of man, not overly friendly but not unfriendly
either. Eva couldn’t work him out, though of course she was giving it a damn
good try.

“Is it much further, Finn?” she asked. Again. 

In lieu of an answer he turned off one country lane and joined
another. It was so overgrown it hardly counted as a lane in Eva’s opinion.
There were no signs and she wondered how the guests managed to find their way. “Finn,
is there another road like a main road that leads to the Estate?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I come this way, always have.”

Silence reigned for a moment before Eva took another stab at him.
“How long have you worked here?”

He shrugged again and Eva wondered if he disliked personal
questions, she was trying to be sociable though, get things off to a good
start. They’d already exhausted the weather and local wildlife and she didn’t
know what else to talk about. 

“Always,” he replied after a moment. “Always on this land.”

“How much land is there?”

Finn shook his head. “I don’t know miss, it goes on for a good
long way, everything you can see and more.”

A lot then. “What is the land used for?”

Finn drove on to what looked like nothing more than a field, Eva
couldn’t actually see a lane. “It’s not used for anything it’s just part of the
Estate.”

“There’s no farms or anything?”

He shook his head. “There used to be tenement farms a good long
while ago but not anymore.”

“What happened to them?”

“Changing times, miss, I suppose.”

Eva thought of all the homeless people in the cities, the cramped
apartments and tiny houses.
What a waste of so much perfectly good land.
Shrugging, because it wasn’t her land lying idle, she pressed her nose to the
window of the jeep and inhaled the clean country air. The fields would look
lovely in the summer; even now in the chilly winter air they had a certain
charm. Eva had always preferred open spaces to the compact close living of most
cities and she couldn’t help but grin. At last lady luck had smiled upon her. At
last she had a chance to sort herself out.
About bloody time.

After signing the contract the woman who finally introduced
herself as Grace had called a wiry looking man into the room.

“This is Finn, he’ll take you back to your flat and wait whilst
you pack what you need, then he’ll drive you to the Estate,” Grace had said.

Eva was surprised, although Grace had said immediately but she
hadn’t thought she meant
immediately
. “Now as in right now?” she’d
asked.

Grace nodded. “The season starts soon and we need to get
everything ready. All the other staff are there and I’ll be coming down myself
this evening. You’re the last to be recruited. We were getting a bit desperate
to be honest.”

Ignoring the slightly veiled insult,
think of the money
,
Eva forced a smile. “The season?”

“Yes we have a three month season for our guests.”

Puzzled but guessing it explained the four month contract Eva
frowned. “Doesn’t the season usually mean the summer?”

Grace shook her head. “No, our guests are a bit different. Our
season runs from the end of December through to March. We like to make sure our
staff are in place a couple of weeks before. We’re a little bit late with you,
it’s the eleventh today so you’ll only have just over a week to get settled in
before the guests arrive.”

Well that was Christmas and the New Year taken care of. Eva had
always had a hideous time finding something to do during the holidays, now she
would be working with other people and not alone eating dinner for one.

“I’ve never heard of such a season before,” Eva said. “Is that
usual?”

“Some people like a long Christmas and New Year holiday. They
stay with us for several weeks”

Long? Four freaking months?

“Right, well okay,” Eva said for lack of anything else to say.
Who was she to question it?

Finn had indeed driven Eva to her flat (well Eva called it a
flat, it was more like one room and a toilet), where she’d called her landlord
and used the last of her savings covering the rent for the next four months.
She changed from her too tight suit into comfy jeans and a jumper and packed her
one bag with a few possessions, including her laptop. Grace had said no
internet access so it was probably pointless taking it but Eva didn’t want to
risk leaving it in her room. She did not live in the most respectable area and
wouldn’t count on it still being here when she returned.

As she was packing, Eva wondered what the big hurry was. Had she
been a different sort of person might have wondered if she was being sold to a
brothel or some such set up. The job was genuine though, she knew that, her
case officer at the job center had found it for her and Eva knew he vetted all
jobs for authenticity before she was sent for interviews. Eva could only assume
that Grace was telling the truth, that the season, weird thought it sounded,
was due to start any moment and she needed everyone on board…

Fidgeting in her seat, trying to get a bit more comfortable, Eva
felt her stomach give an audible groan. They’d been driving for maybe two hours
before even hitting the country lanes, it would be dark soon and she was starving.
I hope we get to the freaking house in time for dinner.
She fidgeted
again, wondering perhaps if she should be thinking of the gym rather than food.
But her stomach was growling and Eva knew she couldn’t expect it to shrink
immediately, new job or no. 

“Finn, how much longer?” she asked.

Instead of answering he turned sharply off the field onto a long
paved lane, it went on quite some way into the distance, maybe a mile or so. Eva
looked around but the lane started from the field, there was no other way that
she could see to get to it. There must be another way to the Estate or how on
earth would the guests find it?

Trees were planted on both sides of the lane which in the summer
would provide a natural canopy. Now, though they were devoid of leaves, with
the last days light there was an eerie air to them.

Finn drove slowly, maybe due to the bumpiness of the lane and Eva
noticed that every couple of hundred meters or so twin statues flanked them.
She thought they might be copies of museum pieces but couldn’t be sure without
getting a bit closer. What she could tell though—even from a distance—was that
the women were all curvy in a renaissance sort of way, the men all
spectacularly muscled and they were all, strangely enough, looking towards the
sky.

Eventually Finn turned again and Eva was greeted by two
splendidly naked ladies, arms wrapped around one another, and then again by two
extremely well endowed men who were... Eva looked closer... locked in quite an
intimate embrace.

Despite her hunger Eva’s fingers itched for her sketch pad and
she smiled slightly. It had been some weeks since she’d felt the desire to draw
or paint or do anything remotely artistic. Losing a job that required it kind
of put a dampener on doing it purely for pleasure, the statues though, they
were too beautiful not to capture on paper. Eva determined there and then that
at some point she would explore the statues in detail and draw them all, maybe
with a view to painting them when the four months were over. 

One more turn and then the house came into view and Eva couldn’t
help but gasp in shock. It was huge, far, far bigger than she had expected.  It
sat smack bang in the center of a huge sweeping driveway and it was lovely,
there was no other word for it. Built who knew how many hundreds of years ago
it was like something out of a fairytale, fountain, turrets and gargoyles
included.

“How old is the house?” she asked Finn as they got out of the car.

“I don’t know exactly, miss,” he replied. “It used to be owned by
the Earl and was passed down through his family, son to son, Earl to Earl. I
believe it was their principle residence, outside of the house in Grosvenor Square.”