Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Which one?” William asked, setting the cases down gently.
Morag’s eyebrows raised. “Your room, of course. Where else would she sleep?”
Excuse me?
“Mm,” Angus echoed. “Even if you aren’t married, I suppose times have changed.”
I glanced at William. Why wasn’t he speaking?
“Ignore your grandfather,” Morag continued. “You’re twenty-nine-years-old. I think we can trust you to share a room with your girlfriend.”
His what now?
I looked at him, willing him to speak, but he just let out a nervous laugh.
Say something, you blithering turnip!
Nothing.
He said nothing.
Then again, neither did I. I was far too shellshocked by the outright assumption of our relationship status to let anything other than total silence escape my parted lips.
“Right, with that settled, we’ll leave you to it. I believe your sister will be back soon and there’ll be some crisis of her imagination that will require fixing,” Morag said, touching Angus’ arm.
Before I knew what was happening, they walked off to the right to a long hallway where they quickly disappeared.
“Um,” William said slowly.
I turned to him. “Um? Um? That’s all you can say?”
“Um,” he repeated, his tongue flicking out over his lips. “Uh.”
“Oh, good, we’ve discovered another letter of the alphabet. William!” I swatted his arm, making him jerk to attention. “Why didn’t you tell them?”
“Grandma kind of sprung that on us, huh?” He pressed his lips together. “Sorry. I meant to, but nothing came out.”
“Oh, I know that! Oh, my God. Does your entire family think I’m your girlfriend?”
“I don’t know,” he said vaguely. “Come on, upstairs, quickly. There’s absolutely no privacy down here for this conversation.”
“I’m not sharing a room with you!”
“Move, before the staff hear us.”
“The staff?” Of course they had staff. Why wouldn’t they have staff? They had a cockatiel, apparently. Staff was far more normal in a place like this.
William picked up the cases and moved towards one of the two sweeping staircases. “Come on. We’ll figure this out.”
Begrudgingly, I followed him. I wasn’t happy about this arrangement, but I was excited to see the rest of the castle. If it was that dreamy on the outside and the entryway was that grand, what was the rest of it like?
Was it possible to see it all in one day?
Would his grandparents mind if I did, in fact, spend the entire day wandering around like the starry-eyed history nerd I was?
I didn’t think Morag would, but honestly, his grandpa kind of scared me a little.
Although he and I did agree on one thing: me and William sharing a room.
Angus was obviously very… traditional… in that regard, and Morag was far more forward-thinking than he was. Hey, I was happy to play up to that archaic way of thinking if it meant I got my own room.
Since I wasn’t actually William’s girlfriend, I would never see any of these people again, so I didn’t mind if they all thought I was a young woman with strong traditional values.
Then again, I also had manners. They were already kind enough to open their home to someone they’d never met, so perhaps I was going to have to suck it up.
“Can we talk now?” I asked as we walked down a long corridor.
“In a second,” he replied. “A lot of the family guests are coming on Thursday and are staying here, so the housekeeping staff are extra busy preparing all the rooms. They aren’t usually in use, so they need extra cleaning.”
“How many rooms are there here?”
“Bedrooms? About twenty-four.”
“Ah, yes, the average number for a household in modern-day Britain.”
He flashed a smile over his shoulder and stopped in front of a large door. “This is my room. Well, rooms,” he added, pulling a key out of his pocket. “Now I know why they gave me two keys.”
“You didn’t think to mention that when we were in the car? And I specifically asked what the setup was?”
“Actually, it completely slipped my mind.” He pushed open a thick door and wheeled my cases from the stone tiles onto some parquet wood flooring. “The castle is sometimes opened to the public in the summer when Grandma and Grandpa go on holiday,” he explained when I frowned at it. “They’re not allowed in the private rooms, but the guided tours walk through the halls, so apart from a small area, it’s all either original or restored flooring.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” I followed him inside and closed the thick door behind me, then paused.
This was not a room.
This was an entire wing of rooms.
“Nice… flat?” I offered, casting my gaze across the space.
He grimaced. “Yeah. Back in the thirties, my great-great-grandfather decided he wanted some of the castle turned into flats. To rent them out, I think, to help with income for the estate. But then the war happened, and he was never able to get the renovations finished. When my great-grandfather became the duke, he decided to turn the half-renovated flats into wings for family members. They consist of a living space, a bedroom, and a bathroom. These are actually the rooms reserved for the eldest son.”