Rules for Dating a Romantic Hero (8 page)

‘Look, I know what’s happening,’ Laura interrupted, pulling her hands out of his grasp. ‘I know you’re having an affair with Lara, Nick. For God’s sake, just admit it.’ She waved her phone at him. ‘Didn’t you hear me? You sent me that text by mistake. And I saw the two of you talking, I … I saw you!’ She felt her voice cracking. ‘You said you wanted her to come to Chartley and she said, “I’m glad you’ve made up your mind, she wasn’t right for you, everyone knows it.”’ Tears were falling down her cheeks and she gave a huge sob, the tension of this last week finally catching up with her. ‘I s–s–stood there and heard you say it, don’t deny it.’

He came towards her, concern etched on his face. ‘My God. Oh my God, Laura. I’m so, so sorry.’

She stepped back. ‘So it’s true, isn’t it? I mean, you’re right. She’s right. About me not being right for you.’

‘Don’t ever say that.’ He shook his head, a pulse throbbing in his cheek. ‘Laura, I meant Rose. I have to do something about her. I’ve been letting it go on for too long. I’ve been a chicken. That’s what Lara’s here for.’

‘Pull the other one. It’s got bells on.’

‘She is! I’ve
hired
Lara, she’s Head of Marketing!’

Laura said sarcastically, ‘Head of
Marketing
? What are you, an ad agency?’

‘How else is this place going to survive?’ he said with a twisted half smile. ‘That’s what all the big houses have these days. Lions at Longleat, concerts at Woburn Abbey, the Mitfords and the grounds and the farm shop and everything else at Chatsworth.’

Laura watched him with her arms still crossed. ‘But, Nick … you hate all of that. You hate the Costa Coffees going into stately homes, I’ve heard you say that so many times.’

‘But it’s still my future, our future, and I have to work out our plan for Chartley too. I’m not joking, it’s do or die. You know, there’s more, not less, interest in places like these every day, maybe it’s the
Downton
effect. And Laura, I love the house. I don’t want us to lose it. I’m sorry. I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. It’s part of me.’

‘Oh, Nick.’ She stared at him. ‘Of course it is. I know that.’

‘There’s nothing round here for young people, no jobs, no nothing. Lara’s going to redo the stables and start a proper restaurant, with everything grown on the estate. We’re going to run a youth programme, a bit like Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen foundation, to train up people who want to get into catering and gardening. I’ll run it. There’s going to be a big farm shop, we’re building affordable housing out towards the village, and they’re filming a new Keira Knightley movie here next year. Lara says that’ll take visitor numbers right up.’

He grabbed her hands. ‘Listen to me. She’s going to take on a lot of the responsibility of the estate, we’re going to plough more than ever back into the community, and, well, I didn’t tell you because I’ve been planning all this so I could tell you when …’ He was pale. ‘Laura, for God’s sake! You seriously thought I’d cheat on you?’

‘I’m sorry, I …’ She stopped. ‘… I believed it. I’ve been an idiot.’

He pressed her hands to his chest. ‘How on earth have we ended up like this?’

‘It’s my fault,’ Laura began, and then she shook her head. ‘It’s partly my fault.’

‘This was supposed to all be a wonderful surprise, saving the best bit till last. The funding’s in place for your centre.’

Her eyes lit up. ‘Seriously?’

‘Absolutely. Lara sorted that out, too. She’s persuaded some big bank to donate the rest. Guilt money. She was there the other day at the opening, I was terrified you’d see and guess what was going on.’

‘I saw her,’ Laura said casually.

‘And that’s not all. Rose is going to work for a charitable trust in London, she got the job through that bloke she dragged to the bookshop. He’s the head of some government agency.’

‘Typical.’

‘Well, to be fair, she’ll be good at it,’ Nick said, ever loyal.

Laura swallowed down an unkind remark and said, ‘Rose would have done a good job with this place. I feel sorry for her.’

‘I don’t,’ said Nick. ‘She’s absolutely fine. Skin as thick as a rhino’s.’

‘God.’ Laura pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks. ‘I’ve got this all so wrong. I mean, wow! Really wrong. So, um, when does Lara move down here?’

‘She’s here already. She has a place by the sea.’

‘Oh, right.’

‘She’s really nice, Laura. We’re stabling her horses. It’s all set, she’s really excited about it. She was brilliant today. She was the one opening the library window up at the house – that was the signal that you were on your way. It flashes in the afternoon sun.’

‘I …’ Laura pushed each forefinger into her temple. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. Her husband’s coming over tonight to help – well, you’ll see later. We’ve got a bit of a celebration planned. I hope.’

‘Her
husband
?’

‘She’s been married for three years. I was best man at the wedding,’ Nick said.

‘But the newspapers said you went out with her when I was in the States …’ Laura put her hands over her face and made a noise, something between a sob, a laugh and a moan.

‘The newspapers! You read it in a newspaper and you don’t even ask me if it’s true or not? I’ve never been out with her. I kissed her when we were ten, does that count?’

‘Oh my word.’

‘Oh my word indeed. Listen.’ Gently, he pulled her hands away from her face and stared into her eyes. They were both still, the afternoon sun bathing them in golden light.

‘Listen to me, Laura. I wrote those signs because I wanted you to come and find me here. Because I wanted to tell you I understand a relationship is like a maze. You just have to find your way through.’ Nick stopped and took a deep breath. ‘I meant what I said when I wrote it. As long as you trust me, I promise you’ll never get lost. Ever, Laura. This is my home. It’s where I live. I love you. I’ll always love you. I don’t want you to go back to London. I want you to stay here and make it your home too.’

As she moved towards him, Nick dropped to his knees and stared up at her, his brown eyes solemn.

‘Laura Foster, will you marry me?’

Laura fell to her knees, too. She stared at him, biting her lip, and closed her eyes.

‘Oh, Nick,’ she whispered. ‘I want to … so much.’

He looked at her and she looked at him, and the two of them started laughing. He took her hand in his and kissed it. ‘Listen, my darling,’ he said softly. ‘This is how it’ll work. I’ll have my job – running the estate, kissing babies, all that lot. You’ll have your job – running Laura’s Place, the visitors’ centre at the back, the reading programmes and all of that. And we’ll come home in the evenings to Chartley. The builders have started work already. There’s going to be a separate door installed and we’re opening up the south staircase just for us, with soundproofing so no one can hear us. We’ll have our own kitchen, sitting room, everything. We’ll choose all the wallpaper and curtains and everything together. Or you can choose them yourself. I want you to feel like it’s your home. And this.’ He reached up and took something off the table, pushing the fabric samples aside, sending them fluttering to the floor. ‘Here, Laura.’

It was a small brass plaque, with holes all ready to nail into the wall.

This is Nick and Laura’s Place

Press bell and wait for admittance

‘This is going on our front door, you see? At the bottom of the stairs. We’ll come home, unlock our own front door and hang our coats up on our own coat hooks.’

‘Right. Can we have my coat rack that Granny gave me? The one with owls on it?’

‘I hate the way those owls stare at me like they’re going to nibble my coat. But … OK!’ They smiled at each other. ‘Wow. If that’s a dealbreaker, then, yup. We’ll kick our shoes off, have a glass of wine. We’ll laugh about the funny things that happened during our day. You know, some kid was sick on a pile of books or someone chopped his finger off in a threshing machine, that kind of thing …’

‘That doesn’t sound very mellow,’ Laura interrupted. ‘I’m out.’

He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her towards him. ‘Then we’ll have some dinner in our own kitchen, and we’ll sit in our own sitting room, and we’ll read or watch more boxsets about horrible murders or something, and then we’ll go to bed and sleep and – whatever.’ He bent his head to look at her, and she raised hers to meet him and they kissed.

‘There’ll be no one arriving in the middle of the night to tell you about a silage crisis?’

‘No,’ he said, kissing her back, his lips warm and smooth. She felt as though she were swallowing caramel, sweetness ran through her, lighting her up.

‘No sisters storming in demanding to have some painting removed to their house in London or some cash for their hypno-birthing course?’

‘Definitely no, and I’m sorry again about that.’

‘Just us two?’

‘Just us two,’ he said. ‘And whoever else comes along.’

‘That sounds OK to me,’ she said. He kissed her again and moved so his arms were holding her tightly, so she could feel the muscles under his skin move as she clung to him, tears running down her cheeks.

As if reading her mind, Nick said, ‘I thought I was losing you. I thought you realised you’d made a mistake in coming back and I … I didn’t know how to make you believe it wasn’t a mistake.’ His voice was hoarse. ‘Dammit, Laura, I’ve screwed everything up. I wanted to tell you about Lara today, as part of the whole romantic proposal thing. I didn’t realise it’d …’ His arms tightened around her, his breath warm on her neck. ‘Oh my darling. I’ve been so stupid. I forgot the most important thing of all.’ He kissed her forehead.

‘What’s that?’

‘That we work together. We just do. And I can’t imagine my life without you.’

He stepped back and, still holding her hand in his, fumbled in his pocket. ‘Hey, you haven’t actually answered my question. Will you marry me?’ he said again, taking out a ring.

It was gold, with a diamond and sapphire twisted together. Laura gasped. ‘That’s Granny’s ring,’ she said. ‘How did you …?’

‘I was actually down in London this week to see your dad,’ Nick said. He smiled. ‘Not to conduct a secret affair.’

Laura shook her head, trying not to laugh, it was such an important moment. ‘You went to see Mum and Dad?’

‘I had lunch with them. I helped your mum with the garden, then your dad and I went to—’

She interrupted. ‘You went to Robert Dyas, didn’t you? With Dad? While I was sobbing and breaking my heart over you having an affair with some old blonde friend of yours.’

‘Be fair. I didn’t know you were sobbing and breaking your heart over me having an affair with some old blonde friend of mine. But yes, I went to Robert Dyas with your dad. We looked at leaf blowers. He bought me my own barbecue tongs. He said it was his way of welcoming me to the family.’

Her eyes were full of tears. ‘I can’t believe you went to Robert Dyas without me.’

‘When we got back we told your mother, and she took me into the study and took this out of the bureau. She said, Laura, and I’m going to repeat it, “She’ll have so much if she marries you, but I’d like the symbol of your engagement to be about where she came from, too. So that everyone knows how proud we are of her.”’

Laura shook her head. ‘Oh no, they shouldn’t be proud. Not yet.’

He held her hand and stopped her. ‘No. You have to be patient when you see your future for the first time, Laura. Sometimes you don’t recognise it when you see it. Because it’s going to be totally different from what you know and it seems frightening.’

‘And what do you do when you find it?’

‘You walk towards it,’ he said, and he kissed her. ‘You know that we’ve got each other and that’s all that matters.’ He slid the ring onto the tip of her finger. ‘So? For the final time, what’s your answer? I’m not going to ask you again, you know. Will you marry me?’

Laura laughed. ‘This is my answer.’ She kissed him. ‘Yes, Nick. Yes, yes, yes.’

From the
Norfolk Gazette
:

Bookshop manager wanted, ideally with two years’ experience, to cover present bookshop manager/owner’s maternity leave. One year initial contract, but may be extended.

Contact Laura Foster on [email protected]

From the
Daily News
, July 2013:

As the nation prepares for the arrival of a new heir to the throne, I hear from my sources in Norfolk that similar plans for change are afoot at the house of Ranelagh. You may remember that last year Nick Needham, aka the Marquis of Ranelagh, married his long-term so-called ‘normal’ girlfriend Laura Foster. I hear not only are bootees being knitted, but legal writs are being prepared. The Marquis and Marchioness have lodged an appeal at the High Court to ask that their child, whether it be boy or girl, have the right to inherit the 10,000-acre estate, essentially reversing centuries of tradition.

The Marquis is quoted as saying, ‘I’m married to a remarkable woman, and she’s expecting our first child. I can’t wait to meet him or her, but when I do I want to be able to look them in the eye and say, “This is yours,” no matter what their sex.’

The Marchioness added, ‘If it’s a boy, I want him to be just like his father. If it’s a girl, I want her to grow up reading nothing but non-fiction and only watching TV documentaries with David Attenborough, current affairs programmes and medical dramas.’

It is understood that this is supposed to be a joke.

Announcement in
The
Times
, 22 July 2013:

Dominic Needham, twelfth Marquis of Ranelagh, and his wife Laura, Lady Ranelagh, are delighted to announce the birth of their first child, a daughter, Mary.

Those who read
A Hopeless Romantic
, to which this book is intended in part to be a sequel, might wonder at the timings of
Rules for Dating A Romantic Hero
. The first book was set in 2005, but to bring the story up to date for new readers (and to not leave Nick and Laura in limbo for such a long time) I have allowed four years to magically vanish. Author’s prerogative!

I really hope you enjoyed this book.