Chapter 5

The musty, woody smell of the cabin was gradually overpowered by the aroma of wet dog as they stepped inside. Lucy sympathised with them as she wrapped her arms around her body, her jumper now more water than fabric. “So much for spring weather.”

“We should have known better than to leave the house without umbrellas and full waterproofs. This is the price we pay to live on the Emerald Isle.” Noah shook his head and sprayed the floor with more water than they’d already carried in.

He suited the wet look. Instead of his usual forties slick style, his rain-darkened hair was tousled and hanging loosely over his eyes. It made him look devilishly naughty, as if he’d spent the day in bed. Lucy shivered as she recalled that particular image of him on top of her, his hair flopping against her cheek as he stared deep into her eyes. Her equilibrium was restored when he ran his fingers through his scalp and combed his mini quiff back into place.

“You’re freezing. Here, take this.” Noah shrugged off his jacket and hung it around her shoulders. There was a gentleman lurking under there somewhere after all. Although given his annual turnover of girlfriends, his breeding probably had more to do with the display of good manners than chivalry. Lucy didn’t associate a man who jumped from one bed to the next with such an act of generous gallantry.

“Thanks.” She accepted it anyway. The painkillers she’d taken before they left might have helped her headache, but she still felt a little queasy and this wasn’t helping. If the Earl hadn’t offered a personal invitation to come down and view the lake, she probably would have treated herself to a rare duvet day at home.

Noah tutted as he brushed against her sodden clothes. “Why didn’t you say you were soaked through? You’ll have to take that off before you catch your death.”

Lucy tugged the jacket closer. “I’m fine. As soon as this rain stops, we’ll head back and I can get dry.”

“Don’t be daft. It wouldn’t do for you to end up with pneumonia at the height of wedding season now, would it?”

He had a point. The hardy knitwear now weighed about two stone and felt more like chainmail than snuggly goodness.

“I’m not wearing anything beneath it,” she whispered. She didn’t think she could show herself up in front of him any more than she already had over these past twenty-four hours. But no, she would top last night’s drunken antics with a post breakfast strip.

“I won’t look. Promise.” Noah turned away and patted the dogs’ bellies whilst she attempted the taking the jumper off under the jacket trick.

She kept her eyes trained on him as she pulled her arms in through the sleeves, only losing sight of him briefly when she tugged the wet garment over her head. One quick zip of a jacket later, she was decent, if still cold. The Noah she thought she knew would’ve sneaked a peek anyway, but he kept his back to her all the while.

She gave a little cough to let him know it was safe, that she wouldn’t offend him with her nakedness. Despite Noah’s flirting in the past, it was obvious he was all talk where she was concerned. A few hours ago, she had offered herself on a plate to him only to have the door slammed in her face in response. It wasn’t that she necessarily wanted him to make a move, she’d probably freak if he did, but this disinterest in her as a woman was not helping her floundering self-esteem.

Lucy took a seat on top of one of the upturned rowing boats that filled the small room and one of the dogs immediately snuffled around her until she stroked him. She could tell by the coppery tinge to his coat, it was Ripley. “Hello, pup.”

“They don’t make the greatest guard dogs in the world.” Noah sat down beside her with Toby following closely at his heels, tail wagging and just happy to be there.

Lucy covered her hands over Ripley’s silky ears. “Don’t let them hear you saying that, you’ll hurt their feelings. They know I’m not a threat, that’s all.” A bit like their human apparently.

“I don’t know about that. For a while there I was worried you were making a play for my dad in the hope you’d end up as the lady of the manor.” Noah could not have offended her more if he had tried. Here she was thinking that they were making progress, and all the while he suspected her of getting close just so she could hit on his father. How telling it was that even after kissing her, Noah had paired Lucy with the Earl instead of himself.

“Do you honestly think I’m the type of girl who would throw herself at an elderly man just to get her hands on his money?” Rain or no rain, Lucy had a mind to walk out of there and leave the whole Ravenhill clan behind. If she’d stuck to her guns yesterday and gone home as planned, she wouldn’t have seen height nor hair of Noah until her next client was due at the castle. It would have been preferable to getting close only to hear what he really thought of her. That she was a gold digger who would put money before love. She thought he knew her better than that.

He took too long to answer. “No.”

No apology or explanation of where the idea had come from in the first place. Just ‘No’.

They fell into an uneasy silence, with only the sound of the rain to break up the heavy atmosphere. The scene could’ve been something straight out of a romance novel, except for the fact she wanted to slap him. It seemed to Lucy that they were all waiting for something to happen. The last time she’d been shut in a room with Noah, their lips had accidentally crashed together. In the cold light of day, she doubted either of them wanted a repeat.

By the look of the dark clouds looming outside they had too much time to kill to sit here in brooding silence. A change of subject was called for before the morning ended on a dark note.

She caught sight of the secondhand sweater she’d left in a puddle in the corner and reached for the conversation starter. “What’s Mrs. Wright’s daughter like?”

“Daisy? She’s a nice girl.” He shrugged and continued to pet Toby. If the dogs hadn’t swapped their allegiance to stay here, Lucy imagined her incarceration here with Noah could have ended up even more awkward than it already was.

“Does she live here?” She’d seen the lovely cottage set apart from the castle where the Wrights lived and wondered if the owner of her too long trousers and too big wellies lived on site.

“Not anymore. She works for some big modelling agency in London now. We only see her at Christmas or special occasions.”

“Is she married?” Lucy’s burgeoning curiosity was starting to look a little green around the edges. It would appear Daisy could enjoy a stay here without arousing suspicions of trying to wheedle her way into the family.

“Nope.” Noah really was not an easy person to extract information from.

“Did you and her…you know…” It wasn’t any of her business but for some reason she needed to know if it was possible for him to have a platonic relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

“We messed around when we were kids, but Daisy was more like a mate with perks. You know what it’s like. Two young kids living side by side with their teenage hormones raging out of control.” Noah actually blushed and she could almost picture him as a not-so-confident teen falling for the girl next door.

“Yeah.” She forced a laugh, but she didn’t want to think about him kissing the Amazonian supermodel the way he’d kissed her. “So, this was your love shack?”

“Our love shack?” His laugh reverberated around the room.

“Your father said you spent a lot of time down here. I just assumed…” Lucy didn’t think it was an unreasonable conclusion to think two hormonal teenagers would use an empty boathouse to ‘mess around’.

Noah visibly tensed and frowned. “Believe me, my time down here was far from enjoyable. As you can see, it’s cold and wet, and lonely. But it is far enough from the house that I couldn’t hear my parents arguing. I hate to burst your bubble but growing up here wasn’t all debutante balls and champagne fountains.”

Lucy watched helplessly as he started to pace the floor working through whatever childhood trauma she’d brought to the fore. It had never entered her head that her parents would’ve been happier in their two-up two-down council house than the Ravenhills in their sprawling mansion.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Your home should’ve been somewhere to feel safe, wanted. I know what it was like to have had that dread in the pit of your stomach every morning you woke up as a child. Tip-toeing around the house in case a word out of place meant getting yelled at for the rest of the day.” Those later childhood memories were so vivid she often worried they’d replace the few happy ones she had of being loved instead of a burden.

“I thought your parents supposedly had the greatest love affair of the century?” He stopped patrolling long enough to question her attempt to find some common ground.

The worn section of the wooden floor where he took out his vexation made her wonder if this was a habit he’d started as that frightened little boy. Lucy’s survival strategy was to lose herself in books, graduating to wedding magazines when she’d outgrown reading fictional fairy tales.

“They did, but after their deaths I had to go and live with my aunt. Let’s just say her life plan didn’t include raising someone else’s child.” And Tina had made sure nine-year-old Lucy had known how much she resented it. Her bitterness made Lucy long for her family even more, and determined not to end up anything like her spinster aunt.

“Poor little Lucy and Noah. Both warped by other people’s ideas of love and marriage.” His half smile was in danger of making him human in her eyes. She could see this whole anti-relationship façade was his way of protecting himself against getting hurt. It was kind of sweet in a way, made her think he was quite fragile behind the bravado. Perhaps it would only take the right woman to change his mind on the subject of commitment.

“Excuse me, but I don’t think that wanting to get married is particularly warped.” Although thinking about him as anything other than her nemesis probably was. While he was mocking her, all she could do was watch his mouth and imagine it back on hers.

“Oh, come on. There is nothing normal about going ahead with a wedding when the groom has scarpered.”

“I think we’ll simply have to agree to disagree on the matter. It’s a well-known fact that women feign lust to find love and the opposite is true for men. I think you and I are prime examples of that adage. Somewhere along the line we’ll both have to find partners we can compromise with to find the right balance.” She thought she had that with Rupert but again, their love proved to be one-sided. Lord knew how many women had fallen for the same trick with Noah and mistaken passion for something more profound.

“Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. It’s no wonder things didn’t work out with that prat Rupert if you had to feign lust. It should be an instant chemical reaction, a desperate need to rip each other’s clothes off and go at it like rabbits. Not something you have to work on. I can admit to never having been in love, and who knows it might happen someday, but I certainly wouldn’t pretend to feel something I didn’t. You need to experience that burn-you-from-the-inside-out kind of passion before you hand your life over to someone you barely know.” Noah hunkered down at her feet, his denim jeans stretching tight across his thigh muscles.

Lucy played with the zip on the jacket, rasping it up and down to fan the sudden hot flush across her skin. He put his hands on her knees and leaned in closer. Lucy gulped. She was still focusing on the ripping each other’s clothes off part of the speech.

Noah held eye contact with her until she was ready to agree to anything the man with the warm chocolate eyes suggested. “That’s why I’m going to help you find your perfect match.”

The words were out of Noah’s mouth before he could stop them. It was a knee jerk reaction against the intimate nature their conversation had taken. He didn’t do deep and meaningful about his childhood with anyone, and he certainly didn’t get involved in other people’s love lives. This was a one off to ensure he didn’t end up in the running as a candidate for her affections.

He was doing his best not to reference their ‘moment’ last night in his teachings about the importance of experiencing real desire. But it was difficult when her eyes were trained on his lips. For someone who claimed the physical side of romance wasn’t important, Lucy was sending out all sorts of horny signals to the contrary.

If she was anyone else, he would’ve acted on it, taken her in his arms and made the best of a rainy day in the boathouse. He feared one day with her wouldn’t be enough. This way he could steer her away from wet blankets like Rupert and maintain a safe distance at the same time.

Lucy blinked at him. “You’re going to find me a man?”

“Yeah. I have a lot of contacts, know more than a few eligible bachelors. Why not?” Whatever it took to get him out of the danger he could sense ahead if he entered into another bout of tonsil tennis with the beautiful woman sitting naked under his jacket.

“Er, because you abhor the idea of marriage, and it would be, well, weird. What’s brought on this sudden change of opinion? A minute ago, you were extolling the virtues of casual sex.” She stopped fidgeting with her zip to stare at him as if he’d suggested she elope with his father.

“No, I’m merely pointing out the importance of physical intimacy in any relationship, definitely not encouraging you to sleep around.” If he thought for one second a quick fling was the way to make her see sense, he’d volunteer himself and not leave her pleasure to chance.

“Glad we cleared that up before I jumped the nearest man willing to show me a good time.” Lucy pulled the jacket zipper up to the top to deny him a further tantalising glimpse of her unblemished skin. Probably a good move under the circumstances.

Noah bounced back up onto his feet. “I need to know what you’re looking for in a potential partner. Why don’t we make some notes? I’m sure I can find a pen and paper around here somewhere.”

He turned his back on Lucy to rifle through the old newspapers littered amongst the shelves of tools lining the back wall. There were faded cuttings from over the years, all related to the castle. From photographs of charity events held by his mother, to a few column inches recounting the castle’s conversion to a field hospital during the Second World War, this was his father’s haphazard attempt to record their place in history.

He gathered the loose pages into a pile to take with him back to the house later. It would make more sense to paste them into a scrapbook or get with the twenty-first-century and scan them into a computer. Underneath the mess of ageing articles, he uncovered a small notepad. He flicked through the pages to find pencil drawings of the castle grounds and lake. It was his father’s old sketchpad. A part of him that needed to be retrieved.

“You want me to write a checklist so you can match me with one of your friends?” Lucy made it sound so ridiculous when in his head it made perfect sense.

“They do it all the time on those dating sites. This is simply the low tech version, with a better chance you won’t end up with some random maniac who wants to wear your skin as a hat.” He ripped a blank page from the notebook and fished out a blunt pencil from behind a tin of wood varnish.

“That’s so reassuring. Honestly, why would I accept help from someone who has to sort his available friends into hopefully-non-serial-killers for me?” Lucy didn’t look entirely convinced with his solution to all their problems as she folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips.

“Because I come from a social set who generally prize marriage as much as a romance-addled wedding planner. Once they’re done sowing their wild oats, the aristocracy want nothing more than a loyal wife and a house full of fat babies to carry on the family name.” He appealed to that super-organised, daren’t-leave-anything-to-chance Lucy, who had a limited time frame, by offering her a shortcut to her true love. Allegedly.

“You make it sound so glamorous.”

“I thought that was what you wanted? If you’ve changed your mind, just give me the word and I’ll cancel the reservation.” Noah played his Ace card guaranteed to get the wheels of the plan back in motion.

“No! I don’t care what happens over these next months, under no circumstances will you change that booking.” Passion flared in her eyes that he never saw her demonstrate towards her ex. It wasn’t going to be easy to find someone who could compete with her love for this place, but he was sure as hell going to try.

“Then shall we get started, Ms. Honeywell? You provide me with your idea of the perfect man, and I’ll cross reference with my data base of single male acquaintances to see what we come up with. It’s as easy as that.” Well, he hoped it was.

He’d also have to heavily edit the list according to how much he knew about their bed hopping antics from the past. There was no way he would set her up with anyone liable to do the dirty on her. Surely he knew a few honest guys who believed in monogamy and treated women with respect? God, I hope I never have any daughters of my own. Noah was no saint, but he wasn’t a cheat either. Women knew what they were getting with him, a good time, even if they hoped they could make it into something more long term.

“Like a sort of Franken-Groom? A build-a-man workshop to custom make my own life partner? I choose Joe Manganiello, Jason Momoa –”

“Very funny. Now let’s start with your preferred physical type. You have to have that initial attraction like we talked about, so what does it for you Lucy?” Noah stood with his pencil poised ready to hear her deepest, darkest, desires. He hoped he was ready for it.

“Hmm, okay. He has to be tall. I feel safe with a man who looks like he can protect me if the need should arise. And I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never really had a thing for blonds. I go for dark-haired men, preferably those who look like they take care of themselves. I don’t want to fall for someone who’s a prime target for a heart attack and will die on me before we’re old and grey.”

Noah recapped his notes so far. “So, basically, we’re looking for tall, dark and handsome?”

“Yes. Like you, only with less of a chip on their shoulder.”

He snapped his head up so quickly to look at her he nearly ended up with whiplash, only to find her grinning at him.

“I think it’s a given that he should be on the market for a significant other, where I, on the other hand, am not.”

“Of course.”

“Do you have a certain profession, or social status in mind?” Most of his uni mates had gone on to greater things than he but were of more humble beginnings. He wasn’t sure if that was a deal breaker for Lucy when she seemed so caught up in the pomp and ceremony of the upper class.

“As long as they have a steady job, and we’re both bringing in an income, it’s fine.”

Noah hoped she wasn’t dropping her standards to meet the crazy deadline she’d set herself.

“Job. Check. Good sense of humour?” Like an interfering parent who thought they knew best, he found himself adding in the things he thought were important in Lucy’s future mate.

“That’s not a necessity. As long as the guy is honest and loyal, I can make it work.” Lucy had her priorities all wrong. The way she made it sound, Ripley or Toby could’ve been added to the list of possible suitors. She should be focusing on the qualities that could make a relationship last during the good times and bad. Someone more exciting than a faithful pet.

“He sounds thrilling.”

“I don’t need thrilling. I need reliability.” The unspoken implication was there that Noah was in the first category. They’d had their moment, but she needed more than five minutes of craziness, and that was okay with him. But he still thought she needed someone to spar with, someone to bring out this feisty side in her the way he did.

“Let’s recap then. Tall, dark, handsome, with a job and no personality. I think I can work with that.” He had one or two candidates in mind already. The sort of guys he worked with on a professional basis and not a social one. That way he could remain objective when it came to their suitability.

Lucy tutted, expressing her disgust at his assessment of her choices. It wasn’t his fault she was setting her sights so low. If he was outlining the criteria he thought it took to be good enough for her it would be a much more exclusive list of contenders.

“So, Mr. Matchmaker, what’s the next step in this grand plan of yours? Do you have a catalogue I can flick through, or is this an arranged marriage? I’m assuming I will meet this man before we walk down the aisle. In which case there are the practicalities to consider about ingratiating myself with the hoi-polloi. Do I need to take etiquette lessons, or go through a similar screening process before I get to meet these friends of yours? I need to know these things. Time’s-a-wasting.” Lucy scarcely stopped to take a breath during her mini rant.

Noah could only assume the excitement was getting to her already. He wouldn’t be surprised if she turned up to the first date wearing her wedding dress and carrying her bouquet at this rate. He was well out of it.

“I will make some discreet inquiries and set up a meeting. You don’t need to do anything except turn up. I’m sure whoever bachelor number one turns out to be will love you for who you are. If not, he’s not the one.” He defied anyone not to fall for Lucy’s natural charm and beauty. Anyone who wasn’t a cold hearted Earl in waiting, of course.

“For a man who thinks that weddings are the work of the devil you’re pretty confident that one date is going to double up as an engagement party.”

“I give no happily-ever-after guarantees. I’m simply going to make the introductions between you and the potentials. After that it’s up to you to steer things in the right direction. Now, do you want my help or not?” Noah knew from experience that one meet with Lucy was all it took for her to get under your skin.

That first day she’d practically floated into the castle to make her booking, she had grabbed Noah’s attention. He saw beautiful women every day of the week, but there was something special about her enthusiasm that drew him to her. He’d taken the meeting with her instead of handing it over to the functions manager just so he had the opportunity to talk to her. To discover she was planning her big day before Rupert had even proposed to her was perfect fodder for a cynic like him. From that moment he hadn’t been able to resist teasing her just to see that defiance shining in her eyes. One date with the right man, one who wanted the fairy tale with her, and he was sure Lucy’s wedding would be back on track. Leaving Noah in the clear.

“I’m sure it can’t hurt to have a few dates lined up. Count me in. But do me a favour and quit with the sarcasm. This whole thing is going to be stressful enough without your constant mickey taking. If you’re going to help, I want you to take this seriously. So, can we call it a truce and work towards getting me married in three months’ time?” Lucy held out her hand for him to shake. She was asking a lot from him when there would be so much ammunition to start a fight with her. But, she was right, they were both committed to seeing her paired off before they took things further than a drunken kiss.

“Deal.” There was no going back as he shook on it. Now all he had to do was find Mr. Right. For both of their sakes.