United States of Love: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

by Sue Fortin

  Stride & Hunter’s offices were only across the road. Tex let Anna lead the way. An elderly gentleman looked up from behind his desk as the couple came in, giving the briefest of smiles before greeting them.

  ‘Good morning, sir, madam. How can I help?’ he asked starchily.

  ‘We are looking for a two-bedroom property to rent in the town,’ said Anna.

  ‘Please sit down. My name’s Arthur Hemmings,’ began the estate agent, gesturing to the two seats in front of his desk. ‘If I can just take your names?’ He picked up his fountain pen and opened to a blank page in his notebook.

  ‘Garcia,’ replied Tex, then spelt it out.

  ‘Mr and Mrs Garcia,’ said the estate agent as he wrote.

  ‘We’re not a couple,’ corrected Anna. ‘Mr Garcia is my client.’

  ‘Client?’ Arthur Hemmings peered over his glasses at Anna and then at Tex, raising his eyebrows slightly. Anna looked as if she was about to say something but Arthur Hemmings spoke again. ‘Right, first things first. Are you living permanently in the UK, Mr Garcia? It’s just some of our landlords aren’t too keen on foreign nationals. We require two UK references.’

  ‘Mr Garcia has been here for over five years,’ replied Anna, not allowing Tex time to answer. ‘References won’t be a problem either.’

  ‘Professional references.’ More peering over the top of his glasses.

  ‘As I said, that won’t be a problem,’ replied Anna firmly.

  ‘Good. What about benefits? Do you work? Full-time? Most of my clients prefer professionals, no one on benefits, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Self-employed actually,’ replied Anna again. Tex noticed there was an edge to her voice.

  ‘Arr, self-employed. That can be a bit tricky. Again, most of my landlords prefer tenants to be in paid employment. Makes it easier all round.’

  ‘I’m sure the company’s accountant can provide you with the necessary supporting paperwork,’ Anna said.

  Tex sat back and folded his arms as he observed the dual with interest. Anna was definitely riled, probably fuelled somewhat by her bad mood with him, but she was certainly holding her ground.

  ‘Yes, I appreciate what you are saying.’ Arthur Hemmings put down his pen. ‘It’s just with the economic climate being the way it is, landlords want more reassurance, they need to be certain that the rent will be met. Being self-employed these days isn’t particularly secure.’

  ‘You know nothing about my client’s business, his finances or his creditworthiness; you are making assumptions. And on that basis, I don’t think I can recommend your services to my client.’ Anna stood and tapped Tex’s arm. ‘Come on, Tex, let’s go. We’re wasting our time here.’

  Tex followed Anna out of the office and then watched with great amusement as she stuck her head back round the door.

  ‘And just for the record, my client is a professional and highly successful chef with his own Michelin-star restaurant, and is about to open another one in the town. Your loss, I do believe.’ Letting the door slam behind her, Anna marched off around the corner.

  Tex jogged to catch up. He regarded her for a moment.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, looking sheepish. ‘He just really annoyed me.’

  ‘Hey, that’s cool. Thank you for defending me. I don’t think anyone other than my mother has spoken up for me like that.’

  ‘I’m sure you are capable of looking after yourself but he was being so pompous.’ Anna let out a sigh. ‘I hated the way he just jumped to conclusions.’

  Tex stopped smiling and spoke softly. ‘Like I did the other night?’

  ‘Yes. No. Maybe…’ Anna looked down at her feet. ‘What conclusion did you jump to?’

  ‘That your marriage wasn’t quite as over as you said.’ Tex moved Anna over to the side of the pavement to allow some sightseers to pass by. ‘Was that the wrong conclusion?’ He hoped it was.

  ‘From my perspective, yes.’ Anna’s breathing was heavier.

  Tex could see her chest rise and fall quickly as she took shorter, quicker breaths. He moved closer, resting his shoulder against the wall next to hers, their faces only inches apart.

  ‘Then I am sorry,’ said Tex gently. He dipped his head to look up under her eyelashes. When she bit her bottom lip, he felt a deep desire settle in his bones. He had to fight every urge not to lean in and kiss her.

  She glanced up at him. ‘There’s something else.’

  ‘I’m listening.’ Jeez, what else could there be?

  ‘He’s staying at my house. On the sofa.’

  ‘On the sofa,’ Tex repeated. Okay, this wasn’t ideal but then again, it could be worse. Exhaling long and hard, he leaned back against the wall, looking skyward and briefly closing his eyes. Why did he get the feeling he was getting involved in something that he would probably regret? Then pushing himself upright, he took hold of Anna’s hand. ‘Let’s go.’

  He strode off up the hill towards another estate agents’, keeping a firm hold on Anna’s hand so she had no choice but to follow. That in itself was something to be marvelled at, he thought, considering her choice of footwear today.

  At the next agency, Anna had rather more success and managed to secure two viewings for that afternoon. One was a Grade II listed house at the top of Arundel, near to the cathedral, and the other an apartment overlooking the River Arun.

  ‘I really like the look of this one,’ said Anna, holding up the apartment details as they walked back down the hill. ‘It’s also closer to your restaurant than the other one, nicer views, and you have an allocated parking space. With the house you need a parking permit, I don’t think you get an allocated space, just permission to park on the road.’

  ‘It would be nice having views of the river rather than the street,’ said Tex. ‘Are you hungry? Shall we have some lunch in one of the pubs?’ He was pleased that Anna seemed far more relaxed since her outburst earlier and their clearing of the air about her marital status.

  ‘Let’s just quickly nip over to Johnson’s Estate Agents,’ said Anna, pointing to the bay window opposite them. ‘They are quite a big chain and have branches in Bognor and Chichester. They might have something we haven’t seen before.’

  ‘Okay, but then lunch,’ agreed Tex, again taking her hand as they crossed the road. He noted with satisfaction that this time, Anna actually held his hand rather than just leaving it limply in his, as she had done earlier.

  ‘I think it’s mostly houses for sale. I can’t see any for rent,’ commented Anna, as they edged gradually along the shopfront, studying the photos and brief descriptions. Then, she suddenly gripped his arm tightly with her free hand. ‘Oh my God!’

  ‘What?’ chuckled Tex, expecting her to say she’d found a perfect home for him. However, when he looked down at her, the ashen look on her face told him something different. ‘Anna? What’s wrong?’

  The power of speech seemed to have deserted her. Letting go of his arm, Anna pressed her finger against the glass, pointing at a property hanging at the edge of the bay window, the words ‘For Sale’ in striking red across the corner of the photo. Finally, with a tremulous voice she managed to eke out a coherent sentence.

  ‘There must be some mistake. That’s… that’s my house.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Anna's initial reaction had been to tear into the estate agents’ and demand to know why they had her house on the market and that they remove the advert immediately. Fortunately, Tex had a much more pragmatic and subtle approach to dealing with it. Having safely seated Anna in a nearby coffee shop, harbouring a skinny latte in her cupped hands, he went into the estate agents’ posing as a potential purchaser.

  Anna glanced at her watch. Tex had been gone a good twenty minutes, surely it couldn’t take that long to get the details. Just as she toyed with the idea of going to find him, Tex walked back in carrying an armful of leaflets.

  ‘I didn’t realise how difficult it was just to get one set of details,’ he commented, flicking through the
papers. ‘They want to put you on their mailing list, try to get you to put your house on with them, offer financial advice, and take all your personal information before they even make a move towards the filing cabinet for the property information.’ He pulled out a sheet. ‘Have a look at this while I get us both another drink.’

  Anna looked at the piece of paper and read the address twice, just to check it was definitely her house and not the one next door. No doubt about it, 2 Coach House Cottages, Chichester it was.

  The picture had been taken recently, she noted, as the pink clematis that crept over her door, across to the window and flowered in April, was in full bloom. She turned the particulars over and staring back at her were two photos of the interior of her house. The first was of the living room, the fireplace being the main focal point, with the wooden hand-painted letters spelling out ‘HOME’ on the mantelpiece, the antique gold-leafed mirror hanging above.

  The words charming, delightful, good decorative order and original features jumped out as she scanned the description. The second photo was of her kitchen, taken from the doorway, a vase of lilies on the windowsill, her Shaker cupboards and Belfast sink in the background, her table and chairs in the foreground. Anna looked closer at the photo. Something had caught her eye that was out of place. There on the table was a black and red mobile phone. Mark's mobile phone.

  ‘The bastard!’ fumed Anna as Tex sat down next to her. ‘The complete and utter bastard. He never goes anywhere without his phone. He must have been there when they took the pictures. He's put the house on the market.’

  ‘I assume you are referring to Mark,’ said Tex.

  ‘Who else could it be? Maybe there’s been some mistake.’

  ‘Sorry. No mistake. The agent told me that Mr Barnes, the owner, was moving abroad and wanted a quick sale. That there was no forwarding chain and that the property was vacant possession.’ Tex took a sip of his espresso. ‘Mark obviously didn't say anything to you about it then?’

  ‘Obviously,’ said Anna, rather more acidly than she had intended. It wasn't Tex's fault, he was trying to help. She looked apologetically at him. ‘Sorry. It's just a shock. No, he never said a word to me. He must have organised this pretty much as soon as he turned up. Look, see those flowers on the windowsill? Well, he bought those for me the first weekend when he cooked us a meal.’ Anna rubbed her brow with her fingertips. ‘I knew he was up to something. I remember now. On the Monday when I got back from Chichester, he was on the phone and as soon as I came in, he hung up. He's been planning this all along.’

  ‘What about the estate agent? Has he not contacted you with viewings?’

  A few moments passed as the realisation dawned upon Anna. ‘Oh my God! I am so, so stupid,’ she groaned. ‘I had a phone call later that week from an estate agent. I was in the middle of translating a document and had already had a couple of time-wasting phone calls. I assumed it was a wrong number. I didn't wait to hear what they had to say, I put the phone down.’

  Anna buried her face in her hands and then ran them through her hair, amazed at the level Mark was prepared to take his perfidy to.

  ‘Is the house in both your names?’ asked Tex.

  ‘No. I wasn't working at the time so there was no way I could get a mortgage. Besides, Mark bought it outright from the sale proceeds of our house in Southampton.’ Anna twirled the spoon around in her latte.

  ‘You need to get some legal advice. I can arrange for you to see my solicitor tomorrow? I can ring him now.’ Tex reached into his pocket for his phone.

  ‘No. Don’t ring them, I’ve got my own solicitor. I am capable of sorting this out.’

  He pursed his lips and then slipped the phone back into his pocket. ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Anna, knowing she had sounded churlish. ‘It’s kind of you to offer, but I’ll be okay. Thank you anyway.’ She gave him what she hoped was a friendly smile. Although at present she didn’t feel quite in control of her emotions.

  An hour later, having made a half-hearted attempt at eating a jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise – lunch that Tex had insisted she should have – Anna had stopped picking up the details of her house and muttering things like ‘unbelievable’ or ‘bastard’. Now a more belligerent and defiant mood began to inhabit her.

  ‘If he thinks I’m going to agree to sell the house just like that, without even talking to me about it first, then he can think again,’ she announced as she pushed her plate away. ‘He’s got to at least provide for Luke until Luke’s eighteen. We had this all agreed before he went to the States. I knew he was back for something else other than…’ Anna trailed off and then waved her hand dismissively. ‘Sorry, ignore me. You don’t want to hear all this.’

  ‘What did he say he was back for?’ asked Tex quietly.

  ‘Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.’

  ‘When you said earlier your marriage was over from your perspective, you didn’t say what his perspective was. What’s he really come back for?’ Although Tex’s voice was soft, the hard look in his eyes betrayed him. Anna wished she hadn’t said anything, but Tex didn’t look like he was going to be fobbed off.

  ‘He said he wanted us to get back together,’ she replied after a few moments. ‘I’ve told him it won’t work. It’s not what I want.’

  ‘And has he accepted that?’

  Anna shrugged and shifted in her seat. She decided not to mention Mark’s reaction and threat to her suggestion of a divorce. Tex didn’t need to know. She’d deal with it.

  Looking up at Tex, she couldn’t quite hold his gaze. She felt as if his eyes could see right into her heart and mind. Could he see how much her heart fluttered when he looked at her like that with those intense dark brown eyes? Could he read the thoughts and images her mind involuntarily conjured up of him kissing her? Like he had nearly kissed her the other night at the Fish and Fly. Or how she was sure he was going to kiss her earlier that morning? This really wasn’t good. He was her client; she couldn’t possibly get involved, but if she was honest, she didn’t think she could possibly resist. Feeling herself blush, she tore her eyes away from his, studying her watch, trying to hide her embarrassment. ‘We’re going to be late for those viewings.’

  ‘We could always rearrange if you wanted to go home and sort things out,’ suggested Tex, standing up and easing Anna’s chair out for her.

  ‘That’s nice of you to offer but I’ll be fine,’ said Anna as they headed for the exit. ‘Anyway, we can’t have us both homeless!’ She gave a little laugh, which she guessed was probably unconvincing.

  When Tex slipped his arm around her shoulder as they walked across the bridge towards the apartment, Anna found herself snuggling into him, as if it were something they had done a hundred times before, although the fluttering sensation in her stomach told her otherwise. And when he then dropped a small kiss on the top of head, squeezing her gently, her stomach felt as if it could give the spin cycle on her washing machine a run for its money.

  ‘It will be okay,’ he said reassuringly.

  Anna wasn’t entirely sure what Tex was referring to. Maybe he was just being kind.

  When they paused on the bridge to admire the renovated apartment buildings lining the banks of the River Arun, Tex took his hand away and rested his arms on the edge of the stone parapet.

  ‘The apartment we’re going to look at is one of those on the top floor,’ said Anna, trying to refocus on what she was there for as she pointed to the blue shiplapped façade of the new development on the other bank of the river. The buildings consisted of what looked like five flats on each of the three floors. Each apartment had its own balcony overlooking the water and across to the main hub of the town.

  Due to the tidal water and close proximity to the sea, Arundel had been a very busy shipping town in the past. Now, however, the old buildings that had stood empty and run-down for so many years were part of a regeneration project. A lot of them had been converted into apartments or, indeed, pulled down a
nd new buildings constructed in their place, such as these, she explained to Tex.

  ‘And is there parking?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, it’s underneath the apartments. You have your own designated bay.’

  The apartment was stunning and Anna was pleased that Tex seemed to be of the same opinion. It had an open-plan living area, the kitchen being separated by a breakfast bar, and the double sliding doors opening onto the balcony from the living room were a noteworthy feature. The main bedroom, with a small Juliet balcony, also looked over the river, while the second bedroom and bathroom were at the back of the property where the entrance door was, looking over at the buildings behind.

  ‘That second bedroom will be very useful for when my sister visits,’ commented Tex as they wandered back across the bridge. ‘She’s coming in a couple of weeks with her husband and two children.’

  ‘Ooh, that will be a bit of a squash,’ said Anna. They paused again at the bridge to admire the view down the river.

  ‘I can always sleep on the sofa, assuming I have one by then.’ He turned and smiled at her. ‘That will be your next assignment. Furniture shopping with me.’

  ‘People will start thinking we’re an old married couple.’ Anna gave a small laugh.

  ‘Not old and maybe not married but…’

  There he was doing that smiling with his eyes thing again, and Anna knew she was doing that stupid, embarrassing looking away thing in response.

  The afternoon ended by looking around a Georgian house at the top of the hill. Tex agreed it probably wasn’t as ideal as the apartment by the river. The lack of private parking was as big a drawback as the river by the apartment was a major attraction. So with Anna’s help, he paid a deposit and completed the application form for a six-month rolling tenancy on the apartment.

  ‘Are you always as decisive as that?’ asked Anna as she unlocked her car and got in the driver’s seat. They were now back at the old church building. ‘You didn’t think about the apartment for too long.’