by Rachel Lacey
“Really?” Flynn gestured for her to follow him toward a bench on the main path. “What areas are you going to visit?”
“That’s the thing.” Her body buzzed with a mixture of excitement and nerves. “I haven’t made any plans. I’m going to just…see what happens.”
“How intriguing.” Flynn’s eyebrows rose. “A woman with a sense of adventure. I like that.”
“If you only knew.” She shook her head, feeling what remained of her bun sliding around loosely. “This is so unlike me. I’m an over-planner. I have a spreadsheet for…well, everything.”
“Define everything,” Flynn said, his gaze locked on hers, intense, but not in an alarming way, more like he was hanging on her every word.
“I have a spreadsheet to help me manage all my spreadsheets.”
Flynn laughed, resting a hand on her shoulder. “That is unusual, I’ll admit.”
She grinned. “I’m an unusual woman, what can I say?”
“I like it. Tell me more.” He sat on the bench, patting the empty spot beside him.
She sat, feeling a hundred times lighter than she had a few minutes ago. “Do you want the short version or the long version?”
“Ruby, there you are!” Lester came around a bend in the path, beelining toward her. He stopped in front of the bench with a slight frown. “Who are you?”
“Flynn Bowen,” Flynn said. “And you are?”
“Lester Mayberry,” he announced with an air of self-importance. “Ruby and I were just about to dance. Weren’t we, Ruby?”
“Actually, you asked, and I said I wasn’t in the mood,” she told him, letting her voice fall flat in annoyance.
“Well, I…” Lester gaped, seemingly—finally—at a loss for words. “What happened to your hair?”
“I decided to take it down,” she said, reaching up to tug out a bobby pin. “What do you think?”
Lester stared at her, his mouth opening and closing in silent confusion.
“I think Ruby’s hair looks rather lovely this way,” Flynn said. “Don’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” Lester stammered.
“Well, nice meeting you,” Flynn said pointedly.
“Likewise, I’m sure,” Lester muttered before turning and walking off in the direction of the estate.
“Is that wanker the reason you were hiding behind a rosebush when I found you?” Flynn asked, his tone a mixture of humor and annoyance.
“Yes. Does my hair look that terrible?”
“Not at all.” Flynn gave her a discerning look. “Although it does look a bit like you and I were going at it behind that rosebush.”
“Now who’s a wanker?” she teased, ridiculously charmed by his accent.
“Guilty as charged.”
“My hair’s a total mess. I can tell.” She patted the back of her head, coming out with another bobby pin…and a thorn. “I’m going to take it down.”
“I’ll help if you like,” he offered, reaching over to tug another pin out of her hair. And since there were about a million more where that came from, she agreed.
“Thank you.”
“So, to answer your question before we were so rudely interrupted, I’d like the long version.”
“What?” She set a bobby pin in the growing pile on the bench between them.
“You were about to tell me the story behind your adventure here in London and why you’ve always played it safe before.”
“Oh, that.” She glanced over at Flynn. “The long version, huh?”
“I think we have time for it while we pull out all these pins.” He held one up for emphasis.
“I have primary immunodeficiency,” she told him. “I couldn’t be around other kids much when I was growing up, because of my faulty immune system, and even so, I was sick a lot. My mom homeschooled me for most of my childhood.”
“That must have been very difficult for you.” Flynn set a pin on the pile and reached over to give her hand a squeeze.
“I received a bone marrow transplant from my sister when I was seventeen, and I’ve been mostly as good as new since, although I still have to be careful. But the point of the story is that I spent my childhood locked away safe and bored in my bedroom. I guess it made me cautious. I tend to overanalyze things to death before making a decision, and, you know…the spreadsheets.”
“Lots of spreadsheets,” Flynn repeated with a nod.
“I’m that person who takes her laptop with her everywhere she goes.”
“I see you left it behind tonight,” he commented with a smile.
“I left it at home.” She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “I’ve never traveled before. This is my first time outside of the United States, and I’m ready to have the adventure of a lifetime, all by myself, no laptop to hide behind.”
Flynn tugged another pin out of her hair, his gaze catching hers in the muted light of the garden. “That is one of the most fascinating and brave stories I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s not,” she protested. A section of her hair tumbled down her back as she removed another pin. “I’m just taking a vacation. Millions of people do it every day.”
“Not like this.” He pointed a finger at her. “You said it yourself, this is going to be the adventure of a lifetime.”
“Well, I hope it will be. Honestly, it’s pretty intimidating now that I’m here. I mean, I’ve been so caught up in wedding activities, I haven’t really had a chance to think about what I’ll do tomorrow when it’s all over.”
“Hence the adventure.”
“Yes. I’ve got a hotel booked in London for the next few nights, but beyond that…who knows?”
“Would you like a few suggestions?” he asked.
“I’d love some, actually.”
“I assume you know all the main tourist attractions, but do you enjoy theater? The West End is, in my opinion, superior even to Broadway. You can find anything you’re interested in, musical, comedy, opera.”
“Theater.” Ruby felt a flutter of joy in her chest. “I’ve never been to a Broadway show. In fact, the only theater I’ve ever seen were the plays Elle was in back in high school.”
“Elle who just married Theo?” Flynn’s eyebrow went up.
“The very one. She considered being an actress after high school, although that obviously didn’t work out. But yeah, I think I’d love to go to the theater.” Her hair tumbled loose over her shoulders, and while she usually didn’t like it, tonight it didn’t feel half bad, shielding her from the cool September breeze.
“The National Gallery has some amazing artwork, da Vinci, Rembrandt. And you absolutely must visit Hampstead Heath. It has the most amazing views. Then there’s Oxford Street if you enjoy shopping, and Camden Market has just about every cuisine you could imagine.”
“Wow,” she breathed, completely taken with every idea he’d just put in her head.
“You mentioned that you wanted to take this adventure on your own, but if you’re interested in a tour guide, I’d be happy to show you around London tomorrow.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” She liked Flynn a lot, but she’d planned to do this on her own. And honestly, they’d just met. She didn’t know a thing about him. It would be crazy to let him be her tour guide tomorrow. Then again, wasn’t the point of this trip go to with the flow, to abandon her plans? But still, this felt like a pretty big leap. “Let me get back to you on that.”
Flynn Bowen couldn’t remember ever feeling so enchanted by someone he’d just met. He tugged another pin out of Ruby’s hair, watching as it spilled in a dark waterfall down her back. And he found himself irrationally hoping she would take him up on his offer.
She stared at him from behind black-rimmed glasses, her pretty pink lips pursed in thought. “Not sure it’s wise to let a total stranger show me around London, although it would be adventurous.”
“You and I are strangers, but we have a mutual friend,” he told her. “Theo and I have known each other our whole lives. We at
tended the same primary and secondary school, although I was a few years behind him.”
“So, the Earl of Highcastle will vouch for your character. That’s what you’re telling me?” She gave him another one of those grins that made her eyes crinkle at the corners.
“Essentially, yes,” he told her with a smile of his own.
“You don’t have anything else to do tomorrow?” she asked.
“Not tomorrow, as it’s Sunday, but I do have business in Wales on Monday.”
“Tell me more about yourself, Flynn. What do you do for a living?”
He leaned back, staring into the fountain in front of them. “A better question might be, what don’t I do?”
“I…don’t know what that means.”
“It means I’ve tried a number of positions within the family business, but none seem to have been the right fit.” He watched the water as it splashed into the basin of the fountain, only to be sucked back up through the plumbing and begin its journey all over again. That was how he felt most of the time. One of these days, he would find the right position within the company, the one that would launch him right over the edge and out of this holding pattern.
In the meantime, he needed to dedicate himself one hundred percent to his upcoming assignment in Dubai. His parents had taken a chance on him, allowing him to oversee the construction of what would become one of Exeter Hotels’ largest locations, and he couldn’t let them down.
“I think that happens to a lot of us.” Ruby set the last pin on the bench between them and ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing out the bumps and waves. “In fact, Elle, Megan, and I had all been bouncing between jobs until we won that magazine contest last year.”
“You won a magazine contest?”
She nodded. “To manage Rosemont Castle. It’s how we met Theo.” She gestured toward the estate, where Theo was inside dancing with his new bride.
“Ah.”
“Does it look okay?” she asked, tugging at a strand of her hair.
“You look beautiful.” He studied her with a smile. “I didn’t get a good look at you before your run-in with the rosebush, but I think I might prefer it down.”
“Really? I never wear it down.”
“No? That’s a shame. You have lovely hair.”
“I can’t stand when it gets in my face.”
“May I?” He picked up a pin and gestured to her hair.
“You want to do my hair for me?” she asked, amusement and surprise mixing in her tone.
“I have three sisters.” He lifted the hair away from the left side of her face and secured it with several pins, then did the same on the other side.
“Three sisters?”
“I told you I’m the youngest of five. There.” He sat back and surveyed his work. “Not bad, if I do say so myself.”
Ruby reached up to touch her new hairdo. “I think I like it. I might change my mind when I see myself in a mirror, though.”
He lifted his hands in front of him. “I’ll take no offense if you hate it. Shall we go find a mirror, then?”
“I suppose I’ve hidden out here in the gardens long enough.” She stood, smoothing her hands over the front of her dress. “It’s been nice chatting with you, though.”
“Do you really not want to dance, or did you just not want to dance with Lester?” he asked, holding out his elbow.
She slipped her hand through it with a small smile. “So polite. I’m not much of a dancer, I’m afraid, but my objection was mainly to dancing with Lester.”
“In that case, after you freshen up, would you care to dance?” He gave her his most charming smile.
“I’d love to.” Her eyes twinkled in the moonlight.
“Excellent.” They walked into the ballroom, arm-in-arm. The band played a lively tune at one end of the room, and the dancefloor was packed. At the center, he could see the bride and groom. He nodded toward them. “They look like they’re having a good time.”
“They sure do.” Ruby’s face lit with a smile, and Flynn’s breath caught in his throat. “What?” she asked.
“I just got my first look at you in actual light, and I had no idea I’d been sitting outside with the prettiest woman at the party.” He nudged her shoulder playfully. Ruby scoffed at his compliment, but he wasn’t joking, not this time. She was lovely, with her dark hair cascading over her shoulders, pinned back to accent her heart-shaped face and those rich chocolate eyes shining behind her glasses. Ruby wore a floor-length pink dress—a bridesmaid’s dress—and it hugged her petite frame just right.
“I’m going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be waiting.” He turned toward the bar, only to see his mother waving him over.
“Flynn,” she called. “There you are.”
And he felt a bit like Ruby had in the garden when Lester Mayberry caught up with them, because there was a woman standing beside his mother, a blonde in a knee-length black dress smiling shyly in his direction.
“Darling, this is Polly Creekmore,” his mother said. “Polly, this is my son, Flynn.”
He glanced over his shoulder in the direction Ruby had gone. This time, it would be her turn to save him.
* * *
Want to Keep Reading?
About the Author
Rachel Lacey is a contemporary romance author and semi-reformed travel junkie. She's been climbed by a monkey on a mountain in Japan, gone scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and camped out overnight in New York City for a chance to be an extra in a movie. These days, the majority of her adventures take place on the pages of the books she writes. She lives in warm and sunny North Carolina with her husband, son, and a variety of rescue pets.
* * *
Rachel loves to keep in touch with her readers! You can find her at:
RachelLacey.com
Twitter @rachelslacey
Facebook.com/RachelLaceyAuthor
Newsletter (sign up for a free book plus exclusive news and giveaways!)