One Bridegroom Required!. Sharon Kendrick

Чтение книги онлайн.

       CHAPTER THREE

      AS SOON as Luke got home, he phoned Doug Reasdale, his late uncle’s letting agent—a man he had just about been able to tolerate down the echoed lines of a long-distance phone call from Africa. He suspected that this time around he might have a little difficulty hanging onto his temper.

      ‘Doug? It’s Luke Goodwin here.’

      ‘Luke!’ oozed Doug effusively. ‘Well, what do you know? Hi, man—how’s it going? Good to have you back!’

      ‘After sixteen years away, you mean?’ observed Luke rather drily. He had met Doug once, briefly, when he had flown over for his uncle’s funeral earlier in the year. Luke and the agent were about the same age, which Doug had obviously taken as a sign of true male camaraderie since he had spent the afternoon being relentlessly chummy and drinking whisky like water.

      ‘It’s actually very good to be back,’ Luke said, realising to his surprise that he meant it.

      ‘So what can I do you for?’ quizzed Doug. ‘House okay?’

      ‘The house is fine. Beautiful, in fact.’ He paused. ‘I’m not ringing about the house.’

      ‘Oh?’

      ‘Does the name Holly Lovelace ring a bell?’

      There was a low whistling noise down the phone.

      ‘Reddish hair and big green eyes? Legs that go on for ever? Breasts you could spend the rest of your life dreaming about? Just taken over the lease of the vacant shop?’ laughed Doug raucously. ‘Tell me about her!’

      Luke’s skin chilled and he was filled with an uncharacteristic urge to do violence. ‘Is it customary to speak about leaseholders in such an over-familiar manner?’ he asked coldly.

      Doug clearly did not have the most sensitive antennae in the world. ‘Well, no,’ he admitted breezily. ‘Not usually. But then they don’t usually look like Holly Lovelace.’ His voice deepened. ‘Mind you—not that I think she’s much of a goer—’

      ‘I’m sorry?’ Luke spoke with all the iced disapproval and disbelief he could muster.

      ‘Well, she’s got that kind of wild and free look—know what I mean? Wears those floaty kind of dresses—but oddly enough she was as prim as a nun the day I took her to lunch.’

      ‘You took her out to lunch?’ Luke demanded incredulously.

      ‘Sure. Can you blame me?’

      Luke ignored the question. ‘And do you do that with all prospective leaseholders?’

      ‘Well, no, actually.’ Doug gave a nervous laugh. ‘But, like I said, she’s not someone you’d forget in a hurry.’

      Luke forced himself to concentrate on the matter in hand, and not on how much he was going to enjoy firing his land agent once he had found a suitable replacement. ‘What do you think of the current condition of the property, Doug?’

      Another nervous laugh. ‘It’s been empty for ages.’

      ‘I’m not surprised, and that doesn’t really answer my question—what do you think of the condition?’

      ‘It’s basic,’ Doug admitted. ‘But that’s why she got it so cheap—’

      ‘Basic? The place is a slum! The roof in the upstairs flat is leaking,’ he said coldly. ‘Were you aware?’

      ‘I knew there—’

      ‘The window-frames are ill-fitting and the furniture looks like it’s been salvaged from the local dump,’ interrupted Luke savagely. ‘I want everything fixed that can be fixed, and replaced if it can’t. And I want it done yesterday!’

      ‘But that’s going to cost you money!’ objected Doug. ‘A lot of money.’

      ‘I’d managed to work that out for myself,’ drawled Luke.

      ‘And it’s going to eat into your profit margins, Luke.’

      Luke kept his voice low. ‘I don’t make profit on other people’s misery or discomfort,’ he said. ‘And I don’t want a woman staying in a flat that is cold and damp. If she gets cold or gets sick, then it isn’t going to be on my conscience. Got that?’

      ‘Er—got it,’ said Doug, and began to chew on a fingernail.

      ‘How soon can it be done?’

      Doug thought of local decorators who owed him; carpenters who would be pleased to work for the new owner of Apson House. Maybe it was time to call in a few favours. And he suspected that his job might be on the line if he didn’t come up with something sharpish. ‘I can have it fixed in under a month!’ he hazarded wildly.

      ‘Not good enough!’ Luke snapped.

      ‘But good craftsmen get booked up ages in advance,’ objected Doug.