“I guess you do.” He hated for her to have to deal with so much stress and wanted nothing more than to protect her from anything negative. Clem was the most precious thing of beauty he’d come across in a long time, maybe ever. He wanted to take care of her. He took her face in his hands and drew her to him, his lips closing in on hers in a sweet kiss.
For the rest of the afternoon, Edward made it his personal mission to take care of Clem. As the sun sank low in the sky, they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking behind the old mill, a place they both agreed was beautiful enough to work hard to preserve.
The next morning, Clem sat across from Edward in the dining room of the old castle, eating sweet rolls for breakfast and staring out the bay window at the breathtaking grounds. Edward was looking over paperwork of some kind, but Clem was taking a quiet moment to appreciate the beauty of the castle yards.
Edward placed his hand on top of hers. “You look lovely when you’re daydreaming.” He grinned. “What are you looking at?”
She nodded at the window. “I bet that garden used to be spectacular,” she remarked. Even though the fenced-off space outside the window was overgrown, she could see by the rusted metal stakes and the whitewashed fence enclosure that it used to be a garden. “Do you remember it at all from the summers you spent here?”
Edward looked up from his stack of papers and scratched his head. “I remember a gardener, maybe, but I’m not sure. I don’t know that I’d have noticed a garden.”
Clem smiled wistfully. Gardening was one of her most-loved pastimes. When she had time, she loved to get her hands in the dirt. Flowers were her favorite thing to grow, especially sunflowers, but she loved her vegetable garden in the summer as well. The patch of garden she could see from this window was just about perfect for any season.
“How peaceful would it be to just sit here over breakfast in the winter and watch the snow fall over the heather field, Edward?”
Edward huffed but didn’t look up from his work. “Let’s hope we’re not here when the snow falls,” he said. “We need to be finished by end of October. By then, I’ll be more than ready to get back to my condo, and I’m sure you’ll be itching to move back home.”
“You won’t stay on here after we’re finished?” Clem couldn’t imagine leaving this splendor if she didn’t have to. Sure, she missed seeing her dad on a daily basis, but there was something so special about being enveloped in the history of these walls.
Edward looked at her like she had three heads. “Why would I stay on, Clem? You do realize that this is a restoration job, nothing more. I may have learned to appreciate the beauty of old things because of you, but I don’t want to live in this old castle. I much prefer modern living.”
Clem sighed. Perhaps Edward’s passion for the old mill site had made her too optimistic. She hadn’t realized he was so disinterested in the project.
“I’m in no hurry, actually. I’m growing really fond of this place.”
He shook his head. “You can’t get too attached, Clem. I hired you for your expertise, not so you could get emotional about this old castle.”
“Well, I guess I’ve become emotionally attached on several levels here, Edward.” She eyed him defiantly. “I can’t help it that I put my heart into my work.”
He held a hand up. “And that’s probably what makes you so damn good at what you do, but it’s not healthy. When this project is finished, we’ll move on to something else.”
“We?”
“I, for one, am in no hurry to stop working with you. I think you know that by now,” he said. “Think about how great it will be for your family business, financially, to leave this job behind and move onto the next thing.”
She couldn’t argue with him that Wicke Salvage could certainly use the business, but somehow it felt funny to imagine this place, in its newfound splendor that they’d created together, without Edward living inside its walls.
“I guess you’re right,” she conceded. There was no use arguing with him. Her living arrangements here were temporary, so why should she worry about his?
“Speaking of future projects,” she began. “We’re getting close to finishing here. What’s coming up on the agenda for you? What do you want to do next?”
Edward touched Clem’s cheek, his fingers gently caressing the side of her face. “I know what I want to do next.” He gazed at her with hungry eyes, and she felt herself blush.
“I have a lot of work to get done today, Prince Edward.” She grinned at him, loving that she could tease him like this. “But if you really need me, you’ll find me.” She stood from the breakfast table and winked at him. She could feel his eyes burning into her backside as she sauntered away.
10
Later that afternoon, Edward found Clem working in the master suite. The master bath was in poor condition and needed serious renovation. Clem’s arms were covered in tile debris. It was even in her hair.
“Hey,” she said and smiled at him. He couldn’t resist the urge to kiss the white-dusted tip of her nose.
“You’re an adorable mess,” he said, the memory of their heated afternoon at the old mill fresh in his mind.
“Thanks. That’s why you hired me, right?” she joked. “You needed somebody who could still look good while they were covered in muck?”
“Absolutely.” He laughed. And damn, she looked good. “Hey, do you want to have dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
She placed a hand on her hip and challenged him with her eyes. “By dinner, do you mean sushi while we work, or do I actually have to change out of my overalls?”
“I was thinking we could eat at my penthouse,” he said, feeling almost shy about inviting her to his private residence. After what they’d shared yesterday, he probably shouldn’t feel that way, but he did. “I thought maybe you’d like to see where I live.”
She looked at him for a moment, not revealing any emotion. Was she going to refuse?
“So, I can wear my overalls then?”
God, she was something. Clem brought laughter and ease into his life. He hadn’t before realized how formal and stilted his life had become. She made it so easy to enjoy life and not be so serious.
“Great,” he said and beamed at her. “I’ll pick you up here at seven.”
Clem hadn’t expected him to be this rich.
But Edward was a prince. Maybe she should have anticipated it.
His penthouse was stocked with every bell and whistle from its smart-home capabilities that seemed to anticipate a person’s every need to its state-of-the-art appliances and sound system. Clem knew the kitchen itself must have cost millions.
Edward had no photos on his walls, only art.
“I’ve been collecting art for the last few years,” he explained.
His idea of art wasn’t exactly in accordance with hers, but to each their own. The splashy, brightly-colored piece looked like someone had spilled vats of primary school art supplies onto canvases then used a rake to spread it around. She couldn’t imagine what he’d paid for them.