Never Too Late (42 page)

“It’s so good to see you fully recovered,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Where’s Deefor?” Keela asked.

“Out with Iain for a walk.”

“Relations have certainly improved there, then.”

“They do seem to have come to an understanding,” Maggie agreed, “which is really great, and a big help when I’m busy, but when he’s with Iain I do miss that nose against my knee, or at least having him watch what I’m doing.” She looked over at Deefor’s bed wistfully. “Anyway, go on with you and get ready to eat.”

*

Chloe felt extremely nervous but was determined not to show it. This commission was make or break for her fledgling new career and she tried all the calming techniques she could think of from her PR days to ensure she came across as mature, professional, well up to the mark, however demanding her client might be. She was travelling to Berkshire alone as Iain had refused to leave Maggie’s side until he was convinced there would be no delayed reactions to her fall a week ago. Joel Sherringham had returned from the Sudan on a flying visit to ensure he had an input to what was to be his home. He was insistent on a site meeting before any work commenced.

When she pulled up outside the barn Joel came straight out to meet her. As he emerged from the darkness of the barn, the autumn sun brought out the tawny lights in his hair which curled below his ears. At over six foot tall, with an athletic build, he was quite disturbingly attractive. Chloe sat there for a moment trying to gather her thoughts. Professional, she admonished herself, totally professional. Joel opened her car door for her and watched appreciatively as she swung her legs out. He closed the door softly and held out his hand.

“Miss McTavish, I presume.”

“Chloe, please,” she shook his hand. “It’s good to meet you, Joel. I hope you’ll approve of the plans we have for your home.”

“If your exquisite taste in dressing yourself equates to how you dress a house I have every confidence we’ll agree on at least most points.”

His flattery made her blush, something that didn’t often happen, but she found him very attractive, very attractive indeed. There was a lithe grace in his movements. He was self-confident, easy in his own skin. She could imagine him effortlessly in control of any situation, a man you could depend on.

“I didn’t realise you were so old,” she blurted, and flushed even deeper. “Sorry, that came out all wrong, no I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all, I mean…”

“Stop digging Chloe,” he laughed. “If you’re in a hole don’t try and dig upwards.”

“No, sorry.”

“OK, rule one for today – no more apologies.” He raked the fingers of one hand through his thick mop of hair, head tilted and squinting sideways at her impishly. “Just to put the record straight, I believe you thought I was on a gap year or something similar.”

She nodded mutely.

“Actually I’ve been working abroad for about ten years. Now I’m ready to settle down back here. I’ve worked the wanderlust out of my system so this little baby,” he said, pointing over his shoulder at the barn, “is going to be my home for quite some time. That’s why we have to get it right.”

“I have Dad’s plans for the building and mine for the interior in car.”

“Is that why you got the commission for interior design? Keep it all in the family?”

The colour rushed to Chloe’s cheeks again, but this time for a different reason. “I got this commission on my own merits,” she told him sharply. “Your mother chose me for my ideas, not because I’m my father’s daughter. If you’d rather have someone else, well that is, of course, your privilege, but at least let me show you what you’d be missing!”

Joel raised both hands. “Whoah there. I was just teasing. Sorry!” He put on a mock sorrowful face. “There, you’ve made me break the first rule of the day already. How about you get out your plans and you can talk me through what the family firm have in mind for me?”

Chloe’s lips twitched. “Only if you stop teasing and take me seriously.”

“Deal.”

Inside the barn there were rough outlines marked on the floor. Chloe explained how the basic open plan for the ground floor worked, with a central kitchen area screened from the entrance hall but open on both sides, to the dining areas to the west and to a huge lounge to the east. Off the dining room was a quiet study room.

“Upstairs,” she explained, pointing first to the plan and then indicating the matching limits in the air above their heads, “will be the master bedroom there, and two other bedrooms that side, all en suite, of course. The stairs are glass and a glass walkway goes round there so that full height up to the oak rafters is open through this whole area here. You’ll have masses of light and brilliant views out across the gardens and woods beyond from any room in the house with these full, double storey height windows.”

“Won’t that rather compromise temperature control and privacy?”

“Not at all – high tech glass these days is incredibly thermally efficient and the bit I love is the remote or direct switch control for it. Any time you like you can turn a room’s section of it white opaque, or any colour or degree of transparency you like. It’s incredible, really cool!”

“What about heating in general?” he queried. “It’s all well and good having windows that don’t lose heat, but in the winter you need heat in here in the first place. That single central fire won’t do it and I don’t see any radiators marked anywhere.”

“Believe me, you won’t need them,” Chloe assured him. “We’ve just trialled a heat exchanger with under-floor heating and it works really well. Also, the house will be zoned for individual room temperature control. Heat loss will be minimized with top spec full insulation of the walls, floor and roof. If you need extra heat at any time you can use input from the gas boiler that provides hot water.”

Joel turned slowly, trying to imagine the overall design. “I’ll get the laptop,” Chloe told him. “You can have a look at the CG walk-through.”

They rested the laptop on a couple of straw bales and stood in front of it, side by side. Their heads were close as they viewed the computer generated images from every angle. Chloe was very aware of him and struggled to keep her mind on the screen.

“I’m impressed,” he finally admitted, taking a step back. “On the whole it’s looking really good. Your choice of furnishings and fixtures give it a very pleasing cohesiveness. I’m just trying to imagine the effect once I’ve got my favourite things around me too. The conversion can go ahead. I’m happy with that, but give me more time on the interior.”

Chloe switched off the laptop, feeling disappointed that he didn’t seem quite as impressed with her work as with her father’s. She tried to keep her expression neutral as they walked back to her car.

“Can I have a copy of the CG stuff?” Joel asked her. “I have to go back to Sudan tomorrow and I need a bit of time to consider what I’ve seen.”

“You can have a runtime version but you won’t be able to make any changes on it,” Chloe warned him. “Alternatively, if you want to trial any changes, you’ll need the software to run it.”

“I’ll buy it,” Joel agreed without hesitation. “I’ll need your email address and phone number as well.”

Chloe put her laptop in the boot.

“Before you go, though, would you have lunch with me?” Joel asked her.

“Before I go I’m going to check on progress on the main house,” she told him coolly. “My father will expect a full report.”

“I’ll come with you – I can give my father a full report then too,” he said with a grin. “Let’s leave the cars here and just walk up.”

The gently curved driveway was bordered with poplars which shivered and danced in the light breeze. Beyond them what had been fields showed evidence of new hard landscaping. Chloe called frequent halts so that she could mark off on her plans the progress made. Joel was very interested in all the details and perused the plans very carefully each time Chloe took them out. She was very conscious of how closely he stood, just behind her shoulder, his breath soft on her cheek each time he leaned forward to point to some specific feature marked there.

As they approached the house, the noise of men busy working with heavy machinery increased significantly. A lorry was being loaded with pallets of bricks, which Chloe told Joel were destined for his barn conversion.

“We salvaged them all from the farmhouse as they are such good quality and the perfect colour for the barn.”

“A lovely mellow colour,” Joel agreed. “It must have taken more time to save them but well worth it.”

“We saved the oak beams for you too,” Chloe told him. “Some of yours need replacing.”

The new build walls were already up to first floor height and a cement mixer was pouring in the basement level concrete. Chloe took Joel round the back to show him how the slope of the land was being used to give the basement indoor swimming pool very wide central windows to the rear patio and gardens. The design allowed them to slide right back into the walls, to give the illusion of indoors and outdoors being one on warm days.

The ground floor had full room height semi-circular windows. External stone stairs curved on either side down to patio level. The land dropped away sharply, so the views from any part of the rear of the house would command magnificent vistas over woods and fields down to the river.

Joel whistled appreciatively. “This is going to be quite stunning. I could almost be persuaded to change my mind about living with the parents for views like this.”

“Almost, but not quite, eh?”

“Precisely – my liking for privacy and independence takes top priority.”

“Not very independent to have Mummy and Daddy paying for a house for you though, is it.” The words were out of Chloe’s mouth before she could stop them, and blushed furiously. “I’m sorry, that was very rude.”

Joel burst out laughing. “Rule one! No saying sorry, even if you are jumping to unwarranted and totally incorrect conclusions. I’m paying for the barn conversion, which is why I get final say on all details pertaining thereto. I do admit, though, that they made a gift of the place in its current state to me, but I think that only makes us even when it comes to advantages gained from parents with money and influence.”

Chloe decided to give herself some space for a few minutes to regain her poise. “Excuse me, please, I must go and speak with the site manager about a few things.”

Joel watched her as she walked away from him. She was wearing a white silk blouse and caramel coloured skirt that moulded itself to her narrow waist, slim hips and nicely rounded buttocks. Firm muscles moved invitingly as she walked and he mentally rated her legs as a ten. Her blonde hair was caught up in a tortoiseshell clasp and his fingers moved as he imagined releasing it to let the locks fall for him to caress. Her body was most definitely all woman, even if she seemed still part child at times. Yes, an interesting mix, and he would be making full use of that email address while he was in Sudan.

When Chloe returned she found Joel had gone further down the rear garden to where an excavator was contouring a natural steep slope into a sheer drop. She struggled a little with her heels over the rough ground and almost gave up, but Joel urged her on. She grinned and removed her shoes, continuing barefoot.

“OK, I admit it; I’m not exactly attired correctly for a site visit. Not one at this stage of development anyway.”

“Have you got any sketches of what this will be like when it’s done?” he wanted to know.

Chloe shuffled through her folder. “I have the plan and a sketch here somewhere.” She drew out the correct papers and handed them to Joel. “At the top of the mini cliff will be a ‘spring’ which will cascade down a sheer twenty foot drop into an outdoor swimming pool. It will be deep enough this end to be safe to jump or dive from the top, and the shallow end will be over there in the curve of those trees. Over that side will be a summerhouse with bar and large refrigeration units, and barbecue area in front.”

“Now that will be a huge hit with Mum and Dad’s party loving friends. Thank goodness I insisted on my own place.”

“Don’t you like parties then?” Chloe asked, feeling a bit disappointed for some reason she couldn’t pinpoint.

Joel held her gaze for long moments. “I take it you are a party person? You can have too much of a good thing you know, Chloe. Life is about finding a balance, yin and yang, frenetic activity and peaceful reflection.”

“Well I certainly know about frenetic activity these days, and that doesn’t mean parties. I must get on, there’s a lot to get done today.”

“But you need to eat, however busy your day. Now do say yes to lunch with me – I hate eating alone.”

She looked at him steadily. “Does that make me someone you’d like to have lunch with, or a last resort because no-one else is available?”

“Most definitely the latter, I mean the former. Just teasing! Chloe McTavish, I would most definitely feel very honoured if you’d consent to dine with me. I want to get to know more about the woman whose thoughts and ideas will have an influence on me for many years to come.”

Suddenly it clicked in place in Chloe’s mind. Her father was right – if she was to create an environment her client would love, as opposed to one she thought was best, she had to be observant. She had to get to know her client’s likes and dislikes and adjust her designs accordingly. No wonder Joel hadn’t been bowled over by her work. By pure chance she and Marie were on the same wave length, but she should not have made assumptions about a son she hadn’t even met. And she really wanted to know more about this client in particular.

“Yes, Joel,” she told him with a smile. “I think lunch together is an excellent idea.”

*

Adam and Schez thought choosing to meet in the flat would give them some privacy, but no, they had been tracked down. They collapsed together in the big armchair, having just survived a visitation from Chloe, who these days was an absolute whirlwind. She was so full of enthusiasm, ideas and demands for decisions she was actually quite tiring company lately.

“Never mind, my love,” Schez comforted him. “Just a few more weeks and it will all be over.”