A Year With the Millionaire Next Door Read online

  Gosh, but he looked good in candlelight. The flame brought out the blue in his eyes. Thank goodness for the menu or she’d lose herself in them.

  The meal passed in a blur of conversation. Linus entertained her with stories of his childhood. So different from hers. Linus and his brother were clearly close, as evidenced by the antics they got into. Even Susan, the so-called outsider, was involved in some of the adventures.

  One obvious thing was the role tradition played in their upbringing. Colliers was more than a family business. It was the family identity.

  “Did it ever occur to you to do something different? Work someplace else?”

  “Of course. We all did. Thomas even went north and played carpenter for a few years. Grandfather may have talked our ear off about legacy, but we were always free to go someplace else if that’s what we wanted. It’s only by sheer luck that I happened to love chemistry.”

  “Your family wouldn’t have cared if you decided to design women’s shoes or become a barista instead?”

  He thought for a moment before answering. “Hard to say. Father was devastated when Thomas didn’t join the company straight off, but he was the heir apparent. But Susan and me? I don’t think so. Not if that’s what I really wanted to do.”

  “You’re lucky,” Stella replied. He was free to be himself.

  “Let’s talk about something else.” She pushed her Cabernet aside. Once again, she’d let the alcohol go to her head and started saying stupid things. “Is there really a henge nearby?”

  A look passed over Linus’s face, but if he thought her behavior abrupt, he didn’t say so. “Across the street. Been here longer than the pub.”

  “I remember watching a cable show about Stonehenge when I was a kid. About all the mysticism and supernatural theories surrounding it, like how it’d been built by aliens.”

  He laughed. “We were all about those stories when we were kids as well. Some of the locals still believe them, at least the mysticism part. Why do you think there are herbs everywhere?”

  Sitting in the middle of their table was a bud vase with a sprig of dried flowers. Linus reached across and gave the stem a gentle touch with his finger. “Did you know that some people believe lavender can be used to attract love and happiness?”

  “Really?” What a nice thought. “You don’t?”

  “I think the plant has a very pleasant scent and that your olfactory sense reacts in very specific ways to different smells.”

  “Spoken like a true scientist.”

  “If the shoe fits,” he replied with a smile. “My siblings are the fanciful ones.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah. Thomas and his wife are convinced they were touched by some kind of magical influence.” For the next few minutes, he told her about their miraculous reunion following his sister-in-law’s accident.

  “Your brother really didn’t know she was alive?”

  “And Rosalind really had amnesia,” Linus replied. “Talk to the two of them, and they’ll insist Christmas magic was at play. For that matter, my sister, Susan, will tell you the same thing about her romance.”

  “While you have no magic at all. Poor baby.” She was only half joking. While she didn’t believe in magic any more than Linus did, it bothered her that he was the odd man out.

  “I’ll survive,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I don’t need to turn basic coincidence into anything deeper.”

  Maybe not, but what about feelings in general? While his siblings were falling in love, he was swearing off the emotion. The thought left her with an empty feeling. He deserved love as much as anyone. Without giving it a second thought, Stella covered his hand with hers—the way any friend comforting another friend would.

  “You might not need to, but you deserve the chance anyway,” she said.

  Linus stared at their hands for a second before rotating his so that their palms touched and gently closed his fingers around hers.

  When his thumb rubbed the outside of her little finger, Stella felt the touch all the way to her toes. If he were to lean across and kiss her right now, she would...

  “Hey, come with me.” His voice broke her thought. “I want to show you something outside.”

  They left the restaurant and went across the street. The night was quiet. With each step they took deeper into the field, the farther the sounds from the pub receded until eventually the only noises they could hear were their footsteps in the grass and the occasional snap of an animal in the brush. The full moon was like a giant silver lantern making it easy to see the outlines of the ancient stone rocks that formed the circle. What the moon couldn’t illuminate, the flashlight on Linus’s phone did. He kept the light trained on the ground so they wouldn’t lose their footing.

  As she walked along, Stella could see why people found the site special. The air definitely felt charged with something. Like a sense of anticipation.

  “Where are we were going?” she asked. “You’re not offering me up as a sacrifice, are you?”

  “Depends. Are you a virgin?” He gave her hand a squeeze.

  They had been holding hands since the restaurant. Linus claimed it was to keep her from stumbling. Stella didn’t care. Jokes about sacrifice aside, she found his grip reassuring.

  “Seriously?” she asked. “We’ve passed at least a half dozen of those large rocks. What is it we’re looking for?”

  “It’s a surprise. At least I hope it will be. Hopefully it still exists.”

  Again, Stella didn’t care. The wine, the air, the hand in hers were enough.

  They walked awhile longer in comfortable silence. Then suddenly, Linus spoke. “Ah, here we are. Watch your step.”

  It was a large tree in a nearby gully. Although they were buried by leaves, Stella could see bits and pieces of the root system as it spread across the ground like giant tentacles. Considering the roots’ size and range, the tree had to be ancient. “It’s a beech tree,” Linus said. “There are only a handful of them around. Supposed to have mystical properties. At least particular ones.”

  Letting go of her hand, he stepped behind her and shone the light upward. Stella gasped. Ribbons of every color and size adorned the branches. Some were old and tattered, others new.

  “What are the ribbons for?” she asked.

  “Wishes and desires.”

  “Like a wishing well, only with branches and ribbons.”

  “Precisely. I’d forgotten about it until you mentioned magic.”

  Stella watched the ribbons moved in the breeze. With the moon overhead and the silhouettes of monoliths behind them, the branches looked almost otherworldly.

  She tilted her head farther back, even though it strained her neck. Linus was gazing upward, too. “Did you ever make a wish and tie a ribbon?”

  “Once, when we were kids.”

  “Do you remember what you wished for?”

  “Probably a chemistry set or to be a starter on the football team. Something that seemed very important at the time, I’m sure.”

  The wishes of children. Stella tried to imagine Linus as a little boy with little-boy dreams. “I’m sure I’d have wished for something equally earth-shattering.” She thought of all the times she’d tossed pennies into fountains with the hopes she’d be as good as her siblings at some endeavor.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have any ribbons or we could leave a wish right now.”

  “That’s all right.” The pennies never worked; why would a ribbon? Although she was curious. “What would you wish for if we did have ribbons?”

  “Me?” She felt him shrug. “A new chemistry set?”

  “Seriously,” she replied. Even if she didn’t believe in wishes, the surroundings called for honesty. She knew what she’d wish for, for him.

  His ensuing silence lasted for so long, she was afraid he wasn’t going to a
nswer. Finally, in a soft voice, he said, “I would wish to be better. A better brother. A better person. Just better.”

  Oh, Linus. What he should wish for was the ability to forgive himself. As far as Stella was concerned, he was good enough as is.

  “What about you?” he asked. “What is your heart’s desire?”

  To know my heart’s desire.

  The thought sounded clear and loud in her head. Stella pushed it aside. The thought didn’t even make sense. “To be happy,” she said instead. Again, the thought came out of nowhere. What she should have said was “to become a major player in the world financial market.” Something concrete and in keeping with her goals. Wishing for happiness was as nebulous as wishing for peace on earth.

  She started to clarify herself when Linus’s hand settled on the back of her neck. Cold skin met cold skin, sending warm shivers down her back. Her knees very nearly buckled. “I hope you get your wish,” he said. “I want you to be happy, too.”

  And then he kissed the top of her head.

  They walked back in silence. Linus didn’t hold her hand this time. He wanted to, but after their interlude under the tree, signs of affection felt presumptuous. Especially since his initial answer to Stella’s question had been “you.” He would wish for Stella, in his arms. Exactly the kind of wish he had no business making for a number of reasons. Starting with the fact that she needed a friend, not an affair. And so he wished to be better, because better was what he needed to be.

  Even though what he wanted was to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. He licked his lips and imagined the taste of her. Imagination: the price of being better.

  Stella finally broke the silence in the car, a half kilometer from home. Until then, she’d stared out the window with a faraway look on her face.

  “Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said. “I’m glad you talked me into going.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” It struck him just how much satisfaction he gotten out of the evening. Making Stella smile gave him a rush, not dissimilar to the thrill he used to get from the chase, only he wasn’t looking to gain anything further from the outcome.

  “Don’t tell Mrs. Churchill, but I’m glad we forgot her casserole in London.”

  The casserole. He’d pushed that part of the evening out of his head. Did he want to ruin such a good evening? “About that...” Might as well tear the bandage off now. She was going to find out regardless. “I’m afraid I might have fibbed a bit.”

  “Fibbed how?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed.

  “The cooler. It might be in the kitchen back at the house.”

  “You lied?”

  He preferred to think he misrepresented the truth for a greater good. “Only when it was obvious you weren’t going to say yes otherwise. And I really wanted to take you out this evening.”

  Stella huffed and folded her arms. “I don’t like being lied to.”

  “I’m sorry, but I meant what I said. I only lied when I realized you weren’t going to say yes unless backed into a corner. If I hadn’t, you’d have spent the night up in the attic and left me to hang with Teddy.”

  “Don’t try to guilt me,” she said.

  “I wasn’t trying to make you feel anything.” Perhaps he was trying for a little guilt, but she couldn’t say he wasn’t speaking the truth. She would have worked all night. “I lied because I wanted to spend some time with you, pure and simple.”

  “You could have just told me. You didn’t have to play games.”

  “Would that have changed your mind?”

  Stella didn’t answer. In the dark, it was impossible to see her expression, but Linus imagined her jaw to be tensed.

  Way to go, Collier. First real female friendship he’d ever had, and he’d mucked it all up. Why didn’t he come out and say he wanted to spend time with her?

  Because then it would feel too much like asking her on a date, that’s why. He didn’t want her to feel that kind of pressure.

  Or was he simply afraid she’d say no?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE FRONT OF the house was dark when he parked the car, including the exterior lights. Only a glow coming through from the rear of the house indicated anyone was home.

  The car engine had barely stopped when Stella threw open the passenger door. “I’m going to get Toffee and head to bed.”

  “Stella, wait...”

  She shut the door on his sentence.

  Fortunately, the front door was unlocked. They let themselves in, and Linus felt along the wall until he found the switch. “Teddy? We’re back.”

  There was no answer.

  “Looks like someone fell asleep in front of the telly,” he said. Or passed out. A daylong diet of gin and tonics could do that to a person.

  Still bent on ignoring him, Stella marched off in the direction of the library. Linus headed toward the stairway. No sense trying to talk tonight. He’d wait until she got a good night’s sleep, as well as a few hours’ work under her belt, and then he’d talk to her. Maybe—hopefully—by the end of their drive home, things would be back to normal. If not... His stomach grew heavy.

  He had one foot on the stair when Stella’s voice cut through the house.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Stella entered the library in time to see Teddy crouched in front of an open French door. At the sound of her voice, he jumped up, Toffee clutched to his chest. The cat reacted to the sudden movement by scrambling up and over his shoulder, landing on the sofa before running full speed out of the room.

  “That was almost a disaster,” Teddy said. “Thank goodness she ran down the hall. You should know better than to holler like a banshee, Miss Russo.”

  “Excuse me?” She should know better? He was the one she’d caught standing in front of the open door.

  Linus came running down the hall. “What’s going on? I heard Stella yell, and then the cat nearly tripped me trying to run upstairs.”

  “I caught Teddy here trying to put Toffee outside,” Stella told him.

  Teddy’s nostrils flared. “I did nothing of the sort.”

  “I saw you crouching in the doorway. What was the plan?” she asked as she shut the door. “Put her out in the woods and hope she got lost for good? Maybe get eaten by a badger?” With Toffee lost in the woods, he would be the heir.

  She knew she should have stayed home.

  “How dare you! What kind of man do you think I am?”

  “A person who stands to inherit eleven million pounds if Toffee disappears,” Linus said.

  “I don’t need your help,” Stella said. It was partly his fault Teddy was alone with Toffee in the first place. If having dinner with him hadn’t sounded so appealing...

  “For your information, I was protecting Etonia Toffee Pudding. She very nearly got outside,” Teddy said.

  “And why was the door open in the first place?” Stella asked. He couldn’t fool her. The man was trying to shoo Toffee outside hoping she’d get lost in the woods. One lost cat would mean payday for him.

  “Earlier in the evening, there was an issue with the fire, and the room became smoky. I opened the door a crack to air the room out. You remember, Collier. You were with me.”

  Stella looked at Linus. He gave her a sheepish nod. “He’s right. There was a backdraft.”

  “Unfortunately, the door must not have latched tightly when I closed it, and it blew open with the wind. Thankfully, I was coming in to turn out the lights when I saw Etonia Toffee Pudding sniffing the ground outside. I had just managed to lure her in when you screamed like a banshee, scaring us all.”

  When he finished, Teddy stood and waited for her apology, arms folded across his midsection. There was a pull in his sweater from where Toffee had climbed over his shoulder. Stella was willing to bet there was a good long scratch on
the skin beneath as well.

  “What was Toffee doing in a room with an open door?” she asked.

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t my fault. She was sleeping on the sofa when I started my rounds.” Should she believe him? She’d already been lied to once this evening, and quite believably. Teddy could be lying to her as well.

  On the other hand, Teddy’s story made sense. And, Toffee had a history of sneaking outside when no one was looking. Witness her visit to Linus’s house this summer. And even if Teddy was lying, Stella had no proof other than her gut.

  “I’m sorry, Teddy. Forgive me.” As much as it galled her to apologize, she had to coexist with the man for the rest of her tenure. She couldn’t afford to get on his bad side. “I’m extremely protective of Toffee, as you can see, and that sometimes leads me to jump to the worst-case scenario. Thank you for making sure Toffee was safe.”

  “Well...” The older man made a production out of checking his cuffs. “It is important that the cat be protected at all costs. I should be grateful that you’re taking your job as seriously as you are. Therefore, I accept your apology.”

  “Thank you,” Stella replied. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find Toffee and get some sleep.”

  “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Linus asked when they were on their way upstairs.

  “You tell me. I’m not very good at sussing out lies these days.” She was still annoyed at him, too.

  Part of her felt like she was overreacting to the whole thing with the cooler. A casserole was hardly life or death. But it wasn’t what he’d lied about that had her angry; it was that he’d played her, like she imagined he’d played countless other women. She’d thought she was different.

  She wanted to be different.

  And there was the real source of her annoyance. She was upset because she’d allowed herself to fall under the night’s spell. To think that what they were sharing in Avebury was special.