Page 4 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
He paused on the Low Bridge and let the sound of the running water wash over his senses, breathing in deeply, just for a second, before continuing over the bridge, and turning left towards the castle coach house. Adam Lowbridge was standing outside, staring up at the grey stonework in front of them.
Pavel faux bowed to his old friend. ‘M’lord.’
‘Piss off.’
They did this routine every time. He was never going to stop calling Adam by his official title as Baron Lowbridge and Adam was never going to stop hating it. ‘So this is the job?’
Adam nodded. ‘Yeah. Well, that’s the idea, but money’s not on our side.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve probably wasted your time.’
‘Come on.’ Pavel led the way into the coach house that stood just outside the gate to the main part of Lowbridge Castle. ‘Let’s take a look at least.’
‘I guess I can add it to the list of things we can’t afford,’ Adam muttered. ‘Bella thinks it’ll be fine.’
‘Of course it will.’ Adam’s fiancée, Bella Smith, appeared behind them in the doorway to the coach house. ‘People pay silly money for shepherd’s huts and yurts and stuff, don’t they? At least this has walls.’
‘Not necessarily watertight walls,’ Adam pointed out.
‘We’re really stuck,’ Bella explained. ‘We can’t do residential cookery courses because there aren’t enough accommodation rooms that are up to scratch.’
‘And without that we’re not bringing enough money in.’
Bella leaned into her fiancé’s shoulder. ‘Which means Adam is still in Edinburgh half the time for work to keep everything together.’
Pavel’s heart went out to his friends. He knew that from the outside everyone assumed that if you were a laird and you lived in a castle you couldn’t possibly have any financial worries at all. But he also knew that between a falling-down building and a looming inheritance-tax bill financial worries were a large part of his friends’ day. He looked around the coach house. The work wasn’t complicated but it also wasn’t a small job. Pavel sucked the air through his teeth.
Adam winced. ‘Oh, it’s never good when builders make that noise.’
‘Sorry. I mean it’s not massive, but there’s quite a bit of plumbing and all the light fittings down here are making me anxious…’
‘So, expensive?’
‘It’d be mates’ rates…’ Pavel did some rough maths in his head and named a figure.
Adam’s face fell. ‘Yeah. That’s what I thought.’
‘Too much?’
Bella closed her eyes for a second. ‘It’s fine. Maybe we could put people up in the house.’
‘Where?’ Adam asked. ‘You, me and Darcy are living in the main wing and the rest of the rooms upstairs are worse than out here.’
‘I know.’
‘What about the Dower House?’ Pavel asked. There was a cottage at the far side of the castle.
‘Earmarked for our new starter.’
‘You’ve taken someone on?’
‘To do marketing and events. And to help with the cookery school a bit. Apparently she’s a dab hand in the kitchen.’ Bella glanced at her watch. ‘Speaking of which…’
‘What?’ Adam looked blank.
‘Isn’t it time you went to pick her up? Train gets in at eleven.’
Adam frowned. ‘I thought you were picking her up.’
‘I’ve got a class.’
