'You're here!'

'Damn,' Harrison said, getting out of the car and grinning at his exuberant young brother. 'I knew I'd taken the wrong turning. I was hoping to be in New York.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Luke bear hugged him.

'Been working out?' Harrison raised an eyebrow and looked Luke up and down, holding him at arm's length now. Luke spent every spare hour in the gym or in the pool. Appearance meant a great deal to him. It still amazed Harrison how different they were. Harrison couldn't care less about such things.

Luke shrugged nonchalantly and grinned. 'Oh, you know. You should try it bro. You're getting on a bit now. You don't want to end up like the old man.'

Harrison stiffened at the mention of their grandfather but he continued the friendly banter. 'Not so much of it, kid. Thirty-eight is the new eighteen. Haven't you heard? Which makes you about five. So say hello to Kiki and run along like a good boy and tell Daphne we're here.'

Luke's grin broadened. 'I told her the minute I heard your car.' He tipped his head to one side and smiled at Kiki. 'Hi Kiki. Welcome to the dungeon. It's a jolly place, as you can see. We don't have any staff other than Daphne and a couple of people who do the cleaning. Oh, and a gardener. But Daphne's the only one here at this time of the night, so if you need a hand with your bags, it'll have to be mine.'

Kiki smiled. 'Hi, Luke. I can manage, thanks.'

'That Merc sounds like it's on its last legs, too,' Luke said, returning his attention to Harrison. 'Isn't it time you traded it in for a new one?'

Harrison opened the boot and handed a plain black leather holdall to Luke. 'It's a vintage Mercedes. You don't trade in vintage cars for new ones. Haven't you learnt anything from all your years living here with the old man?' He grabbed a second matching holdall which he threw over his shoulder along with Kiki's Louis Vuitton one and put her matching suitcase on the ground, extending the handle before grabbing his laptop bag and handing it to Luke. 'Guard that with your life.' A moment later they all headed towards the house.

'Most people don't drive their vintage cars around in the snow.' Luke gave him a mock look of disapproval.

'Ah. So you have learnt something. You believe things of value should be hidden from sight and only brought out to show off to everyone before being locked away again. I don't follow that philosophy. I believe if you own something lovely you should enjoy it.'

Luke peered around Harrison and grinned at Kiki. 'Did you enjoy the drive down here? I bet you'd have preferred to be in my brand new BMW, wouldn't you?'

'Not with you at the wheel, no.' She threw him a smile. 'Where is it?'

He gave a bark of laughter and darted a look at Harrison. 'Locked away in the garage. But only because it was such a fantastic present from my big bro and I want to look after it.'

Harrison tutted. 'You've crashed it already, haven't you? How long did that take? You've only had it for five weeks.'

Luke shoved the front door further open with his backside and frowned. 'I haven't crashed it.'

Harrison raised his brows. 'Really?'

'Yes. Really. It's in the garage because of this weather. Snow does untold damage to paintwork you know.' Luke put the holdall on the floor and sighed. 'Oh, okay. But it's only a tiny scratch. Hardly visible, in fact. And it happened today. Because I was rushing to be back here in time for your arrival. I thought you'd get here around five, not well after eight. Some idiot had parked outside Dobbie's and the wing mirror caught mine as I drove by.'

Harrison shook his head. 'Don't you mean you hit the wing mirror of the other car as you sped past? I assume you stopped to check if you'd done any damage to their vehicle?'

'In this weather? It was during the blizzard we had earlier and I'd gone past before I realised. Anyway, I only clipped it so at worst, it'll have a tiny scratch, like mine. Hardly worth exchanging insurance details for that.'

'But worth offering to pay for the repair, if necessary. God, Luke. Don't turn out like the old man and think you can just breeze through life and run over anyone or anything that gets in your way.'

'I don't. And I'm nothing like Grandfather, believe me. I didn't think, that's all. I was in a rush and it's not the first time I've clipped wing mirrors. It never causes much damage.'

'Even so. Did you recognise the car? Was it someone local?'

'I could hardly see it in the blizzard. But if it'll make you happy, I'll ask around tomorrow and if I find out whose car it was, I'll offer to pay for the damage. Okay?'

'Good. Ah, Daphne. Hello. How are you?'

'Good evening, Harrison. I'm well, thank you. And yourself?'

'Fine thanks. This is Kiki, my assistant. And friend,' he added hastily as he walked towards the ornate, central staircase. 'Which room have you allocated? I may as well take the bags up straight away.'

'The Rose room.' Daphne turned and smiled at Kiki. 'I hope you like it. It's one of the most feminine and has a beautiful view over the rose gardens at the side of the house and down towards the park. No roses at this time of year of course, but the winter bedding is always colourful although due to all this snow, you can't even see that at the moment. But the room gets the early evening light and it's bright and cosy. It's also close to Harrison's and I thought, as you're here working, you'd want to be nearby.'

'Absolutely. Thank you, Daphne,' Kiki said. 'I'm sure I'll love it.'

'The Rose room?' Harrison hesitated for a milli-second, halfway up the stairs. 'No, that's fine. Follow me, Kiki and I'll show you.'

She hurried after him and as they turned right at the top of the stairs and walked along the hall, she said, 'Oh wow. They've all got little paintings below the names. And such pretty writing. Which room is yours? Or does it have 'Harrison's room. Keep out' and a painting of a skull and crossbones or something below it?'

He grinned at her and nodded at a door with the words, 'Lake room' in beautiful, calligraphic handwriting, above a tiny painting of a lake. 'That's mine. It overlooks the lake, oddly enough.'

They also passed 'Sundown room' before they reached Kiki's, and Harrison waited for her to ask.

'Whose room is that one?'

'Luke's.'

'So where's your grandad's room?'

'At the other end of the house. He's in the 'Twilight room'. Which is actually quite apt in so many ways.'

'And Daphne's?'

'Willow room. It overlooks a willow bed. But they're not all named for their view. Some, like the Floral room, are named for the internal decoration.'

'Fascinating.'

He grinned at her. 'You mean boring. But it's better than having a number on each door, and with twenty bedrooms, it could easily get confusing.' He opened her bedroom door and switched on the light and then, almost to himself added, 'I'd forgotten how beautiful this is.'

'Twenty bedrooms? I didn't realise it was so big. I mean, it looks it from the outside but even so. Your grandad must be loaded to keep this place going.'

'What? Oh yes. It certainly isn't cheap. I'll leave you to get settled in, but you won't have long. Luke wanted us to have dinner with him and that'll be at nine. Hopefully, the old man will have eaten earlier so he'll only join us for a drink beforehand, and he'll go off to his room. Come downstairs as soon as you're ready. Let Daphne know if there's anything you need.'

Kiki smiled and glanced around the room as she entered. 'Wow. I feel as if I've stepped back in time. I should've brought a flapper dress and long strings of pearls. Is there an en suite?'

'No need to look so panicked.' He walked towards one of the walls which were covered in hand-painted, rambling roses and pushed one of the rose buds. A door swung open revealing a fully equipped, relatively modern bathroom, along with a claw-foot, bath. 'The en suites were added in the early nineteen hundreds and several were hidden like this one. Purely for aesthetic reasons. Prior to that there were more bedrooms, but many were divided up to form the en suites. Most have been updated recently. See you downstairs.' He smiled at her and left.

Only as he went into his own room and took in the sheer beauty of it did he realise that Kiki hadn't said she liked her room. His boasted intricately carved woodwork, ornate ceiling, antique light fittings, large, Georgian windows and original shutters. And the Rose room was one of the prettiest in the house. In fact, it had been Juliet's room when she and her family had lived at The Grange. He could remember her telling him that she loved the view over the park, down to the church, and the river, the old stone bridge, and the apple orchards beyond.

His fists clenched unwittingly and he could feel the tightness in his jaw. He should've had a word with Daphne about the rooms. He shouldn't have allowed Kiki to have that one.

He cursed himself under his breath. He was being ridiculous. It was a room, not a living, breathing thing with feelings and memories. The room wouldn't care who slept in it and Juliet would never know.

Even if by some chance they bumped into one another while he was here, they were hardly likely to discuss The Grange. In fact, they were hardly likely to discuss anything. They weren't on speaking terms. They hadn't spoken for twenty years.

But if, by some miracle they did, would Juliet be likely to admit she had been wrong? And could he, even after all this time, forgive and forget the things she said?

He dumped his bags on the floor, shrugged off his coat, slung it over an armchair and turned to head back downstairs. Why was he even thinking about Juliet bloody Bell? He was obviously tired. What he needed was a drink or two, and a good meal. Followed, perhaps, by a game of billiards with Luke.

He shot a glance at the closed door of the Rose room before marching down the stairs. Perhaps one of the other bedrooms could be made up. After all, Kiki didn't seem exactly thrilled by the room. She might actually prefer to be in one of the others.

He'd have a word with Daphne and see.