Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
I opened the car door for her with a small twist of my lips. “I’m not complaining. But out of curiosity, how does it come off?”
“I haven’t decided if I’m going to let you find that out yet.” She flashed me a grin before she got into the car and peered back up at me. “Nice car. Do you drive this one everywhere?”
“Rarely.” I closed the door on her and walked around the bright orange Aston Martin Vantage to the driver’s side, fighting back a laugh.
“I feel special,” she said when I got in.
I clicked my belt into place and started the engine. “You should. Nobody’s allowed in this car.”
“So why am I?”
“Your hero is a duke. You want him to be some magical, swoony bastard, I presume.”
“That’s about right.”
I put the car into gear and peered over at her. “Then he’s not going to take her for dinner in a Ford fucking Focus, is he?”
“I like those,” Ellie mused as I pulled away. “It was my first car. An old one, but it was a good car.”
“Would you like me to go and get a Ford Focus?”
“How many cars do you have?”
“Three,” I answered. “This one is more like my favourite toy. Grandma usually drives the Focus because it’s got all the up-to-date tech and she can park using the camera, and the Range Rover is usually for the farm stuff or long journeys.”
She adjusted her bag on her lap and shifted to look at me. “So what? This just stays in a garage? Collecting dust?”
“Oh, please. I’d never let her collect dust.”
“Let me guess, you’ve named her, too.”
“Sonia.”
“You named your car Sonia?” She opened her bag and pulled out her phone. “I’m writing that down.”
I grimaced. I should have expected that. “Do you have a recording device in there, too?”
“No, but if necessary, I have my phone.” She grinned. “This is a Vantage, right?”
“How did you know that?”
“I saw the Aston Martin badge. Also, I spend a ridiculous amount of time on the Internet researching literally everything, so I have a wealth of knowledge stored up here.” She tapped the side of her head then put her phone back.
“So you’re the perfect partner for a pub quiz, then.”
She nodded slowly. “I have been known to win a round or two.”
“I feel as though you’re not giving yourself enough credit there.”
“Nobody likes a braggart, Max.”
“Very true.” I turned off the road to Windermere and onto the one that would lead me to the steakhouse on the outskirts of the village.
“Where are we going?”
“The steakhouse.” My lips twitched. “It’s just outside Windermere. About ten minutes.”
“Okay, but you have to explain the name to me. The Windy Steakhouse? That’s the daftest name I’ve ever heard.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “It never used to be called that. It used to be The Black Bull Steakhouse.”
“See, that sounds like a restaurant.”
I’d give her that. “The problem is that the restaurant sits exposed at the foot of a small valley. The setting is incredible, and the views are absolutely stunning, but in the winter, it’s awfully windy.”
Ellie pressed her lips together. “The valley acts as a funnel.”
“Exactly. About… Oh, God, ten years ago, us locals started referring to it as The Windy Steakhouse as a joke and it was all we called it. We all knew what we meant, of course, but it became a bit of a problem for tourists. They never knew what restaurant we were referring to, and we always forgot to correct ourselves.”
“Stop.”
I shook my head, smiling. “I swear. They’d go there and turn around thinking they were lost when they found The Black Bull Steakhouse. So they changed the name.”
“Oh, my God.” She pressed her hand to her face, laughing. “I can’t believe that.”
I chuckled. “It’s true. Ask them when we get there. They’ll tell you the same thing I just did.”
“I’m going to. That’s the craziest way a restaurant has ever adopted a name.”
“What can I tell you? Windermere isn’t the sleepy little village people think it is.”
“Oh, yes. That renaming story was right up there with a rave on the town square.”
I laughed again, shaking my head as I turned onto the road that would lead us to the steakhouse. “You clearly haven’t experienced the wildness that is karaoke night.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ELLIE
Curiouser and Curiouser
“Karaoke night? I’m sure it can’t be wilder here than they are in London,” I replied, eyeing him speculatively.
Bloody hell, the man was handsome. His white shirt and dark blue suit were tailored so well it had to be illegal, and there was something in the way he carried himself.
The car was hot, too.
I was by no means a petrolhead, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate a good sports car.
Or a Ford Focus.
Max snorted. “I’m not ruining it for you. I think there’s one next week.”