The stables were far better tended and in better shape, and the horses were magnificent. The park was almost completely overgrown. The butler’s cottage was very comfortable, under an inch of dust that made Joachim cough when he visited it.
The main house was quite large, though not enormous. There was a very old maid and her granddaughter from the village. Two very lazy gardeners, who were lounging about doing nothing, and that would have to change. And the cook was a jolly heavyset woman who said she had been there for thirty years, and Joachim could smell alcohol on her breath when he approached her. The three women’s uniforms were frayed and dirty, and they needed a good polishing too. The challenge appealed to him, after the work he had done on the chateau with Olivia. This was a much smaller scale venture, with potentially good results, but the chateau had prepared him for it. He wished he could talk to Olivia about it, but they hadn’t parted well, and he didn’t feel comfortable calling or writing to her. He realized now that his mother was right, and it was a mistake to leave people badly. As far as he knew, he had burned his bridges with her, and he wondered how she was doing with the chateau. He hoped things were going as smoothly as possible and she had found someone to help her.
He liked being back in the English countryside, though. It was familiar to him after all his years in England. The estate in Sussex had never been as beautiful and dignified as the Cheshire homes, nor as well kept, but he thought he could make something of it and restore some of its original dignity.
“What do you think?” Halsey Mount-Williams asked him after Joachim had walked around the houses and property for two hours. He had left him alone until then, and he had been impressed by Joachim’s credentials. They were flawless, unlike his own.
“I think there’s great potential here, sir,” Joachim said cheerfully.
“We don’t want to spend too much money maintaining it, mind,” Mount-Williams reminded him, “except what the tourists see.”
“I’m quite resourceful and can do a lot of it myself. A bit of paint, a hammer and nails, a good scrub and you might even be able to charge more for the tours.” His future employer clearly liked that idea. “And your horses are magnificent.” Mount-Williams beamed at that.
“Beauties, aren’t they? We have a breeding program and have had some very promising results with our racehorses. No huge successes so far, but we’re getting there.”
“I’m sure you will,” Joachim said quietly.
“So do you want the job?” He hoped he would. He couldn’t manage the place himself and didn’t want to.
“Very much, sir.”
“Excellent! When can you start?”
“Tomorrow,” Joachim said with a smile. All he had to do was notify the agency, lock up his flat, and drive back to Sussex. “May I stay in a bedroom in the main house for a night while I get the butler’s cottage in order?” he inquired politely.
“Take any one you like, except mine.” He laughed heartily, and went back to the stables a moment later. Joachim thought he’d be an easy man to work for and wouldn’t interfere. On his way back to London, he thought about what he wanted to do, and the next day he drove back to Pembroke Manor, his new home. There would be lots to do, to keep him busy. He was looking forward to it. He had a job and could turn his mind to that instead of his recent losses, his dead brother, and the job he had given up to come here. But at least his mother and Olivia would be safe now, with him away. And cleaning up the house and property would be a challenge. It wasn’t as grand as the chateau, but it was enough for him. He was relieved to be employed again, and as a proper butler. He’d never been a butler at a tourist attraction before, which seemed a little undignified. But why not? The key to life was being flexible and taking on new challenges. It was going to be an adventure.
Chapter 16
Anatole, the assistant Olivia had hired, was a lovely, gentle person. He was polite to everyone on the phone and was sweet to Fatima. He was kind and helpful and showed up at work every day with some delicious pastry he had made earlier that morning, or croissants, and whenever she was at home at lunchtime, he made Olivia a delicious lunch. He kept her desk and his own impeccable, but he was terrified of the workmen, who bullied him and followed none of his instructions at the chateau. He was useless to her there.