Читать книгу The Perfect Hero: The perfect summer read for Austen addicts! - Виктория Коннелли, Victoria Connelly - Страница 11

Chapter Four

Kay was sitting in the estate agents, looking at the frowning face of Mr Piper.

‘I’m afraid we really don’t have much at all, not with your proposed budget, that is.’

Kay frowned back. She’d set aside a large portion of her inheritance to buy a seaside property and he was telling her it wasn’t enough.

‘There’s a little cottage out in the Marshwood Vale. It’s at the top of your price range, though, and only has two bedrooms.’

‘Are you sure there’s nothing in Lyme itself ? I’d really like to be in the town.’

Mr Piper shook his head. ‘Not with the sea view that you want. As I say, properties move very quickly here. It’s a popular spot with people looking for second homes and holiday rentals. Everything’s snapped up immediately.’

Kay puffed out her cheeks. She hadn’t reckoned on Lyme Regis being quite so popular. For a moment, she looked around the small office, eyeing up the overpriced cottages in which you’d be lucky if you could swing a catkin let alone a cat. They were all beautiful, of course, but there was nothing actually in Lyme Regis itself.

‘Perhaps if you looked further along the coast. How about Axmouth or Seaton?’

Kay shook her head. She hadn’t come all this way to end up in Seaton. Jane Austen hadn’t stayed in Seaton and she was pretty sure that there was no Cobb there.

It was then that her eyes fell on a property she hadn’t noticed before: Wentworth House.

Kay blinked in surprise. Wentworth – as in Captain Frederick Wentworth, the magnificent hero from Persuasion. Well, she thought, if that wasn’t a sign, she didn’t know what was. She got up from her seat so she could read the notes.

It had been a former bed and breakfast but needed ‘some modernisation throughout’.

A bed and breakfast. Kay had never thought of that. It was the perfect way to make a living by the sea, wasn’t it? Lyme Regis had been popular with tourists for centuries and that wasn’t likely to change in the foreseeable future and it was a sure-fire way to enable her to live by the sea – right by the sea judging from the photos of the place.

‘Can I see the details for this one?’ Kay said, pointing to Wentworth House.

‘Oh, I’m afraid that’s way above your budget,’ Mr Piper said.

‘Well,’ Kay said, ‘I could go a bit higher. I mean, if I can make a business out of it.’

Mr Piper opened a drawer and retrieved the details, handing them to Kay who looked them over quickly.

‘I’d love to see it,’ she said. ‘How about now?’

The startled look on Mr Piper’s face made Kay smile. She seemed to be doing nothing but startling men lately.

Mr Piper got up from his seat and muttered something about closing the shop. Kay just smiled. She had a feeling she was about to spend a rather obscene amount of money.

Wentworth House was only a short walk away and Kay’s eyes darted around as they made their way there. Lyme had the most wonderful shops. There were stores selling fossils, mouth-watering bakers, pretty boutiques and a delightful bookshop. But she was shopping for a house and she had to keep focused.

‘This is Marine Parade,’ Mr Piper told her a moment later as they walked along the pavement lined with ice-cream parlours that skirted the seafront. ‘Wentworth House is just up ahead.’

Kay’s eyes widened. Wentworth House, Marine Parade, Lyme Regis. She liked the sound of that address and immediately started to visualise the headed paper she could have made. She looked out across the sea and tried to imagine what it would be like waking up to that view every morning. Life in Lyme would be like a permanent holiday.

‘Here we are,’ Mr Piper said a moment later. They had arrived at Wentworth House.

It was a large Victorian building with bay windows at the front which would make the very best of the fine views. It was painted the palest of pinks like the inside of a shell, and it had a brilliant blue front door. And that was all that was needed really, for Kay was in love before she’d even crossed the threshold.

The door opened with two determined pushes and Mr Piper turned to look at her with a nervous smile. ‘Just needs a bit of oil,’ he said.

Kay nodded. She wasn’t going to let a drop of oil come between her and her dream home. Nor was she going to be put off by the strange musty smell which was like a cross between a wet dog and a peed-in bus shelter.

‘Just needs a good airing,’ Mr Piper said.

Kay nodded again, following him inside.

‘The breakfast room,’ Mr Piper announced as they entered a room at the back of the house.

Kay grimaced, thinking that she wouldn’t want to eat in there. The walls were covered in thick gnarly wallpaper that was the colour of nicotine.

‘Just a splash of paint here and there,’ Mr Piper said.

Kay nodded and he led her to the kitchen which was a long thin room in need of some modernisation. Still, it had everything she needed.

The rooms at the front of the house looked far more promising with a proper dining room and a living room, both with bay windows overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, the nicotine-coloured wallpaper covered the walls here too, but Kay could see beyond that to the rooms’ true potential.

Upstairs, there were six rooms, all en suite, and all in need of a bit of a makeover to bring them into the twenty-first century. There were tatty floral wallpapers with the edging peeling by the doors and window frames, there were carpets covered in dizzying swirls and – everywhere she looked – the ugliest brass light fittings she’d ever seen. It would all have to go.

But there was one thing about the house that didn’t need to be changed because it was absolutely perfect and that was the view. Wentworth House was situated in the very heart of Lyme Regis and that meant it had an unrivalled view of the Cobb. Kay gasped when she caught her first glimpse of it from the first bedroom she viewed. It was like a huge grey runway stretching out to sea and there were people walking along it today to enjoy the views just as they would have done in Jane Austen’s time.

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ she said to Mr Piper. ‘Hmm? Oh, yes,’ he said, noticing what she was looking at. ‘You’re in a very good position here,’ he said. ‘You’ve got the beach, the Cobb and plenty of shops and restaurants. If you really wanted to make a go of this as a bed and breakfast, you should have no trouble at all.’

Kay nodded. A bed and breakfast would be perfect. She could make a good living without having to leave her home which meant she could paint whenever things were quiet. And she liked working with people. Peggy had always been telling her how good she was with people.

‘I’ll take it,’ she said, realising that she’d be spending every penny of her inheritance if she bought it.

Mr Piper looked astounded. ‘But this is the first property you’ve seen.’

‘It’s the only one I need to see. It’s perfect.’

Mr Piper didn’t try to dissuade her. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘shall we get back and make a start on the paperwork?’

Kay smiled. She’d just bought a house – a six-bedroom house and a business venture on the seafront in Lyme Regis. Peggy would be so proud of her.