Read Online Jumping in Puddles by Barbara Elsborg - Free Book Online

“Who’s he?”
    Her innocent look didn’t mean a thing.
    “A property developer who wants to buy this place.” Jago continued to the top floor.
    “I don’t work for a property developer.”
    “I don’t want to sell,” he muttered. He did and he didn’t. It had become a personal battle between him and the house.
    “You might have to. If all this becomes too much to handle, there might be no other option. Why don’t you sell but have it put in the contract that you keep a suite of rooms for yourself and maybe one for your brother?”
    Something Preston suggested, and Jago still wondered if she worked for him.
    “Because the integrity of the building would be lost. It wouldn’t be Sharwood Hall anymore but just a converted country house. It’s been in my family for four hundred years. I don’t want to be the one who loses it.”
    “But is it feasible to keep it as a home? Fantastic house that it is, it’s anachronistic to want to live here in the way your ancestors used to, unless you’re a billionaire.”
    “I don’t have to be a billionaire,” he snapped.
    “But there’s no income. What sustained these houses in the past was the income from land, but the land’s all gone, and nothing has taken its place. Even if by some miracle you managed to find the money to restore every part of it, how will you run it?”
    “I hope you’re not going to suggest I open an out-of-Africa experience, an adventure playground or an amusement park.”
    “Taking my cue from the way you’re sneering, no, though an adventure playground would pull in parents with kids. But you already have a possible source of income with the grounds. Henry says your parents occasionally let the public in. Why not do it on a regular basis? Why not consider opening some rooms to the public and sharing the others with lodgers, businesses, or charities?”
    Jago spun round to face her. “You make it sound easy. It’s not. This is my home.”
    “It’s your prison,” she said.
    He swallowed hard.
    As they moved from room to room on the top floor and Jago pointed out the broken molding, cracked plaster, rotten floorboards, and a whole catalog of problems that never seemed to get any shorter, it began to sink deeper into his head that he was trying to climb Everest without ropes or oxygen. He’d been blinded by the challenge of it, obligation and obsession becoming confused, and was still plodding on when he needed to stop and think about whether even achieving the summit was worth it. She was right. What was the ultimate plan? He’d been so busy negotiating obstacles he hadn’t looked beyond.
    He took Ellie into the turret room, and she gasped. “This is gorgeous.”
    She spun round with her arms outstretched, and as her hair shone in the sunlight the breath caught in his throat. She was gorgeous and smart and— oh God, I want her.
    “An artist would love to work in here. Or a princess with a spinning wheel or a girl with very long hair and a good-looking guy down on the ground she fancied.” She looked out of the window and gave an exaggerated sigh. “No one out there today.”
    She chuckled, and Jago couldn’t remember when he’d been that happy and carefree.
    “There was a leak in here yesterday.” He looked up at the ceiling. A mushroom-shaped yellow stain circled the light fitting.
    “Was that why you were on the roof? Fixing the tiles?”
    “Ah, it was you skulking in the garden.”
    “I never skulk. I was singing and dancing. I love the rain.”
    “I hate it.”
    “I could make you love it.”
    She stared straight at him, and Jago’s stomach clenched.

Chapter Five
    As Ellie stared at Jago, her heart galloped out of control. She needed to step back, and she could feel herself readying to step forward. This guy had been hurt too much. She’d make his pain worse. But I could at least make him happy now. And myself as well.
    One small step. Ellie lifted her heel, and he turned away. Disappointment clawed at her