Chapter 1
I
"Ian?!"
"Yes?" He was called when he walked past the counter on his way out by his secretary slash desk clerk Karen.
"Are you going home?" Ian nodded. "I just got a call from the Freule."
"The Freule?" It was a small fire station and the people in the neighborhood immediately called the fire brigade for small things.
"Yes, her niece's cat has been in a tree for a few hours and she's afraid her niece will want to take it out herself."
"I didn't know she had a niece."
"Me neither. Anyway, her niece wants to take it out herself, but doesn't like ladders. Can you take a look? They have a ladder so you can just pass by with your own car before you go home."
"I'm on my way. It is irresponsible to let a child climb a ladder. You'll hear me when I'm done." He waved a quick goodbye and walked out.
Fifteen minutes later, he drove under the trees of an impressive driveway. In the distance, he could see the majestic mansion looming in a large lawn. He did not drive further up the circular driveway, but stopped at the beginning of the lawn because his gaze was drawn to the tree in the middle of the driveway, where a tall, skinny teenager with carrot-colored hair in breeches and a wide blouse was looking up and holding a ladder. Occasionally, she would put her leg on the bottom rung of the ladder and then back on the floor.
He opened the door of his car and heard her alternately talking angrily and pleading to something in the tree. Because of the dense leaves, he assumed he could not see the cat. He did see a cat, woolly and as red as her hair, sitting on the ground beside her.
"Hello," he shouted. She looked back with a jerk, her long braid swaying over her shoulder with the movement. As he got closer, he saw that she wasn't a teenager, but more his own age. Maybe a little younger, about six or twenty-seven, but it could also be thirty or maybe even twenty. As she folded her arms under her breasts, he could see that she wasn't as skinny as she looked. Well, she was skinny, but her breasts were bigger than he would expect at first glance to fit her body. Luckily, she couldn't tell that he had been staring at her breasts because of his sunglasses. This was not his habit. Only now probably because he was surprised. It was also because she had her arms folded under her breasts. Of course, that drew his gaze to it. Well, stop, he corrected himself. He said hallo again as he stood by her, took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the neck of his shirt. She nodded distantly.
"Can I help you?" She had a suspicious look in her eyes. He held out his hand, introducing himself.
"Ian, commissioner of the local fire department." Politeness commanded her to take his hand. It felt nice and pleasantly warm.
"Frederique. But again, what are you doing here and what can I help you with?" He nodded his head to the cat.
"I thought I could help you, but the cat is already out." She looked in the direction he had pointed and chuckled unexpectedly. Ian blinked. That smile!
She was a little too skinny for his liking, but what a beauty! He let his gaze wander over her. What he had seen as skinny legs were actually more muscular. Her legs looked strong under the fabric of the breeches. His gaze slid back to her face. She had light pink, almost pale skin and light eyelashes, the tips of which had been applied with some mascara. Her eyes were big gray pools, like the sea in a storm, almost too big for her face. She had full lips that now revealed even, brilliant white teeth.
She coughed uncomfortably. "If only it were so. No, we have two. She's not even that high, but I don't trust ladders." She pointed up. On the second lowest branch, a beige cat, also woolly, was lurking suspiciously down.
"If you tilt a ladder a little more, it makes it stand firmer, should you ever dare to climb a ladder," he said, placing the ladder a little more at an angle against the tree. He grinned teasingly and looked up. "I'm going to help you, sweetheart," Ian said softly and comfortingly. Frederique looked to the side, surprised by the sound of his voice. Ian took off his coat, shoved it into Frederique's hands and climbed upstairs, softly muttering sweet nothings to the cat.
With his palm outstretched, he distracted her to quickly grab the cat by the scruff of her neck with his other hand. He did not pick her up immediately, but took her from the branch with both hands and took her down under his arm. Once downstairs, the cat wriggled until he let go of her and she could jump away. Together with the red cat, she shot off. "Ungrateful as ever, isn't it?", laughed Ian. Frederique smiled back shyly.
She had gotten hot when she had seen him climb up. His muscles rolled vigorously under the dark gray firefighter's shirt. She also had a nice view of his firm buttocks this way. Her cheeks began to glow at the memory. And he was kind to her cat. The only man who spoke like that to the cats was her brother. She figured she had to respond and not gawk at him like a shy schoolgirl, so she nodded. "Hopefully she'll let it out of her mind now."
"Well, if it wasn't... Here you have my card. The Freule doesn't have to call the firestation."
"Oh, that's why you're here. I was wondering what you actually came to do. My aunt called..." Frederique sighed. "Right, well, I'm very grateful."
"I thought a girl of eight years old or so wanted to climb a ladder. I couldn't allow that."
"Right!" she said again, somewhat offended. Resignedly, she then said: "That's what I look like. Maybe not eight, but thirteen or so until you see my face." She laughed with self-deprecation.
"There's nothing wrong with it, is there?" Ian switched the subject before he said too much. He quickly said, "Hopefully she'll let it out of her mind now." Gee, he was repeating himself... "But I'm going to leave again." He found her very attractive. He held out his hand. "Maybe see you again." She took his hand. Their gazes intertwined. His gaze was soft and tender. It made Frederique feel very warm. They held each other longer than necessary until she shyly lowered her eyes. "Goodbye," she said, as he let go of her hand. Both of them rubbed their still tingling hands unconsciously.
"Did you know the Freule has a niece. Around our age, I guess, Lynn." Ian had driven to his sister and her boyfriend Roel and was standing in the kitchen nonchalantly with his hip leaning against the counter watching his sister cook.
"No," Roel answered, "but I have an appointment at the end of this week to check their horses. They weren't in our database yet, so I think the horses belong to the niece. I know from my father that de Freule's brother and his wife also lived there. They then moved to America because of the Baron's companies. Both died in an accident. They had two children who came to stay with their aunt from time to time. I don't know what the story is now. I'll see next week. Actually, how do you know she has a niece?"
"By the way, will you join us for dinner?", Lynn interrupted.
"If possible?"
"Of course," they both said at the same time. Lynn and Roel smiled at each other. Ian's heart squeezed a little. He wanted what they had.
"De Freule had called the station. Her niece wanted to get the cat out of the tree, but didn't like ladders. She acted like it was a little girl," he grinned. "Anything but that. I've just come from there. From afar she looked indeed like a teenager, but up close... Phew!"
"Handsome?"
"A pair of eyes in her face! She is tall, lean and muscular. Oh yeah and carrots colored hair."
"You're charmed by her." It wasn't a question. Ian smiled awkwardly at Lynn.
"Those eyes, Lynn!" Grinning, he turned his eyes upward. "Oh, and don't forget her smile."
"Just let's hope her cat climbs the tree again," Roel chuckled.
"Aunt Cat, you called the fire department! You wouldn't have had to disturb them for that, would you? Eventually I had found the courage to climb that ladder. Maybe you should have helped out and held the ladder."
After the firefighter had driven away, she had dashed inside to find her aunt in her elegant office, sitting at the secretary's desk, busy dealing with her business correspondence. Catherine looked at her niece with wide-open eyes. What was she thinking?
"Umph, holding on a ladder," she grumbled softly, shaking her head. Then out loud: "Child, even then you would have been at the top of the ladder, had to let go of it to catch the cat, which you did not dare, which would cause the cat to sit even higher. If she had come downstairs, it was because she had fainted on an empty stomach." Catherine laughed softly. Frederique's head dropped and she sighed. Knowing that her aunt was right.
"Hopefully she'll let it out of her mind now."
"You shouldn't count on that. They are cats. On one hand very wise, on the other hand..." Her Aunt Cat shook her head again. "But it would be nice to meet this handsome young man again, wouldn't it?" She looked sharply at her niece and saw her blush.
"Have you been peeking?" Because of her light skin, she quickly turned a color, more out of anger or agitation, but never before did she blush because of a young man. Mmm this could get interesting. If the cat didn't climb the tree, she would come up with something to lure this boy here. She was looking forward to it.
"A lady doesn't peek."
"Umph." Frederique made the same noise as her aunt and turned around with a jerk, causing her braid to swish around her again. "I'm going to the horses." Yes, yes, just walk away. Catherine laughed softly to herself.
A few days after his visit to the mansion, an unknown number called Ian. He was in the hospital where he and his cousin Colin had an alternative practice for a few hours a week. He, his nephew and his sister had the same kind of gift as Lynn who could communicate telepathically with animals, she called it mind-linking, only they used it to help people. They also helped them with Reiki. He was just updating his last client's file when his cell phone rang. "Ian," he said somewhat absently, clutching the phone between his ear and shoulder.
"Good afternoon, Frederique Storm speaking. Is it convenient for me to call you?" Ian's heart skipped a beat when he heard her sweet, shy voice in his ear.
"Of course." He sounded a little absent-minded because of his reaction to her voice.
"What can I do for you?"
"I'm sorry, but she climbed the tree again."
"Okay. Then I'll get to it. See you soon."
"Thank you. I'm sorry, Jerry, our manager in the barn isn't here, our part-time employee is just as much of a hero as I am and the Butler is a bit older. My brother won't be home until tomorrow." She found herself rattling. It had taken a lot of courage to call. Lykke had been in the tree since last night.
"No problem, you'll see me in half an hour."
Ian completed the file, closed his laptop and happily went on his way. He caught himself looking forward to seeing her again.
In just under half an hour he drove up the beautiful avenue with majestic old trees on both sides. He parked in the same spot as the first time, when his cell phone went off. A client. He had to answer it. As he was talking, he looked at Frederique who was at the bottom of the tree talking to the two cats, one in the tree and the other next to her, leaning against her legs, instead of finding the courage to climb up. He ended the conversation, made a note of the appointment, and continued to look at her for a while. She was wearing her breeches again, but instead of boots, she was barefoot. She walked over to him hesitantly and he quickly stepped out while sticking his sunglasses back into the collar of his, this time, neat white polo shirt. "I got a call," he said, pushing his cell phone into the pocket of his gray bleached jeans. He held out his hand. "Hello, she's naughty again," he said. She couldn't help but grab his hand.
"Hello," she also greeted, quickly pulling her hand out of his. "Yes, indeed." She had a beautiful educated voice, not such a learned student accent, with a potato in her throat. There was also something American in it.
She moved her arm, pointing to the tree. "Same tree, same spot. Why does she do that?"
"I can ask." She laughed.
"I hope you don't expect an answer?"
"Yes, I do." She looked at him incredulously. Her eyebrow raised haughtily. Not knowing if he was joking or crazy.
"Seriously. I can communicate with animals. My sister is even better at it, so when it comes to complicated matters, you have to go to her, but in this case I think I can do it." She shook her head and walked away from him. He left it like that for now, caught up with her and climbed the ladder. "What's her name?"
"Lyooke."
"That's a strange name."
"Yes, it's Norwegian, we thought it would be nice because they are Norwegian forest cats. You write Lykke but say Lyooke. Her brother's name is Thorid. That means peace and Lykke means happiness." She found herself rattling. He looked down, grinning.
"It's been thought through." She nodded stupidly, distracted. Oh, that grin, it had to be banned!
At the top of the ladder, he took advantage of the cat's inability to leave, although he could tell from her posture that she still remembered him and made contact with her, visualizing a green ribbon connecting his heart to hers. "So baby, how are you?" Frederique heard him speak softly to Lykke. Then he was silent for a moment. It seemed like he was listening. She focused a little more on him and tried to hear what he was saying. "You say it's going well?" Now she heard him speak a little more clearly. "Then tell me why you crawl so high up in a tree?" He was silent again and saw that he was listening. She saw him point his head towards the house.
Thorid, the red tomcat, rubbed her legs and stood with his front paws on the first step of the ladder as if he was also aware that something special was happening up there. She lifted him up, afraid as she was he going to climb up. "I'll pass it on. Maybe I can persuade her and arrange something for you."
"What do you need to arrange?" Her voice sounded stiff and not exactly friendly. She felt like she was being fooled.
"Are you going downstairs with me now?" she heard him say.
He leaned his shoulder towards Lykke and to her surprise she stepped on it. She only did that with her and Finley. Ian came down quietly, with the cat on his shoulder, and saw her surprised face. He chuckled. She spread her eyes wide open. That sounded so good. "The only reason she did this was because I promised to talk to you. She wants to sit so high up to be able to see far away and that is only possible in the trees. The annoying thing is that she dares to go in, but not out. So I asked: can't you sit in front of the window upstairs?"
Lykke looked at her accusingly as if she wanted to say that it should be possible, but that she didn't allow it.
"That's not allowed. Aunt Cat doesn't want it. We don't want cats upstairs." Ian scratched Lykkes head.
"Well. Isn't there a room available, so they can only get into that room? All doors closed except that one?" She stroked Lykke now too and she started to purr hard.
"I think we can sort that out. I'll pick one with a nice view. After all, there are plenty of rooms."
"Don't leave him there, Frederique," came a very feminine, somewhat stern voice.
"Aunt Cat, what are you doing outside?"
"Tut, tut, that's not what you call me in company, young lady. Now don't pretend that I never go outside. I wanted to meet this young gentleman, who is so much the hero of Lykke!"
"You don't have your stick with you. That's not smart."
"I'm walking without it more and more often, sweetheart, and you don't have anything on your feet again...," she bounced back. Frederique got a color.
"Now you treat me like a little child... I think I deserved it," she chuckled. She walked up to her, pressed a kiss to her aunt's delicate cheek, and gave her an arm. Catherine suppressed a laugh. Ian enjoyed how the two women interacted.
"Hello, you are the fireman who always saves our Lykke." She held out her hand. "Catharina Storm van der Windt. I didn't make it up myself," she said, seeing Ian suppress a grin. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee, sir...?"
"Ian."
"Mr Ian, do you have time for a cup of coffee?"
"It's Ian Gray. Ian is my first name."
"Oh well."
"Aunt Cat..." Catherine gave Frederique a stern look. "Tharina," Frederique corrected obediently. Next to her, she heard Ian swallow a laugh that he muffled away with a cough. "I am sure Mr. Gray is very busy."
"Ian please. No, I'd like a cup of coffee. To be honest, I'm very curious to see what this beautiful house looks like on the inside." Frederique froze. Of course... Would he be one of those again?
"I wanted the coffee to be served on the terrace..." Ian grinned, not at all embarrassed, he began to recognize the Freule's humor. "Luckily for you, we can reach it through the house." Ian laughed out loud now. Now it was Catherine who suppressed a laugh appreciatively. Ian, chuckling, also put an arm through the Freule's.
With the small but stately female between them, they walked across the sunny lawn into the house.
It was a bit dark after the sun outside, but when his eyes got used to it, he could see a beautiful hall. It was wrapped in warm colors with beautiful old details in carvings, simple but beautiful rugs on the floor, vases of flowers and large paintings on the wall of people, of which he recognized traits in the Freule and Frederique, but it did not look like a museum, but like a home.
"And? Is it what you expected from a country house?"
"Honestly, no. This house, at least this hall..." There was a slight mocking smile in his voice, "it's cozy. I didn't expect that. Maybe I expected it to be too big and too gaudy." Catherine laughed sparkling at his honesty.
"Come." They continued through the hall, which also had a beautiful circular staircase, through the conservatory with French doors to the terrace.
It had a beautiful view of the countryside and contained a sturdy wooden table. They took a seat in the beautiful wooden garden chairs with thick cream-colored cushions.
"You'll be looking at the rest of the house with Frederique." She smiled mischievously at her niece when she signaled that she didn't want to carry out the almost command. "Because now I'm in the mood for tea. There's coffee too, I told you that, didn't I?"
"I like both."
"Oh, that's fine, but I think you're more of a coffee drinker, black."
"You are absolutely right about that. Thank you," Ian said with a grin as she handed him the coffee.
Frederique was happy that her aunt was so talkative. This way she could observe the firefighter out of the corner of her eye... But she would prefer to disappear.
Catherine told him a lot about the history of the house. That sometime in 1700 it had been a gift for their great-grandfather's exploits. That Frederique's father had made sure they had enough income to keep it going. That she was so proud of her niece and nephew, because they took such good care of it and had come back home. Catherine squeezed her hand for a moment. Frederique was embarrassed and she didn't understand why her aunt was so loose-lipped with a stranger. She was also a little angry. To let them know that they were rich in this way. Oh my goodness, now her aunt also started asking him personal questions.
"How come you joined the fire department?"
"I came into contact with the military fire brigade in the army, when I dome my duty, there was a commander's post open here at the fire station."
"As if it was meant to be." Ian nodded.
"Yes, that worked out very well. Close to my sister and the rest of my family."
"You have a sister. That's nice." They talked even further about his family and what his sister was doing. "Maybe that's something to remember for the horses," Catharina thought.
"Speaking of the horses, Aunt Cát..." Frederique turned to Ian. "It was nice to meet you and thank you for your help with Lykke."
Frederique stood up and held out her hand to Ian out of decency, bracing herself against the feeling his skin was making against hers. There was no stopping that. Inwardly, she sighed trembling and tried not to show what his handshake alone was causing.
"Show him the horses. He is an animal lover, show him the beautiful stables, I'm sure he can appreciate that." Again she didn't want to be rude, but she didn't have time for any of this. It seemed as if her aunt wanted to pair her up with this oh, so hot firefighter.
Her equestrian sport and breeding did not allow time for a boyfriend. But honesty commanded her to admit that it was really about the fact that she had experienced too many times that it was not about her, with her carrot hair and not at all feminine body, but about her title and the expected financial picture that comes with it. She didn't really trust anyone anymore. "Mr. Gray has no interest in the stables, aunt."
"Oh on the contrary, I'm very curious." It was mean, but he wanted to know more about this distant woman. Ian wanted to be with her for a while. Only God would know what attracted him to her.
"Don't be so unkind, Frederique, show him your hobbyhorse." If looks could kill, her aunt would have breathed her last now.
"Then come with me." Sounding stiff, almost rude, she abruptly turned and walked across the grounds, leaving it to him to follow her. Ian quickly pushed back his chair, shook hands with the Freule, who suppressed a laugh, and walked behind her with long strides.
As soon as she was out of her aunt's sight, she turned around abruptly again. "Where does this interest in our house, in the stables, come from? What's behind it? If you think that through my aunt you can win me over to gain access to the family, you are wrong."
"Lady, calm down." Ian's voice sounded calm, but his brown-green eyes were icy from the accusation. "I have absolutely no interest in you or your family. I just find it interesting to take a look inside here. I have lived here all my life and this estate was always something at a distance, inaccessible. It exists, but nothing more. Just normal curiosity, that's all it is." Frederique blushed. His words seemed sincere.
Just as abruptly as before, she turned around again and continued on her way, leaving it to him to follow her... or not. Ian followed. Not for the stables, but for her. He had lied a little. He was definitely interested in her. But he didn't need the aunt for that, and the whole estate could be stolen from him. He had enough, why would he want more? In any case, he had now been warned that he had to win her over very carefully. With a lot of patience. And maybe the aunt came in handy after all. Because he was sure that he wanted her. Just as sure as she wanted him, or at least that she had felt the same as he did, when their hands touched.
Frederique looked back. Ian came strolling leisurely over to her, looking around at the beautiful surroundings. The country house was surrounded by forest and the meadows they leased. A beautiful, endless landscape with the occasional farm. At the back of the stables you even had a beautiful view of the sea. It was a unique place.
