Do you love romantic fiction with a fairytale twist? Then have I got a treat for you!
I've waved my magic wand and sprinkled a bit of fairy dust and today I'm able to share the very first chapter of Holly Martin's new novel
Fairytale Beginnings!
I'm also on the blog tour for this one later in the month- here's where you can find reviews, extras and guest posts from Holly over the next few weeks...
Enjoy!
***
Milly drove up the steep, curvy, cliff top
lanes with the warm sun on her back and the wind in her hair. From up here, she
could see the sparkling blue of the sea below her stretching out for miles into
the horizon. It was a beautiful day, made even lovelier by the endless yellow
fields of rapeseed on the other side of her. It smelt wonderful but she wished
it was clover instead as that might be some indication that she was going in
the right direction.
She was hopefully heading towards Clover’s
Rest. The satnav had, of course, stopped working half an hour ago and all she
was left with was a flashing question mark on the screen, indicating that the
satnav had no idea where she was. Nothing seemed to be known about the village
of Clover’s Rest or Clover Castle which presided over the tiny dwelling. It
didn’t appear on any maps, and bizarrely there was no record of it on any kind
of historical documentation. That in itself was a mystery and one Milly was
keen to solve.
Dick, her beaten up old Triumph, was
having trouble with the steep gradient of the inclines and she had spent most
of the last fifteen minutes barely coming out of first gear. Her brother, Jamie,
had begged her several times to buy a new car but her beloved white Triumph TR2
was her pride and joy.
Up ahead, on the very summit of the hill,
she suddenly saw a flash of a blue-topped turret from behind the trees and her
heart soared. But no sooner had it appeared, it had gone.
Dick whined as she pushed him round a very
steep corner and she leaned forward and gave him a little pat of encouragement.
He spluttered and coughed, but thankfully didn’t cut out. The handbrake wasn’t
the best and she wasn’t hopeful that Dick could cling to the road surface
without sliding back to the foot of the hill again.
Steam started to appear from under Dick’s bonnet
as she floored the accelerator and crossed her fingers and toes. She glanced
down at her multi-coloured star bracelet and absently made a wish that she
would make it to the top of the hill.
‘Just a little further, Dick, come on.’
Dick was barely moving at all now, Milly
could get out and walk quicker. As she begged and pleaded with Dick to just
last a little bit longer, a kid on his bike rang his bell and scooted round
her, disappearing into the trees up ahead.
How insulting to be overtaken by a kid on
a BMX. And Dick obviously thought so too as he suddenly found a last bit of
energy and groaned and coughed up the last few metres, where the hill finally
levelled out.
They shuffled into a tunnel of trees, which
swallowed her up, shutting out all the bright daylight behind her and overhead
so she was driving through a canopy of total green. It was very dark, with just
a tiny pinprick of light ahead of her that she pushed Dick towards. Movement
swirled in her rear view mirror; as she glanced up it almost seemed like the
trees were closing the gap behind her, covering the road with their tangle of
branches so there was no escape.
Dick finally burst through the trees to
the other side. Daylight temporarily blinded her, she briefly saw some houses
and a village green and then a thick plume of white smoke burst from the engine
and the village vanished from view. Dick let out what sounded like a really big
fart and then died, smoke still pouring from underneath the bonnet.
Milly sighed. She had asked too much of
him, she knew that. It had seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up; going
out in her convertible along the seafront when the weather was so hot, and
Clover’s Rest was only supposed to be an hour and a half away from where she
lived. But Dick was over twice her age and was only really capable of short
flat journeys, nothing like the mountainous terrain she had just traversed.
‘It’s ok Dick, you can have a few days to
have a little rest and maybe we can find someone to tinker under your bonnet
before we go home. And it’s all downhill from here so worst case scenario, we
can just roll you home. Plus we’re on holiday next week, I promise you can stay
at home every day. I intend to sit in the garden and do nothing but read for
the entire week.’
Dick let out a sigh of relief and the
smoke slowed and then stopped, revealing the most gorgeous, picturesque village
she had ever seen.
Milly quickly got out and gazed across the
village green, staring at the whitewashed cottages like a kid in a sweet shop.
The roofs were topped with yellow thatch that glinted like gold in the
sunlight. They were a hodgepodge collection; the nearest ones to her were
timber framed and the ones on the far side were made from stone. But all of
them came with their unique lumps and bumps, jutting out bits of stone or bent
bits of timber indicating that these houses were hundreds of years old.
She quickly grabbed her suitcase, gave
Dick an affectionate pat, and abandoned him on the edge of the green as she
walked in awe along the cobbled road.
The historian in her picked out key
features in the houses straight away. Of course without certain dating tests it
would be hard to be specific, but the first house on the green had to be at
least four hundred years old, which meant it should be a listed building. But
there had been nothing in any historical documents or files that even indicated
this place existed, let alone had listed buildings.
Her toes curled with pleasure at the
prospect of what this mysterious Clover Castle looked like. Was it possible
that she was going to round the corner of the green and see a sixteenth century
undiscovered jewel?
She approached the nearest house and ran
her hand appreciatively up the oak timber frame. There was something incredible
and humbling about touching something that had been around for hundreds of
years. What had this building seen and heard, what stories could it tell?
She leaned closer to the wood and sniffed
it. The rich smells of smoke, wood and earth engulfed her and she smiled.
She suddenly realised she wasn’t alone. Milly
looked up from the wood into the bulbous eyes of an old man, dressed in a tatty
suit. His skin seemed to have shrunk against his bones, making his eyes seem
more bulging and protruding. He was chewing on what looked like a small stone,
rolling it around his mouth and back again as if he was trying to work out what
it tasted like. His white hair stuck out making him look like he was a crazy scientist
but he was looking at her as if she was
insane, which she supposed she was, standing on someone’s front lawn stroking
and smelling the side of the house.
He took a drag of his cigarette and then
flicked it into the nearby bushes. She winced at the desecration of such a
historic place but chose to ignore it as he still had the moral high ground at
the moment, being the slightly saner one of the two.
‘You can’t leave your car there,’ said the
man, indicating poor Dick, who looked so deflated and exhausted that even his
headlights seemed to be drooping. ‘It’s double yellow lines.’
Sure enough, double yellow lines covered
the roads on both sides, as if it was a main road through a busy city rather
than a tiny remote village with probably no more than thirty houses. But closer
inspection showed the lines to be very wobbly and most likely hand painted. Who
would do such a thing? Traffic clearly wasn’t a problem up here, there wasn’t
even another car in sight and Dick wasn’t blocking up the road, which was wide
enough for two cars to pass easily in both directions.
‘Well unfortunately my car broke down, so
it will have to stay there until I can get someone to have a look at it.’
The man sucked air through his teeth and
shook his head. ‘Igor won’t like that. It’s likely the car will be towed.’
Igor? Wasn’t that the name of Dracula’s
assistant?
‘Sorry, what did you say your name was?’
Milly asked, deliberately.
‘Danny.’
‘Danny, I’m sure Igor will understand that
a broken down car is not my fault. I’m a guest of Lord Heartstone, so if
there’s any problem Igor can come and see me at the castle.’
Milly hoped that using Cameron’s name and
title would be enough to get Danny to leave her and Dick alone, but that wasn’t
the case. Danny’s face suddenly filled with disdain.
‘He isn’t exactly Mr Popular round here at
the moment. He’s only been back here a few months and he’s sacked all the staff
already. Grumpy sod, too, keeps himself to himself.’
‘Well it’s a big responsibility to
suddenly inherit a castle, I’m sure it will take a period of adjustment. I’m
here to see if I can help him.’
She spotted a flag flying above the trees
and grabbed her suitcase and started walking towards it, hoping that Danny wouldn’t
follow her, but he did.
‘It’s the Summer Solstice this weekend, we
always have a big celebration and he won’t even be a part of it.’
‘Well maybe I can talk to him.’
She squinted at the flag, it wasn’t like
any she had ever seen before. It was hard to see from this distance what was on
it, but it looked like a dragon eating a heart.
‘Are you staying up there?’ Danny yelled
after her, finally giving up following her.
‘Yes, for a week.’
‘You’ll never leave. Those that stay there
never leave.’
She stared at him. These sinister words sent
shivers down her spine.
‘And whatever you do, don’t go out after
midnight. The Oogie will get you.’
‘The Oogie?’
‘A sea monster who eats unwanted
visitors.’
‘That’s a local myth, surely.’
Danny shook his head. ‘The village has
lost lots of victims to the Oogie. Just don’t go out after midnight and make
sure you keep all the doors and windows locked at night.’
He was clearly joking or just insane.
Danny wandered off and she stared after him, realising he was only wearing one
shoe. Definitely insane. She looked around at this calm, tranquil little
village. With the bright sunshine beating down on the little houses, the scent
of the roses that twisted round all the doors, she wasn’t going to let some
crazy nonsense about a sea monster bring her down.
She had a castle to look at and she
couldn’t wait to see it.
Milly walked round the corner into the
trees. Up ahead she could see some large, highly decorative wrought iron gates,
with swirls and flowers. The gate was probably Victorian or Edwardian. It was
very pretty but her heart sank a little bit. It didn’t necessarily mean that
the castle was from that era, but she hoped it wasn’t. Castle Heritage, who she
worked for, would have nothing to do with the castle if it was from the
Edwardian era. They were only interested in ancient relics, particularly those
from the medieval period.
She wanted to help Cameron, she really
did. She had spoken to him a few times on the phone and he’d sounded desperate.
He had this deep, rich, voice that sounded velvety and she guessed he was about
fifty years old. She had a way of accurately estimating people’s ages too, not
just the age of houses.
It was the stuff of dreams to wake up one
morning and find that not only were you a Lord but one that owned a castle too,
yet from speaking to Cameron it seemed it was more like a nightmare than a
dream.
He’d spoken to her about burst pipes,
broken windows, rotting walls, crumbling masonry and a severe damp problem. It
wasn’t the inheritance that he had hoped it would be.
If the castle was old enough, Castle
Heritage would probably buy it off him or, at the very least, pay to have these
things repaired and maintain the upkeep of the place. They might even make it
into a tourist attraction if they thought it was a viable option. If she thought it was a viable option. That’s
what she was here to assess. The steep incline of the hill was definitely a
negative point. Thousands of people every year visited the big castles in the
UK. The road she and Dick had driven up earlier couldn’t sustain that many
visitors, nor could the tiny village. But if the property was worth it, her
company would pay to improve the road too.
She ran her fingers over her
multi-coloured star bracelet, as she always did when she wanted something
really badly. Most of the time the bracelet let her down but occasionally her
wishes came true. Singing the first few lines of the song ‘When You Wish Upon A
Star’ in her head, she closed her
eyes and made a wish. ‘Let the castle be something truly spectacular,’ she
whispered.
She opened the gate and it creaked in
protest. Clouds skittered across the sun, casting long shadows across the curved
drive. As she stepped through the entrance, a cool wind whipped around her,
dragging her blonde hair into her face. The wispy summer dress she was wearing
hardly seemed appropriate all of a sudden, she should at least have worn a
jacket or a cardigan. English weather was always so unpredictable.
She shivered and walked round the corner,
pushing the hair out of her eyes so she could get her first glimpse of Clover
Castle. And suddenly there it was.
Her heart soared. For someone who had
grown up obsessed with all things Disney, and still loved Disney now, years
after it was socially acceptable for her to do so, seeing what was quite
obviously a real life Cinderella’s castle in front of her was something out of
her wildest dreams. Turrets jutted out from all parts of the castle, some
protruding out of other turrets. There were four towers, all topped with
conical blue spires. From her position at the foot of the drive, she could see
twenty-three blue spires, some of which topped the turrets, some that were
simply large conical topped pinnacles that didn’t seem to have any purpose
other than for decoration. Each spire had a long, gold flagpole on the top with
a scarlet banner, apart from the large flag in the middle that had that weird
dragon design. She stared at the flag for a moment, although very different in
its design, the theme of the dragon wrapped protectively around the heart was
eerily similar to the tattoo she had on her right side.
The castle was beautiful but her heart had
already plummeted into her shoes. This couldn’t be any more than a hundred years
old. It looked Bavarian in its design and was built purely for enjoyment and
certainly not to protect.
There was a splendid drawbridge in the
middle of the front castle wall but as she walked up the drive she could see
there was no moat for the drawbridge to go over.
It seemed as though, at some point over
the last hundred years, someone had decided to build a castle, looked at what features
other castles had and decided to have one of everything – whether it was needed
or not. Or in the case of the spires, twenty-three of them.
Standing on the hilltop with the sea
framed dramatically behind it, the castle was an incredible sight. It was magical
and arrogant and wonderful all at the same time and … Castle Heritage wouldn’t
come anywhere near it.
She might as well turn round and head home
now. Her birthday was later this week, and she didn’t really want to be working
on her birthday. If she left now she might even be able to start her holiday a
few days early. But she had promised Cameron she would stay for a week to do
all the tests and surveys. He had already paid Castle Heritage quite a
significant sum for her time and services and although she could refund the
money there must be something she could do to help him. At the very least she
could stay for a couple of days in order to get a feel for the place.
She couldn’t feel too disappointed at her
wasted trip, the place was spectacular and she got to sleep here, hopefully in
a room fit for a princess in one of the tallest towers.
As she stared up in wonder at this thing
of beauty, she heard two deep barks. She turned in time to see a heap of black,
shaggy fur before she was knocked to the ground.
‘Gregory, NO!’ a deep voice yelled out.
But Gregory, if that was indeed the
beast’s name, was not to be dissuaded. Standing over her, Gregory started
bathing her face in pungent wet licks, his coarse tongue tickling her face and
making her giggle.
Suddenly the dog was snatched from over
her and she was yanked to her feet. She slammed into a hard wall of muscle and
looked up into a pair of eyes that were so dark they were almost black. Dark,
curly hair topped his head, but she was too close to see any other features. He
smelt amazing though, all woody and earthy and wonderful.
‘Oh God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise I
pulled you so hard.’ He took a step back and Milly stared up at him, aware that
her throat was completely dry. This guy was frigging hot. Dark stubble lined
his jaw bone. He was huge too, muscles screaming from every single part of him.
He was wearing a suit that was very tight around his broad, muscular shoulders.
She felt very under-dressed all of a sudden in her beach dress and sparkly pink
Converse trainers.
‘Oh God, your dress, I’m so sorry.’ He
stepped forward and brushed her breasts, trying to wipe off the two muddy paw
prints that had been imprinted onto the material. His face immediately turned
pale as he realised what he had done. He leapt back, looking horrified. ‘I’m so
sorry. I … God, I’m so sorry.’
Milly couldn’t help but take pity on him.
‘It’s not the usual greeting I get,
normally a handshake would suffice.’
He stared at her for a moment, then
laughed, a deep, booming laugh. He offered out his large bear paw of a hand,
and she shook it. ‘I’m Cameron Heartstone.’
This gorgeous man was Cameron Heartstone? She
had expected someone so much older, probably smoking a pipe and wearing tartan
slippers.
‘Milly Rose. We spoke on the phone. It’s
good to finally meet you.’
‘Yes of course, come in.’ He bent down to
pick up her discarded suitcase. ‘Gregory, Sit! Stay!’ He commanded the black,
hairy beast by his side. Gregory was so big Milly thought she might be able to
ride him. His eyes were lost under a mass of fur, his pink tongue lolling out
the side of his face. He gave a wag of his tail before running off and
disappearing round the side of the castle. Clearly very obedient. Cameron
sighed and ushered her through a small side door, with his hand in the small of
her back. ‘He’s not my dog, he sort of came with the castle. The first day I
arrived he turned up and hasn’t left since. He doesn’t belong to anyone in the
village, so I guess I’m stuck with him.’
He was clearly nervous, though she wasn’t
sure why. He pulled at his collar, obviously not comfortable wearing a shirt
and tie. Had he dressed up for her?
She stepped through into a warm kitchen,
with a large wooden table standing in the middle and wooden benches either
side. The walls were painted a cosy terracotta. Delicious, tangy smells reached
her and her stomach gurgled appreciatively. An Aga stood at one end of the room
and something was bubbling away in a huge pot on top.
‘I’ll make us some lunch. Will your boss
be joining us soon?’
‘My boss? I don’t really have one. Well,
the board of directors at Castle Heritage are sort of my bosses, but I mainly
work for myself.’
Her heart sank a bit. He had been expecting
someone older, too.
‘Oh, well, the science people, the
historians, the ones who will do all the tests?’
‘That would be me.’
He stared at her, disappointment
registering on his face. He looked her up and down disdainfully. ‘They’ve sent
me a child, is this someone’s idea of a joke? Your idea of history is probably
what happened in EastEnders last
week.’
Milly felt her mouth fall open. She was
used to getting some prejudice when she turned up at these historic places. With
her long blonde hair, large blue eyes and Mary Poppins style rosy cheeks, no
one thought she was capable of having any knowledge of history at all. She knew
she didn’t help these first impressions by having pink tipped hair and sparkly
clothes and shoes, but generally the comments she got were little jokes. That
remark about her historical knowledge hurt. And she had never been called a
child before. This man couldn’t be any more than five years older than she was,
although, being so short, she knew she looked a lot younger than her actual
age.
She drew herself up to her full height,
which did nothing to diminish the height difference between them.
‘I am not a child. I’m twenty-eight years
old. You judgemental ass. You see the blonde hair and the pretty dress and
automatically assume that I’m some kind of bimbo. I have a Doctorate in Archaeology
and Historic Architecture. I have a Master of Science degree in Heritage Conservation
and a Bachelor of Science degree in Medieval History. I have extensive
experience in dendrochronological and geophysical surveying and my PhD studies
required detailed research into archaeological remains, excavation and historic
building construction. I guarantee I know more about this castle than you could
possibly ever know but if that isn’t good enough for you, I will quite happily
leave right now and take every chance of you ever working with Castle Heritage
with me.’
She stormed to the door but he beat her to
it, slamming it closed before she’d only opened it an inch.
‘You can’t leave.’
‘Just watch me.’ She tugged at the door
but he leaned against it, so it didn’t budge. She tried again.
‘I’m sorry.’
She stopped tugging, but didn’t let go of
the handle.
‘I really am.’
She looked up at him and his eyes were
honest and concerned.
‘I’ve hurt you and it really wasn’t my
intention to do that. It’s been a really bad couple of weeks, well, a bad
couple of months if I’m honest. Since my dad died and I inherited this place,
it’s been one problem after another. He was in so much debt and that debt
doesn’t appear to have died with him. There is no money in this estate, none at
all, and he was still paying all the staff here right up till he died but I
can’t see how or where the money came from. I’ve had to let them all go, which
means everyone in the village hates me and I’ve been going through all his
paperwork and keep uncovering more and more problems. Without the staff the
place will fall into ruin. I have no money for any of the repairs or to pay any
of his debts and quite frankly the idea of selling the place to Palace Hotels
and making it into a five star resort is looking very appealing right now. You
are my last hope. I looked at you and thought …’
‘You thought wrong.’
‘I know, I’m sorry, I had no right to
judge you by your appearance. I’m a terrible judge of character, I really am. I
should have learned my lesson by now, not to judge a book by its cover. The
people I’ve trusted have sold me out and betrayed me. I’ve had my share of
model girlfriends, the types that look good on your arm but with not a lot else
going for them and … I … Well, I’m really sorry. Please stay, at least have
some lunch whilst I beg your forgiveness some more.’
Milly felt all the fight go out of her. She
couldn’t hold a grudge for long. Besides, she was starving and the soup that
was bubbling on top of the stove smelt amazing.
‘Ok. I’ll stay for lunch, but it depends
how good the soup is whether I stay longer.’
His mouth lifted up into small, cautious
smile and he gestured for her to sit down.
‘There’s a hell of a lot riding on this
soup then. If I’d known that perhaps I would have thought about the recipe a
little more carefully instead of just throwing everything into the pot with a
bit of seasoning.’
She sat down on the bench and watched him fill
two big bowls. There was nothing graceful about him. The soup splatted into the
bowl and over the sides and he didn’t seem to care. There were big chunks of
meat, large slices of potato, whole florets of cauliflower, all of which should
have been blended or at least chopped smaller. He grabbed a large round loaf
and tore it into chunks. He plonked the bowl down in front of her and left her
half of the loaf on the table next to her bowl, not even on a plate. The man
really had no finesse. He sat down opposite her and took a big bite of the
bread. He was like a caveman and strangely she found his raw masculinity a bit
of a turn on.
‘Do you normally have such gay abandon
with your food?’
He paused with the spoon halfway to his
mouth. ‘It seems to work.’
He gestured for her to try it and she took
a small sip from her spoon. It was incredible, so thick and full of flavour. ‘It’s
really good. Did you make the bread too?’
He nodded, before biting off another huge
chunk from his loaf. ‘It’s potato bread.’
She took a small piece and bit into it. It
tasted delicious. ‘You’re actually really good at this “throw it all into the
pot and see if it works” method.’
He shrugged shyly. ‘It’s kind of how I
write my books, too.’
‘What kind of books do you write?’
‘Children’s books, with magical forests
and super powers and fantasy adventures. But I never plan anything or follow
any set rules. A lot of my author friends will have post it notes and charts
and character interviews or CVs but I never do any of that, I just sit down and
write. People seem to like it. I mean, I have enough to live off and pay the
bills but I’m not going to be buying an island in the Caribbean any time soon.’
‘Well if you have enough money to write
full time, you must be doing something right.’
He shrugged again, obviously not keen to
admit that he was any good.
‘I’d like to read them.’
He shook his head. ‘They’re just kids’
stuff, not your thing at all, I’m sure.’
‘As we’ve already established, my thing is
very different to what you think my thing is.’
‘Right, of course.’ He swallowed a big
lump of bread and didn’t look up at all after that.
She sighed. She didn’t want him to feel
uncomfortable around her. She already regretted her little outburst earlier, she
was normally much more professional than that.
‘Thank you for letting me stay, there was
nowhere else anywhere near here apart from the tiny B&B I booked and when
their pipes burst and flooded the house, I was at a bit of a loss for what to
do.’
‘It’s fine,’ Cameron said, in a way that
said it really wasn’t fine.
‘Don’t feel that you have to cook for me
or anything. This is lovely,’ she gestured to the soup. ‘But I can look after
myself. I presume the village has a shop. I can buy some food and make my own
meals. You don’t have to worry about that.’
‘I have food here, it’s silly for both of
us to be cooking separate meals, unless you’re on some weird diet,’ he glanced
briefly at her slender frame. People always assumed she ate really healthily
when the truth was miles apart.
‘I eat anything.’
‘Then we might as well eat together.’
‘I don’t want to be in your way.’
‘You won’t. I have work to do and you’ll
have tests and measurements to do so I hope … I mean I guess we won’t be
getting in each other’s hair too much.’
He didn’t want her there and her heart
sank even more at this. Well, if he didn’t want her to stay and she probably
couldn’t help him anyway, maybe she would only stay one night after all.
‘Tell me about the castle.’
He looked across the table at her. ‘I
don’t know a lot. I used to live here when I was very young, but my mum took me
away when I was about six. I never saw my dad after that and I never came back
here either. They were always arguing, mainly about the lack of money, even
back then. Mum wanted to sell the place and move, my dad refused, so she left. I
know it’s been in the family for hundreds of years, hence the rather obnoxious
title of Lord that I’ve been bequeathed.’
Milly sat up straighter. The castle she
had seen from the outside was not hundreds of years old, but that didn’t mean
there hadn’t been some recent modifications to the original structure. Perhaps
the Cinderella façade was hiding
something far more exciting and mysterious.
***
If you enjoyed the first chapter of Fairytale
Beginnings, you can download the whole book here. Its only 99p for the next few
days.
