The onslaught of new information pounded against my temples. I'd been meandering through the house for the last hour in an attempt to find the best way to start. It had slowly dawned on me that I would need either months upon months to finish, or another pair of eyes or two.

A fair amount of the items I'd seen were outside my range of expertise, or experience as Mr. Thompson would have said. He liked that word, throwing it into every other conversation if he could get away with it.

It was tempting to start with the Great Hall with its wealth of both paintings and sculptures, not even counting the furniture. Sunlight poured in from the tall windows, casting shadows wherever it went. The texture of the room revealed itself in layers, from the straight angles of the chimney piece to the motes of dust in the air. The threads of red silk on the walls shimmered.

Tempting, but also a sure way to get disappointed by the rest of the house. It was better to start with the dark cellars before I worked my way up to the finer quarters. That way, this room would be the final grand piece, a price for my achievement.

The wooden floor whined beneath someone's weight. Turning, I found myself eye to eye with the master of the house. He'd changed into a white T-shirt and graphite gray chinos.

"You've already started?"

I couldn't tell if he was amused or surprised. Perhaps both. "No, I'm doing a quick survey. I estimate this will require quite some months to finish, and I've barely visited half the rooms. If you are in a hurry, I suggest to hire one more person at the very least."

His nose twitched. "One of you is quite enough."

"Very well." In fact, I struggled not to smile. A part of me wanted all of this for myself and enough time to explore each nook and cranny until everything had been touched and felt at least once.

"There's food in the kitchen. The others are already down there."

The others. I'd met a few of them when they'd helped to install me in the east wing. True to his words, Ashleigh had taken me to a room with all the modern amenities anyone could want. Even the bed had been silent beneath pressure.

Madeleine had been the only one to smile, welcoming me with far more enthusiasm than the rest. She'd also revealed that I was to be her new companion for the weekly episodes of the Antiques Roadshow. Randy had groaned in response, while the other guy, whose name I'd already forgotten, ignored the entire exchange.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Around three."

Which meant I'd lost the time. I'd started sometime around twelve. "I confess I have yet to find the kitchen."

Ash waved me along, not saying a word. I followed his footsteps to the first floor, then through a long corridor to a part of the house which must have been the servants' quarters a century ago. Sounds of voices, cutlery and pans betrayed the room before we reached it.

They'd done renovations here as well. It resembled a setting common to many modern apartments with a kitchen to one side and a large dinner table with mismatched chairs on the other. Nothing about it was old at all, apart from the walls and ceiling perhaps.

"There you are. We were all wondering where you'd gone to," Madeleine said, her smile as merry as before. She was pretty in that way I could appreciate, and which other men found attractive. Chestnut brown hair, kind eyes, and a straight nose. Everything in nice proportion. She was also taller than me.

"I walked around the house."

"Oh, the garden is absolutely gorgeous this time of the year," she replied.

Ash sat and immediately placed his elbows on the table. "I found him in the Grand Hall."

"I've been inside," I admitted.

"On a day like this?" She laughed in a way that made her approachable. "I guess that's part of your job, just like the garden is mine."

Easing into a chair, I tried to relax. If I were to spend month in this house, I would have to get used to the others sooner or later. I also had a feeling that a man like Randy would continue to make fun of me if he noticed how uncomfortable I was in his company. I'd met men like him before, boys as well.

The lunch settled some of my worries as it always did. I had a habit of skipping meals when I worked--too focused on my task to notice the hunger--but the downside was a faltering temper. My colleagues at Sotheby's had noticed soon enough, and Lindsey had made a point of reminding me each day before I deteriorated too far.

"This is very good," I commented. The meat more or less melted on my tongue, lightly spiced with fresh herbs.

"James here makes the food," Randy said, slapping the guy across his shoulders. James seemed quite startled, and didn't say a word in response. At least Randy had provided me with a repeat of his name.

"Ash," Randy continued, "are we off to the pub tonight as usual?"

"Sure."

Something about Ash's response didn't sound right. The word had been too heavy, but then, I misread these things all the time. It was probably nothing.

Madeleine leaned forward, grasping her glass of water. "Why don't we all go?"

The silence that followed grew quite uncomfortable. I caught Ash and Randy exchanging glances while Madeleine shook her head. "We can't leave Raven here all to himself on his first night," she said.

"That's fine," I replied, not finding the idea the least bit tempting. "I have some notes to go over." I didn't, but I hoped to find some kind of records of the latest inventory sooner rather than later. There were treasures to discover, and I couldn't wait to begin the search.

"Oh no, that won't do, Raven. Not on your first night." Madeleine smiled even wider. "We'll take you to the pub, show you around, that kind of thing. Right, Ash?"

He nodded slowly. "We all do as she says," he said to me. "Better get used to it."

* * * *

I soon discovered that Ash had been telling the truth. After lunch, Madeleine refused to take a no for an answer, forcing me into the garden for a brief walk. My half-hearted excuses had not been heard.

She took my arm in a firm hold. "I have to show you the tulips before it's too late." She'd put on wellies, and had spent quite a bit of time looking for another pair, but my feet had either been too big or too small. After the first few steps acrosd a damp section of the lawn, I wished we'd tried harder.

"So, tell me, what brought you here to Rifton Park?" she asked.

I'd learned that the house had a large park attached, no doubt intended for hunting once upon a time. Parts of it had remained untouched for a long time, and it was impossible to see much through the thick foliage.

"Mr. Demalier employed me to make an inventory."

"Yes, he's ranted about that for a while. I never thought he would actually go through with it, though."

"The move?"

Madeleine tugged me around the corner of a tall hedge, gesturing happily toward the field of tulips. "This is my little favorite spot in the world." Flowers of every conceivable color spread across the lawn, surrounding trees and a slow-moving creek.

"Someone should paint this," I said.

She bent and cut a flower which had lost its petals. "Ash would have moved from here eventually, I think. It's mostly the rest of the family who wants him to make sure it happens the right way."

"So, he doesn't want me here then?" I already knew the answer to that, but felt compelled to ask.

"I wouldn't think so. Don't take it personally, though. I'm sure he likes you."

I wanted to snort. "He doesn't know me."

"Well, he hired you on the spot, didn't he? Ash might be as casual as they get, but he still knows what he likes. Too much breeding for that to happen."

"Does he have a title?" It shouldn't have mattered, and it didn't, but I wanted to know.

"Thank the stars that you asked me and not him. He'd have thrown you out on the spot." Her laugh took the bite out of the words. "But, yes, he has a title. Not that he ever wanted it."

I had several things to say, but said nothing. I'd already stepped on enough toes, I gathered. Freddie had always accused me of lacking social skills.

Madeleine continued anyway, steering me further down the path toward the creek. "He's always hated the house. Something about his mother, although I can't remember exactly what. He never talks about it."

"It's a large house to take care of, but it seems a waste to sell it all." It hurt to think about the house disassembled.

"Someone else will take care of it, he says. Ash prefers London and the city life. He rarely comes here, and when he's here, he's mostly with Randy at the pub unless the rest of the family is visiting."

A blackbird trilled from a nearby branch. I'd learned the sound from my middle school teacher, one of the few I could remember. Mr Kent had vowed that we all should learn at least ten of the most common birds by name and their song.

I followed its flight across the sky, catching sight of the building behind us. "Someone must have loved this house, once. It's beautiful."

"Oh, I love it alright. Despite the ghosts." She winked.

"I don't believe in ghosts."

"Hah, and still you moved from the west wing. That place is a right hive of supernatural activity. Let me tell you, a few years ago, Ash brought a guest from London. He had all the fancy clothes, spent hours behind the mirror to look just right, I think." Madeleine followed up with a gesture I'd seen before when people thought something ridiculous. "Anyway, he wanted to sleep in one of the old bedrooms for some reason. Ash had a sweet spot for the guy, at least for a time it seemed, so they slept there. Don't know if they slept much, you know, but still. The guy ran out screaming in the middle of the night. Woke up the rest of the house."

Ash was gay? I wished she hadn't told me.

"It's an old house, it's bound to make some noises," I said, glancing at the many windows. "I better get back to work."

Madeleine grinned as though I'd said something completely different. "You're not fooling me, Raven. I know why you chose to sleep in the east wing." She winked again.

I grew stiff, feeling each beat of my heart against my chest. Louder and louder. She'd certainly drawn the wrong conclusions, but I feared that anything I said would make it worse. The best option was to go back inside and bury myself with work until they forgot about my presence and went to the pub without me.

A/N I, for one, am looking forward to the pub XD