Chapter 4

4

Charlie

Charlie’s Revelation:

Everyone has daddy issues.

It was way too early in the morning when my uncle’s text came: Need you to do a tour. Be here by nine.

Fuck. Here and I was enjoying a nice lie-in with thoughts of the tall American with the sexy eyes. So much for that. Dev probably wanted me to take a group of old ladies around. They were the only tourists who came to the pub that early in the morning.

I texted back: Make Cait do it. I did the last one.

His response wasn’t wrong: She sucks at it. You’re way better. This is a financial analyst doing an assessment for me. Need it to be good.

Fuckity-fuck.

I rolled out of bed and made it into the shower. A businessman. Even worse. I hated those types. And they usually had absolutely no interest in the history and details of the place. They mostly wanted to see the numbers or drink the beer. Or chase after my sister.

I wondered if I needed to shoot Cait a warning text that there were business blokes around this morning. Nah, maybe I’d wait and see who they were first.

After dressing and shoving down a quick bite, I made a tea to go and began the long walk along the footpath to the B&B. The sun was up, but the October air was fresh and cold. My dog trotted along the path ahead of me, up and back, up and back, until she settled down to the familiar distance.

By the time I arrived at the front desk, I’d decided to keep my eyes open in case I was lucky enough to catch a glance of the American again. There was something about Hudson Wilde that had captivated me the night before. He’d looked vulnerable in some kind of way I couldn’t quite identify. I wondered if he was simply out of his comfort zone by being in rural Ireland. I’d heard many times how few Americans were interested in international travel. Maybe he was one of them. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable in a strange place with strange customs. Either way, I was anxious to catch another glimpse of him and hopefully even more than that.

A quick fuck with the man would be pretty bloody amazing. But, in typical me fashion, I couldn’t help but also wonder what caused his eyes to look so lost and why he’d mentioned his brothers when he’d been flirting with me the night before. While I would have pegged him as straight the minute he sat down, by the time I walked him up to his room, I’d realized how wrong my initial impression had been. He’d flirted and blushed at me all night. He’d called me beautiful.

He’d called me his.

And fuck if that hadn’t made me a bit loopy inside.

Stupid.

“Ah, Charlie, there you are. Your man is here ready for you to take round.”

I hadn’t realized just how off in my head I’d wandered until I heard Liv’s voice calling me from the reception counter in the lobby.

“Huh?” I asked before remembering the purpose of my early-morning arrival. “Oh, right. Yes. I’m ready. Who do you have for me?”

I should have known. Of course it was him.

Hudson stepped out from the far side of a postcard carousel and caught sight of me. His eyes widened comically, and a deep blush seeped up the sides of his neck.

“Oh,” he said. “Oh, uhh… hi. I mean, ah, hi. Hello.”

Oh my god, what a dote. The man was the cutest fucking thing on the planet.

“Hi,” I replied with a grin. “How are you feeling this morning, Hudson?”

Was it possible for him to blush more? If so, he did.

“Oh, ah…” He seemed to realize he was repeating the same stammered response, so he gulped and glanced at Liv before looking back at me and starting again. “Fine.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, especially when he began checking his pockets, probably for his beloved hand sanitizer. I doubted he was even aware he was doing it. He was just so fucking sweet and flustered.

“I doubt you’re fine in the head, Hudson. Would you like some paracetamol?”

He blinked at me like I’d just spoken in Mandarin Chinese.

“I don’t know what that is,” he admitted, looking anywhere but at me. “But I took some headache medicine in my room.”

He seemed overly nervous. I got the feeling I wasn’t the tour guide he’d wanted, and that thought disappointed me. Maybe he was just embarrassed about the stuff he’d said to me the night before? I really hoped that was all it was because already I was feeling the sting of rejection.

I forced a smile and nodded. “Right then, we’re off. Come with me, Mr. Wilde.”

Hudson winced at the honorific but dutifully followed. I left my dog salivating at Liv’s feet and led Hudson out the front door and partway down the front path before turning back around to face the front of the building. The rumble of one of our delivery vans was accompanied by the crunch of gravel, drawing my attention away for a moment.

“You’re a money man, right?” I asked, remembering what my uncle had said about the reason for the tour.

“What? No. I’m a… yes. I mean, no. I’m a financial analyst. But I’m here for…” Hudson hesitated and swallowed. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Perhaps it wasn’t nerves at all but a true affliction of some kind.

“I was under the impression you were here to help with the finances,” I said. “You’re here to assess the books, right?”

He let out a breath. “Yes. I’m here to assess the books. Exactly.”

The man was odd. And he was a corporate type after all, which meant he was most likely a selfish prick under all that aw-shucks charm. I needed to remember that and not get distracted by his cute blushes or odd little quirks that seemed to worsen when he was tense.

“Right. Well, let’s begin with a little history. This land has been in the Murray family for hundreds of years. Originally, there was a small cottage on the land, and the family kept sheep, as did most of the other people around these parts. That timber cottage burned down in the early 1800s, and the family built a larger house with brick made by a traveling brickmaker.

“As the area grew and populated a bit more, the original pub was built with local slate flagstones. I’ll point out a spot where you can see eel fossils in the flagstone. Pretty cool,” I added, raising my arm to point out which part of the large sprawling building in front of us was the original pub. “You can see the flagstone walls there to get an idea of the size of the original pub. As the place grew more popular and the area here with the cliffs became more of a tourist destination, the Murray family added on the guesthouse portion of the building above and to the right.”

I pointed to the part of the building where his room was located. He seemed interested enough for me to continue.

“That window there with the curtain still drawn is your room. The reason it’s difficult to find is because of the way the buildings were added on to over time. There was never any singular grand plan, just wings and additions added as the needs grew. Fig and Bramble is the only guesthouse located within easy walking distance to the Cliffs of Moher, which means it’s always benefitted immensely from the tourists visiting the area. The rooms are almost always sold out.

“To the left you can see a different wing of rooms that were added on more recently. That section is the newest portion tacked on to the original building, and it was built in the 1960s to accommodate this tourism effect.”

Hudson shifted to face me. “Why haven’t more pubs and inns sprouted up nearby? The closest place is eight kilometers away.”

I nodded. “That’s what makes Fig and Bramble so special. Because the land was in the Murray family so long ago, when the tourism to the Cliffs became a thing, the trails and footpaths to the best views were through the Murray holdings. The family is the only one with rights and property this close. Hence, the success of the company and the continued pride of the Murray family.”

For some reason, I refrained from mentioning I was a Murray. I wasn’t sure why, but something held me back. Perhaps I didn’t want to make it weird between us since he was there to assess the family business. I knew since Uncle Devlin had taken over for my father, money had been tight. I assumed Dev wasn’t as good at the money side and was struggling. Cait and I had tried to help, but he wouldn’t hear of it. If things were as bad as we imagined, maybe I didn’t want Hudson to paint me with the same brush and assume I was bad at business too.

As we walked toward the far end of the main building, I pointed out the direction of the cliffs. “Be sure to visit the cliffs so you can tell your friends and family you’ve seen the real Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride.”

“Never seen it,” Hudson responded.

I actually stopped in my tracks. “What? You’ve never seen The Princess Bride? How is that possible?”

“Don’t know… too busy I guess.”

“Doing what?” I asked, completely serious. But when I saw him shift uncomfortably, I quickly added with a grin, “I think that might actually be a crime in your country.”

Hudson smiled and then that damn blush was back on his too-perfect cheeks. I began walking to keep from reaching out to see if his skin actually felt as warm as it looked.

“Is that cotton?” Hudson asked a moment later, pointing to a distant field. I followed his gesture and bit back a laugh when I saw what he was pointing to.

“No. Those are sheep. It’s farther away than it looks. I helped train that man’s dog and it takes me fifteen minutes by car to get there,” I said.

“You trained his dog?”

“Sheep dog. I train them on the side. A bit of a hobby really,” I said with a shrug. “You may have seen my Mama in the guesthouse earlier. She’s my bitch.”

Hudson stopped walking and turned to me with a confused expression. “What?”

“Mama. She’s a good girl. Won mass loads of awards for trials. And she’s damned good at breeding too.”

“Please tell me we’re talking about two different things?” His face seemed to have gone a bit ashen. “The receptionist is your mother?”

“Who, Liv? No. Why would you think she’s my… oh… no! I only meant my bitch. My collie, Mama.”

Hudson rubbed his face with his hands before glancing at me with a sheepish grin. “Mama, the dog. Sorry, you can imagine some of that was lost in translation. I thought… never mind.”

“Do you like animals?” I inquired to get past the awkward moment.

He nodded and I noticed a soft look cross his face. “I’ve always loved to ride. My grandparents have a ranch and keep a horse for me. His name is Kojack.”

We’d passed the end of the main building and headed toward the edge of the sea. It wasn’t a normal part of the tour, but I didn’t want to interrupt him by suggesting we head for the brewery where there would be more people to interrupt our conversation. Especially since he was finally starting to look more relaxed. He hadn’t checked his pockets for the hand sanitizer in at least three minutes.

Hudson continued with a soft chuckle. “Actually, when I was younger, I had a pony named Charlie. He was so spoiled. I used to sneak him apples and carrots all the time. I still wonder how he didn’t get too fat to carry a rider.”

I imagined a young Hudson sneaking out to his grandparents’ barn to give treats to his little pony. Had the boy worn little cowboy boots and a straw hat? Had he played with bows and arrows and pretended he was part of the American Wild West? The image of him as a child standing on a fence rung watching his rancher grandfather made me smile.

“I’ve never ridden,” I admitted. “I’m definitely more of a dog person. Do you have a dog back home?”

Hudson looked down to where our shoes made crunching sounds on the tiny shell bits along the pathway. “No. I live in the city and work too many hours to have one. Plus, they wouldn’t like living in a high-rise apartment. But my grandfathers have three dogs on the ranch. An old coonhound and two little yippy mutts. I have to admit to playing favorite. That coonhound stole my heart when they found him.”

While he talked about home, about his love of animals and his family, Hudson’s face changed completely. Gone was the stuttering and stumbling over words. Gone was the nervous blushing. I could see where his heart lived, and it was unexpectedly sweet.

He looked over at me. “How did you get into dog training?”

“One of our neighbors did sheep trials with his dog, Sweep. I was about ten the first time my father took me to a trial. It was in Dingle. They’ve an aquarium there, so I guess he’d wanted to take me to see the sea animals. It happened to coincide with the neighbor’s trial, so we were able to do both. I don’t remember the penguins and otters, but the dogs? I was hooked from the first run. The way the dog and trainer seemed to read each other’s minds… it seemed special, that relationship. It wasn’t until I got my first pup a few years later that I discovered the absolute joy in creating that bond. His name was Jacko. I loved that dog. Unfortunately, he passed before he was ten years old.”

“Charlie, I’m so sorry.” Hudson’s sympathy was genuine and kind. He must have known what it was like to lose a beloved animal.

We talked a bit more about our respective childhoods, and I learned his parents lived abroad. “Were you raised by your grandparents?” I asked.

“Oh, no. Mom and Dad only moved to Singapore a few years ago. My youngest sister was almost done with high school before they felt Dad could take the promotion overseas. But even with them around… we spent much of our time with our grandfathers in the main house on the ranch. Our house was on the ranch property too, but Dad worked two hours away in Dallas and Mom was always busy with her charity projects and running the household. I don’t know how she managed to raise ten kids with my dad in the city during the week. I guess because as West and I got older, we helped as much as we could.”

“Is West the oldest?”

“No, I am. But he’s next. After that came a set of twins. MJ and Saint were a handful. Mom had four kids under four for a few months, if you can believe it. Once I started school, I remember her calling me her godsend. All her friends called me her little helper. From then on, I think I just felt it was my job to help raise the others.” He shrugged. “They’re amazing. We’re all pretty close. Everyone either lives in Dallas or Hobie now. Except my brother King. We’re not really sure what he’s up to most of the time. He sort of travels for work and flits through town whenever he’s able. Sassy is the youngest at nineteen.”

I pictured the tidy man taking on the responsibility of nine siblings to help his mother. It made me wonder if he’d taken to horse riding as a way of escaping, of getting away from the noise or the chaos of that many children around all the time.

“What made you decide to go into finance?” I asked, suddenly even more curious for some reason about what made him tick.

“My dad is in finance. He always told me I’d succeed at it and always have a solid, steady job.”

Something about the way he said it caused me to perk up.

“Do you like what you do?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it again for a moment. When he spoke, it was hesitant.

“It’s… yes. It’s a good job. I enjoy the way numbers are organized and… everything works out into clean lines. I’m not saying this right… I think it’s good to have a job where mistakes are easy to spot and you can double-check your work to make sure it’s correct.”

His face pinched and he shook his head a bit. “No, that’s not quite right either. I wouldn’t say I like it, really. It’s more that I’m happy to make a good living and prove my worth by working hard.”

Hudson’s chin tilted down as if he was nodding to himself. “Yes. I like doing my share to help the company succeed.”

It sounded bloody awful.

“I’m sure your father is proud of you,” I mumbled, unsure of what else to say.

He glanced up at me, and I caught just a hint of vulnerability in his face. “I hope so.”

We’d reached the edge of the cliffs, and I explained the history of the location a bit more before we turned to find our way back.

“What about you, Charlie? Are your parents still around?”

Well, shite. Whose idea was it to talk about people’s parents?