It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) Read Online Free

did
not sit on me this time demanding food.
    Standing in the
attic, making a list of all the things needing to be done, I started to imagine
what it was going to look like when it was finished. It had been an easy
decision to make it my office as it was the smallest of the two bedrooms but to
make it workable the lovely shag pile carpet had to come up, the floral
wallpaper had to be removed and then I needed to paint.
    Easy. I could
do this without any help as I had watched many, many TV renovating shows and it
all seemed so simple!
    Ok, now this is
the point where I could bore you with all the details of how I attempted to get
the carpet up, but in all honesty, I’m too embarrassed. So let’s just say it
involved several broken nails and a lot of swearing. Two hours later I sat back
and looked at my effort and decided I needed to find help. Fast.
    Oh and also
cheap.
    I thought back
to my conversation with Molly yesterday, and decided maybe a handyman was just
what I needed.
    Going down
stairs, making myself a coffee and grabbing a chocolate biscuit, I remembered
I’d seen a hand written ad on the notice board at the local shop, so I made a
very quick trip back there and got Riley’s’ number. Giving it a call, I found
out I was a lucky girl (you honestly have no idea just how lucky, but I’ll tell
you about Riley soon), as he was in between big jobs at the moment so he could
come over right away and have a look at what needed to be done. I wasn’t
feeling very confident about this “in-between big jobs” bit. After this
morning’s effort, I was thinking I needed him for quite a bit longer than that.
But true to his word, he knocked on my door in no time.
    However, in my
hurry to not let him get away, I ran down the stairs. I felt the old rotten
wood creaking under my weight as I took them two at a time in my panic to get
to the front door and remembered about the loose tread just as I was putting my
foot on it.
    I felt it slip,
but it was too late for me to do anything about it. I didn’t even have time to
grab the railing as I fell forwards, hands out in front and the wind rushing past
my face. Hitting the ground face first, I felt my body follow, propelling me
forward towards to front door.
    Oomph! I heard
the air leave my lungs.
    Silence
followed. I could hear the ticking of the clock as I lay very still, mentally
checking myself for injuries. Tears threatened an appearance. I could still
feel my legs and arms, so no spinal injury, that’s a good start. My face was
burning but that was probably from embarrassment and my elbow was killing me. Pulling
myself into sitting position I looked down at the ugly red mark that had
started to appear. Apart from that, all seemed to be intact.
    Ok, job number
one – fix stair tread.
    Looking towards
the door I could see a silhouette of a man standing patiently on the doorstep
waiting for me to open it. I would have liked to run and hide in a hole for a
while—at least until my cheeks stopped burning—but with Riley
standing just outside the door, I didn’t have time for that.
    Ok, deep
breathes. In and out, in and out.
    I wiped the
moisture from my lashes, pulled myself to my feet and took a step towards the
door. Feeling my knee ache as I put weight on it I reached out and turned the
door handle.
    As I looked out
with a fake smile plastered to my very red face, I blinked. Several times. Just
in case my eyes were playing tricks on me or the fall had actually caused head
injuries and I was hallucinating. I felt my eyes go wide and my lashes flutter
uncontrollably. Tentatively, I reached out my hand and touched his arm—you
know, just to make sure.
    Nope, no
tricks. He was real.
    OMFG!!
    All thoughts of
my aching knee gone, I stared up at a man so good-looking, I thought it was
Adonis himself. Now, I think I should tell you I’m not very eloquent around
good-looking men. Add that to my fall and embarrassment, my brain felt like it
couldn’t cope. So it packed up and