White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(4)
Adjacent to the family room was a large den that would work well for a home office. Linda showed them the formal dining room and living room and a smaller sitting room that could have a number of uses. The previous owners had been partial to pastel wall colors and floral wallpaper, which wasn’t Kate’s style at all. But that would be an easy fix.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Linda asked when she led them into the eat-in kitchen, which managed to be both large and cozy. She pointed out the Viking range, double oven, large-capacity refrigerator, and eighteen-bottle wine cooler. The fireplace Linda mentioned had room in front of it for a loveseat or a couple of chairs.
“It really is,” Kate said trailing her hand along the granite countertop of the large center island.
“Do you spend a lot of time in the kitchen?” Linda asked.
“No,” Kate said. “We eat out quite a bit.”
Linda’s smile faltered as if she couldn’t comprehend the thought of a young woman who didn’t cook, but she recovered quickly. “Well, Middleburg has some wonderful restaurants that are less than twenty minutes away.”
There were five bedrooms and three full baths upstairs. “The basement level has an additional two bedrooms, two full baths, and a separate kitchen that would make an ideal guest suite,” Linda said. “There’s also a wine cellar, theater room, and home gym.”
They walked outside. The garage could hold up to four cars, and the backyard featured an outdoor fireplace, stone terrace, pool, and a giant barn. A stable with eight stalls sat adjacent to a large paddock enclosed by a wooden fence.
“This property is ideal if you think you’ll be keeping horses.”
“Yeah, we probably won’t be doing that,” Ian said.
“What do you think?” Linda asked when they finished the tour.
“It’s a beautiful home,” Kate said.
“Gorgeous,” Linda said.
“How many square feet is it?” Kate asked.
“About six thousand.”
Kate winced.
“The lower level would be great for when your family comes,” Ian said. Because Kate was so close to her parents and brother, he’d urged her to let them know they were always welcome to visit. “I know the paint and wallpaper aren’t your style, but you can change anything you want.”
“I know an interior decorator,” Linda said. “I’d be happy to make introductions.”
Before they headed home, Linda showed them the Middleburg Historic District. The downtown area spanned six blocks and was comprised of stately Federalist homes and quaint storefronts located along brick sidewalks. The foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains could be seen in the distance.
“This is such a lovely place,” Linda said. “Wide-open spaces with small-town charm. Wonderful for raising a family. The leaves will be changing any day now, and the fall colors are truly a sight to behold.”
As they drove down Washington Street, Linda pointed out restaurants, coffee shops, and other small businesses. “Bring anything to mind?” he asked Kate, lowering his voice so only she could hear him.
He caught the wistful sound in her response when she smiled and said, “It reminds me of St. Anthony Main.”
That night they ate dinner up in the main house with Phillip—head of the FBI task force and the closest thing Ian had to a father since his dad died—and his wife Susan who treated Ian like the son she never had, lavishing far more attention on him than Ian’s own mother did. Afterward, he and Kate returned to the guesthouse and Ian poured them a drink.
Though these four walls had been the closest thing he’d had to a home base for many years, he was ready to move on. Kate was as fond of the guesthouse as she’d been of their summer cottage, but she’d readily agreed they needed more space if they ever hoped to retrieve their belongings from storage, and a friend of Susan’s had recommended Linda shortly after their return from Roanoke Island.
“I think we should buy the Middleburg house,” Kate said after they settled on the couch.
He smiled. “Was I that obvious?”
She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Yes, but I can understand why the property is appealing to you.”
“But do you like it enough for it to be our home?” Kate had given up a lot of things to be with him, and he wanted her to be happy.
“Sure. It’s a great house. I might need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs so I can find my way from the wine cellar in the basement back to the wine fridge in the kitchen.”
“We can go a little more high tech than that. I’ll put a homing-beacon app on your phone and program it to start beeping when you get close.”
Kate laughed and took a sip of her wine. “Problem solved.”
“We’ll probably be there awhile.” He was looking forward to that because he was tired of moving, tired of never spending more than six months to a year in the same place.
“That’s a good thing.”
“You can do anything you want to the house. Redo every single room until it’s exactly the way you like it.”
“Oh, I plan to. I’m going to start at the top floor and work my way down. That French colonial might not look so traditional when I’m done with it. I’ll be the talk of the town.”