If the Shoe Fits Read online

  If the Shoe Fits

  Rachel Lacey

  This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.

  This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  If the Shoe Fits

  Copyright © 2018 by Rachel Lacey

  Ebook ISBN: 9781641970556

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  Cover Design © Letitia Hasser, Romantic Book Affairs

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  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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  NYLA Publishing

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  http://www.nyliterary.com

  Contents

  Newsletter

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Dear Reader

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Rachel Lacey

  My Gift is You Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Make sure you sign up for my newsletter! You’ll receive a FREE novella just for joining and first looks at everything I’m working on.

  1

  Elle Davenport tugged at the bodice of her ball gown where the ribbing poked into her skin. When she’d been a little girl dreaming about fairytale princesses, she’d had no idea the dresses would be so uncomfortable. Of course, real-life princesses probably had gowns made of super-soft silk, unlike Elle’s theme park knock-off.

  She continued down the sidewalk, waving at a group of children waiting in line for popcorn, her skirt swooshing around her feet as she walked. The Florida sun blazed overhead, and she glanced at the clock tower to her left. Ten minutes until her break…

  “Princess Ariana!” A little girl ran toward her, arms outstretched.

  Elle knelt and gathered her in for a hug. “Hi there, sweetie. What’s your name?”

  “Britney,” the girl told her. “You’re just as beautiful in real life, Princess Ariana.”

  “Aw, thank you, Britney. That’s so sweet of you to say.” As hot and uncomfortable as she was, moments like this one made her job worthwhile. Dressing up as a theme park princess wasn’t at all what she’d planned to be doing at twenty-five, but it wasn’t the worst job she’d ever had either. She signed Britney’s autograph book and posed with her while the girl’s parents took several photos before the family continued on their way.

  Elle greeted a few more guests and then headed up the steps of the welcome center, eager for fifteen minutes of air conditioning. She lifted her skirt to keep from tripping over it, smiling as she saw her gold Gucci sandals peeking out from beneath its red satin folds. Her dress might have been uncomfortable, but her shoes sure weren’t. Shoes were her one splurge, and this pair—with colorful flowers embroidered across the top strap—made her feel like a real princess.

  She ducked down the hall to the employee break room and filled a cup of water from the cooler. As she took a grateful sip, her cell phone started ringing from inside her locker. She fumbled to open it, grabbing her phone from the depths of her purse. The number came up with a 212 area code which—thanks to that one year after high school when she’d decided to try her luck with acting—she remembered was a New York City exchange. Acting had been a bust, though, and she didn’t know anyone in New York City.

  Still, something compelled her to press the phone to her ear instead of letting it go to voicemail. “Hello?”

  “Am I speaking with Elle Davenport?” a female voice asked.

  “Yes. Who’s this?” Elle smoothed her free hand over the perfectly coifed blonde wig she wore. She was a natural blonde, but Princess Ariana’s hairdo was intricate, and it just wasn’t practical to spend hours getting her hair done every morning before work.

  “My name is Monica Jackson, and I’m the outreach coordinator at Modern Home and Gardens magazine.”

  “Modern Home and Gardens,” Elle repeated as her brain clicked up to speed because holy shit, memories of a wine-infused girls’ night danced behind her eyelids. That night, after a few bottles of wine and a lot of laughter, she and her friends had entered the most outrageous contest…

  “That’s right,” Monica said. “You entered our Almost Royal contest, and I’m so pleased to tell you that, after careful consideration, you and your co-applicants Ruby Keller and Megan Perl have been chosen as our winners.”

  “Wait—what?” Elle pressed a hand to her forehead. She never won stuff, and this…this was by far the biggest contest she’d ever entered.

  “You won!” Monica repeated with a laugh. “If you accept, you’ll be moving into Rosemont Castle in Towering Pines, Virginia, for a period of six months, during which time you’ll have the opportunity to put the ideas you proposed in your entry essay into practice. I have to say, our team loved your ‘Fairy Tails’ concept where guests at the castle visit with adoptable animals during their stay.”

  “Holy crap.” Elle sounded like she’d swallowed helium, and she didn’t even care. That last part had been Ruby’s idea—for guests to have the opportunity to meet and hopefully fall in love with their own furry Prince or Princess Charming while they stayed at Rosemont Castle. Elle had thought it a bit much, but if this was what had won the contest for them, she would never doubt her nerdy, rescue-pet-loving friend again.

  “You’ll be compensated for your work, of course,” Monica said. “The owners of the castle—the Langdon family—have stipulated generous monthly salaries for you, and all business expenses will be covered. At the end of the six-month period, they will evaluate your work and decide whether to keep you on to manage the property for them. If your venture is profitable, there is potential for your position to become permanent.”

  “That’s…that’s amazing.” Elle knew she should have something more eloquent to say, but her mind was tumbling in a million different directions. She, Megan, and Ruby were going to move into a castle, a real-life castle owned by relatives of the British royal family. She danced on the spot, her ball gown swirling around her ankles, and hey, at least she was dressed for the occasion. She choked back a laugh.

  “Now we realize that a lot of people entered this contest with no real expectation of winning,” Monica continued. “To accept your prize, you’ll need to move to Virginia for a minimum of six months and live and work at Rosemont Castle, which will culminate in a spread in Modern Home and Gardens’ January issue detailing your time and work there. This is a big commitment, so we urge you to let us know as soon as possible if you’ll be unable to fulfill your obligations.”

  It was true that Elle and her friends had entered the contest without expecting to win. Truthfully, she hadn’t given it a second thought since the night they’d sent in their essay. But there was no way she was p
assing up this opportunity, and she knew her friends would say the same thing. “Oh, we’re in. We are definitely in.”

  And that was how, three weeks later, Elle found herself riding in a shiny black limousine through the Virginia countryside with her best friends. She pressed her nose against the glass like an excited child as the limo wound its way down the endless paved driveway leading to Rosemont Castle. Tall trees rose on either side of them, forming a green canopy overhead. After twenty-five years in Florida, she felt out of place here in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. She might feel lost right now, but she hoped to find something wonderful at the end of this drive. Maybe even life-changing.

  The stakes for today were impossibly high. She and her friends had quit their jobs and moved out of their apartments for this opportunity. What if they messed up and the Langdon family sent them packing? She sat up straighter in her seat. She’d just have to work extra hard during their time here to make sure that didn’t happen.

  “I see something,” Megan said beside her.

  “Where?” Elle peered through the window, her heart accelerating the way she wished the limo would, but it kept up its steady crawl along the winding driveway.

  “All I see are trees,” Ruby said, keeping one hand firmly on the cat carrier in front of her.

  “There!” Megan called, and sure enough, Elle caught a glimpse of a stone structure through the trees.

  Rosemont Castle. This was really happening.

  The limo rounded a bend, and the castle came into full view. It looked like something straight out of her childhood fairytales, with an elaborate façade built from stone bricks, a tall tower on one side, and a huge fountain splashing from the middle of the circular drive. There were lush gardens to the left and rolling hills as far as she could see, scattered with various outbuildings.

  “It looks just like it did in the photographs,” Ruby said. “Except bigger.”

  “Definitely bigger.” Even Megan sounded awestruck.

  Elle pressed a hand to her chest. She’d always thought the expression was just a cliché, but right now she literally felt like she’d had her breath taken away. From her one-bedroom apartment in Orlando to this? Happiness bloomed inside her, as vibrant as the flowers lining the driveway.

  According to their contact at the magazine, the castle’s owner, Alistair Langdon, the Earl of Highcastle aka an actual relative of the British Monarchy, had passed away recently. The rest of the Langdons lived in England, so Elle and her friends should have pretty much free rein over Rosemont Castle for the duration of their stay.

  If they were successful in finding a way for the castle to pay for its own upkeep, the Langdon family had the option to keep Elle, Megan, and Ruby on site indefinitely as property managers, and that’s exactly what Elle was counting on. This was her fresh start in life—a fresh start of royal proportions.

  Nothing was going to mess it up.

  The limo pulled into the circular drive, slowing to a stop in front of the castle’s dramatic front steps. The driver came around and opened the door for them. Ruby got out first, a cat carrier in each hand. Megan followed, with Elle bringing up the rear.

  She stepped out of the limo and stood staring up at the castle. It was even more impressive now than it had been from inside the limo, standing picturesque against the bright blue sky. The sound of water splashing into fountains reached her ears. The air was cool and fresh, impossibly fresh. She sucked in a deep breath, a wide smile spreading across her face.

  An elderly man in a crisp black uniform and white gloves came down the front steps. “Good afternoon. You must be Miss Davenport, Miss Perl, and Miss Keller.” He spoke with a British accent, and if he was an actual English butler, Elle might faint on the spot.

  “Yes, we are,” Megan replied with an eager smile, her brown hair blowing in the breeze.

  “Welcome to Rosemont Castle,” he said briskly. “My name is Colin, and I’m the butler here. If you would like to follow me, I will show you in and have your luggage brought inside.”

  “That sounds lovely,” Megan told him, still beaming.

  Elle seemed to have lost her tongue. Her brain had gone fuzzy. A castle with a butler. How was this her real life? By now, the limo driver had lined up all their luggage on the asphalt beside them. She followed Megan and Ruby up the stone steps toward the castle’s entrance.

  As she reached the top step, one of Ruby’s cat carriers bumped into her shin. Elle stumbled off balance, and her rhinestone-encrusted sandal (she’d worked very hard on her first-day-in-a-castle outfit, thank you very much!) slipped from her foot and tumbled down the steps behind her with a clatter.

  Well, that was an embarrassing way to make an entrance.

  She turned, uneven now in one kitten-heeled sandal and one bare foot. A man stood at the bottom of the steps, holding her sandal and staring up at her with piercing blue eyes. His black hair was almost long enough to reach his collar, thick and wavy. He wore a powder-blue polo shirt and khaki shorts, and hello, he was gorgeous. And he must think she was a total klutz. She swallowed hard.

  He held up her shoe. “I believe this belongs to you?”

  Theo Langdon climbed the steps to hand the pretty blonde her shoe. These must be the winners of the magazine contest, and as irritated as he was by the situation, he couldn’t help but admire the women on his front steps. They were all pretty, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the blonde.

  Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in loose curls that were pinned back from her face on one side. She wore a light pink dress with thin straps that showed off her toned and tanned shoulders and a white belt that accentuated her waist. She wobbled as she bent to slide the runaway shoe back onto her foot, and he held out a hand to steady her. Her hand was warm and delicate in his.

  She straightened to face him, her cheeks flushed nearly as pink as her dress. “Thank you. I’m Elle Davenport.”

  “Theo Langdon.” He watched as her green eyes widened.

  “Oh! You’re one of the Langdons.”

  He nodded. “That’s right.”

  “We’re so thrilled to be here, Mr. Langdon,” one of Elle’s friends said, extending her hand with a wide smile. “This is a dream come true for us.”

  “You can call me Theo.” As the newly appointed Earl of Highcastle, they should technically address him as “my lord,” but he’d never been big on formalities, especially not here in America. And anyway, he was still coming to terms with the fact that the title no longer belonged to his grandfather. Alistair’s death had come as a shock to everyone, but especially to Theo.

  “I’m Megan.” She gave his hand a firm shake. “And that’s Ruby.”

  Ruby, whose glasses and tight bun reminded him of a younger version of his high school English teacher, gave him a shy nod. A cat carrier sat on either side of her, and two sets of feline eyes gleamed up at him from within them.

  “Pleasure to meet you ladies,” he said. If they’d met under different circumstances, it really would be a pleasure. He would have enjoyed getting to know them—especially Elle—but right now, their presence was an unwanted complication. He very much needed to get Rosemont Castle sorted out and sold so that he could return to London before the end of the summer.

  “We, ah, we were under the impression you lived in England,” Elle said, still watching him closely.

  “Hoping to have the place to yourselves, were you?”

  “Oh, no, not at all,” she stammered.

  He fought a smile. “I do live in London, but I’ll be here for the time being while I wrap up my grandfather’s affairs.”

  “Of course.”

  “In fact, I was hoping to go over some business with you ladies, if you don’t mind?” He’d purposefully caught them on their way in so he could break his news before they’d had a chance to get attached to the castle.

  “Okay.” Elle held him in her steady, green-eyed stare.

  “I’ll just take a few minutes of your time, and then you c
an get settled in.” He motioned for them to follow him inside, but as he did so, his cell phone began to ring. He swiped it from his pocket and saw the number for the London office displayed on the screen. Reluctantly, he shifted gears. “Actually, I need to take this. Have Colin find me once you’re settled, and we’ll talk then.”

  He pushed through the castle’s heavy wooden doors, connecting the call as he walked.

  “Theo.” His uncle George Langdon’s voice boomed over the line. “Our board members have been asking after you. How long until you’re back in London?”

  He started down the hall toward his office. “I hope to have everything wrapped up here in the next few weeks.”

  “We’re counting on you, my boy.”

  Theo understood his uncle’s meaning perfectly. The family had long scorned his grandfather’s decision to live primarily in America. They felt he’d neglected his duties as the Earl of Highcastle. Now that Theo had inherited the title, they expected him to step up in the ways his grandfather had not. “There are a few matters here that have to be dealt with, but I’ll be back in London as soon as possible.”

  “Don’t forget about the Gardener charity event on the twentieth of June,” his uncle said.

  “I’ll be there.”

  Elle stepped inside the castle’s front doors and stopped there to take it all in. The foyer was two stories high, with vaulted ceilings and huge windows that let in lots of natural light. Polished marble floors glistened beneath her feet, and an ornate crystal chandelier twinkled overhead. To her left, a wooden staircase curved upward toward the second floor.