Daisy could hardly believe there was nothing out of place in any of these rooms. No towels left on the floor, no toiletries sprawled over the vanity bench in the bathroom where she could still smell the lingering scent of his aftershave cologne, which undoubtedly occupied a shelf in the mirrored cupboard above the vanity bench. She didn’t look for it, uneasy enough about this much intrusion of privacy.
It felt weirdly intimate just staring at the colour coordinated rows of clothes in his dressing room, with the matching shoes precisely lined up in specially made racks below them. It had surprised her that his bed had been made, not left in disarray, but all this…was Ethan Cartwright obsessively neat or did he simply like everything in order?
Daisy shook her head in sheer bemusement. She’d never known a man who wasn’t messy—her brothers, her father, past boyfriends, Carl in particular, stepping out of their clothes, leaving them on the floor, piling dirty dishes in the sink, shoes being dropped wherever they took them off. They didn’t actually expect a woman to clean up after them. Mess didn’t seem to bother them. She wondered why Ethan Cartwright was different.
Even the kitchen had been absolutely pristine, though he must have made himself some breakfast since he was living here. All the stainless-steel appliances had been gleaming and there hadn’t been so much as a wipe smear on the black granite bench tops. Curiosity drove her downstairs to check his pantry. Sure enough the shelves were packed in precise order, sauces and spices lined up for easy access, other staples grouped together. It was certainly the most efficient way to organise a kitchen. Maybe he was a genius at time and motion.#p#分页标题#e#
Daisy couldn’t help being impressed by this aspect of his character. She was a bit of a neat freak herself, liking to know where everything was so she didn’t get frustrated hunting for mislaid items, wasting time that wouldn’t need to be wasted if a bit more care was taken in the first place. But maybe he was a control freak, which wouldn’t be easy to live with. She had to stop thinking things that added to an attraction that was already too disturbingly strong.
The doorbell was a welcome distraction.
It was the architect.
‘Hi! I’m Charlie Hollier and I presume you’re Daisy Donahue,’ he rattled out with a broad smile. ‘Ethan called me and said you’d be here.’
‘Right!’ She smiled back. He was short and stocky, not much taller than her, with a rather homely face and friendly blue eyes twinkling at her as though he was happy to make her acquaintance. The fact that he was wearing blue jeans and a blue-and-white checked sports shirt also made Daisy feel immediately relaxed with him.
‘He mentioned you suggested a bar in the games room. Good idea! Should have thought of it myself. We won’t have to wait until the end of a game to go and get a drink from the kitchen.’
‘You’re one of his Tuesday group?’
He nodded. ‘Always a great night. Let’s go and have a look where best to put it.’
They walked inside to survey the situation. Daisy could not contain her curiosity. ‘How many of you come to play?’
‘Well, there’s the old solid core from Riverview. Ethan and Mickey started it amongst the boarders in our class when we were at school together. A bit of competitive fun when we weren’t at sport or study. That’s three regulars plus Mickey when he’s in town, and other friends we’ve made since then. Usually we have eight people turn up, sometimes more.’
Riverview…it was one of the big private schools at Hunters Hill, sited just across the Lane Cove River from this house. Being a boarder probably meant each student had allotted spaces for his possessions and he would certainly be disciplined into making his bed. If Ethan Cartwright had spent the six years of secondary school there, that could have become habitual, and it would be fairly natural for him to have a place for everything and everything kept in its place—nothing too odd about it.
Daisy was bursting to ask more questions about Ethan Cartwright’s personal life, but reined in what could be seen as too much interest from a mere employee.
The architect decided on a corner bar next to the wall that backed onto the utility room—easy to run plumbing for a sink through from there. He would amend the plans and give a new set to Daisy so she could keep an eye on everything and stop mistakes from being made. ‘I’m delighted Ethan has found someone to be on the spot all the time,’ he added enthusiastically. ‘You’d be surprised how often things have to be fixed because they weren’t done right in the first place.’