Rough Around the Hedges Read Online Emma Hart

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Funny Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
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No. I was all for letting my inner slut out whenever she pleased, but I really needed to set some ground rules with my horniness.

For example… Why hadn’t I even bothered to get his name? Or ask what he did? Or find out anything about him before I’d stripped myself naked and fucked his face?

Names, at least, were apparently very important when there was feral face fucking going on.

If only that was the only feral thing I did that night.

Sigh.

Sitting here ruminating about some of the best sex of my life was not going to solve this problem.

I dialled the number I’d been given with a stab of my thumb against my screen and set it on loudspeaker, resting my wrist on top of my steering wheel.

“Hello, you’ve reached the office of the Duke of Hanbury,” a male voice I didn’t recognise crackled down the line.

“Oh, hello. I’m looking for Luke Butler,” I replied.

“Speaking.”

He could have started with that. Wasn’t it polite to introduce yourself when answering the phone in a workplace?

“I’m Rose Matthews, the allotment committee chair. I’d like to arrange a meeting with the duke.”

“Of course, Miss Matthews. I’ve been expecting your call.”

It felt like I was talking to a Bond villain’s secretary right now. Was he sitting in an overly tall-backed leather chair stroking a very fluffy cat?

If so, I didn’t care for the chair, but I was pretty jealous about the cat thing.

“Are you available next Thursday at two p.m.?”

I paused. “Do I have a week and a half to wait to discuss the time-sensitive closure of our allotment site? No, I do not. How about tomorrow?”

“His Grace is very busy, and I’m afraid that’s the next available appointment on his schedule.”

“His Grace is in breach of the contract between his estate and the committee, and I’m doing him a great favour by informing him personally rather than taking the legal action I’m entitled to,” I said sharply. “So, Mr Butler, assistant to the Duke of Hanbury, you can make me wait until next week—by which time your boss will have already received legal correspondence from our representative—or you can squeeze me in within the next forty-eight hours and we can attempt to resolve it amicably.”

He said nothing for a moment, and I wondered if he was going to tell me to go ahead and take the legal route.

That’s what I’d have done.

I was being quite rude, after all.

“Is this the best number to contact you on, Miss Matthews?” he asked coolly.

“Yes. If I don’t answer, it means I’m working, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

“Very well. I will speak with His Grace and contact you shortly.”

“Thank you very much, Mr Butler.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, thanks. I look forward to speaking to you again very soon.” I grinned and hung up, staring at my phone.

Now I understood why Isa said I could be scary sometimes.

6

* * *

OLIVER

Redheaded Lunatic

“Rose Matthews is insane. She’s been arrested three times: once for public intoxication, once for public fornication, and once in a case of mistaken identity. She also allegedly has a cell with her name on it for what the locals appear to call a ‘time out’ when her behaviour gets a bit too erratic.”

I pulled off my glasses and peered across the room at Luke. “There’s so much to unpack in what you just said that I’m not sure where to start.”

“Imagine how I felt finding this all out.” He tossed the envelope on the desk in front of me. “That’s not even the half of it. The Matthews family is practically the backbone of this village; her father, John, is former navy, former police, and together with his wife, Celine, owns a couple of properties on the high street, but it’s not much to write home about financially speaking. Rose joined her maternal grandfather’s gardening business when she graduated from university and worked with her mother until Celine fully handed it over to her daughter two years ago. She followed in that same grandfather’s footsteps as the head of the allotment committee after his passing. She’s generally loved by the people who live in and around the village, even if they do all think she’s a bit whacky. Rose’s relationship with your grandfather was tenuous at best, but they appear to have shared some mutual respect that stemmed from wanting the best for the allotment site. Both of them seem to have—or had—a close emotional tie to the place.”

“No wonder she looked at me as though she wanted to kill me when I told her I was closing it.” I sliced open the envelope and pulled out the information inside. “I rather feel as though I’m doing something illegal with a dossier of information on her.”

“Dossier is it a bit of a stretch, Your Grace,” Luke said, glancing at the envelope.


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