Love Me Or Leave Me by Claudia Carroll Page B

briskly, snapping me out of my thoughts. ‘Quick tour of the Games Room and then onto the top two floors.’
    The Games Room, just a short flight of stairs down from Reception, thankfully meets with his approval, but then it’s kind of been designed to be boy heaven. There’s deep leather easy chairs dotted around the place, a full-size snooker table and a giant screen TV, which I’m guessing will be tuned to Sky Sports more often than not. Our lighting designer is planning on dim, low lights in here and I just know it’s going to be something very special.
    Rob nods his silent approval, so then I quickly lead him onto the magnificent oak panelled library on the ground floor. It’s utterly breathtaking in here with its high bookcases and comfy armchairs. The atmosphere is peaceful and calming and so quiet which I’m hoping will help ease some of the tension our guests are bound to be going through.
    Just a curt, ‘Okay, we’re done here,’ nod from Rob while I’m still waxing lyrical about leather wingback armchairs.
    Right then, hint taken. So that much done, I lead him up the restored Georgian staircase (still in the process of being carpeted), which he takes impatiently, two at a time. Next thing, he’s power walking through the bright, airy breakfast room, with its soft yellow wallpaper and rich, deep cashmere rugs in the most luxurious nude colours. So soft and so opulent under my feet, that I actually feel a bit shifty for having the cheek to walk on it with shoes on.
    Rob doesn’t seem to notice though, just takes it all in, then he’s straight onto the gorgeous yellow drawing room just behind it and finally up onto another floor to where the relaxation room and bedrooms are. The relaxation room is one of my favourites, mainly because when I described the atmosphere of calm, soothing tranquillity I was after to our design team, they amazingly were able to create it exactly as it had been in my mind’s eye. It’s not all that big a space really, and unlike the rest of the building, it’s quite modern in style, but it has the most gorgeous, massive floor-to-ceiling window, so is often completely bathed in sunlight and overlooks what will be the beautiful gardens.
    My ultimate vision here is to have long comfy recliners dotted just in front of the window, where guests can stretch out, relax and just take in the panoramic views down onto the gardens below. God, but wouldn’t I have loved somewhere like this to crawl away to and lock out the world, after Frank – well, you know the rest.
    ‘Now of course, it’s not quite finished yet,’ I tell Rob, ‘but when it is, just imagine this whole space almost like a health spa, with aromatherapy candles dotted around and …’
    ‘… And I think we can safely assume it’s a room where ladies will congregate, as opposed to blokes,’ he says, finishing my sentence for me. Then adds with a hint of a smile, ‘But then I suppose the lads will doubtless monopolize the Games Room, so fair’s fair.’
    And two minutes later, we’re up another floor to the bedrooms, just a dozen in total. Wordlessly, he takes it all in, stopping only to check the flat screen TV’s are all working or to make sure the sinks in the bathrooms are all in immaculate nick.
    Finally, we’re back downstairs at Reception again and now he’s calling a taxi to take him back to the airport. Exactly forty-five minutes, I calculate. That’s precisely how long he’s spent in here. A lightning quick march around the kitchen downstairs, a brief hello to his HR woman, who sits bolt upright and smiles tersely when she sees him, and now he’s ready to go.
    ‘Good,’ Rob says, as I walk, or more accurately race after him to the main door and we step outside together into the warm summer sunshine. ‘Good work.’
    ‘Well, we’re getting there.’
    ‘You know something, Chloe?’ he says, turning to face me full-on now as, right on cue, a cab obediently pulls up