Chapter 8: A Foggy Night in London Town

The first thing they noticed when debarking the plane was how cold it was. A damp mist clung to them as they walked across the jetway, and the nearly sixty degree difference between the 110 degree heat of Vegas and 50 degree dampness of London made their current attire of shorts and t-shirts extremely inappropriate. Luckily the limo wasn't too far away, and they quickly ensconced themselves inside, Dave and Jess sitting next to each other with Missy across from them.

Jess had never been to England before, so she looked on as the limo pulled out into traffic on the left side of the road. The manor that they were heading to was in Wimbledon, a suburb of London, and fairly close to Heathrow Airport. The early morning traffic was fairly heavy, but much better than Los Angeles traffic, and they arrived at the manor about 45 minutes after leaving the airport. Having never been to London, Jess was surprised at the distinct changes in surroundings as they went from district to district, and had her face almost pressed to the window of the limousine. Dave smiled amusedly at his sister's obvious excitement.

They stepped out of the limo and the girls stared at the manor house, mouths wide open. The estate was enormous, covering a hundred acres of suburban London, and horses grazed in a field just to the left of the manor house. The lawns and gardens were impeccably maintained, and the house itself looked like it could have been straight off the set of "Pride and Prejudice" which happened to be Jess' favorite miniseries (and book). "Whose place is this?" asked Missy.

Dave looked a little embarrassed. "It belonged to Chaz West."

"The rapper?" asked Jess in amazement.

"Yeah, he's a part owner of the Garden, and he's almost never out here, he didn't have a problem at all with us staying here for a bit."

"Well, you'll have to thank Mr. West for us when you see him next," said Missy, as she took in the gorgeous surroundings. Dave smiled a bit at that.

As Jess walked to the front door, a thin, severe, looking man opened the door. In a nearly perfect imitation of Jeeves, he intoned, "Welcome to Wimbledon Downs, Miss Huang." Jess thought, "No fucking way!" as the butler bowed deeply.

"My name is James, and I am the head butler at the Downs, as we call them. Master West was kind enough to inform me of your visit. I've taken the liberty of laying out a morning repast, but please allow me to show you to your staterooms," said James in very clipped, proper tones.

To that, Dave replied, "That would be wonderful, by all means..." and James pointed to the main staircase.

"Wimbeldon Downs was constructed in the late 18th century by his grace, the Duke of York. It was in the House of York for two centuries, before he liquidated it along with some of his other London properties. Master West had owned the Downs for two seasons."

"Miss Davidson, this is where you'll be staying, the Windsor room," as he opened the door. An expanse of pink brocade furnishings greeted Missy as she took in the marvelous room. Victorian-era tiles decorated the ceilings, and the furnishings appeared to be straight out of an Austen novel, chamber pots excluded. It was deliciously feminine and Missy fell in love with the accommodations immediately.

"Now, my dear Miss Huang..."

"Please call me Jess,"

"That would be quite inappropriate, but I will address you as Miss Jessica, if you wouldn't mind."

"That would be fine."

"Miss Jessica, your stateroom is here, this is the Coventry room."

The Coventry room was laid out differently than the Windsor room, it was quite a bit smaller, but the effect was more intimate. It was decorated completely in Jess' favorite color, sea green.

Jess was amazed. "This is my favorite color, How did you..."

"Now, now, Miss Jessica, anticipating the wishes of my charges is my job."

Jess lost herself in exploring the Coventry room. She noticed that her belongings were already unpacked and placed in the cabinets and drawers in the room, which she found a little disconcerting, but she was amazed at the efficiency nonetheless.

James escorted Dave to the Westminster room, and Dave stopped him as he prepared to turn and walk out. "Have you spoken to Mr. West since the transaction, James?"

"Indeed. Mr. West was most satisfied with the exchange. If I may be so bold, Master David, Mr. West has only graced us with his presence on only two occasions. He had been looking for a buyer for several months, and your fortuitous arrival and magnanimous offer has secured our employment. For that, you have my thanks."

Dave nodded, and headed down to the dining room for brunch. He was surprised to see two things. First, that the ladies had beat him down to the dining room, and second, an enormous buffet laid out on the fifty foot long dining room table.

"Dave, why is our stuff put away in cupboards?" asked Missy.

"I'm afraid I wasn't completely honest with you guys," said Dave.

"What do you mean?"

"Chaz West owned this manor until about two hours ago, when our deal was finalized. I traded him a yacht that I had purchased in the same auction as the Gulfstream for it. What do you guys think?"

The girls jumped up and down in excitement. "Was that a good deal?" asked Jess.

"A great one, in fact. The yacht is a 115' cruiser that I purchased for $2.8 million, which is probably less than a quarter of what it's worth. West paid $8M for this estate, but it's probably worth twice that at this moment. I think West was just crazy about the yacht. It was pretty luxurious, but very impractical. I just bought it because it was a good deal, but this gives us a home base that we can use for our entire trip!"

"Dave you've amazed me again, don't make a habit of it," teased Jess, and Dave could only smile.

Although they'd eaten shortly before arriving to England, it was approaching lunch time, and the dazzling array of food was so tempting that they dug in heartily. Dave snagged a cucumber sandwich from a tray. "What do you ladies want to do today?"

"How about some touristy stuff? Maybe some shopping?" This came from Jess, of course. Missy agreed that would be fun and Dave said that they would drive into town in a bit. "You guys up for some dancing tonight?"

This time, Missy surprised them by answering, "I think we're always up for dancing, especially in a new country!"

They returned to their respective rooms to get ready, and Missy looked out her windows and saw a beautiful looking pool area with separate pool houses and other facilities in the back yard. She decided she would need to use that this afternoon before going out. Having traveled quite a bit throughout her life she found that swimming helped settle her jet lag for the most part.

As the temperature had increased a little bit by this time, Dave dressed pretty simply in his usual jeans and a LeTigre polo, with comfortable Puma shoes and a track jacket tied about his waist. Missy wore much the same, but to their surprise, Jess emerged in sea green Juicy warm-ups with matching shoes. "Who are you, J-Lo?" teased Dave. To that, Jess ran back up to her room and returned with a green-tinted mirrored visor style pair of shades. Dave just rolled his eyes.

The girls expected to find the limo outside, but they followed Dave over to the garage. "Looks like these come with the place," said Dave, pointing to four cars that were in the garage. Along with the limo, there was an Aston Martin Vanquish S 2+2, Jaguar XJR, and Land Rover Defender. They hopped in the Jag and Dave pulled out into traffic. "Dave, have you driven RHD cars a lot?" asked Missy.

"Yeah, I have driven in Japan fairly regularly and I had a course on RHD at the driving school. It's more of a matter of keeping your mind on what you're doing," said Dave, as he expertly maneuvered the Jaguar around a traffic circle. A few minutes later they passed Picadilly Circus, headed for Knightbridge. "There's a little parking garage that I always used to use near Harrods. I figure we can take the tube to wherever we need to go inside the city, doesn't make much sense to be looking for parking all over."

The girls agreed, and they indeed found a reasonably priced and conveniently located parking garage two blocks from Harrods in Knightbridge. Of course, the first stop for the travelers was the incomparable Harrods, the giant department store in Knightbridge. Upon entering Harrods, the first thing they saw was a plaque reading "Omnia Omnibus Ubique" which literally translated as, "All things, for all people, everywhere." While this may have been a slight exaggeration, the sheer quantity and variety of goods available in the million plus square foot store was staggering. Jess, of course, was like a kid in a candy store, and quickly arranged to meet up with the others an hour later at the deli.

Dave and Missy strolled arm and arm comfortably looking at various sights through the store. Dave wanted to pick up some food in the pantry section, and he arranged to have several items shipped to his house in Corona del Mar as well as the Downs. Missy had moved on slightly looking at some leather jackets, and Dave took this opportunity to place another order to be delivered to the manor house, taking another second to give James a short message.

Missy came back just as Dave was closing his cell phone, and looked up curiously. "I was talking to James about something for tonight," he replied honestly, and she smiled. Dave stopped by the bakery and bought a couple of Missy's favorite white chocolate macadamia cookies, handing one to her, and whatever suspicion she had disappeared completely.

Missy had been to Harrods many times, and she led Dave to the Chocolate bar, where they enjoyed some hot chocolate drinks that almost seemed like they were right of the molten river in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Dave enjoyed the occasional chocolate treat, but he wasn't as much of a connoisseur as Missy, who worshiped chocolate with a reverential fervor. Dave couldn't have sworn that Missy didn't have a small orgasm after taking the first sip of the hot chocolate, and while he really enjoyed it, he wasn't quite as over the top about it.

They sat, comfortably talking about the trip so far. Missy gushed about how nice everything had been so far. She was used to luxury, but she wasn't used to anyone making such an effort to make her happy. She knew that it wasn't all for her, as Dave's love for his sister was clear, as was the obvious pleasure he got from making her happy, but she would take everything she got. Missy realized again that Dave was like the brother she never had but had always wanted, and that realization gave her a warm feeling inside. "Was this love?" thought Missy.

Before they knew it, an hour had passed, and they walked down to the deli to meet up with Jess. She was loaded down with two large shopping bags, and they smiled in amusement. "Jess, did you always do this much shopping?" asked Missy.