Mistress On Loan. Sara Craven

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СКАЧАТЬ walked slowly to the side door and stood for a moment, trying to control her flurried breathing. She had the key in her hand, so what was she waiting for?

      She needed to go in—to get the whole thing over and done with—then be on her way. For the last time.

      Gagging suddenly, she turned and ran, stumbling in her haste. She by-passed the lawn, where Chay Haddon had stood that morning, opting for the gravelled path which led to what had once been the enclosed kitchen garden but which now resembled a jungle on a bad day.

      She closed her mind to the plans she’d made to transform this riot of weeds into a thriving vegetable plot again and kept running, until she reached the gate at the far end, and the area of woodland beyond it.

      It was so long since she’d been here. She’d deliberately shunned this part of the grounds for sixteen years. But now, in the face of the greatest crisis of her life, she needed to confront that old childhood fear and defeat it.

      She was looking for the only oak tree—an ancient, massive specimen, with room in its spreading branches for a whole terrace of treehouses.

      ‘So where does he go all day?’ Down the years, Piers’s voice returned to haunt her. ‘The housekeeper’s son. Where does he hide himself? Do you know?’

      And she, eager to please this glamorous dark-haired boy, paying his first visit to his uncle, had said, ‘Yes—I’ll show you.’ At the same time knowing, guiltily, that she shouldn’t. That it was not her secret to share.

      Now, for a moment, staring up into the branches, she thought she’d picked the wrong tree. She’d been convinced that time would roll back, and she’d find herself, just nine years old, in shorts and tee shirt, her hair in the plaits she’d hated, looking up longingly at the wooden platform that had been Chay’s hidden place.

      An elderly ladder had been propped against the lower trunk, and after that you’d climbed up through the branches until you reached the treehouse.

      It had had a roof of sorts, and three walls constructed out of timber oddments, but to Adrien it had been a magic place—a castle, a palace, a cave where anything could happen.

      She had known, because he’d let her look through his binoculars, that Chay went there to watch birds mostly, but sometimes he’d come to read or just think. He’d kept books up there, and a sketchpad, and a tin of biscuits.

      She’d asked once, ‘Isn’t it funny—being all on your own here?’

      He’d looked at her thoughtfully, not smiling. ‘It’s good to be alone sometimes. You need to be comfortable in your own company before you can be happy with other people.’

      Adrien hadn’t been sure what he meant, and her face must have shown it, because he’d laughed suddenly, and reached out, tugging gently at a plait.

      ‘Is it so awful, Adie—the thought of having no one to talk to?’

      ‘I’d hate it,’ she’d said, shivering as a breeze stirred the leaves and made them sigh. ‘I’d be frightened. Up here by myself.’

      I actually told him that, she thought. I put the weapon in his hand and he used it against me. Used it to punish me. Unforgettably. Unforgivably.

      There was no ladder there now, or platform, no flapping roof. No trace of the little girl who’d knelt there, crying, for all that endless time, convinced she’d been deserted and forgotten.

      It was just—a tree.

      His voice reached her quietly. ‘It’s been gone a long time, Adie. Angus had the gardener dismantle it and put it on a bonfire. I had to watch it burn.’

      She spun round, her hand flying to her mouth. ‘What are you doing here?’ She’d had no inkling of his approach until he spoke.

      ‘You have a short memory,’ he said. ‘I own the place now—remember?’ He looked her over, absorbing the dark grey linen suit and the white silk camisole beneath it. ‘What happened to this morning’s Pollyanna?’

      She said shortly, ‘Pollyanna grew up—fast. And I meant how did you know where I’d be? Because I never come here.’

      ‘Your Jeep was there,’ he said. ‘But the doors were still locked. I—obeyed an instinct.’

      She supposed she had done the same thing, and it irked her. She lifted her chin. ‘I’m—trespassing. I apologise. I came to clear out my stuff.’

      He glanced round, brows raised. ‘You’ve been camping in the wood?’ he enquired. ‘How enterprising.’

      ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s in the house. I—I’ll go and fetch it—if that’s all right.’

      He shrugged. ‘Be my guest.’

      She offered him a frozen smile. ‘I think that’s carrying hospitality too far.’

      ‘As it happens,’ he said slowly, ‘you’ve already been under my roof for nearly a week.’

      She swallowed, forcing her legs to move, walking back down the track. ‘The sale went through that long ago? And I wasn’t told? Oh, but I suppose it all happened in Portugal.’

      ‘No,’ he said. ‘I was in London, and so was Piers. He came over to sign the necessary papers before leaving for Brazil.’

      For a moment she couldn’t speak. She certainly couldn’t move as she digested this latest blow.

      Piers had been in England, she thought with anguish, and she hadn’t known. He’d been here, and he hadn’t warned her. She wanted to sink to her knees and howl her misery to the sky.

      Chay watched her. He said, ‘Obviously he didn’t make contact.’

      It was a statement, not a question. But then, he’d been able to observe her shock and desperation at close quarters earlier that day. He knew how brutal the deception had been.

      Adrien straightened her shoulders and set off again. She said coolly, ‘That’s understandable. After all, I might have taken it badly—learning I’d been jilted as well as saddled with a mountain of debt. Far better to let me find out once he was at a safe distance. I suppose Brazil could be considered a safe distance. Besides, he knew what fun you’d have, breaking the news to me in person.’

      His mouth twisted. ‘You have a weird idea of what I find enjoyable. But I’ll say this for you, Adie, you’re not a whinger.’

      ‘Give me time,’ she tossed back over her shoulder. ‘I’m planning a whinge of cosmic proportions. Would you like to buy a ticket? It seems I need every penny I can get. And you don’t have to follow me,’ she added with aggression. ‘I’m not planning to rob the place.’

      ‘Don’t be paranoid,’ he said. ‘We just happen to be going in the same direction.’

      ‘No,’ she said forcefully. ‘No, we don’t. Not now, not ever. Could you wait somewhere, please, while I collect my things? Then I’ll be out of your face.’

      ‘Sorry.’ He shook his head. ‘I want to look over the Grange—see what’s been done and СКАЧАТЬ