The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

again until they were on the road out of the airport in the hired Audi heading north-west in the direction of Blandford Forum. Once they had landed, close to the main airport building, it hadn’t taken them long to pick up the car and get on the road. When Bella checked her slim Cartier watch she found that it wasn’t yet 10.30.

“I don’t like to say this, Ben, but I’m feeling a little hungry having followed your instructions about a light breakfast!”

“Sorry about that!” he apologised, with a laugh. “Some people can suffer pretty badly with air-sickness in the chopper so I thought it best to be wise before the event.”

“Well, thanks for being so thoughtful but I wouldn’t mind stopping for a coffee and something to eat, along the way.”

“Sure thing. I’ll keep my eyes open.”

“I’d rather you did!” she emphasised, and they both laughed. There was something she had been meaning to ask him and now was as good a time as any. “So, is the chopper yours?” she enquired.

“It belongs to clients of mine. They have a charter business that leases and hires various types of choppers. I’ve got a Robinson 22 which is a tad smaller than this but very handy for avoiding traffic jams. I have an arrangement with the company that I can borrow a chopper when I need one and the Jet Ranger was available today. Simple as that. So,” he said, stretching back from the wheel, “did you enjoy the flight?”

“You know I did!” she purred. “It was just so…exhilarating. As I said to you, I was so engrossed in the flight I forgot about the cottage completely,” she reminded him, with a grin. “But now we’re that much closer I’m really getting excited about it!” Her excitement was infectious and Ben seized the moment, wanting to know more about her.

“Tell me about Bella Foxton, then,” he said. “There’s something very un-Anglo Saxon about you, something intriguing. I want to know all your secrets!”

“Hmm! Do you now?” she replied, giving him an old-fashioned look. “I’m not sure I know you well enough for that but I’ll give you some of me and see how you get on.” They had reached the junction with the A31 and Ben turned right, in the direction of Wimborne. Not a fan of Google Maps, Bella had the folding map which she had found on the passenger seat, when she had got into the car, on her lap and was smiling at some of the place names. Gussage, Chettle, Pimperne, Tidpit. It was like finding yourself entering the Middle Kingdom and at any moment she expected to see Frodo thumbing a lift by the side of the road.

“I’d always wanted to be a dancer,” she confessed. “Right from the time I was a little girl.” Ben said nothing, content to listen. “I was always dancing to music, at home, even when I was three or four years old. My mother enrolled me in dancing classes but then we went back to Italy to live and well, that was the end of that.” Ben shot her a glance, seeking an explanation.

“Maria, my mother, is Italian. My father met her on his travels and they came back to England. She was several years older than him, a serious actress who could also paint a bit. I’ve no idea what she saw in my father that made her want to marry him…”

“What makes you say that?” Ben sounded surprised.

“Dad was the black sheep in the Foxton flock. Much more Irish than Rupert, and proud of it. Rupert inherited the title, of course but dad acted more like it was his, apparently. You’re probably aware” she said, turning to look at him, “that he died when I was quite young?” Ben nodded. “So I only know of him by reputation, you understand.”

“And what reputation was that, dare I ask?”

“Typically, Irish, I suppose you’d say, not wishing to stereotype him. Rupert told me that he was a great storyteller.” Bella leaned towards him a little and whispered. “And you can take that any way you want!” Settling back, she continued. “He enjoyed a good drink and loved the company of women. Oh yes, and according to Rupert, he did nothing in moderation. How my mother ever put up with him, I’ll never know.”

“Does she talk about him much?” Ben asked.

“Never has done. It was like the moment he died she erased every memory of him. I’ve tried to get her to open up but it’s like he never existed.”

“How strange!” Ben murmured.

 “Every family’s got it’s secrets, Ben, and I guess we’re no different.” She glanced out the window, as they passed a large road sign. “Look,” she cried, “we’re just coming into Blandford Forum. If you want to know any more about me, I demand that you stop at the first half-decent looking place before I faint from hunger!”

Ben spotted a pub sign, up ahead, on their side of the road and slowed down as he approached. The King’s Arms had an open sign outside so he turned into the car park, much to Bella’s relief. It was an old pub which had been modernised, in an attempt to boost trade, and had once belonged to the Badger Brewery stable but was now part of a Japanese-controlled conglomerate. There were only three other customers in the bar as Ben ordered drinks and two rounds of salmon sandwiches, which put him back in Bella’s good books.

“So tell me, where’s your mother now?” Ben asked as they sat down at a table by the window facing the road. “Is she still in Italy, or did she return to live here?” Bella made herself comfortable, flicking her hair back, and Ben couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked.

“No, she’s still in Italy. A place called Lucca, in Tuscany, do you know it?” Ben shook his head. “It’s famous as Puccini’s birthplace. She’s quite well-known as an artist now and I think she just