Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

had eyes for anyone but Nick since I've known her. " He stared into the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair.

"More fool her then, because Nick is playing the field. Where are you going?"

"Sunday or not, I have work to do. Are you going to cook my lunch?"

Bet stretched, snuggling back under the covers. "Why not? Who were you in your previous life, Tim, do you know?"

Tim turned and looked down at her. "Funnily enough, I think I do. "

Bet's eyes grew round. "You are joking?"

"No. "

"Well?" She sat up, the sheet pulled up tightly around her breasts. "Who were you?"'

He grinned. "If I told you that, my love, I'd regret the indiscretion for the rest of my life. Now, you may go back to sleep for exactly forty-one minutes, then get up and put the roast on. I should be finished in the darkroom in an hour. " With a wave he ducked out of the bedroom and ran down the spiral stairs to the studio below.

The north London traffic was heavy, and Jo was impatient, but she was so preoccupied she barely noticed the cars and the heavy pall of fumes under the brassy blue sky. It was not until the road finally widened and the cars began to thin that she started to relax and look around her. The air became lush with country summer: blossoms, thick and scented on the trees, rich new green leaves, hedgerows smothered in cow parsley and hawthorn while overhead the sky arched in an intensity of blue that never showed itself in London. Jo smiled to herself, turning off the main road to make her way through the lanes toward Long Melford. She always felt light-headed and free when she arrived in Suffolk. Perhaps it was the air or the thought of seeing Ceecliff, or perhaps it was only the fact that she was nearly always faint with hunger by the time she reached her grandmother's house.

She turned down the winding drive that led toward the mellow pink-washed house and drew up slowly outside the front door. Nick's Porsche was parked in the shade beneath the chestnut tree. She sat and stared at it for a moment, then angrily she threw open the car door and climbed out.

Nick must have heard the scrunch of her car tires on the gravel for he appeared almost at once around the corner of the house. He was in shirt sleeves, looking relaxed and rested as he grinned at her and raised his hand in greeting. "You're just in time for a drink. "

"What are you doing here?" Her anger had evaporated as fast as it had come and there was a strange tightness in her throat as she looked at him. Hastily she turned away to pull her bag out of the car. She held it against her chest and wrapped her arms around it defensively.

"I needed to talk to your grandmother, so I called her up and came down last night. " He stopped six feet from her, looking at her closely. She had unfastened her hair, letting it fall loosely over her shoulders in an informal style that suited her far better than her usual severe line, and she had changed into a soft clinging dress of peacock blue silk before leaving home. She looked, Nick thought suddenly, very fragile and very beautiful. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch her. "She's in the garden at the back with the sherry bottle. Come on around. "

"What was so important you suddenly have to drive out to Suffolk to talk about it?" Jo asked mildly.

Nick was silent for a moment, still staring at her. Than he shook his head slowly. "I thought I'd do some research for you. " He grinned. "Guess who came from Clare, just around the corner?" He began to lead the way across the gravel.

Jo followed him. "You came here to check on that?" she said in disbelief.

Nick shrugged. "Well, no, not exactly. I wanted to talk mainly. And I admit it, I told Ceecliff not to say anything about me when she called you. I wanted to talk to you too and I thought you might not come if you knew I was here. "

"It's a pity she didn't mention you, " Jo retorted. "Your girl friend was with me when she called. You could have had a word with her and put her mind at rest. She clearly thought I had hidden you under my bed. "

"Judy was at your apartment this morning?" Nick frowned.

Jo had begun to walk toward the garden at the back of the house. The grass was soft, scented beneath her sandals, with patches of damp velvety moss and strewn with daisies. "She was just telling me that your brother had confided to her that I was schizophrenic and would need to be locked up soon. "

Nick laughed. "I hope you didn't believe her. I'm afraid you seem to bring out the worst in Judy. " He was following her now, around the corner of the house. "Jo, I think there's something I should explain. Wait a minute, please. " He caught her arm.

"There's no explaining to do, Nick. " Jo turned on him, pulling herself free. "You and I have split up. You have a new woman in your life. The night before last you were kind enough to help me out for old times' sake, when I was feeling a bit frayed, but as soon as someone else turned up to sort me out, you went back to Judy. End of story. Lucky Judy. Only I wish you would explain to her she need not feel so insecure. "

She could feel a sudden warm breeze stirring her hair as she walked on toward the walnut tree near the willow-shaded pond where her grandmother was sitting in a deck chair. On the horizon white cumulus was beginning to mass into tall thunderheads. She bent and kissed Ceecliff's