Autumn Leaves at Mill Grange by Jenny Kane (best free e reader .TXT) 📕

from his forehead. ‘I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing the accusation when I asked Sophie about it. Lady Hammett always seems to be lurking somewhere. Watching. It was only the local café, not a hotel or anything.’

‘Did you consider a hotel then?’

‘Of course I didn’t!’

‘Umm.’ Thea pulled a pad and pen in her direction and began to make a to-do list. ‘Sounds as if mother and daughter are as manipulative as each other.’

‘Perhaps it’s something they teach at finishing school.’ Shaun snorted. ‘I’ve already offended Sophie, so I might as well go the whole hog and ask her if it’s on the syllabus!’

‘Actually, I think I’ll ask her.’

‘What?’

‘It’s time Sophie and I had a little chat.’

Thirty-One

September 23rd

‘Are you sure it’s okay?’

‘How many times are you going to ask us that?’ Tina rolled her eyes as Thea threw a hastily packed rucksack into the boot of her car.

‘But I’m abandoning you, and the first guests are arriving in twelve days!’

Tina smiled at her friend. ‘Honestly, if it wasn’t okay, we’d say so.’

Sam passed Thea her walking boots. ‘Go and sort this Sophie girl out. You’ll never be able to concentrate if you don’t go, and anyway, you going could make the difference between Shaun’s team coming here or not.’

Thea gave her friends a hug, and was about to climb into the driver’s seat when she asked Sam, ‘Yesterday, when you were interviewing Tom, you talked about the television filming as if, should it happen, it would be Landscape Treasures. Have you made a decision about Treasure Hunters?’

‘Not yet.’ He turned to Tina. ‘That’s what I was going to talk to you about once we’d waved Thea off. No offence, Thea, but you’re understandably biased.’

*

Watching Thea’s car disappear down the driveway, Sam slipped his hand into Tina’s. ‘I honestly don’t know what to do about Treasure Hunters. They have now offered in the region of £8000. It would solve a huge number of problems; maybe enough to pay an architect to draw up plans for the renovation of the mill building.’

‘But you’re worried that if we take the offer, Shaun will be upset?’

‘A little, but he’s a friend, and he knows this isn’t personal.’ Sam shrugged. ‘I’ve just got an uneasy feeling about it. Eight grand is a lot of money to offer when they haven’t even inspected the site.’

‘According to Thea, this might be more about getting one over on Landscape Treasures, than the site.’

‘Then the question is, do we want those sorts of people excavating here?’

Tina glanced up at Sam. ‘You’re asking my opinion?’

‘I am.’ Sam looked sheepish. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t consult you about Helen and stuff.’

‘All I wanted was a sorry.’ Tina smiled. ‘I think we should wait. Treasure Hunters are offering money but not mentioning start dates, is that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then we should hang on until they demand an answer. Don’t you think?’

‘Good plan. We’ll leave things as they are for a moment. In the meantime, I have a confession. I’ve done something else without talking to you first. Something rash.’

‘Go on.’

‘I’ve hired an open-top car to drive us to Worcestershire.’

Tina squeaked as she said, ‘We’re going to see your parents?’

‘You knew we were.’

‘Yes, but… we’re really going?’

‘Can you think of a better time? We have a week before the proper guests come. Tom is here, so Helen won’t feel abandoned and, most important of all, it will get meeting my parents over with. I’m tired of worrying about it.’

Aware she was gaping, Tina said, ‘You mean we’re going today? Now?’

‘Tomorrow. My parents don’t go to work in the conventional sense – we don’t need to wait until the weekend. I’ve checked with Mum, and she’s fine with the date change.’

Panic gurgled in Tina’s belly. ‘But Tom’s only just got here, and we can’t ask Mabel to feed the chickens as well as everything else and—’

‘Woody’s on holiday down here, exploring the area. I’ve asked him to come back for the day.’ Sam peered at Tina through his overlong fringe. ‘You aren’t going to get all offended that I sorted this without speaking to you first, are you? I knew you were nervous about meeting my parents. I didn’t want you to have long to worry about it.’

Flustered, and not sure whether to dash inside to see if she still liked the clothes she’d decided to wear on such a visit, or to run into Upwich for a haircut, Tina asked as gently as she could, ‘What about you going inside?’

Looping his arm around Tina’s waist, sidestepping the question, Sam steered her towards the walled garden.

‘I didn’t intend to live like this. Outside of my home, I mean.’ Sam gestured to the landscape around them. The trees were taking on a distinctly orange, red and brown hue, with the occasional evergreen confidently displaying its coat here and there. The last few flowering blooms were bravely holding on in the final vestiges of summer, fooling themselves that winter wasn’t coming, and that they’d last forever. ‘I can’t turn the clock back, however much I wish I could. What happened while I served my country wasn’t my fault, and isn’t something I should be ashamed of.’

‘I never understood why you thought it was either of those things.’ Tina kissed his cheek. ‘I just wish…’

‘Wish what?’

‘I don’t know anything about you, Sam. Not the you before Mill Grange I mean.’

Sam bit his lips, his gaze landing on the chicken run. ‘That’s because I didn’t live until I came here.’ He slipped his hand free, his expression suddenly closed. ‘I’d better go and fetch the car.’

*

Tom wasn’t sure if he really could smell the residue of burning in the air, or if it was simply because Moira had told him what had happened to the mill that had alerted his senses as he set off through Upwich, towards Mill Grange.

He couldn’t believe he’d got the job. It had certainly been the most relaxed interview he’d ever had. When the email inviting him to interview had arrived, saying the process