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

Ajay relaxed back into his plastic chair. ‘Does that mean Shaun’s accepted my theory that the young pretender has the hots for him?’

‘He has.’ Thea grimaced. ‘He told me last night, but he doesn’t want to endanger the end of the dig, so let’s keep that to ourselves.’

‘Might be a bit late for that.’ Andy pulled a face. ‘You should see the looks she flings Shaun. Subtle, she is not.’

Ajay added quickly, ‘Shaun was oblivious by the way! Didn’t believe a word of it when I suggested he keep his distance. Teenage girls in love are trouble.’

Thea gratefully digested this piece of information. ‘Shaun said she was in her twenties, not a teen.’

‘Sheltered life, so same thing in this case.’ Ajay shrugged. ‘She hasn’t turned up for work today. Odd really, because she’s been first one on site and last one to leave every day since we got here.’

Andy tapped a few more keys, changing the scene on the screen. ‘She didn’t come to the pub last night either.’ He paused. ‘You don’t think she and Shaun—?’

‘Andy!’ Ajay cut across his friend’s speculation.

Thea gazed across Bodmin’s stunning moorland landscape so they couldn’t see her expression. ‘It’s okay, I know the situation, but I’d rather not talk about it until I’ve seen Shaun.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything.’ Andy went back to tapping on his computer.

Ajay dipped his head in the direction of the house. ‘The living room curtains are twitching, but then they always are. Lady Hammett likes to pretend she’d not interested in what we’re doing, while watching us like hawks from behind the stately velvet.’

‘Could Sophie be there with her?’

‘Not likely, they don’t get on.’ Ajay spoke as if he despaired of the younger generation, despite being only twenty-four himself. ‘Sophie talks about this place as if it’s somewhere to escape from at all costs.’

‘Right.’ Thea was only half listening as she scanned the upper-floor windows. ‘Unless I’m much mistaken, she hasn’t escaped yet.’ She turned towards the house. ‘Second floor, third window from the left. Is that a shadow, or a young woman wishing she could come and rejoin the dig?’

Thirty-Three

September 23rd

The light breeze that insisted on chilling the back of Thea’s neck, making her wish she’d brought a scarf with her, dropped as she sat with Shaun beneath a rare cluster of trees on Bodmin Moor. Despite only being half a mile from the house, the air felt clearer. Something about being near Guron House was stifling.

She’d never forget the expression on Shaun’s face when, fresh from finishing the section of filming, he’d spotted her talking to Ajay and Andy. A complex mixture of relief, happiness and unease had highlighted every line on his face.

Having introduced Thea to Phil, Shaun excused them both for an hour. They’d walked away from the house, and on through the grounds, until he’d declared them out of range of anyone watching from the manor.

The moor was almost desert like, with heathers and gorse bushes littering the earth, between vast expanses of nothing much. You could tell it had been a particularly dry summer just by looking at the edges of the plants, many of which had been charred by their unsheltered exposure to so much sunlight.

Thea held herself a little apart from Shaun as she broke the silence. ‘I can’t be sure, but I think Sophie was watching me from a window in the house.’

‘She would.’ Shaun sighed.

Feeling awkward, Thea said, ‘You didn’t tell the AA about the tarpaulin.’

‘No. They’re lovely blokes, but terrible gossips. I take it you did?’

‘I assumed they knew.’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Shaun edged closer to Thea, but she pulled away.

‘Thea?’

‘Oh come on, Shaun!’ Thea’s heart raced as she saw his startled face. ‘You can’t think I’m thrilled that you took another woman out for coffee? What if someone had recognised you?’

‘That’s why I chose somewhere away from the dig!’ Shaun said. ‘I was trying to do the right thing for Mill Grange. I was—’

‘So why didn’t you tell me about it until afterwards? It’s been Sophie this, Sophie that, since you got here! I’ve been going out of my mind thinking you’d met someone else.’

‘What?’ Shaun was gobsmacked. ‘But I asked you to come here, and I’m so glad you did.’ Shaun shuffled closer, stroking Thea’s hair, as if trying to commit the touch to memory.

Relief filled Thea, but she hadn’t finished making her point. Pushing his hand away, determined to stand firm, Thea licked her dry lips. ‘I started to wonder if… Well, Sophie’s younger and, no doubt, prettier than me and—’

‘Stop right there.’ Shaun shook his head fast. ‘I love you.’

Thea stared across the barren landscape. ‘Even so. Absence makes the heart not only grow fonder, but also forgetful. I’m sure Sophie could be very tempting.’

Horrified, Shaun pleaded, ‘I didn’t even notice she liked me.’

‘I know that now. Ajay told me. But sat in Mill Grange, not knowing what was going on…’ Thea’s sentences petered into a sigh.

Shaun reached out again, gently turning Thea to face him. ‘I’m so sorry. These last few weeks have not been my finest. I’ve been so obsessed with finishing here and getting back to Mill Grange, I lost sight of things a bit.’ Shaun raked a hand through his hair. ‘I suspect I’ve hurt Sophie’s feelings as well. I honestly wasn’t thinking in date terms, but I soon discovered she was.’

Thea rolled her eyes. ‘How could you not have realised how she’d see it?’

Shaun groaned. ‘I was bloody stupid, wasn’t I?’

‘Extremely. Aren’t you lucky you have an understanding girlfriend?’

‘Damn right.’

‘That doesn’t mean I’m not a pissed-off understanding girlfriend who expects such idiocy to be made up for!’

Shaun pulled Thea to his side as he realised how close he’d come to messing up their relationship. ‘I’m sorry, love. I’m glad you’re here.’

‘Me too, but I’m not sure how it will help.’ Letting him off the hook for now, Thea grimaced. ‘My arrival could make it worse.’

‘I can’t see