One Summer in Cornwall by Karen King (best books to read for success .TXT) 📕

totally zonked. ‘I’ll be right there,’ he said. Ending the call, he grabbed his shorts and pulled them on, then headed for the door, running his hands through his messy hair as he pounded barefoot down the stairs. He opened the door and was greeted by a surprised stare from Lady Thomwell and a cheeky wink from Estelle. He hadn’t known she was going too.

‘Did we get you up, dear?’ Lady Thomwell stepped in without waiting to be asked and Estelle followed, her eyes drifting over his naked torso and back up to his face.

Marcus groaned. Why hadn’t he pulled on a T-shirt?

‘I’ll just get the painting, it’s up in the attic.’ He turned to walk down the hall to the stairs and realised that the two women were following him.

‘We’ll come with you. I’m dying to see where you work,’ Estelle said.

‘And there might be another couple of paintings we could take. You aren’t confined to one entry, you know,’ Lady Thomwell added.

There was nothing for it but to let them in to his studio.

‘Bugger off!’ Buddy greeted them as they all walked into the attic.

‘Goodness, you keep a parrot up here!’ Lady Thomwell exclaimed. ‘And you’ve painted him! That’s wonderful. Look at this, Estelle.’

But Estelle had spotted the painting of Hattie and was walking over to that.

‘Estelle?’ Lady Thomwell turned. ‘What are you doing? Oh goodness, that is striking!’

Marcus supressed a groan as she walked over to his painting of Hattie too. Why hadn’t he covered it up?

‘This is your girlfriend, isn’t it? The one you brought to Rupert’s birthday party?’ said Lady Thomwell. ‘She looked stunning in those leathers.’

Marcus nodded. ‘The parrot belongs to her. I’m looking after it while she’s away for the weekend.’

Lady Thomwell was walking around the painting, studying it from every angle. ‘You must enter this in the exhibition too. It’s stunning. So much character. Isn’t he talented, Estelle?’

‘Beautifully painted, darling, and how sweet that you’ve painted your girlfriend,’ Estelle said. ‘I prefer the parrot painting, though. He’s such a gorgeous bird.’

‘I think I prefer this one. It’s got a look of wildness about it,’ Lady Thomwell said, nodding her head as she walked around the painting of Hattie. ‘You can almost hear the bike starting up ready to go, and feel the young woman’s adrenalin coursing through her. She looks like someone who enjoys life and lives it to the full.’

Exactly like Hattie, Marcus thought. And right now, she was planning her next adventure.

He could feel Estelle’s eyes on him, feel her brain ticking. ‘Such a shame she’s moving away. You’ll miss her, won’t you? I guess you painted her portrait as a reminder. That’s so sweet,’ she said languidly.

Her words took him by surprise. How the hell did she know that Hattie was moving away? He quickly pulled himself together. ‘Yes, she’s selling the cottage but she’s not moving that far. We can see each other at weekends.’

‘She’s going to Bristol, isn’t she? My friend Hilary said. Hattie took some photos of Charlotte riding her horse, they were very good, so Hilary tried to book her for Charlotte’s birthday party photos in September but Hattie said that she was moving away to Bristol soon,’ Estelle explained, obviously noticing Marcus’s surprised expression.

‘Well, it’s not set in stone yet but, yes, she’s thinking of going back to Bristol. She’s been over there this weekend looking at property,’ he said. ‘She’ll be back any time now.’

‘How nice.’ Estelle smiled sweetly at him.

‘We really must be going. I’d like to take both these paintings, if I may, Marcus. They are wonderful. I’d be very surprised if one of them didn’t win a prize.’

Marcus hesitated. ‘I’m not . . .’

But Lady Thomwell was adamant. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll look after them. You’ll have them back safe and sound next week.’

What could he say? ‘Let me wrap them both up and carry them down for you.’

‘We’ve had to park around the corner, Branson is waiting in the Rolls,’ Lady Thomwell said.

The chauffeur got out when he saw them approaching and opened the boot which was full of suitcases and baggage. ‘Just place them on the suitcases, dear, they will be perfectly fine,’ Lady Thomwell said. ‘I promise I will take good care of them. You are a very talented young man and I am quite certain one of these will win a prize.’

He hoped so, he could do with the money. And he did trust Lady Thomwell to look after his paintings, he knew that she had great respect for art. He lay the pictures flat on top of the suitcases and closed the boot. ‘Thank you for entering these for me.’

‘It’s a pleasure, dear.’ Lady Thomwell kissed him on the cheek, then got into the back of the Rolls. ‘Come on, Estelle. We must go.’

‘Hang on, I need a pee,’ Estelle said, turning to Marcus. ‘I couldn’t quickly nip to your loo, could I?’

He wanted to refuse her, but it would be rude so he nodded, hoping he had left the bathroom tidy, and they both walked back to Curlew Cottage. As soon as Marcus opened the door, Estelle shouted, ‘Thank so much,’ and dashed past him. He waited on the doorstep and she returned a few minutes later.

‘Right, I’ll be off,’ she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a big kiss on the lips – just as Hattie rode past on her motorbike.

Chapter Forty

Hattie rode around to the back of the cottages, stunned. She pulled up outside the back gate of Fisherman’s Rest, and tried to pull herself together, the shock of seeing Marcus and Estelle kissing in the doorway of his cottage coursing through her. Marcus and Estelle! He had begged Hattie to go to the party with him so he could avoid Estelle’s advances, and now he had invited her to his house as soon as Hattie’s back was turned, and there he was standing on the doorstep kissing her goodbye. And that wasn’t a friendly kiss. That