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

always loved the boat, and the sea air will help get things straight for you. It always did, remember?"

Jo hesitated. He was right. She had to get away. "No strings? Separate bunks?"

Nick grinned. "Scout's honor. Why don't I ring the marina and ask them to get her ready? We'll call in at Lynwood House and pick up my gear and we could be at Shoreham in a couple of hours or so. "

Jo sighed. She stared around the room, thinking of the night before, sitting all alone, waiting to hear if the baby was going to start crying again. Abruptly she capitulated. "Okay, I'll come. Thanks. "

He smiled. "Pack a bag while I phone. " He watched as she moved toward the bedroom, seeing already a new lightness about her. He made the call and then threw himself back on the cushions of the sofa. They slipped a little and a bundle of rolled-up clothing fell onto the floor. He picked them up and shook the garments out, puzzled, then his face darkened.

Standing up he strode toward the bedroom. "Did you do a striptease for Sam as the hors d'oeuvre or the encore?" he asked, dropping her panties on the bed.

She stared at them blankly. "I don't understand. "

"You don't understand?" Nick threw her dress and bra down as well. "How strange. I should have thought it was obvious. It is no doubt part of that precious professional relationship Sam is so keen to preserve. He takes off your clothes perhaps to take your pulse, then hides them under the pillow for tidiness' sake! Or was it because I arrived unexpectedly? Not that it's any of my business, of course. "

"No, it isn't any of your business!" Jo flared angrily. She picked up her dress and shook out the creases. She felt suddenly very sick. "I must have left them there earlier. I don't know... perhaps last night. I felt so strange last night. I was drinking, and I took the last of the pills—"

"Jo, for God's sake!"

"There is nothing between Sam and me, Nick. Nothing. If it's any of your business. " Her eyes flashed. "I'm not so sure this boat thing is such a good idea after all!"

"We're going, Jo. " Nick picked up her bag. "Forget Sam for now. We'll talk about him later. Get a jacket. It might be cold on the water. "

She hesitated. "Nick, this is stupid. We can't do it. To go away together would be crazy. "

"Then it's a kind of craziness we both need. " His tone was becoming threatening. "I'm prepared to carry you to that car, Jo. "

She was too tired to argue anymore. She swallowed the automatic flare-up of rebellion and followed him downstairs, thankful only when the front door was closed without her hearing again the echoing wail of baby William's hungry cries.

Two and a half hours later, Jo clutched Nick's arm. "Nick, stop! Go back!"

The Porsche screamed to a standstill on the dusty road. "For God's sake, what's wrong?"

"That signpost! Did you see it?"

"Jo, you could have caused an accident. Christ! What is wrong with you? What signpost?"

He turned in his seat and reversed up the empty road, past the narrow turning to which Jo had pointed.

"There. " She was pale and excited. "Look. It points to Bramber!"

"So?" Nick glanced in the rearview mirror and waved a truck past, then he pulled the car onto the grass shoulder. "What's so special about Bramber, suddenly?"

"It was William's home. It was where I went after I was married!"

Nick's hand tightened on the wheel. "After Matilda was married, I suppose you mean?"

"That's what I said. Oh, Nick, can we go there? Please?"

A car slowed behind them, hooted and overtook, the driver gesturing rudely as he disappeared around the curve of the road.

"Jo, we've come to forget all that. "

"Oh, please, Nick. I'll never rest until I've been there now. Just for a few minutes. It's research for the article, among other things. I can see how much it's changed. Nick, don't you see? I'll be able to compare. It might prove that everything has been in my imagination—" Sadness showed in her eyes suddenly. "If I recognize nothing at all, at least we'll know then. The Downs can't have changed all that much, or the river. Please, Nick?"

With a sigh Nick engaged gear. He turned up the narrow road, glancing at the countryside around them. "We've been around here half a hundred times before, Jo. Every time we've left the boat at Shoreham we've explored the Downs to find pubs and restaurants—"

"But we've never turned off here. " She was peering through the windshield, her hand on the dash. "I don't recognize anything, Nick. Not the countryside, the Downs are so naked—so small. " He could hear the disappointment in her voice.

"They are the same as they were the last time you and I came down to the boat, " he said gently. "Look—" He slowed the car. "It says. 'To the Castle. ' Shall I turn up there?"

She nodded. Her mouth had gone dry.

Nick swung the car up the steep lane between two small modern flint turrets and into a muddy parking lot. Above them rose a wooded hill with a squat little church nestling into its side. Jo pushed the car door open and stood up, her eyes fixed on the church. Nick hadn't moved. He was leaning across, watching her.

She looked down at him unhappily. "Nick, I have to do this alone. Do you mind?"

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"And you'll be all right?"

She looked around. "I'll be all right. Go and find one of those pubs you were talking about. Come back in an hour. " She pushed the door shut.

Nick watched her walk toward the church. Only when she had disappeared inside did he turn the car and drive back down the lane.

Jo opened the door into the nave and stared around. The church was completely empty. She stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind