The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

someone I met recently.” She looked up, into his amazing eyes, and was transfixed, momentarily, by their hypnotic quality.

“You got a girlfriend, Mickey? Good looking bloke like you would have them queuing at your door I should think.” He coloured up, immediately.

“I knows one or two. No-one special. I don’t want to get tied down, like.” As if embarrassed by the turn of the conversation he climbed back in the van and looked down at her. “How come someone drop-dead gorgeous like you ain’t married, then?” Bella couldn’t help herself and laughed at his directness, posing with one hand on her hip before she answered him.

“I suppose I just haven’t found the right man.” The pose was seductive, her voice full of promise.

“There’s a chance for me yet then is there?” he asked, cheekily, grinning all over his face as he slid the door shut. She watched the van disappear before turning to go back into the cottage. Mickey’s call always added a sparkle to her day and now she had heard from her mother who wanted to come over and visit. The gods were smiling on her today, she figured, so it had to be a good omen for Kyle’s visit. What time would he turn up, that was the question?

It was answered at around 10.15 when her phone rang. It was Kyle calling to say that he’d be there within around twenty minutes and would she like to go out and have lunch somewhere? Perfect! Bella took a coffee out into the back garden which was now showing the results of Joshua’s handiwork and stood in the sun feeling really pleased with herself and life in general. She began to walk around the garden, suddenly determined to take a greater interest in what her gardener had been doing. What an amazing difference he’d made in only two weeks and, what was this? He’d even discovered a herb garden beneath all the wild growth of grass and weeds. The joy of being at Willow Cottage coupled with the general direction her life was taking filled her with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that she had never known in London. There was just one thing missing and Bella considered the only two men in her life at the moment. Excluding Mickey, she thought, with a grin. But on a more serious note she wondered about how deeply she wanted to get involved with anyone. From past experience she knew that she brought out the possessive side in men and how ugly that could sometimes become. With the way her life was shaping she couldn’t foresee losing the independence that she was beginning to prize more and more. Looking back over the past her most successful relationships, from her point of view anyway, had been with men that had been committed to someone else, a wife or a girlfriend. She had remained a free spirit, which she found so necessary to her enjoyment of life, while, in most cases, her partners had sought nothing permanent from the liaison.  Marriage had been her greatest mistake and it made her shudder to think of it. How foolish she had been! But she had also been very impetuous then, and headstrong. Time had smoothed those rough edges a great deal but certainly not completely. Bella’s wandering had brought her to the low trellis fence that separated the vegetable plot from the garden nearest the cottage and, where Joshua had trimmed back the thick growth of ivy, she now saw a climbing rose of the deepest purple and stopped to admire it. I could cope with Ben every now and then if he was still married, she told herself, bringing one of the small, perfectly formed, flowers to her nose. Maybe, she added as an afterthought. His qualifications for the job were fine except that it now seemed he wanted something more serious. Not good. Bella released the bloom carefully, taking care to avoid the thorns. And that leaves Kyle, she reflected, turning back towards the cottage and pausing for a moment to look at it from the garden. An unknown candidate with possible potential. How she wished Jane were here and they could discuss it like a couple of schoolgirls drooling over a first date. Wouldn’t that be fun? The intrusive sound of a blaring horn shattered the silence and her thoughts. He was here! Either twenty minutes had passed extremely quickly or he had made better time than he’d predicted. Bella took the path around the side of the house feeling as excited as a little girl going to a party.

“Brought me a coffee, have you?” Kyle was referring to the empty mug she was carrying. “That’s very thoughtful of you!” As he was approaching the front door of the cottage she had come round the corner oblivious to the fact she was still holding the mug and she looked at it, briefly, in amusement as she walked towards him with a welcoming smile.

“I can make you one, if you like,” she offered. “I’ve just been wandering round the garden checking on what the gardener’s been up to.” He was exactly as she remembered him. A more physical presence than Ben, altogether. There was an edge of hardness to him, a hint of male macho totally absent in Ben. Kyle was dressed casually in a short, brown, antique leather jacket over a black t-shirt. Beige slacks and hand-made Italian shoes completed the outfit.

“Why not? Ok, then. It’s good to see you looking so much better. I hardly recognise you!” This was a different woman to the one he’d seen on the day of the accident. He had been attracted to her then but this was something else. She looked sensational.

“Here, I’ve brought something for you.” He held out a small, slim package wrapped in expensive-looking paper. Bella was quite taken aback.

“Kyle, that wasn’t necessary,” she said, affectionately.

“Go on, take it,” he insisted. “It won’t bite.” She got the impression he wasn’t