Читать книгу A Home On Bramble Hill: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile - Holly Martin - Страница 11
ОглавлениеHe had evidently come downstairs to answer the phone, as he was chatting away on it, not expecting anyone to stroll across his back garden.
His body was glorious, he was so tall and big. His great broad chest, with that tantalizing pierced nipple. Muscles screamed from every part of him. Every single part. She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander, following the thin smattering of hair down from his navel to his groin. She swallowed. He really was big in every single sense. She wondered if he had to have some special licence for it, an operator of heavy machinery. His thighs were huge too, there would be a lot of strength and stamina in those hips and thighs. She imagined what it would feel like to be wrapped around those hips, to feel that much strength under her hands, against her own body.
Suddenly aware of what she was doing, that she had been frozen to the spot for at least a minute, if not more, she looked back up at Finn’s face. How long he had known she was there was unclear, but he was staring at her – his mouth partly open in shock. Not only had she looked through his window and caught him naked, but she might as well have opened a bag of popcorn and pulled up a chair for the amount of time she had spent enjoying the show.
She turned away and hurried through the back gate. Out the corner of her eye she saw Finn quickly wrap a towel around himself and move to the door to confront her.
‘Oi!’ came Finn’s voice through the gate. ‘Get a good enough look did you?’
Stifling the smirk from her mouth, she whirled to face him. He was so tall that even though the gate was closed, she could still see his head and chest above it. That chest with the pierced nipple.
‘Let’s call us even shall we, since you stood perving at me in my bedroom this morning.’
‘I was not…’ He paused, clearly fighting with the decision to shout at her or accept she was right. ‘Fine, let’s call it even.’
This surprised her. She fumbled with her keys, trying to get inside as quickly as possible, but the damned key wouldn’t turn and he was still standing there watching her. Finally she undid the lock and tumbled through the door, knowing her face was burning bright red yet again.
*
Dusk fell on Bramble Hill, leaving trails of plum and tangerine across the sky. The village, as always, was peaceful and quiet. Though next door to Finn was a sudden hive of activity.
For the last few minutes he had watched Joy load up the back of her car with boxes and bags. She was dressed entirely in black.
But the weirdest thing was what she was doing now, obscuring her number plates with a purpose made black cover. He wasn’t an expert on the law, but he was pretty sure that was illegal.
She hopped in the car and to his great surprise, she tied a black bandana round her head, like a pirate. With a great wheel spin, she disappeared up the road.
One thing was for sure, she was up to no good.
*
Joy stood in the darkened trees, gently touching what she had achieved. It was beautiful. The dragon almost glinted in the moonlight. A huge sense of pride filled her and she wanted to stand and stare at it all night. But now she needed to be gone before anyone discovered her.
She quickly loaded her gear into the back of the Range Rover and manoeuvred out through the trees with the skill of someone with years of experience in off-roading at night. It wasn’t long before she hit the road, and minutes later she arrived back at her house.
This was the first job she had done so close to home. She had always worked far away in case she got caught, but this particular job was going to pay very well.
She moved silently into her garden, diligently unloading all her gear into the shed. Her tools would need cleaning the next day, so she quickly disassembled them ready to be cleaned and left their parts spread out on the work bench.
She moved out into the garden, stretching her arms above her head as she looked up at the stars that glittered like diamonds above her. Thousands of them peppered the inky blue sky, some were in great white clusters but others were separate, proudly standing alone. Without the lights of the city here, the night sky seemed endless above her. She lay down on the chair swing to look at them properly. She and her mum used to lie and look at the stars sometimes. She tried to remember some of the constellations that her mum had pointed out to her all those years before. Orion was easy, as was The Plough and Cassiopeia. And there was Draco – the dragon constellation. Joy smiled fondly as she remembered what she had achieved that night. The Seven Sisters was harder, the constellation you could only really see when you didn’t look directly at it.
She smiled as she put her hands behind her head. She would just stay there a while longer and find a few more.
*
Finn stood annoyed at the window. For someone who never got involved, he was doing a pretty poor job of it.
He had watched Joy take all her boxes back to the shed and then lay down on the chair swing and she hadn’t moved since. That had been over an hour before. She had evidently fallen asleep on the chair and all Finn could think about was how cold she would be.
He was determined not to care so he’d forced himself to go back to bed. Sleep evaded him and periodically he kept sitting up to look out the window to see if she was still there.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he resolved this, he grabbed a thick blanket off his bed and stormed down the stairs. It was like having a child next door. She was old enough to look after herself, she certainly shouldn’t be falling asleep outside.
He opened the connecting gate and walked straight over to her. One arm was behind her head, her eyes were closed, casting shadows over her pale cheeks with her long dark lashes. Her red hair, glinting in the moonlight, looked like curls of fire as it hung over her shoulders.
Cursing himself, he placed the blanket gently over her, and tucked it in around the edges. She stirred slightly and he prayed she wouldn’t wake up and see him.
‘Dad?’ she mumbled.
God, his heart ached for her. He had to physically stop himself from carrying her into the house and putting her to bed.
He went back to his own house, happy that she was now at least warm, though it was still several hours before he actually fell asleep.
*
Joy woke the next morning and smiled when she realised she had spent the night outside. Her grin broadened even more when she realised she was tucked warmly underneath a blanket.
It had to be Zach. He really was lovely. It was such a shame that he had this reputation. She would be silly if she thought she could be the person to change him.
She stood up, wrapping the blanket tightly round herself to protect her against the cool chill of the morning.
The man himself was standing in his garden, smoking a cigarette. Startled to see her there, he quickly stamped it out, grinning at her sheepishly.
‘Morning.’ Zach stepped closer to the fence. He smelt of smoke, and though it was not a particularly attractive habit, the smell of it always reminded her of her dad. He leaned across the fence to touch her face and to her horror he gently pulled a snail from her forehead. She blushed as he placed the snail on the fence between them.
‘I erm… fell asleep on the chair,’ she explained lamely.
‘So I see.’
His eyes were so gentle, filled with amusement.
She gestured to the blanket. ‘Thanks for this, that’s very sweet.’
He paused for a moment then smiled. ‘You’re very welcome. I didn’t want you to get cold.’
She buried her face in it, relishing the earthy smell.
‘Joy, would you like to go out for a drink with me, maybe a meal somewhere? Somewhere that’s not The Pride obviously.’
She wanted to, of course she did. But unless she entered into it knowing it would only ever be a one night stand, she would be very disappointed. And she had never been the type for casual flings. She was an old romantic at heart and ultimately was looking for The One. Her mum and dad had been together for years, and every memory she had of them together was of them giggling, kissing and holding hands, just like they were in the first throes of love. They would sit under the old oak tree in the garden and kiss and cuddle every night. She wanted that, to grow old and grey with the man she loved. And although she had dated a few men over the years, never really knowing whether they were going to be The One until she had been with them for a few weeks or months, it was quite clear that with Zach, it was only going to last a few days.
Zach smiled at the length of time it was taking her to answer. ‘Well at least it wasn’t a straight out no.’
‘It’s still a no I’m afraid. I like you Zach, I really do, but I’m not the sort that has one night stands.’
‘Neither am I.’
She arched an eyebrow at him.
‘I know my track record isn’t great, but I genuinely am looking for love. So many times I think I’ve found it and so many times I’ve been disappointed.’ He took her hand, stroking his thumb over the back of it. ‘But this time I really do think I may have found the one I’m looking for.’
She smiled but shook her head. ‘And how many women have you said that to?’
‘You’re the first, I swear. Look what can I do to prove to you that you’re the only one for me?’
‘No sex for a month.’ She didn’t know where she plucked that one from but it seemed to put him off her all of a sudden. He dropped her hand like he had been burnt, his face fell and she almost thought he might start to cry.
‘A month?!’
‘If I’m the only one for you, then you should have no need to pursue other women.’
He clearly toyed with the idea for a moment. ‘Ok, no other women for a month, I promise, and then will you sleep with me?’
‘I’ll go out with you.’
He scowled slightly, but then nodded. ‘Ok, you have a deal. I will prove to you that you are the only woman for me, that we can be happy together. Look I have to go, I’ll see you later.’ He sent her one last dark appreciative look before he went back into the house.
She watched him go with a smile.
‘He’ll break your heart,’ came Finn’s voice behind her.
She turned and quickly looked away when she realised he was standing in the garden with no top on.
‘He won’t because I’m not going to give it to him. You know him better than I do, but I’m pretty sure he won’t make the month.’
‘He’s a determined sort. When he wants something he’ll keep going after it until he gets it.’
‘You make that sound like a bad thing.’
‘It is if it belongs to someone else.’
‘Well he isn’t going to get me.’
He looked at her with disbelief and she rolled her eyes as she moved back towards the house.
*
Finn watched her go back in and went back into his own house. He had two gardens to sort out today, one on the far side of Bramble Hill and one in the nearby village of Strawberry Green. He was good at gardening and he loved the satisfaction it gave him of seeing plants grow and flourish under his care.
He had started off doing odd gardening jobs at the weekends when he was fourteen, helping his dad. It was when he was working in one of the large houses on the outskirts of Ashton Woods where he grew up, that he was spotted by a casting director for The Darkness Trilogy. He was freakishly tall even back then and was apparently perfect for the role of the dark and brooding Seth. After the films were finished and Finn wanted to retire from movies, he thought perhaps he would start his own landscaping and gardening business. He didn’t need the money, The Darkness had set him up for the rest of his life, but he certainly wanted something to keep him occupied.
When he had posted leaflets through the doors of the surrounding villages, hoping to get a few jobs, he had been inundated with responses. It seemed having your garden tended to by a world famous movie star was very popular indeed. He had been kept busy for over three years, doing a different house every day. He loved it, working outdoors and with his hands. As his popularity slowly faded so did the demand, but he still had a large handful of clients who he saw on a regular basis. That was enough for him, just as long as he wasn’t stuck in the house every day. Well Billy made sure he went out at least once a day for long walks over the hills; the gardening gave him something to do when he got back. Too much time doing nothing allowed too much time for thinking and brooding. Since Pippa had left eighteen months before, he had brooded far too much.
He grabbed a bottle of water, shoved his baseball cap on his head and was just about to turn the radio off and head out when he heard the words ‘The Dark Shadow’ on a news bulletin. He had followed the career of The Dark Shadow avidly since he first appeared on the scene two years before. This man was clever, very clever. He didn’t seem to do it for the money but for the adulation and reputation he gained. Finn had to admire him for it – for his obvious skill but also for the continued secrecy, for never getting caught. He smiled as he listened to the story, but his smile quickly fell off as the newscaster continued. Menton Hall, in the next village of Chalk Rise, had been robbed. Diamonds had been taken from a safe and from a jewellery box, most notably a diamond necklace shaped like a dragon. It seemed the thief had entered through the loft window of all places, as all other doors and windows were alarmed. No one had seen him come and go and there was no other evidence at all, other than the loft door being left open. There was no damage and nothing else had been taken. Police were appealing to anyone who might have seen anything suspicious in the immediate area.
Finn stroked Billy absently. His neighbour dressed in black, wearing a scarf round her head and covering her number plates was very suspicious indeed. Was Joy the diamond thief?
He had strict rules about not getting involved in people’s affairs, and phoning the police to turn in his neighbour was definitely getting involved. Maybe her going out dressed in black was merely a coincidence. Maybe he should talk to her to see what she knew. Maybe he should keep his head down and get on with his gardening.
He grabbed his keys and headed out.
*
Casey was listening to the news as well as he drove round to Bramble Hill. The Dark Shadow appearing in Chalk Rise, now that was very interesting. He had been down to Menton Hall that morning as soon as he’d heard. The grounds were filled with local and national journalists, much to the annoyance of the police. It was merely a coincidence, he thought with a smile, that Joy and that chainsaw had moved into the neighbouring village just a few days before. And, by her own admission, she worked at night and she was repeatedly vague about what she did. He smiled; he was damned sure he was going to find out just how much of a coincidence it was. Though if he was right, it did seem that Bramble Hill had another celebrity in its midst – a celebrity who was just as reluctant as Finn was to bask in the limelight.
*
After putting fresh food down for Darcy and making a fuss of her, Joy stepped out into the hall meaning to have a shower and tackle some of the unpacking she had been putting off.
Sitting on her door mat was another pile of dog poo, but she’d had the foresight to put newspaper down the night before just in case of another attack. She scooped the newspaper up around the poo and opened the front door to throw it in the bin outside. She wasn’t looking where she was going and as she stepped outside she toppled straight over something large on her doorstep. With a shriek she landed headfirst in the nearest bush, the parcel of poo flying out of her hands.
She wiggled around trying to gain enough leverage with her hands to right herself, but the branches were in the way and there was too much of her in the bush to flip herself up.
Suddenly strong hands were around her calves, and with the ease of great strength she was pulled free of the bush and righted back on her feet. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and came face to face with Finn again. Well sort of face to face since he was almost two foot taller than she was. He seemed determined to always be present in her most ungraceful moments.
‘Thanks.’ She was annoyed that she had to thank him.
‘You should look where you’re going.’
She looked back to the doorstep to see what had tripped her up – there was a bucket of soapy water but that hadn’t been it, it had been something much bigger than that. She glanced back at Finn, who had a scrubbing brush tucked into his pocket and was covered in soapy water.
‘You tripped me up, it was you wasn’t it? What were you doing on my doorstep?’
He flushed. ‘I was … There was dog shit on your doorstep, I was trying to clear it up.’
She stared at him. ‘Why?’
He shrugged, snatched the bucket up and headed back into his own house. She stared after him. Was that Finn’s attempt at being nice?
Just then Casey pulled up outside in a purple Ford Focus, not the neat little convertible he had taken off in the day before with Arielle.
He saw Joy, and shielding his face, he quickly made for Zach’s front door.
She smirked as he peered through his fingers at her. ‘Casey Fallowfield, you have some explaining to do.’
He sighed theatrically. ‘Damn it, how did you know it was me?’
She indicated that he should go into her house. ‘I think me and you need to have a little chat.’
He slunk past her like a naughty schoolboy. ‘If this is stage two in the unburdening of our gruesome secrets, you can start off by telling me what you were doing last night?’
She followed him through to the lounge, so news of it had hit the headlines already. ‘I watched Romeo and Juliet on the TV and was tucked up in bed with a hot chocolate and a fat dog for company by ten.’
Casey pulled out a very official looking notepad. ‘And do you have an alibi, a witness that will testify to this?’
She sighed, pulling affectionately on Darcy’s ears as the dog sat down on Casey’s feet to be stroked. ‘If only Darcy could speak, she would confirm my story.’ She watched him make a hasty note in his notebook. She leaned round him to see what he had written and he snapped it shut before she’d seen it, though she was pretty sure Casey had just drawn a quick doodle of a flower. ‘What are you, the local constabulary?’
‘Actually yes.’
She stared at him, his eyes were so honest. ‘Really?’
He fished his wallet out of his pocket and showed her his ID. ‘Detective Inspector Fallowfield, CID.’
‘You’re kidding?’
He smiled and shook his head. ‘As I said before, people interest me, but taking an interest is actually part of my job.’
‘That’s so cool, bet you’ve seen some interesting cases.’
‘Yes, they’ve been some weird ones. There was a squirrel killer.’
The smile fell off her face. ‘An actual squirrel killer?’
‘Yes.’
‘I wouldn’t think CID would get involved in that.’
‘Normally we wouldn’t. The bodies of mutilated squirrels kept turning up on people’s doorsteps. But the first person to receive a squirrel was found dead a week after the squirrel was reported. Then, when more dead squirrels started appearing we thought it might be some kind of calling card of a serial killer, we thought that those that received a dead squirrel would be killed too. Turned out it was just some sicko who liked killing squirrels who used the opportunity to get his own back on a bunch of people he didn’t like. The first death was merely a coincidence.’
‘That’s horrible, did he go to prison?’
‘For six weeks, and a hefty fine for animal cruelty.’
‘Six weeks?’
‘Legally you can kill squirrels, grey ones, it’s just the method that has to be humane.’
She shook her head over the lack of justice.
‘Oh there was Bonnie and Clyde, a husband and wife crime duo. Jewellery shops, petrol stations, car jacking, they left behind quite the trail of guilt wherever they went.’
‘They weren’t really called Bonnie and Clyde were they?’
‘She was, Bronwyn was her real name but everyone called her Bonnie.’
‘What was his name?’
‘Derek.’
She laughed. ‘Did you catch them, did they go down in a hail of bullets?’
‘Not quite as dramatic. We thought it was mainly the wife, that she was the brains and he was the brawn. We finally caught up with him when their car ran of petrol just round the corner from a petrol station he’d robbed. But all the evidence pointed to him, we couldn’t pin anything to her, even though we knew she was as involved as he was. He went down for three years, she walked away scot free.’
The legal system really did have a lot to answer for.
‘It does sound like an interesting job.’
‘It is, I love it, no day is ever the same.’
‘But… why aren’t you at work? In fact, you’ve not been at work since I’ve met you.’
‘I have a few weeks off, for the erm…’ He trailed off.
‘The wedding?’
Casey flushed obligingly. ‘Yes, this Saturday, a week today, you will come won’t you?’
‘I’m your cousin, Uncle Raymond would be very disappointed if I didn’t show my support.’
He grinned at her, but then the smile fell off his face.
She squeezed his arm. ‘Casey what are you doing, marrying someone you clearly don’t love.’
‘It just sort of got out of hand. I’ve dated a few women in the past, years ago, before I really accepted I was gay. Of course, they never worked out. I’d been single for years and Mum came to me and said one of her friends wanted to set me up with one of their children. When she told me it was one of the Carmichael kids I was delighted. I only knew of the Carmichael boys, big strapping lads, really fit. It turns out they had a little sister too.’
Casey sighed. He grabbed a flower from a vase and started slowly demolishing it, ripping the petals off one by one.
‘Mum was so excited about the date and when I came downstairs to find Arielle waiting for me, I could hardly say, “Urgh a girl!” So I went on the date and when I next saw Mum, she was as giddy as a school girl about how well Arielle had said it went. In truth, there was no chemistry at all, not even as friends. I found myself telling Mum that of course I’d be seeing Arielle again. I didn’t want to upset her. It just spiralled out of control.’
With the flower ruined and confetti-like petals scattered about his feet, Casey reached for another one. Joy didn’t really mind. She’d only picked them from the garden.
‘I’m not quite sure how I ended up engaged. Of course that had never been my intention and to Arielle of all people, she’s an absolute cow. We’d only been dating a few weeks and I was desperately trying to find a way out. But there I was walking through the woods one day with Arielle and her parents and my mum. I spotted a ring on the floor, knelt to pick it up and the next thing, she’s squealing, her parents are squealing, my mum was crying, proper tears of joy and everything. I don’t even know how the ring got there, but it fitted Arielle like a glove, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she threw it on the floor in front of me. Well it quickly snowballed from there. Before I knew it there was an engagement party, marquees were ordered, a band, a harpist, flowers, the best champagne from France. I couldn’t stop it. I have never seen my Mum as happy as she has been over the last few months organising this wedding and I just couldn’t break her heart, I couldn’t do it.’
‘So you’re just going to get married? Live happily ever after with a woman you can’t stand?’
Casey sighed. ‘My dad died, three years ago.’
‘Oh Casey, I’m so sorry.’
‘Mum was a wreck, but after the initial grieving was over, the constant crying, she just became this empty shell, devoid of any life. She’d get up, get dressed, meet friends, she was involved with the village council, but… she wasn’t really there if you know what I mean. She was always this sparkling woman who laughed a lot, who had this zest for life, and when Dad died he took all that with him. Her eyes were flat, her skin was grey. She never laughed anymore. She moved through life, she engaged with people, but she was lifeless, a living corpse. It devastated me to see her like that and year after year, it never got any better. It was almost as if she was just biding her time until she could die herself and be reunited with him. This engagement has brought her out of that shell – she laughs now, she’s excited, she has plans, she has a purpose. My old mum is back and so yes, I’m going to marry Arielle if that’s what it takes to keep my mum happy and to keep the smile on her face, because I never want to see her go back to how she was before.’
‘Your mum would be devastated if she knew you were doing this for her,’ Joy said quietly.
‘I know, but I’m just enjoying her being happy again. I’ll deal with the fall out when it happens. It won’t last Joy, Arielle doesn’t like me either. I’m pretty sure she’s shagging our pool boy, or the gardener or maybe both.’
This was madness. ‘So why is she marrying you if she doesn’t like you?’
‘The Fallowfields are pretty high up in the social scheme of things. If there was a food chain made up of Lords, Ladies, Earls and Countesses, the Fallowfields would be at the very top. We’re richer than most of the nobles in this country.’
He wasn’t saying it to show off, in fact he seemed quite embarrassed by the whole thing. ‘So it’s safe to say you don’t actually need to work?’
‘No, I just enjoy it. But Arielle, despite her flashy clothes and car, would be down at the bottom of the food chain.’
Joy bit her lip. ‘Have you slept with her?’
‘No, lord no. I made the excuse that I wanted to wait until after we were married.’
‘Honeymoon?’
He let his head fall into his hands and nodded. ‘Two weeks in St Lucia. I think she’d like to try for a baby.’
‘Oh Casey. What are you going to do?’
‘Hope that I catch her with that pool boy before she walks down the aisle.’
*
Finn was busy tweaking things in his front garden, tying up the trailing clematis when the police car pulled up outside.
He had spent a good few hours tidying the two gardens of his clients earlier and had come back to work on his own. Joy had just left about ten minutes before to walk Darcy, dressed in that sexy jacket and cap again. She had flashed him a small smile as she walked past. He didn’t give one back; in fact he was pretty sure he glared. He cursed himself for getting involved, for feeling sorry enough for her to try to do something about the dog shit on her doorstep before she found out.
He straightened from pulling a stray weed out from near the roots of the clematis as he watched the police man and woman walk up Joy’s garden path.
‘She’s out,’ he said, wondering why he couldn’t stop himself from getting involved. ‘She’s just left.’
They turned to face him and gave him that look that most people gave him when they met him for the first time. The look of “My God, he’s huge.” He was used to it now. At six foot ten he always got that look. He was broad as well, and he understood that some people found him intimidating.
The policeman found his voice first. ‘Do you know which way she went; we really need to talk to her?’
Instinctively and not really knowing why, except having this intrinsic need to protect her, he found himself pointing in the opposite direction to the one she had just taken. ‘She normally walks through the village to The Pride and follows the little path up to the old beacon.’ God, now he was lying to the police as well.
The policeman nodded. ‘We would appreciate it if you didn’t tell her you saw us. We’d like to speak to her first. We wouldn’t want her to worry.’
‘No, of course not.’ Finn nodded, feeling his stomach clench with that exact same worry.
The police got back in their car and drove off in the direction that Finn had pointed. Finn threw down his tools, whistled for Billy and quickly followed in Joy’s footsteps.
