Sara Wood-Expectant Mistress original Read online

  ‘You rushed off without warning once before, duckie. Adam seems to be the common factor?

  Her friend was too sharp by half! ‘Nonsense! I get homesick.’

  ‘Yeah.’ There was a sceptical pause. ‘You haven’t got another runaway there, have you?’

  Trish gently slid a tray of waiting flapjacks onto the shelf below the Dundee. ‘No, only me, Gran and the chickens. Gran’s watching my exhausted video of Dirty Dancing and the chickens are guzzling their greens.’ She reached into the fridge for the tea bread. ‘Why‘?’

  ‘Adam’s gone missing,' Petra said casually. The plate in Trish’s hand clattered to the floor. ‘What... what...?’ Confused, she thanked her lucky stars the plate had landed right side up and the bread was intact. ‘You’re joking? she cried, fascinated.

  ‘Nope. Vanished some time in the early hours. Left a note saying a job had come up. Forgot to leave a contact number and his mobile’s switched off. Louise is hopping mad. I wondered if he’d got sick of the rat race and booked in to your isolated pig-house.’

  ‘It’s a lovely stone cottage in an idyllic setting and you know it. You’ve been four times——it can’t be that bad,’

  Trish retorted with a grin. ‘As a matter of fact, I do have a last-minute booking which came ten minutes after I’d set foot in the door this morning, but-?

  ‘Who?’ squeaked Petra excitedly.

  ‘Oh, put your hat back on. Nobody exciting. It’s a Mr Rowe. Mack Rowe.’

  There was a choking sound on the end of the line.

  ‘Macro!’ Petra said eventually, her voice distorted by a mass of giggles.

  ‘What’s up with you?’ demanded Trish suspiciously. ‘Is someone tickling you?’

  ‘I should be so lucky! Gotta go! Give Macro my love-’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Pets,’ Trish said fondly. ‘He doesn’t know you from Adam.’

  A squeal of laughter ricocheted down the line. Trish realised what she’d said and began to giggle, too.

  ‘l’ll be in touch,’ jerked Petra, in tits of laughter. ‘Bye!’

  With no time to wonder if her friend was cracking up at last, Trish prepared the best guest room. Vases of flowers, home—made biscuits in a tin, orange and cinnamon soap and bath oils ready in the en suite, magazines, soft, fluffy towels... She looked at the chintzy bedroom proudly, then she went to finish the vegetables for the evening meal and to set up a welcoming tea tray.

  Trundling down to Church Quay in her borrowed hill buggy, with terns calling overhead and the scent of honeysuckle filling her nostrils, she reflected that it was just as well Adam wasn’t interested in her. He’d never give up city life with all its attractions, and she’d never give up Bryher. .

  It was still hard, though, coming to terms with the aching sense of loss she’d had, ever since she’d stolen out of the hotel like a thief in the night. She was glad to be busy. From past experience she knew that if she worked non—stop and fell into bed exhausted she’d have less time to feel sorry for herself.

  The thought of going home had instantly lifted her spirits. As the train had gathered speed, London’s concrete and tarmac had melted away into the distance. Green fields and trees had flashed by the window and her aching heart had been soothed a little.

  She’d even hugged herself when Land’s End came into sight. The end of England. Nothing ahead but the Scilly Islands, scattered like glittering jewels in the vast Atlantic. Together with the tourists on board the helicopter, she’d looked down on the dramatic jagged rocks and Caribbeanwhite beaches with enormous excitement. It was good to be home. Tim might not make her feel ecstatic—~and they didn’t see one another often, as he lived on the main island. But they were terribly fond of one another. Her future lay with him. Her decisions made, Trish drove onto the soft white sand by the quay in quite a cheery frame of mind. Parked there already was the Land Rover which belonged to the only hotel on the island. She chatted with Norman, its driver, and watched the afternoon boat from Tresco island heading towards them.

  Trish and Norman wandered along the quay to meet their guests. She greeted Bryher’s handful of schoolchildren, smart in their royal—blue sweatshirts, coming home after a day at Tresco Island School. They scrambled off the Faldare with an ease born of a lifetime spent getting in and out of boats. Trish watched them skipping and running happily to their parents. They were followed by a small group of holiday-makers—

  And Adam.

  She stood on the quay, dumbstruck. He wore what he probably assumed was suitable casual wear: beige linen trousers and a shirt and matching V·neck the colour of samphire leaves. But everything was too clean and pressed. He was far too well groomed to fit in. This was a city man to the core. In comparison with the other visitors, in their walking boots, well-worn jeans and sweatshirts, he looked totally out of place.

  He put down his cases, smiled faintly and raised his eyebrows in query, as if his presence was the most natural thing in the world. Reluctantly she walked towards him. He intended to stay!

  Frantically she looked around for Norman, to take Adam off her hands and sweep him away to the hotel. But Norman seemed content with his quota of guests and was already stacking luggage into the back of the Land Rover.

  ‘Hello!’ she said, summoning up a cheery tone for Adam’s benefit. ‘You’d better hurry! You’ll miss your lift to the Hell Bay Hotel?

  ‘I’m not staying there.'

  It was the way he looked at her that made the penny drop. Dismay Hooded her face. ‘Oh, no, Adam! No! You’re not... You can’t be...Mack Rowe-!’

  ‘Macro.’ His features had tightened slightly at her groan.

  ‘It’s a computer term, Trish. I hoped you wouldn’t recognise it.’

  Petra had known, she thought, furious with her friend for not warning her. So she was to give Petra’s love to Macro, was she? Her eyes blazed with anger.

  ‘Why?’ she forced out fiercely.

  He didn’t seem too pleased at her lack of enthusiasm.

  ‘Because you wouldn’t have given me house room, would you?’

  Her expression told him he’d hit the nail on the head with marksman—like accuracy. ‘You had no right to deceive me!’ she said hotly.

  ‘Needs must,’ he replied, his jaw set like granite. ‘I don’t let anything stand in my way. I had to be here; I made sure that happened.'

  ‘It didn’t sound like you on the phone,’ she muttered crossly.

  ‘It wasn’t. A colleague fixed it up.’

  ‘But...’ She had to ask. Defying his alarmingly linked dark brows, she looked him straight in the eyes and asked incredulously, ‘You’re here on business?’

  ‘What else?’ he replied crisply, picking up his Louis Vuitton and a black leather briefcase. 'The hotel’s full. I thought of you.’

  ‘But...apart from the hotel, there’s no one on Bryher with a computer worthy of your personal attention-—’

  ‘How do you know?’

  She gave him a pitying look. ‘Because everyone on the island knows everyone else’s business?

  ‘Why shouldn’t there be someone in one of the selfcatering cottages who needs expert help?’

  ‘Someone important enough to drag you here?’ she demanded.

  ‘It would have to be, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Oh.’

  Bemused, she stood staring at him, transfixed by the thought that Adam was here, on her island. Her gaze moved to his smooth jaw and throat. He swallowed at the same moment that she did. Hastily she flicked her eyes to the high line of his broad shoulder. He was tense. Perhaps he was worried that he’d be left to sleep on the beach, she thought wryly, her confused eyes meeting his.

  ‘Are you going to leave me here to fend for myself, as a punishment for playing a trick on you‘?’ he drawled.

  ‘I’m tempted. You deserve to be tied up and left to sleep in the kelp pit!’

  ‘Ke1p. That’s seaweed, isn’t it?’ he asked uncertainly.

  ‘Yes.’

  He
arched one sardonic eyebrow. ‘I’d be very smelly.’

  She tipped up her chin. ‘That would be the least of your problems. You’d probably die of exposure before anyone could complain.'

  A faint smile eased Adam’s hard mouth. ‘Nice to be given island hospitality.'

  Trish felt ashamed. ‘I suppose you’ll have to stay with me,’ she said grudgingly. ‘How long are you planning on working here?’ She glanced at her hands in surprise. They were trembling. ‘Your colleague said up to a week.’

  Her breath had shortened. A week! In the same house as Adam again, serving him breakfast and dinner, cleaning his room, touching his things! She’d be a bag of nerves.

  ‘Depends,’ he said cryptically. ‘I’ll pay for two weeks in advance, just to keep the room, as a precaution. I should have got the problems sorted out by then.’

  'Two...’ Trish’s eyes glazed. Luckily her hair was blowing over her face so he probably didn’t notice that she was in a state of shock.

  ‘You’ll hardly know I’m around. Where’s your car?’ He shaded his eyes and followed the progress of the Land Rover till it disappeared around the corner by the church.

  ‘I thought you said there was no transport?’

  Dazed, she motioned for him to follow her to the beach.

  ‘We only use vehicles to collect and return people who have luggage. And to pick up stores,’ she said faintly. Glum—faced, she strode towards the buggy. There wasn’t another boat till the morning, but maybe she could persuade him to take it. ‘I borrow the ATV—the all—terrain vehiclefrom the neighbouring flower farm. I bake a cake or two in return. For the rest of the time, we walk. Adam, I think you’d be better off on Tresco. Or the main island, St Mary’s. Bryher isn’t your sort of place at all, and if you’ve business here you can commute each day-——’

  ‘I have to be on Bryher,’ he said firmly. ‘Wait a minute.'

  He dumped his bags and walked to the edge of the water. It lapped at his city loafer—shod feet in gentle, almost imperceptible waves. The narrow and treacherous waters between Bryher and Tresco islands had never seemed so sparkling and clear. The deep turquoise sea was far more beautiful to Trish than anything the Pacific had to offer. Adam made a leisurely three—hundred-and-sixty-degree turn, drinking in the wild and rugged rocks, the unspoilt beach with its specks of mica glinting like metal, and the small green hills. She watched the tension draining from him and found herself smiling. The wind was toying with his hair and he looked very young suddenly, as if the island had already worked its magic on him.

  ‘It’s. ..’ He held out his hands in a helpless gesture. She waited for his verdict, her breath suspended. ‘Idyllic.’

  ‘Not in winter,’ she countered, yet felt pleased, despite her decision to deter him from staying more than a night.

  ‘Hell Bay didn’t get its name for its placid nature, you know. We get the full fury of Atlantic gales and mountainous seas. Sometimes we’re trapped on the island because the boats can’t get out——’

  ‘Are you politely trying to put me off, Trish?’ he asked, a sardonic smile playing about his lips.

  She scowled. ‘Put your luggage in the trailer,’ she said sharply. ‘l’m merely setting the record straight. I hate it when visitors come and decide it’s paradise here, on the basis of a few sunny days. To love Bryher, you have to experience the storms, which tear your roof off and hurl seawater and sand over your house and ruin your sprouts!

  OK, you can laugh, but it’s serious when your fresh veg are spoiled! You need to face the hardship, all the drawbacks——and yet still love it unconditionally.'

  ‘Like in a marriage.' He lifted both cases into the back of the ATV.

  There had been significance in that remark. She shot him a quick look, trying to judge what he was up to.

  ‘l imagine you’d know about that,’ she said testily, failing to muster a smile of indifference. ‘After working together for so long, you and Louise must know each other better than most old married couples.’

  Adam’s eyes were searching the ground so she couldn’t see his reaction. He bent and picked up a small tower shell and a wentletrap. He spent a while examining the whorls and ridges before slipping. the two shells into his suit pocket.

  ‘I feel out of place, standing here in these clothes,’ he said with a rather forced laugh. ‘Shall we go? I’d like to change into something more suitable.’

  Trish hesitated, loath to invite him to ride the buggy with her. He could stand on the bar behind the single seat, but that would mean having his arms around her waist. She swung a jean-clad leg over the saddle, hiding her amusement as he searched in vain for somewhere to sit.

  ‘Right. Follow the track...' she began.

  ‘You mean I’m walking?' he asked in amazement. She gave him a pitying glance. He probably did all his walking on a machine in a gym. 'Toddlers can do it. I think you’ll find it comes back to you after a while,’ she said sarcastically. ‘You can’t get lost. Up the hill, then down to the bay. Kelp Cottage is on the beach. Come in the green door. The scarlet one with flowers painted on it is Gran’s. You won’t want to meet her till I’ve primed you about her funny ways.'

  Before he could protest, she’d roared off, kicking up clouds of sand. She felt sure he’d miss the benefits of civilisation long before the end of the week. He seemed uncomfortable, as if he knew he didn’t fit in. He was a fish out of water, just as she’d been in London, and he’d soon get bored and leave. Till then she’d have to cope with her reaction to having him around.

  She’d treat him like a normal guest. Good food, loaves of home—made bread and a decent wine, plus a relaxed and friendly manner. Why should she swan about looking tragic, like Greta Garbo, just because she was struggling with some stupid infatuation?

  Adam watched her go, his eyes full of affection, the corners of his mouth tight with regret. Emotions he’d never known he’d possessed were waging a war within him. His sole purpose in coming was to rid himself of Trish for ever so that he could get on with his chosen path in life. Since meeting her at the party, he thought about making love to her all the time. What he needed was to be rejected so conclusively that his brain and his body got the message. If he pushed her enough, perhaps made a pass, he reckoned she’d get snappy, bitchy and lose her temper. So of necessity he was being devious. What he was about to do would hurt his pride like hell. Rejection had only figured once in his life and it had messed him up for years. But the alternative—launching into a relationship with Trish-would be worse.

  Far better to be spared the disastrous outcome of any stupid behaviour. Like imagining she and he could be lovers. Or that he might fancy living with her on a small lump of granite in the Atlantic Ocean.

  He grinned. The implications of falling in love with Trish were too appalling to contemplate!

  The buggy vanished around a bend in the lane. He set off across the sand and began the gentle climb past the squat church, swallows swooping over his head, competing with the evocative cries of the gulls. And then they were gone.

  A deep silence fell. Honeysuckle smothered the tumbled stone walls beside the track, scenting the warm air with dizzying perfume. He passed tiny fields, smaller than tennis courts, hedged to a height of ten feet and blazing with tall purple flowers. The distant thrum of an outboard engine joined the lazy drone of bees, the distant wash of waves on a shore.

  His mobile phone burred softly. He’d left it on line after using it on Tresco Island. Out of habit, his hand strayed to the slim holster on his belt and then checked. The sound seemed sacrilegious out here. With a decisive gesture, he slid the phone from the holster, disabled it and replaced it again. Now no one could reach him. He might as well be adrift on a boat, or marooned on a desert island. Adam let out a long-held breath. And with it went a good deal of the tension which had knotted his muscles for the past year or so and given him daily headaches. The air was crystal—clear like champagne and he felt like running, laughing, letting go of all the thing
s that weighed him down.

  ‘Magic,’ he murmured, when he crested the hill. He could see right across the island, the bay he’d just left on one side, a new one on the other. Glittering granite rocks littered the mouth of this sandy cove, giving it a Himset appearance. Beyond were dozens of small islands and above him wheeled elegant black and white birds, assailing his ears with a strange, piping call. This was Trish’s home. She’d described it often enough, but the reality left him breathless.

  Invigorated, he strode towards the rose-covered cottage on the beach. He felt less depressed. And, given his selfinflicted task, couldn’t for the life of him understand why.

  ‘Enjoy your walk?’ asked Trish provocatively.

  ‘Very much,’ he said, to her surprise. ‘What are the tall purple flowers in those doll-sized fields called?’

  ‘Whistling Jacks-a kind of gladioli. They come up after the narcissi. We sell them on the mainland. The hedges protect them from the gales.’

  ‘I see. And there were some black and white birds-—’

  ‘With a red beak and eye? Gyster-catchers? She looked at him curiously. He seemed very interested for a city man. Adam looked impressed. ‘It was fascinating, walking up that lane. I suppose you know the names of all those peculiar-looking plants. Those giant ones, for instance.’ He grinned. ‘Twelve feet tall with blue flowers?’

  ‘Echiums,’ she said promptly. ‘We.can grow a lot of exotic plants because we rarely have frost or snow.’

  Adam’s face was soft with pleasure. ‘I haven’t been so close to wildlife for years. I envy your knowledge.'

  She liked his admiration and basked in it for a moment before she said, ‘I know about my world, you know about yours. You think it’s clever to know the names of birds and plants I’ve lived with all my life. I goggle at anyone who knows computer-talk as well as plain English.' Suddenly she felt that they were getting too cosy and decided to end their chat. ‘I’ve taken your luggage upstairs,’ she said, mustering a more impersonal tone. .