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EPUB 978-1-77299-910-5
Kindle 978-1-77299-911-2
WEB 978-1-77299-912-9
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2nd Edition
Copyright 2014 by Sheila Claydon
Cover art by Michelle Lee 2014
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
To all those readers who have been asking for this story -
thank you for waiting so patiently while Izzie grew up.
As with Mending Jodie’s Heart, (When Paths Meet Book 1), I am indebted to Lesley Fleming for her helpful and insightful comments and suggestions when she read the draft manuscript. Without her I would not have had the courage to continue Luke’s story.
Seeing a cavalcade of black cars turn in through the gateway, Jack briefly wondered who it was this time. Then he shrugged. In his experience it hardly mattered. A model, a film star, a singer: they all believed so implicitly in their own publicity that the lives of everyone around them would be absolute hell for the duration of the photo shoot. On that thought he gave a piercing whistle and by the time the cars reached the bottom of the avenue his dog had stopped dawdling between the trees and was racing across the grass towards him.
Amelia Corley sighed as she caught sight of the two of them heading towards the woods at the far side of the estate. These days all she seemed to see of her brother was his back view.
“Problems?” the woman sitting next to her asked.
“Not really. Well not as far as you are concerned anyway. It’s my brother. I’ve just seen him hightailing it away from the house as fast as he can. He does it every time I organize a photo shoot.”
Her companion laughed. “He sounds a bit like Luke before Jodie civilized him.”
“You mean there’s a cure. What is she, some kind of miracle worker?”
“My sister? Yes, I guess you could call her that although she wouldn’t thank you for it. She owns a horse therapy center. She’s had some fantastic successes with people with…um…problems. Luke’s one of them.”
“Luke?”
“Her step-son. When she first met him he couldn’t even leave the house without a full-blown attack of hysteria. Now he helps her run the center.”
She saw the unspoken question in Amelia’s eyes and gave a wry smile. “Luke is autistic but I’m so used to his quirky behavior that I don’t really notice it. In fact going back home and spending time with him is my own therapy because as far as Luke is concerned I’m just Izzie. He’s not impressed by Bella Blue at all.”
Amelia looked at her curiously, surprised by the sudden burst of intimacy. In the few weeks since they first met the singer had been a closed book as far as her personal life was concerned. While she was still wondering what had prompted Bella’s confidence, the other woman changed the subject.
“Am I dreaming or are those actual deer over there?”
Following her pointing finger Amelia laughed. “Actual deer. I told you this place has everything you need for the photo shoot. If you want rural there are plenty of livestock and trees; historical, then it’s the family portraits in the great hall and the rusting suits of armor in the cellar. We can even do modern if you don’t mind slumming it in the half built cafeteria.”
Bella’s peal of laughter was infectious. “That’s what I like about you Amelia Corley. You are such a shameless hustler it’s impossible to turn you down. You’re right about this place though. It’s lovely, and as I’m sure you’ve already decided what backdrops you want for the shoot, I’m going for a walk while you try to persuade the rest of the team to agree with you.”
Amelia stared at her in mock horror. “A walk! An. Actual. Walk. Is this really Bella Blue talking; the girl who can’t go anywhere without minders in dark glasses clogging up the scenery?”
At her words the smile faded from Bella’s face and her eyes clouded over as she nodded. “It really is, and because this place is behind security gates I’m going to ditch the minders whether they like it or not, so I can spend some time on my own. She hesitated for a moment. “Sometimes I find it difficult to remember who I really am because the concerts and the constant travelling get in the way. It’s only when I see acres of grass and empty woodland that I remember I’m Isabella Eriksson, someone who is a country girl at heart, and that Bella Blue is just a figment of everyone’s imagination.”
The regret that shadowed her face triggered an invitation that Amelia didn’t know she was going to make until the words spilled from her mouth. “In that case why don’t you stay at the Dower House with me instead of going back to the hotel each evening? I know my mother would love to have you as a houseguest. She spends far too much time on her own these days.”
In the long silence that followed she wondered whether she had gone too far because, friendly as Bella seemed, she was still a major celebrity - by far the biggest name to visit Corley Hall to date. She was not even close to being a friend either, despite the fact that they had spent a lot of time together in the past few days. As a very junior fashion editor on the magazine that was featuring Bella’s first decade as a singer, Amelia knew she was only part of the photo shoot because her brother owned Corley Hall. In difference circumstances a more senior editor would have taken charge of the whole event. She risked a sideways glance, worried her invitation had been too pushy. To her amazement Bella’s striking turquoise eyes were awash with tears.
“Do you really mean it,” she asked, not attempting to hide her feelings.
“Of course I do. We all know this is going to take much longer than the two days your manager has allocated. We know, too, that he’ll be unbearable for most of the time, and that he’ll change his mind at least twice an hour until the cameras stop rolling. If you stay at the Dower House you can escape whenever you want to; and in the evenings, when everyone else has gone back to the hotel, we can relax and have some fun.”
“Fun sounds good. So does living in a house for a few days instead of a hotel, so if you’re sure your mother won’t mind then, yes, I’d love to. But if I’m to stay with you, you must stop calling me Bella. All my friends call me Izzie.”
* * *
Thus it was that Jack Gunnerson-Corley, Lord Corley, Earl of Faversham, almost tripped over her when he strode across the grass a few hours later. She was lying prone beneath a huge horse chestnut tree staring up into its domed canopy, the grey-brown of her leather jacket merging with the windblown shadows.
His dog found her first and with all the joyful abandon of a half grown puppy decided the stranger on the grass wanted to play. Jack yelled moments before it pounced but he was too late. By the time he was close enough to grab it’s collar the girl was shrieking for mercy as a wet, pink tongue slathered her face with slobbery kisses.
He gave an inward groan as he hauled his dog off and began a systematic search through his pockets for a clean handkerchief. What was the girl doing here anyway? Why couldn’t she stay indoors with the rest of them? He was going to have to insist Amelia insert some sort of access clause into future contracts if people started treating the place as if they owned it. Finally locating a wedge of tissues, he thrust them at her with an apology.
“Sorry about Cora, she...you surprised her.”
“Not as much as she surprised me,” the girl was sitting up now and laughing. Despite his irritation he noticed she had the most amazing eyes. Then Cora lunged again, distracting him. When he finally had the dog under control he saw that the girl was shaking biscuit crumbs out of the tissues.
“The mark of a true dog lover,” she laughed as she wiped her mouth and the smear of dribble drying on her cheek.
“Or maybe a dog owner who still has to bribe his dog into obedience,” he surprised himself with a wry smile.
She seized the excited dog by the ears and looked into its eyes. “So you’re called Cora are you? Well it’s time you learned some respect. Sit!”
To his utter amazement, Cora sat.
“Now lie down…good dog.” Without a murmur Cora slumped onto the grass beside her and pretended to go to sleep.
Jack stared at her. “What are you, a dog whisperer or something? She barely does what I tell her, let alone a complete stranger.”
“No, nothing like that. I just grew up with animals so I know all about letting them know who is in charge.”
“Well that’s lucky for Cora. Her bad manners could have put you off dogs for life.”
She shook her head. “It would take a lot to do that. Most of the time I like animals more than people.”
“You and me both,” he was surprised into another smile. “Is that what you’re doing here? Playing hooky from people. I thought everyone involved in these photo shoots had to stay within shouting distance.”
“They do, but I wangled a special dispensation today by persuading everyone I was superfluous to requirements. As soon as they agreed I made a hasty escape before they changed their minds. I intended to go for a walk but then I saw this tree and it sort of asked me to lie down under it and stare at the sky through its branches.”
He nodded because what she had just said made total sense to him. Then, realizing he was in danger of breaking his own self-imposed rule by being halfway friendly to one of Amelia’s clients, he poked Cora with his toe. “Come on lazy bones. No more chatting. We’ve work to do.”
Sighing heavily, she ignored him.
The girl laughed. “Seems her training has a way to go yet. What have you got to do anyway, and is Cora an absolutely indispensable part of it? If she’s not, then maybe she’d like to come for a walk with me instead?”
When the word walk percolated Cora’s apparently moribund brain cells she forgot she was playing dead and leapt to her feet, barking excitedly at the pair of them.
“You have taught her something then,” folding her long legs beneath her the girl stood up surprisingly quickly, pushing the soggy tissues into her pocket as she did so.
“Oh she knows all the nice things…you know…biscuit, walk, dinner, ball…it’s the other stuff she has trouble with…the rules. Isn’t that right Cora? It’s the rules you ignore.” He bent down and patted the dog’s head as he spoke because now that the girl’s wide turquoise eyes were almost level with his, his heartbeat seemed to have inexplicably speeded up.
When he straightened up she was still standing next to him and was looking almost as expectant as Cora. Despite himself, he laughed. “I don’t know why I’m saying this but yes, you can take her for a walk around the estate on the absolute understanding that you teach her something useful. In the meantime, I’ll get on with my work.”
“Done.” She held out her hand as if they were sealing a major agreement. Shaking it, he was surprised by how firm it was, and how small and slim it felt, and how much he wanted to keep holding onto it. He was still holding onto it when she asked him the one thing he hadn’t thought to tell her.
“How will I know where to find you when we’ve had enough? I don’t even know your name although something tells me Cora will be identification enough!”
“Jack. My name is Jack.” He held out a handful of biscuits with a rueful smile of agreement. “You’d better have these too because she only understands bribery. Don’t worry if you lose her either, because she’s safe enough on the estate and she knows her own way home.”
“Okay Jack. But I’m not going to lose her. I’m going to bring her back walking to heel.”
He shook his head as she moved away with Cora frisking around her. “In your dreams. What’s your name by the way? You didn’t say.”
She waved her arm. “So I didn’t. It’s Izzie.”
Cora led the way, splashing in and out of the stream that meandered through the estate but occasionally pausing to check that her new friend was following. Izzie knew the dog wouldn’t be able to concentrate on learning something new until she had run off all her excess energy, so she did nothing more than call her back whenever she ran too far ahead. After thirty minutes Cora took a long and noisy drink from the stream and then flopped onto the grass with her tongue hanging out. Izzie sank down beside her with a smile.
“Ten minutes and not a moment more, then it’s time for lessons… and no biscuits unless you earn them.”
* * *
Jack saw them both as he trudged back up the slope towards the house. He was hot and dusty and the heavy rope slung across his shoulders was chafing the skin at his neck. Swapping the canvas bag full of tools to his other hand he paused to watch them.
Silhouetted against the pale backdrop of the sky they were shadowy figures as they walked together, Cora a fraction behind Izzie, her nose questing hopefully for a biscuit. After a dozen paces they turned and retraced their steps. Then Izzie led Cora around in a wide circle before making her sit.
Fascinated, he continued to watch as she finally rewarded his dog with a biscuit and then threw herself down onto the rough grass beside her. Good manners forgotten, Cora immediately rolled over and exposed her stomach. He heard Izzie’s peal of laughter as she obligingly rubbed it, but her voice, when she spoke, was a murmur that merged with the buzz of the insects and the shrill birdsong that filled the late afternoon.
He shook off the feeling that he would like to stay where he was and watch them for the rest of the day and took the dozen paces necessary to reach the top of the slope. Cora greeted him with her usual tail-wagging enthusiasm but Izzie took longer to acknowledge him and he saw her stuff the tissues he had given her back into her pocket as he reached her. When she finally turned to look at him her eyes were unnaturally bright, and he suspected she had been crying. Her voice was firm though, and her expression dared him to comment. Casting about for something to say, he spoke to his dog.
“You agreed to let her take you through your paces then Cora?”
“Only because she wanted to prove she wasn’t as hopeless as you made her out to be. Why did you pretend she was rubbish?”
He was surprised to find himself grinning at her. “Because I wanted to see what you’d do. Besides I knew she would come and find me if she got fed up with whatever training program you had in mind.”
Her eyes lit up with laughter, banishing the memory of the tears he had seen earlier. “Well she didn’t. You enjoyed every minute of it didn’t you Cora? And I did too. It’s a long time since I took a dog for a walk.”
“You sound as if you miss it. Why don’t you get a dog of your own?”
“Because it wouldn’t be fair. I spend too much time travelling and staying in hotels. I’d be a terrible dog owner.”
“Cora doesn’t seem to think so. As far as she’s concerned she’s yours for as long as you’re here, or for as long as you’re not needed by whoever is organizing the photo shoot.”
Something in the way she suddenly bent down and fussed Cora made him think the tears might be back, but when she eventually straightened up and looked at him she was dry-eyed and serious.
“That was such a nice thing to say and I’d love to walk her again. She reminds me of a dog I knew a long time ago. He was called Blue and he was really special. He was already old when I met him but I just know he would have been like Cora when he was a puppy.”
He nodded. “It’s funny how some dogs get to you like that isn’t it? I’ve owned dogs since I was a little boy, sometimes two or three at a time, and yet out of all of them there was one that grabbed my heartstrings in a way none of the rest of them did, and I think Cora is going to be another one.”
* * *
Of one accord they turned and began to walk back towards the Hall in a companionable silence with Cora trailing at their heels. When they reached the horse chestnut tree where he had nearly tripped over her, Izzie smiled apologetically as she gestured towards the bag he was carrying.
“Sorry for interrupting your working day. What were you doing while Cora and I were enjoying ourselves?”
“Me? I was moving fallen branches, or at least I started to until I realized a deer was in labor in the thicket right beside them.”
Her eyes widened. “Really and truly?”
“Yes. I saw her leave the herd and walk into the woods earlier today but I didn’t think anything of it until I found her in a tiny clearing between the bushes, panting hard. She’s young so it’s probably her first fawn. First thing tomorrow I’m going back to see how she is.”
The huge turquoise eyes that he found so inexplicably unsettling, widened even further. “May I come too?”
He frowned, his irritation returning as he reminded himself she was one of Amelia’s celebrity hangers-on, someone whose only experience of a fawn was probably Bambi. “It’s not entertainment you know. I’m only going to check that she’s all right. Mostly they are but occasionally there’s a breech birth. If I’m lucky enough to discover it in time I can help.”
The harshness of his voice deflated her. “I didn’t mean…I just thought that if I promised to be quiet you’d show me something worth seeing…something real, instead of...instead of all the stuff I work with every day.”
Against his better judgment the controlled desperation in her voice made him grudgingly reconsider. “Okay. You can come on two conditions. One that you do exactly as I tell you so we don’t spook the mother, and two, that you are here promptly at five o’clock tomorrow morning. If you’re late I’m not waiting because I want to get to her before the rest of the estate begins to stir.”
She nodded eagerly. “I’ll be here.”
“Make sure you are.” He turned away without a farewell, calling Cora to heel as he strode across the grass.
Izzie, watching him go, wondered if he lived on the estate or in a cottage in the village she had glimpsed from the car as they approached Corley Hall. Letting her imagination run wild she pictured a wife, probably pretty and pregnant, listening for the click of the gate so she could run to the door to welcome him home. The thought produced a curious constriction in her throat. With a hollow laugh she turned towards the Dower House. How ridiculous to feel like that just because he had loaned her his dog for the afternoon. She was feeling lonely was all. It was time she went to find her hostess.
“Cam was furious,” Amelia said, handing Izzie a glass of wine.
“Who with, you or me?”
“Both of us. He said you aren’t taking the shoot seriously enough and that I need to concentrate on what I’m being paid to do instead of disrupting things by inviting you to stay here. He said you should be at the hotel where he can keep an eye on you…make sure you’re safe.”
“Safer in the hotel than here behind a high brick wall…I don’t think so. Don’t let him get to you, he’ll be over it by morning.” Izzie gave an irritable shrug. Cameron Watt had taken over her business affairs when her previous manager had had a heart attack two years previously, and as far as she was concerned, it was two years too long.
“I really hope you’re right because from the amount of shouting he did I thought he was going to cancel the entire photo shoot.”
“No chance. He and your editor have been planning it for months. Besides, there’s a deadline on this. The studio needs the pictures by the end of next week and so does your magazine, so he can’t pull out now.”
Amelia let out a long sigh of relief. “It’s so good to hear you say that because I really can’t afford to mess up, and Corley Hall can’t afford to lose the fee either.”
Izzie chuckled when, realizing what she had just said, Amelia blushed to the roots of her hair. She wouldn’t let her apologize though.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re just being honest. You need the money and you need to impress your editor, and I need the publicity, or rather Bella Blue needs it. So let’s call it quits and talk about something else. Tell me what it was like growing up here.”
Reminding herself that she really should try to remember that Izzie was a client and not a friend, and guard her tongue a little better, Amelia did her best. “It was sort of magical I suppose, or at least that’s how I remember it. Although I was away at boarding school during term time, I had a lot of freedom when I was at home. In the summer I roamed the estate from dawn to dusk, and in the winter I spent hours dressing up in the old clothes stored in the attics. At Christmas I’d even put on a fashion show and make everyone watch.”
“That explains why your editor has put you in charge of the photo shoot…your reputation has gone before you,” Izzie teased.
Amelia smiled as she shook her head. “I wish I could believe it but I’m not that naïve. I’m only here because her budget is in the red, so when she realized my brother owned the estate, which means I can stay for free at the Dower House and eat there too, she decided to give me a chance to prove myself.”
Izzie gave a peal of laughter. “Well that certainly puts things in perspective…but don’t tell Cam we’re a balance sheet exercise or he really might carry out his threat to cancel. For him, not even the best is good enough.”
“Oh god, I shouldn’t have told you that,” Amelia was mortified that she’d blurted out her innermost thoughts yet again. Maybe inviting Izzie to stay at the Dower House wasn’t such a good idea after all. Now she would have to explain before she blew her one big chance.
“What I meant was…I don’t care why my editor put me in charge…I’d sleep in a tent if that’s what it took to be able to direct you in a fashion shoot. Doing this is a dream come true for me because, up until now I’ve just been a lowly assistant, always at her beck and call, and I don’t want to go back to that…which is why I really can’t afford to mess up.”
“Well we had better make sure you don’t then, hadn’t we? Have you managed to persuade Cam to use the backdrops you want yet?”
With a sigh of relief Amelia realized that, far from being annoyed, her celebrity guest was amused at her faux pas, and she allowed herself to relax as they began to talk about the decisions she and Izzie’s manager had made earlier that day.
“We’re agreed on most of the stuff we want to do inside the Hall so once I’ve talked him through the few outdoor shots we need, we can get started. I thought a picture with some deer in the background might be good…and one with you in front of the main entrance too. There are umpteen other fantastic possibilities but so far he has refused to walk far enough to see any of them.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised because he’s the ultimate urbanite. Fresh air is a complete anathema to him.”
“Not to you though?” Amelia’s question was tentative as the conversation veered back into the personal.
“Not to me,” Izzie agreed. “I grew up surrounded by woods and fields and if I’m away for too long I miss them.”
“Me too. In the summer my brothers and I even slept outdoors…well my brothers did, a lot. I was only allowed to when they agreed to take me with them, something they avoided whenever they could by hiding from me for days at a time.”
She laughed at Izzie’s quizzical expression. “As well as being much older than me they knew how to stalk deer without being seen, so I had no chance. I never found them unless they wanted me to, which wasn’t very often.”
“It still sounds idyllic. Who lived in the Dower House when you were small?”
“Grandmamma: my father’s mother. She was terribly fierce with everyone but me. Papa said it was because she was very old by the time I was born, so she had mellowed. I used to visit her almost every day when I was at home, and when I was at school she used to send me a parcel once a month. It was always full of chocolate and cake and she put pressed flowers and lavender sachets in too. She even put some shiny horse chestnuts in once. I think she thought the things she sent would stop me feeling homesick, but they just made me feel worse, although I never told her that.”
“She sounds lovely. I never knew my grandparents. They died long before I was born. Then both my parents died, so my sister brought me up.”
“The one who owns the horse therapy center?”
Izzie smiled at her. “You remembered.”
“Difficult not to. It’s an unusual sort of job. Is that where you lived as a child?”
“No. I did live with horses though. Jodie managed a riding stables when I was small and we lived in a cottage on the premises. She was much nicer to me than I deserved too, because I was the reason she had to give up the dressage riding she loved. She abandoned her dreams and found a job that would support us both so she could look after me.”
“So you owe her a lot.”
“Everything really. She put her life on hold while I was growing up.”
“She must be a lot older than you?”
“Ten years. She was seventeen when we were orphaned but although we only had each other the authorities still refused to let her be my guardian until she was eighteen, so at first I was in foster care. She used to visit me every week though and tell me about the life we were going to have together.”
Amelia stared at her. “I wonder if Edward would have done that for me. He was my oldest brother…half-brother actually, because my mother is the second Countess. He would be Earl now if he hadn’t died suddenly at the end of last year.”
Izzie’s reply was gentle. “I’m so sorry…I didn’t realize. I knew your father had died but I didn’t know about your brother.”
“Goodness this conversation is getting maudlin,” Amelia dashed away the tears that had filled her eyes at the mention of her brother. “Let’s talk about something else. I know your sister is married to Marcus Lewis. How did she meet him and is he as dishy as he looks in his photos?”
Izzie grinned at her, equally glad to move on. “More so, but he’s totally devoted to my sister much to the irritation of his countless fans.”
They were still discussing Marcus when Lady Corley swept into room followed by an elderly woman laden with a tray of hors d’oeuvres and a fresh bottle of wine. When Izzie jumped up to help, her hostess’s response was gracious but firm.
“Please sit down my dear. You are our guest. Tomlins will deal with the drinks and Amelia will help.”
Amelia complied by handing Izzie a small plate and a selection of appetizers.
Her duties temporarily over, Margaret, Dowager Countess of Faversham, sank into a faded velvet armchair with a relieved sigh. She was a handsome woman in her early fifties with smooth iron-gray hair, an upright carriage, and deep-set dark eyes. She looked very tired.
“It was so kind of Amelia to invite me to stay with you Lady Corley. I hope my being here won’t inconvenience you…I mean…well you must be so busy…” Izzie’s voice trailed away when it became apparent her hostess had fallen asleep.
When Amelia leaned forward to poke her awake, she caught hold of her arm. “Please don’t disturb her on my account. If she’s that tired perhaps it would be better if I stayed at the hotel after all.”
“No. Please don’t go. It’ll do her good to have something new to think about, someone else to talk to. When she wakes up she’ll be fine, and we’ll pretend we didn’t notice…that is, I hope you won’t mind if we do that.”
“No, of course I won’t, but why is she so tired?”
“Well she’s still grieving for my father of course, and I know she misses Edward a great deal too. She always said he was the son she never had, so the shock of his sudden death so soon after Papa’s, knocked her sideways. And the double death duties have nearly bankrupted the estate so she’s had to get used to frugality in a hurry too, something that doesn’t suit her any more than having to think of ways to raise money suits her."
“Such as hosting a photo shoot I suppose?” Izzie’s expression was rueful.
“Yes. And now she’s talking about moving into conferences and weddings even though she knows she’s not being realistic. Nobody would hire the Hall in its present state, and my one remaining brother, who lives in the few rooms that have been modernized, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to do anything about it.”
Hearing the bitterness in her voice, Izzie raised a questioning eyebrow. Amelia shook her head. “Don’t mind me. I should know better than to wash our dirty linen in public and if my mother was awake she would tell me so…but if you really want to know why she’s so tired, it’s because my dear brother refuses to discuss the finances of the estate at all, which means Mama spends every night lying awake worrying.”
“Is he the brother who hates celebrities?”
Amelia gave a humorless laugh. “Yes…and right now he appears to hate most other people too. Mama says it’s because he’s upset he had to come back from France to take over the estate when Edward died, but sometimes it feels as if he blames us personally.”
Izzie was rescued from having to answer her by a small snore, which was followed by a yawn as Lady Corley opened her eyes. Picking up her glass of wine she spoke as if nothing had happened.
“Now tell me all about yourself my dear. I want to know all about your career. I also want to know why on earth you have allowed Amelia persuade you to stay here when, much as I’m delighted to see you, it’s only fair to tell you that you would be much more comfortable in the hotel in the village.”
* * *
When she woke early the following morning Izzie had to concede that Lady Corley was right. The bed was lumpy, the carpet was threadbare, there was no shower, and she had only managed to persuade a trickle of water into the claw- footed bath after a great deal of coaxing. Nevertheless, she was glad she had accepted Amelia’s spontaneous invitation to stay at the Dower House because she hadn’t enjoyed an evening so much in a long time.
After her initial somnolent lapse Lady Corley had proved to be a charming and attentive hostess, plying Izzie with food until she couldn’t eat another thing, and all the while entertaining her with stories about the estate. She had learned that the Gunnerson-Corley family had lived at Corley Hall since the early years of the fifteenth century, and that the whole estate was a living history of the five hundred years since it was built. She heard about the gardens too, and how the present Earl was intent on bringing them back to their glory days.
“Which is why we never see him because he’s always out and about planting things,” Amelia said, and then flushed at her mother’s reproving look.
“I’m sure our guest doesn’t want to hear about our family squabbles my dear,” Lady Corley’s voice was sharp as she adroitly changed the subject. Then, steering all conversation very firmly away from the travails of Corley Hall and the Gunnerson-Corley family, she asked Izzie questions instead.
She was genuinely interested too, and proved to be surprisingly knowledgeable about music. When Izzie asked her if she played an instrument, however, she didn’t answer. Instead she declared it was time to show her where she was sleeping and led the way from the room.
Now, pulling on her clothes in the gray light of dawn, Izzie gave a wry smile. What would Lady Corley say if she knew her guest was meeting up with one of the Earl’s employees? Would she consider it a breach of etiquette or had social equality finally caught up with the English nobility? She had absolutely no idea.
* * *
Although she let herself out of the house much earlier than she needed to, Jack was already waiting for her under the horse chestnut tree.
“You made it then.”
She grinned at him. “I told you I would.”
“I didn’t hear a car.”
“No…I…” she started to tell him she was staying at the Dower House as a guest of the Countess and then had second thoughts. Better to let him think she was so keen that she had slogged over from the hotel than embarrass him. If he discovered she was staying with the Corley family he might feel compromised and she wanted him to take her to see the fawn on his own terms, not because he felt he had to.
He stared at her. ‘You’re certainly keen. It’s a long walk from the hotel.”
She gave a non-committal shrug as she changed the subject. “Where’s Cora?”
“Shut up indoors. Although she’s usually good around the deer, a newborn fawn might be one step too far.” He started walking as he spoke and soon she was too breathless trying to keep up with him to say another word.
* * *
It took them almost fifteen minutes to reach the copse where he had last seen the pregnant deer, and another five to walk around it while Jack explained his actions.
“We need to approach from the windward side so the mother doesn’t pick up our scent. The last thing I want to do is frighten her into abandoning her fawn.”
“Would she do that?” Izzie tried, without success, to hide the fact that she was breathing hard.
He gave her the glimmer of a smile: his first of the morning. “If she hears you panting like a steam engine you won’t see her for dust.”
Scowling at him, she protested. “It’s alright for you. You’re used to striding around the estate every day. The least you could have done was slow down.”
To her surprise he nodded. “You’re right. I should have made allowances but I’m afraid I’m not used to sharing my early morning walk with anyone.”
“Not even with the Earl? I thought…that is someone told me he spends all his time outdoors.”
He stared at her. Then he smiled, properly, and for the first time. “The Earl is the only person who can keep up with me and even he sometimes wishes he didn’t have to.”
Unexpectedly stunned by the effect of his smile and what it was doing to her pulse rate, Izzie stopped listening. Instead she slowed down a little until she was walking behind him, and when he turned and gave her a questioning look she shook her head. “Just giving myself a chance to breath normally.”
“In that case I’ll go on ahead and see if I can find the fawn. If I do, I’ll come back for you.”
She nodded as she watched him walk away and then she sank onto an upturned log and wondered what had just happened to her.
* * *
Jack slid silently between the trees until he came to the thicket where he had seen the deer in labor and then he dropped to the ground and inched his way forward on his stomach. As he hoped, a newborn fawn was lying motionless in the undergrowth. He stayed only long enough to check it was alone before retreating back to where Izzie was waiting for him.
“We’re in luck. There’s no sign of the mother which means she’s probably foraging,” he told her.
“You mean she’s left her baby on its own already?” Izzie’s huge blue-green eyes in their fringe of long lashes were wide with concern.
He nodded. “Don’t confuse deer with humans. Their babies are programmed to lie quietly in the undergrowth until they’re strong enough to join the herd. It only takes a few days but during that time they wait patiently for their mothers to return to suckle them. Come and see for yourself but remember, no talking, and do exactly as I tell you.”
Nodding, Izzie stood up ready to follow him. He drew his brows together in a frown as he looked at her. Until now he hadn’t considered what she was wearing, but up close and personal even he could see her clothes were expensive. Admittedly they were suitable for outdoors but he was certain that everything she was wearing carried a designer label. If the little he had learned from his sister’s career in fashion was anything to go by, she was probably dressed in several thousand pounds worth of clothes.
“Um…did I say…did I mention you’ll have to crawl through the bushes if you want to see the fawn?”
The unexpected reaction to his smile of five minutes earlier now held firmly in check, Izzie chuckled at his obvious discomfiture. “You didn’t, but I’m sure I’ll survive it.”
“You might…but what about your clothes?”
“What about them?”
“They look expensive.”
Irritated that she hadn’t thought to play down her wardrobe by borrowing one of the old coats hanging in the hallway of the Dower House, she resorted to sarcasm. “Sorry. I didn’t know deer stalking had a price limit.”
His frown became a scowl. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just concerned you might ruin them. Here, at least put this on over your jacket so the thorns and twigs don’t scratch the leather.”
He shrugged off his own coat as he spoke and then pulled a thick sweater over his head and handed it to her. Without a word she put it on, too busy fighting the effect the intimacy of his action was having on her to thank him. He nodded approvingly when her tousle of blonde hair emerged and then waited patiently while she turned the sleeves of the sweater back far enough to expose her wrists.
“That’s better. Now we had better hurry because I don’t want to be around when the mother returns.”
* * *
They approached the copse with caution with Izzie following Jack as he retraced his steps through the trees. As soon as he could see the thicket where the fawn was hiding, he dropped silently to the ground. Behind him, Izzie did the same. Then they slithered forward on their stomachs, stealthily parting the branches and pushing their way through the tangle of twigs as quietly as they could. When they reached the tiny glade inside its natural palisade of bramble and stunted holly, he pointed.
Although she searched every inch of the grassy undergrowth, Izzie couldn’t see a thing. Shaking her head in frustration she looked at Jack. Trying to ignore the effect her proximity was having on his libido, he pointed again, and then, when she still failed to see anything, tentatively touched her cheek to redirect her gaze.
Later, when he was alone and wondering what he had unleashed, he reflected that touching her hadn’t been a good move. At the time though, with Izzie beside him straining to find the tiny fawn and unable to see it because it’s brown and white markings merged so perfectly with the stripes of the grass, it had seemed the most natural thing to do. That they had both reacted as if they’d been stung by hornets should have been enough to warn him. It wasn’t though. Instead he slid his hand down her cheek and tilted her chin sideways until her little gasp of excitement told him she had finally seen through the camouflage and was looking at the newly born fawn. Only then did he move away the three inches that was all that was possible in the close confines of the thicket.
They stayed like that for several minutes, with Izzie watching the fawn and Jack watching Izzie. Although there were leaves in her hair and a smudge of dirt on her chin, he didn’t notice them. Instead, he stared at her short straight nose, high cheekbones and wide-set eyes, reveled in the corn colored tangle of her hair and the softness of her skin, and wondered if he was going mad.
* * *