It was Alys who had made all this possible and I knew she approved of what I was about to do.
I gave Seth a dig in the ribs with my elbow and he grunted indignantly. ‘What was that for?’
‘You’re not listening to me, and there’s something I want to show you.’
‘Oh God—it’s not another design for a replacement summerhouse, is it?’
‘No, it’s a sort of wedding present, from Alys.’
I fished in my by now battered embroidered bag and produced a card folder containing a slip of torn parchment between two pieces of acid-free tissue. ‘Here you are. It’s another thing we discovered with the hidden cache, but we didn’t tell anyone about it.’
He examined it with interest. ‘I recognise that symbol. It’s an ancient one, the Chi-rho. And while it’s nice of Alys to want to share her magical symbols with me, I don’t quite see—’
‘Turn it over,’ I said patiently. ‘She reused a bit of some other document.’
He did and suddenly went still and silent.
‘It is the lost bit of the garden plan, isn’t it?’ I asked. ‘And though it’s pretty faded, can you see what’s in the middle of the lower terrace?’
He lifted his head, his green eyes glowing in the way that always made me feel oddly breathless. ‘Yes—it’s a true lovers’ knot,’ he said softly, then pulled me into his arms and thanked me in the way I’d hoped he would—while safely holding the precious scrap of parchment well out of harm’s reach, of course.
You could never take the gardener out of this man and that, luckily enough, turned out to be just the way I liked it.
Acknowledgements
I would like to take this long-overdue opportunity to thank Diane Pearson, the President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, for first introducing me to my wonderful agent, Judith Murdoch—and I only hope Judith feels the same way, after enduring my sense of humour for several years.
About the Author
Trisha Ashley was born in St Helens, Lancashire, and gave up her fascinating but time-consuming hobbies of house-moving and divorce a few years ago in order to settle in North Wales. As research for this novel, Trisha spent time working for the National Trust—and quickly found that running a stately home is not all cream teas and croquet on the lawn!
Trisha is currently working on her next novel, Wedding Tiers, to be published by AVON in 2009. For more information about Trisha please visit www.trishaashley.com and go to www.bookarmy.co.uk for exclusive updates.
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Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2008
Copyright © Trisha Ashley 2008
Trisha Ashley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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EPub Edition © 2008 ISBN: 9780007328918
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A Winter’s Tale Page 38