Haunted Summer

by Joanna Mansell

  The passage that led to the kitchen was in darkness, but the kitchen door was slightly ajar, and she could see a thin beam of light shining through the crack. Was Nathan in there? she wondered uneasily. Perhaps he had come down to make himself a hot drink. Ought she to tell him that she was leaving, or just creep out? Reluctantly, she decided that she had better tell him that she was going. It seemed very rude to leave without saying a single word.

  She pushed open the kitchen door, and found that Nathan was sitting at the kitchen table. Then her eyes flew wide open as she saw what he was about to do.

  'Are you crazy?' she demanded incredulously, rushing into the room. She grabbed the glass of whisky that stood on the table in front of him, and poured it down the sink. Then she snatched the half-full bottle away, shoved it into the nearest cupboard and firmly shut the door. 'Don't you know that alcohol is just about the worst thing you could have right now?' she lectured him fiercely. 'Yes, of course you know it,' she went on, answering her own question. 'You're not stupid—although you do some pretty stupid things at times. So, why were you about to start drinking?'

  Nathan's eyes had grown as stormy as she had ever seen them. They weren't a blank grey now, but lit with a vivid brightness that might have frightened her if she hadn't been so very angry at him.

  'I couldn't sleep,' he replied in a taut voice. 'And when I can't sleep, I sometimes drink.'

  'Was that what happened that night you left me locked in the cellar?' she challenged him. 'You couldn't sleep, so you drank yourself into a stupor and forgot I was even there?'

  He had the grace to look slightly abashed. 'Something like that,' he muttered after a long pause, the light in his eyes dying away now, leaving the more familiar, weary expression in its place.

  Rose slumped down in the chair opposite him. 'I was going to leave,' she admitted. 'That's why I came down here—to tell you that I was going.'

  'It's past midnight,' he pointed out. 'Isn't that a rather funny time to walk out?'

  'I didn't think you needed me any more. But now I've found you doing this, how can I possibly go? The minute I walk out that door, you'll probably take that bottle out of the cupboard and get totally drunk!'

  'I was only planning on having one drink,' Nathan said drily. 'Two, at the very most. I'm trying to cure my insomnia—not commit suicide.'

  'Even a single drink would be one too many,' Rose said severely. Then she looked at him through narrowed eyes. 'Are you sure you don't have a self-destructive streak? You really don't seem to take very good care of yourself.'

  'For someone who's known me for a very short time, you ask a lot of extremely personal questions.'

  She flushed a little. 'I suppose I do. The trouble is, you never volunteer any information. I can only find things out by actually asking.'

  'And you're not slow to do that, are you?'

  'Well, you can do the same, if you want to,' Rose replied rather defensively.

  'Is there anything you want to ask me?'

  Nathan settled back in his chair, his eyes resting on her levelly now. His dark hair was, as usual, rather dishevelled, and he was wearing the same jeans he had had on earlier, although with a different sweatshirt. Not a man who troubled too much about his appearance, Rose decided wryly. Not that it made very much difference. She was beginning to realise that he was an extraordinarily attractive man, in his own individual way.

  'There are a couple of questions that I'd be interested, in hearing the answers to,' he told her, still looking directly at her.

  Rose cleared her throat rather nervously. 'What sort of questions?'

  'For a start, I'd rather like to know why you suddenly decided to creep away in the middle of the night.'

  'I've already explained that. I decided you didn't need me any more. There didn't seem any point in staying on here.'

  'You could have waited until morning, and left then,' he pointed out. Then a shadow of that wolfish smile touched the corners of his mouth. 'Unless, of course, you didn't feel safe with me here, at night.'

  That was exactly the reason why she had wanted to run out on him, but there was no way Rose was ever going to admit that. Instead, she sat up very straight, and tried to look completely in control of the situation.

  'That's an absolutely ridiculous suggestion,' she said, lying through her teeth. 'I just didn't realise it was so late, that was all. If I'd known it was after midnight, then of course I'd have stayed until morning.'

  Nathan's eyes continued to rest on her thoughtfully. 'The grandfather clock in the hall struck midnight just before you came down,' he said at last.

  'I didn't hear it,' Rose replied promptly.

  'Perhaps you're a little deaf,' he said sympathetically. 'That clock has a particularly loud chime. It can be heard right through the house.'

  She scowled at him. 'I'm not deaf! But I am getting fed up with all these questions.'

  'You're the one who invited me to ask them,' he reminded her. 'And I'm simply trying to find out why you suddenly decided to shoot off.' His eyes briefly gleamed. 'I just want to make sure that you're not running away because you're scared of me.'

  'Absolutely not,' Rose denied at once, hoping that she was managing to sound very convincing. 'Anyway, it's a good thing I did come down, or you'd have sat here all night drinking yourself into oblivion!'

  'I've already told you that I had no intention of doing any such thing. But even if I had, I don't see that it would have been any of your business.'

  'You're right,' she agreed tartly. 'And don't worry, I won't interfere again. Just remember, you're the one who hates hospitals, not me. fl^ you knock back half a bottle of whisky and end up in a coma, it'll be you who'll be rushed back there as an in-patient.'

  'That's a very sobering thought—in every sense of the word,' remarked Nathan. To her astonishment, a faint smile appeared on his face. It made him look quite different. In fact, she almost forgot that, just a short time ago, she had been getting ready to rush out of the house because she was nervous about spending a night under the same roof as him.

  'You don't want to discuss why you wanted to leave, and I'm pretty tired of talking about my drinking habits,' he went on. 'So, why don't we compromise, and find a safer topic of conversation?'

  'Such as what?' asked Rose cautiously.

  'You could begin by telling me your name.'

  She blinked in astonishment. 'You don't know it?'

  'You haven't told me, and so far I haven't bothered to ask,' he said equably.

  'It's Rose,' she said. 'Rose Caldwell.'

  'Rose,' he repeated thoughtfully. 'It doesn't suit you.'

  'I know,' she agreed mournfully. 'I was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby, and everyone thought I was going to grow up into a fair-skinned, fair-haired English rose. Instead, my eyes turned violet and my hair darkened to brown. In the summer, I tan to the colour of a gypsy, and I'm tall and clumsy instead of cool and elegant.'

  'I'm glad you're not blonde,' he said, to her surprise. Before she had a chance to ask him why, though, he went on. 'Why did you turn up on my doorstep, wanting a job as a gardener? From the look of your hands, that's not your usual line of work.'

  Rose looked at her smooth, uncallused palms, and gave a small grimace.

  'No, it isn't,' she agreed. 'I suppose that's one reason why it appealed to me. I fancied doing something different for a few weeks. And I do know about plants. I've always loved gardens, and growing things. And I'm strong enough to handle a lawnmower and cope with the digging.'

  Nathan's eyebrows gently rose. 'You sound as if you're supplying me with a reference. Are you still interested in the job?'

  'No—well, I don't think so—at least--' Annoyed with her own confusion, she shook her head. 'I'm not at all sure I want to work for a man like you,' she finished firmly.

  His eyebrows rose still further. 'A man like me?'

  She began to get annoyed. 'You know perfectly well what I mean!'

  'A man who locks girls in cellars
?' he suggested smoothly. 'A man who drinks too much, and lives entirely on his own?'

  But Rose was beginning to get the measure of him now. 'I can cope with all those things,' she said firmly. 'I'm just not sure that I want to.'

  'And until I know a little more about you, I might not even want to offer you the job,' Nathan replied, his expression totally bland now. 'I think that, nowadays, it pays to be very careful about whom you employ.'

  Rose instantly bristled. 'You think I'm unreliable? Or that I couldn't do the work?'

  'I'm simply saying that you turned up out of nowhere, and you still haven't told me anything about yourself, except your name. And I haven't any proof that you've even told the truth about that.'

  Rose knew perfectly well that he was baiting her, and that helped her to keep a tight hold on her temper. 'I'm twenty-three years old and single,' she informed him. 'My father's in the diplomatic service, so I've spent most of my life abroad. That's why I'm here in England, for the summer. I decided it was time I saw something of the country where I was born. I saved up so I could spend a few months here, just travelling around seeing different places. Only everything's turned out to be more expensive than I expected, so

  I'm running short of money. That's why I want a temporary job.' She ran out of breath at that point, so she stopped and glared at Nathan. 'Is there anything else you want to know?'

  'What sort of job do you usually do?'

  'For the last couple of years, I've worked as an interpreter. I speak four languages fluently, and I can get by in a handful of others. Whenever my father was posted to a different embassy, I always tried to learn the language of that country. Luckily, I seemed to pick them up fairly quickly. I suppose I've just got an ear for languages.'

  'You seem to be a fairly talented lady all round,' Nathan remarked drily. 'Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself?'

  'No,' she said, very firmly. She had told him quite enough for one day. 'But I wouldn't mind knowing something about you.'

  'If I remember rightly, you already know my name,' he said, and this time his eyes were a little more wary. 'That means that you know perfectly well who I am. And you probably know quite a lot about me.'

  'Not really,' she admitted. 'I told you, I've been living abroad. I've heard of you, of course, and Mrs Rogers told me one or two things, but I honestly don't know very much at all.'

  He gave a rather strange smile. 'Good,' he said. 'For now, I'd like to keep it that way.' He glanced at his watch. 'We're well into the early hours of the morning. Are you still planning on running out on me?'

  'No,' Rose said, with a resigned sigh. 'I think I'll have to stay, at least until the morning.''Then you'd better go back to bed and try to get some sleep. And don't worry,' he added, shooting a faintly mocking smile at her. 'I promise not to hit the bottle as soon as your back's turned.'

  Rose wasn't altogether sure that a promise from this man meant anything. She was beginning to yawn hard now, though, and her eyes were getting very heavy, so she supposed she would just have to take his word. She couldn't sit here all night watching him, to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

  She got to her feet and trailed tiredly over to the door. 'Goodnight,' she said, stifling another yawn.

  'See you in the morning,' said Nathan Hayward.

  There was something in his tone that made Rose glance back at him; something that sent a very light shiver down her spine. He wasn't even looking at her, though, and she told herself she must have imagined it. All the same, she left the kitchen rather more hurriedly than she had meant to, and kept glancing nervously over her shoulder all the way up the stairs.

  She slept much better than she had expected, and woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed. In fact, she was amazed that she had wanted to run away from Lyncombe Manor in the middle of the night.

  'A lot of people get jittery after it gets dark,' she excused herself. 'And yesterday was a pretty traumatic day. No wonder you decided you'd had enough, and wanted out.'

  She quickly washed and dressed, and then clattered downstairs. The suit of armour that had scared her so much last night didn't look in the least frightening in the bright light of day. And the manor itself looked as enchanting as always, lit this morning by great splashes of sunshine pouring through the lattice windows.

  Rose decided that she needed a cup of coffee before she left, and so she made her way to the kitchen. When she opened the door, she found that Nathan was already there, cooking himself breakfast.

  'Good heavens,' she said, 'you haven't been here all night, have you?'

  'No, I managed a couple more hours of sleep—and without the help of alcohol,' he added.

  'Do you mind if I make some coffee?'

  'Help yourself. Do you want something to eat?'

  'I'll just have a piece of toast,' replied Rose.

  'No wonder you're so thin,' he remarked. 'Do you ever eat a decent meal?'

  'All the time. But it doesn't matter how much I eat. I still stay skinny.'

  Nathan expertly flipped a fried egg and some crisply fried rashers of bacon on to his plate. 'What are your plans for today?' he asked.

  'I'd have thought that was fairly obvious. I'm going home. Well, not exactly home,' she amended. 'Home is where my family is, and that's Washington at the moment. My father was posted there earlier this year. But I'll be going back to Mrs Rogers' guest house— that's the nearest thing I've got to a home, at the moment.'

  'You could stay here,' Nathan suggested casually.

  Rose immediately stiffened. 'No, thank you,' she said at once.

  'I wasn't suggesting that you move into my bed,' said Nathan with some amusement. 'I simply meant that you might want to take up that job you came after. And if you want to live in, to save money, that's no problem.'

  But Rose could see that it could very easily become a big problem. Her bedroom was only a couple of doors away from Nathan's—and, although he hadn't shown any real interest in her, that didn't necessarily mean that she could rely on him to stay in his own room at night. And she didn't remember seeing any lock on her door.

  'I don't think that would be a very good idea,' she said firmly. I

  He gave a faint smile. 'You don't trust me?'

  'I think that I'd be very stupid if I did,' she retorted. 'Despite everything that's happened, I still hardly know you. No woman in her right mind would move in here in those circumstances.'

  To her surprise, he didn't react angrily. Instead he merely nodded. 'You're probably right. But the east wing of the manor is virtually self-contained. It's got a bedroom, a small sitting-room and a bathroom. It even has its own entrance. The only room we'd have to share is the kitchen. You can use that wing, if you want to.'

  Rose looked at him suspiciously. 'Why are you suddenly being so generous?'

  'Perhaps I feel I owe it to you,' he said, after a moment's hesitation. Then he gave a faint smile. 'And I really do need a gardener. The card advertising the job has been in that shop for two weeks, and so far you're the only one who's shown any interest.' He seemed to sense that she was wavering, and he went on persuasively, 'If you like, you can take the job on a trial basis. Try it for a week. If, after a couple of days, you decide that you don't like the job—or me!—

  you can pack it in, and I'll still pay you a full week's wages.'

  It was a very tempting offer. Rose would be able to pay Mrs Rogers the money that she owed her, and she would also have a free roof over her head.

  But the offer seemed just too good—and especially coming from Nathan Hayward, who had spent such a lot of time trying to get rid of her! Where was the catch?

  'I don't know...' she muttered doubtfully.

  He smiled at her, and she was nearly bowled over by the great blaze of charm that suddenly radiated from him. 'Of course you do,' he said smoothly. 'And it'll solve both our problems very neatly. You're short of money, and need somewhere to stay. I need a gardener pretty quickly, or the grounds of the manor are ;; g
oing to get completely out of hand.'

  Rose wrinkled her nose indecisively. 'The east wing of the manor is really completely self-contained?' she said at last.

  'You can even lock me out at night, if you want to,' he said, his slate-grey eyes reflecting his amusement.

  She wasn't fooled by that light teasing, though. 'Will I need to do that?' she enquired in a challenging tone.

  'I shouldn't think so,' he replied, the amusement fading from his face again now. 'You're just not my type. I can see that you've got a certain charm, with those big violet eyes and that mop of brown hair, but it really doesn't do a lot for me. And, as well as that, you're too innocent. I don't go for innocence. I prefer sophistication—and experience. Rose might have been thoroughly outraged by his declaration if it hadn't been for the distinctly world-weary tone of his voice. 'Perhaps you've had too much experience,' she found herself saying, much to her own surprise. He looked at her strangely for a few moments. 'Maybe you're right,' he said a little shortly, at last. Then he gave a deep shrug, as if he had suddenly had more than enough of this conversation. 'Do you want the job, or not?' he asked directly.

  'Yes,' said Rose. And a moment later, she wondered why she had said that. She knew instinctively that it wasn't a good idea to work for Nathan Hay ward. And any female who agreed to live under the same roof as him definitely needed her brains tested!

  She didn't change her mind about her sudden decision, though. Instead, she agreed to go and fetch her things after breakfast, and start work on the gardens of Lyncombe Manor that same afternoon.

  This isn't a wise thing that you're doing, she warned herself. But then she looked again at Nathan Hay ward; looked at his tired eyes and his too thin body, and she knew that he needed someone around right now. He had lived on his own for too long. It wasn't good for him to spend so much time alone. Why did it have to be she who moved in, though? Perhaps because there was no one else around, she silently answered herself. No one else who cared. And did she care? Rose edged nervously away from that question. She didn't think she wanted to answer it at the moment. Or in the future, come to that. She would do the job she was being paid to do, she decided. And she would be a friend to Nathan