‘Think about it,’ Izzy insisted. ‘You said his behaviour when he got mad with you was irrational – well, jealousy is irrational. He was jealous when you went out with this Harry bloke. Think about that lovely evening you described to me, with him in front of the fire, when he was all gentle and relaxed and amusing and normal? “The person he ought to have been,” you said to me. He let down his guard, let himself go with you, exposed the tender green shoots of his feelings – and then the very next day you heartlessly go out and bonk another bloke.’
‘I didn’t—’
‘Yes, but he thinks you did. S’obvious. He was hurt, mad, jealous. And that proves he has feelings for you,’ she concluded triumphantly.
‘“Mad” is the only word in there that fits,’ Jenna said. ‘He is clearly nuts, mad as a badger, besides being a moral dinosaur. So don’t try to cook up a romance there, because he regards me as pond slime. My only business is to avoid him for the next couple of weeks, and hope not to upset Kitty.’
‘As you please,’ Izzy said with a secret smile. ‘He who lives longest shall see most, as the Bard says.’
‘The Bard?’
‘My boss said that the other day,’ Izzy admitted. ‘I’ve been waiting for a chance to use it. Hey, do you know who I saw coming out of Ottolenghi’s last week?’
The talk went on to other subjects of common interest. It was wonderful to have a completely relaxed girly evening, with absolutely frank exchanges and no need to watch what you said in case of misunderstandings. It made her miss London, and made her life at Holtby House seem remote and bizarre and quite unreal.
It was while they were heads-together, looking over the bill, that a movement made Jenna glance up and she saw Caroline Russell coming into the restaurant on the arm of a man. She hunched down even further so as not to be seen. Fortunately they were being led to a different part of the restaurant, and neither was looking her way.
‘What?’ Izzy said.
‘Don’t look now, but that woman who’s just come in is the Ice Queen.’
‘No!’ Izzy said with enormous gratification.
‘I said don’t look now! I don’t want her to see me and come over.’
‘Don’t worry, she’s got her back to me. Ooh, I hate that dress! Nasty, nasty. No one should wear that shade of blue outside of an institution. The waiter’s seating them – she’s still got her back to me. But don’t tell me that’s your Colin Firth she’s with? It’s all right, you can look now.’
Jenna straightened up cautiously. Caroline’s companion was a tall, lean man who looked to be in his forties, with a perma-tan and carefully tended, prematurely silver hair – the Steve Martin look. The hair looked suspiciously full, as if it had been blow-dried by a hairdresser to disguise the fact that it was thinning. He had a very swish suit and an over-white smile that spoke of expensive dental work. The archetypal silver fox. Good-lookingish, but not as good looking as he probably thought he was. ‘No, of course it isn’t Xander,’ she said. ‘I’ve never seen him before.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ Izzy said. ‘Gak! Mister obvious or what? I bet he’s wearing make-up. And look at the way he’s looking round, as if he expects people to recognize him and ask for his autograph. I don’t fancy your Ice Queen’s taste, in dresses or men.’
‘But who is he, and why are they meeting here?’ Jenna said.
‘Maybe the same reason we are – halfway to London. The White Hart’s very well known, and it’s right on the main road.’
‘A business meeting?’ Jenna suggested.
‘Not entirely,’ Izzy commented, as Mr Obvious put his hand across the table and laid it on Caroline’s. ‘And look at that leer.’
‘It’s not a leer, it’s a smile,’ Jenna said, but she felt a pang all the same and thought, poor Xander. Was Caroline reverting to type? The man was obviously rich and looked as though he was powerful. Much more what Harry said was her taste. And certainly he behaved as if he knew he was important. As she watched, he released Caroline’s hand to take a call on his mobile phone. ‘No manners,’ she commented.
‘D’you know, I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere before,’ Izzy said, frowning. ‘On the news, maybe. I mean, he looks like a B-list celeb, doesn’t he? Oh, look at him with that mobile! Swanketty swank.’ She put on a voice. ‘“I’m so important my people have to be able to contact me twenty-four-seven.”’
‘Interface with me,’ Jenna corrected, and copied the voice. ‘“Sorry, I have to take this – it’s New York.”’
‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Ice Queen snatched it from him and hurled it across the room?’
‘Or into the ice bucket,’ Jenna said as the waiter arrived at their table with one.
‘Champagne? Mr Obvious runs true to form. Pass the sick bag, Alice.’
‘Sshhh! They’ll hear you,’ Jenna hissed. ‘God, he’s looking this way. Let’s go, before she turns round and sees us.’
‘All right. We can pay at the desk over there. You go first and I’ll selflessly interpose my body between you and the enemy.’
‘You’d throw yourself on the grenade for me?’
‘In a minute!’
They crept out.
‘But I wish I could remember where I’ve seen him before,’ Izzy said when they were safe. ‘It’s on the tip of my brain.’
‘As long as we never see him again, that’s enough for me,’ said Jenna.
Eighteen
Kitty and Jim arrived home around midday, looking relaxed and refreshed.
‘Good show?’ Jenna asked.
‘Superb,’ said Jim. ‘Especially the heavy horses.’
‘They had a decorated tradesmen’s vehicle competition,’ Kitty said. ‘Won by an old-fashioned coal dray pulled by a pair of the most glorious shires, all ribbons and shining brasses. And the runner-up was a rag-and-bone cart and Fell pony, with a mane practically down to its knees. Put me in mind of Veronica Lake. Magnificent. First-rate show all round.’
She and Jim exchanged a glance, and he laughed. ‘The evening and night weren’t bad, either.’
‘Don’t put me to the blush, you dreadful man!’
He kissed her lightly. ‘I’d better be off.’
‘Oh, aren’t you staying for lunch?’ Jenna asked.
‘No, I have to go and visit Rose,’ he said without inflexion.
When Kitty came back from seeing him off, she looked sombre. Jenna said, ‘Oh Kitty, I’m sorry for being clumsy just then. I should have thought—’
‘No, no, don’t trouble yourself,’ Kitty said automatically. ‘You didn’t know. Sunday afternoon has always been his time for visiting the home. I should say, one of them. And he rings Erica when he gets back, and has a long chat with her. It’s a sort of family day, really, and I try not to intrude on it.’
Jenna thought of Izzy, who had often told her that Sunday, when all the world was with its family, was the hardest day of all to be a mistress. Not that the cases were equivalent, but all the same . . .
‘It must be painful for you,’ she said.
Kitty sighed. ‘When we’re away – like yesterday and last night – we forget about the situation. It feels so normal, being together. But as soon as we come back here, it all comes down like a thick fog.’ She met Jenna’s eyes. ‘I feel so guilty. I never set out to be an adulteress.’
Jenna was shocked by the word. ‘I’m sure no one—’ she began hotly, and then stopped, remembering what Bill had said to her.
‘It’s just a fact, my dear,’ Kitty said. ‘There’s no escaping it. Whatever excuses we use to ourselves, it’s quite simply wrong. That’s the price we have to pay.’ She tried a smile. ‘What is it they say nowadays? If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.’
Jenna had nothing to offer by way of comfort, so instead she settled for distraction. ‘I was wanting to talk to you about something,’ she said as they walked towards the kitchen. ‘I’ve jotted down some ideas for ways to make an income out of the house, so th
at you don’t have to sell it, and I’d like to put them to you and go over some of the points, see what you think.’
Kitty brightened. ‘Really? How exciting. You are sweet to do that for me! Is that what you’ve been working on?’
‘Part of the time. I’ve got a folder with everything laid out that I’d like to show you.’
‘You are efficient! But we must have Bill in on it – he has a first-rate brain. And anything to do with the house . . . Wait while I go and speak to him.’
Jenna turned into the kitchen to see what there was for lunch, while Kitty went on to the communicating door. She was back quickly. ‘After lunch,’ she said. ‘He and Fatty are just sitting down; they’ll come through when they’ve finished. He’s as excited as me. I’ve promised him we won’t discuss it until they get here, so we’ll have to talk about other things. Tell me about your Saturday night out. Was it fun?’
It was a glorious afternoon, hot and sunny with a nice refreshing breeze. Because of the latter they didn’t sit outside, where the papers would get blown about, but around the table in the conservatory. Both dogs were there too, spark out on the tiled floor for its cooling effect.
Jenna laid out her papers. ‘I’ve been thinking about this ever since I first got here, and Kitty told me she might have to leave, but I’ve had a lot of help from the family, suggesting things and answering questions, so this is a bit of a joint Freemont effort.’ She smiled around them. ‘I didn’t want you to think I was this much of a genius.’
‘I promise I won’t think that,’ Bill said solemnly. ‘Let’s go.’
‘All right. I’ll start with a couple of ideas which I don’t think are immediately viable, but which might be worth revisiting further along the road. The furthest out came from my friend Izzy, which was to turn Holtby House into a country house hotel.’
Bill rolled his eyes.
‘Yes, I know,’ Jenna went on. ‘The house is ideal in many ways, but it would take big investment and involve a lot of staff and organization; and, most importantly, it would mean it wasn’t Kitty’s home any more.’
‘That’s what I was thinking,’ Bill said. ‘Might as well sell the place as do that.’
‘I agree,’ said Kitty.
‘Fine. I wasn’t really proposing it as a serious suggestion, but we might as well have everything on the table. Secondly, weddings. Now that could make a lot of money. People these days are spending twenty to thirty thousand on a wedding, even quite ordinary people – and you can multiply that by ten or twenty for celebrities. The thing they’re all looking for – and are willing to spend a lot of money on – is a romantic venue, and country houses are top of the list, thanks to all those films like Pride and Prejudice. Holtby is perfect: pretty but grand enough, set in lovely grounds, and with good accessibility – not too far off the motorway, and there’s a good railway connection from Belminster.’
‘But wouldn’t it involve an awful lot of work?’ Kitty asked.
‘Most of it would be done by the wedding planner. They’d arrange the caterers and transport and flowers and all that sort of thing, and see everyone was in the right place at the right time. You’d have to make sure the rooms were ready, and you might have to make bedrooms available, for the bridal party to get changed in. Plus there’s the question of getting the kitchen passed by the Health and Safety people – the caterers would want to use it for final preparation.’
‘It’s quite a new kitchen,’ Kitty said.
‘Yes, and it’s well fitted. I don’t think there would be much to do to get it certified,’ Jenna said. ‘But it has to be considered. Also to take into account: people at weddings don’t always behave very well. You’d have to put away anything valuable or fragile, and expect a certain amount of damage – drinks spilled on the carpets and marks on the walls and so on. You’d have to get a drinks licence – which is not difficult, but it’s something to consider. And, of course, you’d have to get registered to hold the ceremony, which again shouldn’t be a problem, but will take time.’ She looked round at them. ‘I think that is one definitely to consider further down the road, because apart from generating good money, it also generates publicity, gets the house more widely known about, which fits in to the other ideas I’ve come up with.’ She waited for comments.
‘I like very much weddings,’ Fatty said. ‘Pretty bride, pretty bridesmaids. Many flowers.’
‘Drunken couples copulating in the shrubbery,’ Bill added. ‘Drunken women in tight satin dresses vomiting in the flower beds.’
Kitty looked alarmed. ‘Oh, surely not?’
‘The thing would be to charge enough to make it exclusive,’ Jenna said. ‘A high price keeps off bad company. But if you charge a high price you have to offer the facilities. That might mean letting them stay overnight, and while Lady Mary’s room would be a wow as the nuptial chamber, you’d have to get the other bedrooms up to scratch, which means investment.’
‘Let’s put that aside for the moment,’ Kitty said, looking a little daunted. ‘I don’t think I’m up to organization on that scale.’
Jenna smiled. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more ideas yet. Number three is the one I’ve already mentioned to you – registering the property as a location for film and TV, which also includes advertising, fashion and magazine shoots. I have some contacts in that world that could be useful. The beauty of this idea is that you don’t have to do anything. They move everything they want moved and put it back afterwards. They even bring their own catering van.’
‘There must be some downsides,’ Bill said cautiously.
‘Well, they might cut up the grass a bit, but they’re supposed to leave everything as they found it, so theoretically they ought to put the turf right if they do.’
‘Other downsides?’
‘There’s a lot of competition. But the same things that make Holtby suitable for weddings will count for it for film location: good access, fine grounds – and it has a very pretty exterior. It seems to me there isn’t much to say against this idea. I’ve got the details of an agency that registers properties for this sort of thing, and it’s just a matter of contacting them and getting them to come and inspect.’
Kitty said, ‘I can’t see any reason not to go that far, anyway. If they like it, and if they confirm what you’ve said about putting everything back – well, it seems to me like money for nothing, and any income for the house will help hold it together.’
‘So I’ll put a tick against that one, shall I?’
‘I like very much movies, also,’ Fatty said. ‘Will film stars come here, in costumes? Horse and carriages?’
‘That’s the idea,’ Jenna said.
‘Colin Firth and Huge Grant,’ she said firmly, as though she were putting in an order for them.
‘Especially Huge Grant,’ Jenna said solemnly.
‘I thought I was your hero,’ Bill said to his wife in wounded tones.
She lowered her eyelashes. ‘A woman must have dreams also,’ she said mysteriously.
‘Moving on,’ Jenna said, ‘we come to my sister Harriet’s idea, opening the garden to the public. With the walled gardens, the woodland walk, and particularly Centurion’s Grave, I think there’s enough there to make it attractive, and a lot of tourists holiday in this part of the world specifically to look at gardens, so if you can get on the route, people will come. There’d be a bit of work involved in preparation, but nothing we couldn’t do ourselves, and a bit of investment – a load of bark to reinforce the woodland path, ditto gravel in the walled gardens, some signposts to mark out the route – nothing major.’
‘We used to open the garden when the village had the annual fête,’ Kitty said. ‘I mentioned that to you, didn’t I? I think that might be quite a viable idea.’
‘I suppose I must do my usual growl,’ Bill said, ‘and ask: downsides?’
‘Well, mainly that you are in hock to the weather. If it’s cold and wet, people won’t come, and we’ve had a couple of pretty dismal
summers recently. And I don’t think you could charge a huge amount for entrance to the garden alone, so you wouldn’t make a lot of money. However,’ she went on, ‘taken in conjunction with idea number five—’
‘What an orderly mind you have!’ said Kitty. ‘I’d already lost count.’
‘Only when it comes to work. You should see inside my drawers. Anyway, idea number five is opening the house to the public.’
Kitty looked anxious. ‘Oh dear, I should so hate having people running all over the house all the time.’
‘Don’t worry, it wouldn’t be the whole house. I’ve looked into other properties, and I think it would work with just four rooms, plus the hall. You couldn’t have people roaming about all over the place anyway – you have to control them.’
‘You do?’ Kitty said, looking alarmed.
‘Most people who visit houses like this are nice people, but you have to take precautions against the odd rogue. They have to stick to a route. Your having the two staircases is a real plus: it makes a proper circuit, and you don’t have to have people coming up and going down the same staircase at the same time.’
‘Yes, I see that. And which four rooms were you thinking of?’ Kitty asked.
‘I’ll come to that in a moment, if I may. I’d just like to go through the financial side first, because if it’s not going to work for you that way, there’s no point in doing it.’
‘Good point,’ said Bill. ‘Fire away.’
‘OK. Looking at other properties, it seems to me you could start off by charging seven fifty for a combined ticket for the house and garden. You have to pitch it right and not put people off until you get established, and that feels about right to me. And you could charge two fifty for the garden alone. On a nice day there’ll always be some people who fancy a stroll in pleasant grounds, and they’ll pay a small amount for the privilege, so you might as well take it from them.’ She looked at her notes. ‘I would recommend opening only on Saturdays and Sundays to begin with. Realistically, that’s when most people would come anyway. Though if it worked, you always could look at opening for more days during the six weeks of school holiday – mid July to the end of August. But for now, opening Saturday and Sunday from ten until four would catch the main flow of visitors and still give you all the rest of the week to yourself. And on the experience of other houses, you could get a hundred people a day through the doors.’
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