The distress and confusion on Igraine’s face as she watched her brother walk away from their whispered exchange sliced at him, and he crossed to her side. ‘What’s going on?’ He kept his voice low, angling his body to block out the rest of the room.
‘I don’t know. I feel like I’ve woken up in the middle of a nightmare.’ Her eyes closed for a second, before snapping open, a fire of determination burning in the gold-flecked hazel. ‘Will you keep my mother occupied during dinner?’
He’d rather pet a viper, but understanding she was asking for his help, Will agreed at once. ‘Of course, we’ll talk later, yeah?’
She nodded, opened her mouth to speak then hesitated.
‘What is it?’
‘Don’t let on to her about us, okay? She has a nasty habit of spoiling things and I don’t want what’s between us to be any more grist to her mill.’ Popping on tiptoe, she pressed a quick kiss to his lips. ‘She’s trouble, Will, be on your guard at all times.’
Not liking this latest development at all, he hurried from the room to find almost everyone else had disappeared leaving Helena alone in the great hall. Lengthening his stride, he caught up to where she stood with one hand resting on the enormous round table, a look of sadness on her face. She looked so sad and forlorn he felt sorry for her until he remembered Igraine’s warning. Turning on the empty smile he’d honed from years of practice, he held out his arm to her. ‘Would you do me the honour?’
‘How kind.’ Her face brightened at once with a smile as fake as his own as her fingers closed over his forearm. ‘I had no idea I’d be meeting a celebrity when I arrived today to surprise Arthur and Lucie.’ Her lashes fluttered, her smile turning coy. ‘You must tell me everything about why you’re here.’ Oh, Igraine hadn’t been kidding, this one could switch it on and off like a lightbulb.
Will escorted her into the dining room, giving her a brief outline of the ongoing renovation works for the grounds and gardens, but making no mention of the fact it was Igraine who’d first got in touch with him. ‘It’s a pleasure and a privilege for me to be able to work somewhere with so much history.’
Noting that Tristan had already taken the seat beside Constance and Morgana the one opposite him besides Lucie, he decided he’d better act as a buffer and pulled out a chair for Helena one further down from Morgana then settled on the seat between them.
Igraine slid into the seat opposite him beside her brother and he gave her a quick reassuring smile. ‘I was just telling your mother about the works in the gardens.’
Picking up his cue, Igraine joined in their conversation and between them they managed to keep the topic going through most of the meal, leaving Helena little chance to switch the topic of conversation until after the plates had been cleared away. ‘Have you chosen a date for the wedding?’ she asked Arthur, who’d been leaning close to Constance and talking to her quietly.
‘What? Oh, I think we’ve settled on the middle Saturday in August.’
He turned to Lucie for confirmation, and she nodded. ‘That’s right. The gardens will be ready, and we should have most of the exhibition stuff sorted out by then. I spoke to the team at Witherby’s and they’ve agreed with me that we should push back the opening until the beginning of October. It will give us a couple of extra months to secure the last of the Viggliorento paintings we need to complete the exhibition.’
‘Exhibition?’ Helena all but leaned across Will, and he pushed his seat back a few inches to avoid her brushing against him.
Lucie’s eyes darted to Arthur, a quick flush marring her cheeks. Will watched him take Lucie’s hand and give it a squeeze before he answered his mother. ‘Thanks to Lucie’s detective work, we discovered a quite valuable painting hidden in the castle. It’s currently being restored and once that’s completed, we’re mounting an exhibition of several works by the artist, with our picture as the centrepiece. We’re then going to auction it off at the end of the year and put the funds towards the upkeep of the castle.’
‘Well, that makes things a little clearer,’ Helena said, settling back into her seat once more. ‘I was beginning to wonder where all the cash was coming from to pay for all these grand plans for the grounds. And I’m sure a celebrity like Will doesn’t come cheap.’
‘Mother,’ Igraine hissed across the table, as Will sensed Morgana stiffen on his left, though she made no move to turn in Helena’s direction as she had throughout the meal.
Apparently undaunted, Helena gave an aggrieved sniff. ‘Well, you can’t blame me for wondering when your brother was pleading poverty not six months ago.’ She let out a brittle laugh that went straight to Will’s nerves like nails on a blackboard. ‘I assumed Arthur must be marrying for money when I saw the announcement.’
At Lucie’s shocked gasp, Helena leaned forward once more, that horribly fake smile on her face. ‘But as soon as I met you, I knew that wasn’t the case.’ She paused a beat too long before adding. ‘He’s obviously in love with you, my dear.’
Will met Igraine’s eyes across the table, and knew he wasn’t the only one who’d caught the sly dig in her mother’s words. Like him, Lucie had been raised on a council estate in London, although unlike him, she’d also spent some time at a private school and carried no trace of a city accent.
‘I don’t think I’ll bother with dessert,’ Constance said, her voice stiff with what Will suspected was outrage. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’
‘I’ll come with you, Connie.’ Morgana made a move to stand, and Will hopped up to pull her chair back. She gave him a nod. ‘Thank you, Will.’
‘My pleasure.’
He was about to resume his seat when Igraine stood up. ‘Come on, Mother, you’re looking a bit tired after a long day of travel.’ There was a razor edge to the smile she gave Helena, and Will glanced away before he started laughing at the absolute affront on the older woman’s face. Circling the table, Igraine placed a hand on her mother’s chair, giving her no option but to stand up. ‘I’m sure you’ll just want to relax for the rest of the evening. I’ll arrange for some tea to be sent up to your room.’ With a hand on Helena’s lower back, she all but propelled her out of the room.
The rest of the group dispersed; Arthur and Lucie to take the dogs out for a walk as was their usual after dinner routine, Tristan to go and check on Lancelot who’d apparently moved out of the main castle and into the stables in protest at Helena’s arrival. Left alone in the dining room, Will took a minute to rotate his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension in his spine. If the triplets’ mother was planning a prolonged stay at the castle, it was going to be a very long summer.
*
The knock on his bedroom door came a couple of hours later. Although he’d changed for bed into a T-shirt and a baggy pair of sleep shorts, it was still too hot to be comfortable, so Will was sitting in the armchair as close to the open window as possible, enjoying the light breeze floating in. ‘Come in.’
Igraine poked her head around the door, her dark hair caught up in a long plait which trailed over her shoulder. ‘I’m not disturbing you, am I?’
Putting down the risk assessment the groundworkers had sent through for the next stage of their works, Will patted his lap. ‘Come here.’
With a sigh, she closed the door behind her then crossed the room to curl up against his chest. ‘What a bloody day.’
He loved the way she melted into him, could feel her relaxing by inches as he pushed his hand under the base of her plaited hair to stroke her nape, his other curling under her knees to tuck her a bit closer. ‘Are you all right?’ It was a stupid question, because she clearly wasn’t, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.
‘I just wish I knew why she decided to show up now, it’s all so out of the blue.’
Will pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘Didn’t she say something about seeing the wedding announcement? It’s only natural she’d want to be involved in that, I guess.’
Igraine stiffened against him. ‘She’s never shown an
y bloody interest in what any of us do before now, I don’t see why a wedding should be any different.’ Her tension drained out on another sigh. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be snappy, it’s just not like her to turn up like this.’
She had a point, he supposed. If it was him getting married, would his mum suddenly drop everything to show up unannounced? He hardly thought so. ‘When was the last time you saw her?’
‘She hasn’t been home since she first left when we were little. The few times we saw her, she picked us up from school for a day out. She lived abroad for about six years with her third husband.’
‘Third?’ Will laughed. ‘How many has she had?’
Igraine shifted on his lap so she could tilt her head back against his shoulder and look up at him. He was pleased to see she looked a bit cheerier than when she’d first come in. ‘She’s up to four, so far. The latest one does something very important for one of the big banks. As to your original question, I haven’t seen her since I graduated from university, and she only dropped in that day because she was visiting some friends who lived in Gloucestershire at the time. I haven’t really thought about it until now, but it’s been over five years.’
‘You didn’t miss her then?’ He’d got used to his mum not being about, but he couldn’t assume it was the same for Igraine.
‘Hardly! You’ve seen how much havoc she’s created in just a few hours. I was more than happy when she married Beaumont Jones the third-he’s an American, in case you hadn’t guessed by the name-because it meant they were always off travelling because of his work. It became easier for her to stop any more half-hearted attempts at keeping in contact, which was a relief as far as Tristan and I were concerned, though it’s always been harder on Arthur.’
Ah. Things were starting to fall into place. If Arthur was the one closest to her, it was only natural he’d want her to stick around if she was showing an interest in his wedding. ‘How long is she intending to stay?’
Igraine shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. She said Beaumont is on an extended business trip, so I’m worried it’ll be for the whole summer.’ Letting out a groan, she buried her face into his neck. ‘God, I hope not.’
He hoped not as well. ‘Can I ask why you don’t want her to know about us?’
Raising her face, she gave him a challenging look. ‘If you’re thinking it’s because I’m ashamed of you in anyway, you can put that idea right out of your head! I adore you. Being with you makes me feel so good.’ He accepted the kiss she offered, liking the idea of this beautiful woman adoring him more than was probably sensible.
‘But?’
She nestled back into his chest, one hand stroking over the thin cotton of his T-shirt. ‘You saw the way she sharpened her claws on poor Lucie-well, she’s been doing that to me for as many years as I can remember. She can spot a weak spot a mile off, and will exploit it mercilessly.’ Her hand pressed over his heart. ‘You’re a very big weak spot, and I don’t want to give her the chance to spoil things between us.’
Holding her close, Will shuffled his bottom along the seat of the armchair to create a bit more space for her to lean against him. ‘Don’t fret, sweetheart. I won’t let her do that.’
‘Promise,’ she whispered against his skin.
‘I promise. Whatever you need me to do, you only have to ask. Even if that means keeping a low profile.’
She fell silent for a long moment, then raised her face to stare up at him. ‘Will you hold me?’
‘I thought that’s what I was doing?’ he teased, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose.
‘You’re such a funny guy.’ Shifting position, she pressed her hips down into the hardness of his lap and all humour between them melted into a deep, throbbing need. She stretched her neck up to capture his lips with her own. ‘I want.’ She kissed him again. ‘You to take me to bed.’ Another, deeper kiss. ‘And make love to me.’
‘Igraine.’ He lost himself in the sweet heat of her mouth, in the promise of those words and all the myriad things he would do to her in the long, slow hours of the night. He tried to pull her closer, but soon grew frustrated with the awkward angle of their bodies and eventually grasped her hips and urged her to stand.
He didn’t drag her to the bed, well not quite, but she didn’t seem to mind his hurry as he tumbled her back across the crisp, dark sheets. Bracing himself with his hands on either side of her head, he wriggled his hips against hers until she widened them to let him settle exactly where he wanted to be. The heat of her scorched through the thin layers of their clothing, his mind racing as he tried to decide which of the many delicious things, he wanted to do to her first.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, when he didn’t immediately move.
‘Nothing, just savouring the moment now I’ve finally got you beneath me.’
‘Mmm.’ Her little hum of pleasure shot sparks of pleasure through him. Hooking a foot over his hip, she locked their lower bodies together. ‘I’ve been thinking about us being together like this ever since you waylaid me on my way to tea this afternoon.’
Her hands slid up his back beneath his T-shirt her short nails teasing against his skin. ‘Now what was it you promised me earlier? That being with you would be so good I’d forget any other man.’ A sly smile teased around her mouth. ‘Perhaps you’re the one having second thoughts. Worried you won’t live up to those big words, are you?’
The challenge in her eyes tipped him over the edge, and soon there was no more room for words, no more doubts about whether they were ready to take this next step, only the need driving him on, and hers rising to meet and match it. Only the secret whispers of lovers meeting in the dark.
* * *
The next couple of weeks passed in a blur of back-breaking days working on the water garden and sweet, sultry nights with Igraine in his arms. Everyone was so busy, the lack of public contact between the two of them had gone unnoticed-or at least uncommented upon. Helena had taken herself off to Ascot for a few days, giving them all a brief respite from the tension her presence at the castle was causing, but she’d arrived back again the previous evening, arms laden with wedding magazines.
Lancelot was still living above the stables, and his continued absence from the dinner table was a constant point of unspoken stress. The continued hot weather wasn’t helping, either, and there’d been a few frayed tempers, especially from Arthur. The poor guy looked miserable as sin, and it was clear to Will he felt torn between the women in his life. The only one who seemed oblivious to it all was Helena. She was either a consummate actress, Will had decided, or she had a hide thicker than a rhino and zero self-awareness. Probably a combination of all three.
Some nights Will and Igraine found themselves too exhausted to do anything but sleep, but that didn’t matter because waking in the morning to find her curled up next to him was a simple joy in itself. Glancing down at her now in the early dawn light, Will couldn’t resist running a finger across the shadowed line of her cheekbone. Grumbling in her sleep, Igraine raised a hand to swat him away before rolling onto her other side and wriggling back until her bottom slotted neatly against the curve of his hips.
Curling his arm round her waist, Will settled down against her back, content to hold her until the alarm went off in another hour or so. She wasn’t a morning person, as he’d learnt to his cost when he’d attempted to wake her early the previous week with a kiss and earned a mouthful of choice words. No, he schooled himself to patience, best to leave her to sleep and let the alarm catch the brunt of her early morning grumpiness.
The next thing he knew, the phone on his bedside cabinet was beeping and Igraine was elbowing him in the stomach. ‘Turn it off,’ she muttered, dragging her pillow over her head.
Rolling over, he swiped off the alarm then rolled back to tug her pillow away. ‘Come on, sleepyhead, you’ve got a busy day ahead of you.’ She was going dress shopping with Lucie and Constance-and now she’d returned, Helena had decided to tag along with them.
‘
Go away and let me sleep.’ She made a grab for her pillow, hair tumbling all over her face in tangled waves, but he reached it first, tossing it off the bed with a laugh.
‘You told me I had to make sure you got up on time.’
‘Well, I changed my mind,’ she said, stealing his pillow and curling up with it. His phone started to beep again, and she let out a groan. ‘You’re determined to torture me, aren’t you?’
‘That’s not my alarm.’ He reached for the phone. Who the hell was texting him at that time of the morning? It beeped again just as his hand was closing around it. And again, before he had chance to tap in his unlock code.
The first message was from Anna, his assistant. Have you seen the papers yet?
‘Bloody hell, now what?’ There’d been a sporadic flurry of more of those stupid Where’s Willy articles, with claims of sightings from all sorts of unlikely places, including a couple of blurry photos of some poor rando on the beach in Ibiza. They’d soon lost interest, though, and Will had begun to believe he’d heard the last of it. Melody was stepping out with that singer whose party he’d forgotten about and looked for all the world to be as in love with him as she’d appeared to be with Will. There was an Oscar in that woman’s future, for sure. It had taken the heat off him, so he wished her nothing but well.
Igraine propped herself up on her elbows. ‘What is it?’
‘Dunno,’ he said, tilting the phone to show her the message from Anna. ‘Some rubbish in the press again by the looks of it.’
‘Don’t they ever get bored of it?’ she sighed, flopping back against the pillow.
His phone beeped again. ‘Apparently not.’ The next message was from his agent, asking him to call urgently and not to make any statements until they’d spoken. His gut started to churn, and he ignored the rest of his messages to open his web browser and type in the address for the most notorious of the red-tops.
The Bluebell Castle Collection Page 42