Page 83 of The Cottage at Brambleton Hall

Sammy lifted a plate, checked for any missed marks, ran the cloth across it once more, rinsed it and set the plate down with the other clean ones.

Valerie didn’t return, but Magnus did. He didn’t speak, just watched.

‘Well done, Miss Jenkins,’ he said at last.

She suspected that, coming from Magnus, those words were the equivalent of a standing ovation. ‘Thank you.’

Magnus turned on his heel. The sound of his shoes receded down the corridor, the murmur of the Chinese room swelled as the door opened and quieted as it closed again.

Sammy held her hands still in the hot water. His words echoing through her: well done.

It didn’t take long for the pantry door to grate against the floor for a fourth time. Nate leaned against the frame, watching her. ‘That was . . . You were good.’

Sammy shook the suds off her hands. ‘Good?’

‘Better than that,’ he said.

She dried her hands on a towel. ‘Thank you.’

Nate edged towards the sink, close enough that she had to shift her elbow to make room. He reached past her for a tea towel.

‘You didn’t panic,’ he said. ‘Even when it went wrong.’

‘It didn’t go that wrong,’ she said.

‘It could have. That Valerie’s a piece of work, isn’t she.’

Sammy folded the towel with exaggerated care, ‘She doesn’t like me.’

‘It’s worse than that.’

‘She wants my job, doesn’t she?’

‘And she wants Magnus.’

‘Nooo!’ Why hadn’t she spotted that? Enjoying the light-hearted banter she pointed at his bow tie. ‘Where did you learn how to do that?’

Nate stroked his chin. ‘Before here,’ he said.

‘And the silver service?’

‘Ditto.’

Behind them, voices drifted down the corridor. Nate stayed where he was. ‘You should come out,’ he said. ‘They’re asking for you.’

‘In a minute,’ she said.

He didn’t move. ‘Take the minute.’

Their eyes met.

For once she didn’t feel like the trainee housekeeper – just Sammy.

Twenty-one

Sammy’s front door stuck as it always did; she leaned her shoulder into it and felt the give, that small, familiar release. The latch clicked behind her with a sound that belonged to this cottage and nowhere else.

She loved that sound. It sounded like coming home.