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“The attics are full of bedrooms. Grandfather loved to fill the house with visitors. Hmm, the shutters should not be opened like that. Someone has been up here recently, and not the housemaids to judge by the dust.”
“That’s odd,” Julia said, pointing to a lacquered vase on the washstand. “There is one just like that in the library. I wonder why this is here, when there are no other ornaments.”
She wandered across to the window, gazing out across the drive and the lake. “I can see the High Field gate… oh, and is that the chimney of your little cottage, just peeping above the trees there?”
He came up behind her, looking over her shoulder. “I believe it is, yes.”
“Was it a gamekeeper’s cottage originally?”
“No, the gamekeeper has a place on Manor land, and always has done. The hut was built as an office, if you like, while the Park was being built. All the wood and marble and bricks were stacked up around it, and the architect worked from there, and even slept there, very often. Afterwards, it was taken over by Uncle Cecil, Father’s elder brother.”
“Did he use it as a hunting base, like you?”
James laughed. “In a way, although his quarry was a little different.”
“Ladies, then.”
“Opinions differ as to whether they would qualify for that epithet. Females of a certain type, shall we say.”
“But you don’t do that.” It was not posed as a question, for she was fairly confident of the answer, but she waited with some nervousness for the answer.
He answered without hesitation. “I don’t do that. I may not be a very good clergyman, but I have always tried my level best to follow Christian principles.”
She was surprised at the burst of relief she felt. Assuredly she would like him less well if he were a libertine.
He was still directly behind her, not touching her, but so close she could feel his breath on her neck when he spoke, little puffs of warmth that somehow made her shiver. His voice was low and soft, and she knew what he was going to do an instant before it happened.
His arms slid gently round her waist, and his lips feathered against her neck. It was the lightest of kisses, but she felt the effects of it reverberating through her whole body. This would never do!
“This is most improper, Mr Plummer.”
“I know.” And he kissed her again, more firmly.
She moved out of his arms, and he released her instantly. When she turned to face him, he was smiling. Oh, he shouldn’t smile like that! Not that amused little smile, his eyes crinkling up in that way that made her instantly want to smile back. It was unfair, that he should be so charming, so agreeable.
When she and Allie and Rosie, and later Angie too, had curled up in bed together on cold winter nights like kittens in the nest, they had talked sometimes about the perfect man. Not necessarily to marry, because that had seemed like a far off possibility in those innocent days, but the sort of man they would like to fall in love with them. Handsome, naturally, and tall, with fair hair and an aristocratic mien like a Greek god. Wildly rich, rich enough to shower them with jewels.
James was nothing like that, and yet…
She knew she should move away from him, but somehow the gentle smile and those eyes with the little creases round them held her in thrall. No, not move away, she should run away as fast as her legs would carry her, or else—
His arms slid round her waist again and he kissed her full on the mouth, and she melted into his embrace as if… as if…
At that precise point, her brain gave up the unequal struggle and forgot its purpose. Without a thought in her head, she was all warmth, all feeling, all tingling delight, right down to her toes. She could feel wisps of his hair curling against her cheek, his hands firm on her back, restlessly stroking her, she could hear her own heart racing inside her, a wild, insistent drumming. It was… it was…
It was altogether too much.
Breathlessly, she made the smallest movement and again he released her instantly.
“Julia…” He made it sound like a caress.
Her head was spinning, but she must make an effort to recover her composure. He mustn’t think he’d won her over. “You’re not going to get silly and start talking about marriage again, are you?”
He only laughed at her. Nothing dentedhiscomposure. “Not if you dislike it,” he said. If anything, the smile widened a fraction. “But one day you will realise how perfectly we are suited.”
“No, Iwon’t!”
“You will, Julia, I promise you, and then you will be happy for me to be silly and talk about marriage.”
