AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kethnick brought a towel and draped it around her shoulders. And he and Adam took her to the cottage where Rose came and chided and made her take a hot bath and drink hot chocolate, even though the summer sun beat warmly down outside.
But all Pea could see was those eyes on her, those strong, stern lips. And she still shivered.
Chapter eight
Leo
“Itwouldbemadness,wouldn’t it?” said Leo’s aunt, pen tapping on the notepad by her plate. “To have the dinner outdoors, in one of the courtyards?”
Leo looked up from the document he was reading. He tried not to bring work to the breakfast table, but he had gotten behind in the last few days, picnics and near-drownings not being in his schedule.
“Complete madness,” he agreed, putting the document down. He nearly started tapping his fork the way Aunt Rose was tapping her pen but fought the urge. Pea had left moments before to go into the nearest village for some art supplies and to look at a possible exhibition venue. He hadn’t spoken to her properly since the incident at the lake yesterday and he felt…off-balance somehow, as though something important had been left unsaid. “This is the Lake District. It’s bound to rain.”
“I know. You’re right. It’s just so hot at the moment. It’s nearly September and the heat is unbearable.”
“We’ll have all the doors to the terrace open. This heat is bound to break soon.”
“A thunderstorm. That’s what we need. I love a good thunderstorm.”
Pea did too, Leo knew. She loved all sorts of weather. She had once dashed out of a Christmas dinner at Lansbury Hall to run through a hailstorm. She had returned dripping and gasping, cheeks pink, eyes so alive that one glance lit a torch inside his soul.
Typical Pea.
“I heard you lifted the ban on swimming in the lake,” his aunt commented, her voice making him realise he had lapsed into silence.
“Hm. And I’ll probably regret it.”
“Pea told me all about swimming in Africa. She’ll love being able to use the lake. She’ll be fine, Leo. I’m sure of it.”
But he kept seeing her disappear under the water. He kept seeing her not come up.
“I think it’s courageous of you,” said his aunt. “To not let fear win.”
Leo said nothing and went back to his work, unconvinced.
Pea
Pea surveyed her students happily. There were three of them in a casual line, each standing before an easel under the spreading shade of one the venerable oaks that dotted the grassy slope down to the lake.
The lake was their subject, and the trees and the hills behind it, the wide blue sky above with its ghostly swirls of white.
She paused by Adam. The big man looked faintly embarrassed to be holding such a little paintbrush in his big work-worn hand. White-washing the stable block was probably more his style. But he was painting the lake in a surprisingly expressive manner, using bold purples and pinks for the hills beyond.
He flushed slightly when he found Pea by his shoulder. “I’m fairly sure my two-year-old nephew could do better.”
“Look at the colours you’ve discovered there in the heathers and bracken and sun-worn grasses. It’s beautiful, Adam.”
He went almost as pink as his paints and Pea suppressed a smile, leaving him in peace and moving on to Kethnick, who was next in the line.
The old man was holding his paintbrush like a pencil, attempting to make an exact likeness of the scene before him. “I believe this is why photography was invented, Lady Ashley,” he said mournfully as she studied his work.
“It’s far harder to capture a feeling with a photograph, dear Kethnick.”
“I’m afraid the only thing I’m feeling is that I have a list of jobs to do as long as my arm, and it’s only getting longer while I’m standing here.”
Lady Rose, who was next to Kethnick, tutted in remonstrance. “Come now, Kethnick. It’s good to see you out and about in the sun. You spend far too much time in the house and not enough time enjoying the grounds.”
“Enjoying the grounds is not in my job description, my lady.”
