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‘But… Oh, okay.’
Heaving a sigh, Millie slotted her arms into the coat, huddling into its folds to seek out every scrap of warmth. She completed the sartorial car crash by yanking on the knitted hat and gloves and was surprised when an image of Zach’s elegantly attired ex-girlfriend floated into her thoughts. She had met Chloe in St Lucia when she’d turned up unannounced to persuade Zach to rekindle their relationship, but her plan hadn’t produced the result she had been hoping for and, much to Millie’s relief, she’d spent the rest of her stay in Rodney Bay in the north of the island with her sister.
‘Welcome to the Cotswolds, Amelia Harper. It’s great to see you again,’ Zach whispered, leaning forward to tuck Millie’s hair into the collar, gifting her with a wide grin and another delicious dash of his lemony aftershave, the soft warmth of his breath on her cheeks sending sparkles of pleasure through her frozen veins. ‘Come on.’
Zach spun on his heels and disappeared around the back of the lodge, dragging her suitcase behind him. She followed at a safe distance, her shoulders hunched, spirals of breath pirouetting through the freezing air in front of her, aware that her lower lip was protruding like a recalcitrant teenager.
The day was well into its final act and long fissures of indigo and scarlet rippled over the horizon. She glanced up at the clouds, the colour of an angry bruise, paused briefly in their eternal cycle while they geared up for a repeat dumping of their frozen contents. Every step she took required a tremendous effort and she estimated that at the rate she was progressing, it would take an hour to get to the manor and that was without factoring in having to haul her suitcase through the snow. A blast of icy rain slapped her face, and, if she hadn’t been so completely fed up, she would have laughed. Boy, was it cold!
But where had Zach disappeared to?
A sharp blast of throttle from behind the lodge sent shockwaves through her chest, and as she rounded the corner she was faced with a terrible sight. There was Zach, enveloped in a cloud of exhaust fumes, revving the engine of a canary yellow snowmobile and proffering a matching helmet.
‘Hurry up. Jump on.’
Her inability to move her extremities had nothing to do with ice clogging up her veins. A swirl of horror tightened the muscles in her stomach as realisation dawned and she gawped at Zach like a traumatised goldfish. Strapped to the back of the machine more regularly used by adrenaline junkies was her wheelie suitcase and the comprehension was complete.
‘No way am I getting on the back of that!’
‘You don’t have any choice if you want to get to Stonelea Manor today. Now stop whinging and hop on. Grab my waist and hold on tight. We’ve only got about five minutes of daylight left and I don’t want to risk driving this thing in the dark.’
Zach reversed the angry insect and pulled up beside Millie. She swallowed down on the maelstrom of emotions churning through her body, hoisted up the mammoth coat, and threw her leg over the seat. But Zach pulled away much quicker than she had anticipated, and she tumbled backward from the seat, landing in a conveniently soft pile of snow, legs akimbo. Zach had the audacity to laugh and she scowled at him as she pushed herself upright and dusted down her glamourous wax coat, trying to remember the last time she had felt as wet and miserable as she did at that precise moment, dressed like a gamekeeper’s moll and frozen to her core.
‘Ah, Millie, I’ve missed you so much,’ Zach chuckled as he shook his head with amusement. ‘Life definitely has less sparkle without you in it! This time, grab hold tight!’
Millie jumped back onto the throbbing machine and snaked her arms around Zach’s waist, leaning her cheek against his back to protect her face from the persistent onslaught of hailstones as they made their way, bucking and bouncing like an arctic kangaroo, to the front steps of the manor. The wind had picked up its velocity to ferocious, whipping up a helix of snow only to dump its frozen treasure on to the road ahead.
Just as Millie’s ears began to scream with a searing pain, and she thought she couldn’t cling on to Zach a minute longer, he swung to the left and cut the engine. In her eagerness to escape from her undignified transport, Millie kicked her leg high, missed her footing and tumbled to the ground for a second time.
If she didn’t know better, she would have suspected Zach had orchestrated the whole scenario. As it was, it was probably the most undignified arrival Stonelea Manor had ever witnessed in its two-hundred-year history, and she sent up a prayer to her personal director of fate that Claudia wasn’t watching the impromptu farce from one of the upstairs windows.
Chapter Three
‘Millie, darling, it’s so good to meet you in person at last! Oh, you poor thing, you look frozen! Come in! Come in! I’ve made some hot chocolate and a fresh batch of chilli-chocolate brownies which should warm you up in no time. Isn’t the weather just dreadful?’ declared Claudia as she greeted Millie on the threshold of Stonelea Manor with a smile radiating welcome and warmth before enveloping her in a Chanel No 5-infused hug. ‘Can I tempt you to join us, Zach?’
‘No, thanks, Claudia. I’m sure you and Millie have a lot to catch up on, but I’ll see you tomorrow night at the Berryford tree-lighting ceremony.’
‘Okay, but would you mind popping your head round the door of Tim’s workshop before you go back to the lodge? He mentioned something about a sprocket, or a socket, or it could have been a rocket! And whilst you’re there, maybe you could introduce my husband to a dose of your superb organisational skills? That place is starting to look like a cemetery for rust-blistered tools. In fact, things have got so bad recently I’m worried about him injuring himself! And what if one of our more inquisitive cookery school visitors were to inadvertently stray from a stroll in the gardens and meet a grizzly end in the jaws of one of those so-called life-enhancing mechanical contraptions he’s invented? I really wish he would stick to designing houses instead of dreaming of being the next Thomas Edison.’
Claudia rolled her eyes in frustration, but Millie could see the genuine affection in her expression. She also filed away the very welcome knowledge that Tim Croft was a fellow enthusiast when it came to clutter – she suspected they were going to get along just fine.
‘Will do,’ Zach smiled, tightening his scarf as he prepared to brave the elements once more. ‘Catch you both later.’
‘Bye, Zach. Thanks for the lift.’
‘No problem.’
‘Why don’t you leave your suitcase at the bottom of the stairs and come through to the kitchen, Millie?’
Millie followed Claudia into the oak-panelled hallway, smiling at the clickety-clack of her host’s heels on the polished parquet flooring. The whole room looked like a 1920s murder mystery film set, complete with a magnificent grandfather clock standing to attention like a soldier on parade. Straight ahead of her stood the most magnificent mahogany staircase, its banister just crying out for a session of unrestrained sliding when no one was watching.
A surprisingly modest fir tree, dressed in twinkling fairy lights and a tasteful selection of red and gold baubles and almost concealed from view by a painted Chinese screen, was the only nod to the fact that it was the Christmas season. Where were the holly wreaths, the pine-cone-and-mistletoe garlands, the tinsel draped over the picture frames? It was another mystery to add to her lengthening list.
‘Wow, this entrance hall is amazing!’
‘Wait until you see where we’ll be delivering theFestive Feastcourse on Monday! Come on.’
A whoosh of heat whipped into Millie’s cheeks as she realised she was still wearing the voluminous wax jacket Zach had insisted she put on. Whilst Claudia’s back was turned, she quickly shrugged it off and stuffed the offensive-smelling garment underneath an antique console table, causing a Clarice Clift vase to wobble precariously. All thought of the strange absence of festive decorations vanished from her mind as a pirouette of excitement began to wind through her chest, culminating in a blast of unadulterated pleasure when Claudia pushed open an oak-panelled door to reveal the house’s engine room in all its splendour.
