Read Online Winter at Cray by Lucy Gillen - Free Book Online Page A

close. It had been a mistake to sit on the settee, she thought; in one of the armchairs he could not have introduced such an air of intimacy.
    He sighed and the warmth of it stirred the tendrils of hair beside her ear. ‘ Oh dear, I ’ ve done it again !’ Had it not been for the gleam of laughter in his eyes she would have thought his regret genuine; as it was # she flushed angrily and moved as far away as she could get from him, against the curved arm of the settee. ‘ I wish I was mistress of Gray, ’ she informed him shortly, ‘ then I would put you out into the snow. You ’ re—you ’ re hateful! ’
    ‘ Am I? ’ His surprise at least looked genuine. ‘ I know you ’ ve been as prickly as a hedgehog ever since I arrived here, but I attributed that to an inborn urge to be anti-social. ’
    ‘ I am not anti-social! ’ She could feel her hands trembling and the rapid, uneasy beat of her heart as he looked at her steadily. ‘ You have no right to talk to me like that, either, no right at all. ’
    ‘ What else can you expect from anyone as hateful as I am? ’ he asked mildly. ‘ You can ’ t expect good manners from a journalist, you ’ ve implied as much more than once. ’
    ‘ Oh, you—leave me alone! ’ She had the hopeless feeling that no matter how long they wrangled in this way, she would never be able to get the better of him, and it was not a comforting thought at all.
    ‘ Literally or figuratively ?’ he enquired, and laughed at his own question, leaning back against the cushions, his eyes studying her angry face. ‘ You ’ re beautiful when you ’ re angry, do you know that? ’ he asked, and added, ‘ Perhaps you do, and that ’ s why you get into a paddy so often. ’
    ‘ I seldom get angry, ’ she denied, ‘ it ’ s only— ’
    ‘ Me? ’ He arched a brow, his eyes wickedly insolent. ‘ Oh my, I ’ ve a feeling that Freud would have made something out of that admission. I shall have to watch my step, shan ’ t I ?’
    Louise bit her lip, wildly searching for an answer and wondering how Essie Nostrum could have been so wrong when she pronounced him so dedicated to his career to the exclusion of anything else.
    She was rescued from further embarrassment by the arrival of Diamond and Colin, the former immediately making a play for Jonathan ’ s attention, and for once Louise blessed her for it. One good thing came from her argument with Jonathan Darrell; she had momentarily forgotten the premonition that had been worrying her and it was not until she went to bed that night that it troubled her again. She went to sleep fairly quickly, but there was still a faint and persistent niggle of worry at the back of her mind.
    The following day the snow stopped and William Grayston, Hannah ’ s son, was set to clearing some of it from the path round the house and down to the pier. It was hard work and the threatening look of the sky discouraged him from being too persistent in his efforts, but it was a relief to see some break, however small, in the monotony of stark whiteness.
    There was little chance of a boat venturing out, Louise realised, and sighed in sympathy with herself, for she was almost eagerly anxious to see one of their visitors at least leave the island.
    She was looking out hopefully at the glowering sky during the afternoon, when she sensed someone come and stand just behind her. ‘ No joy? ’
    She spun round and met the quizzical gaze and the inevitable smile, feeling her pulse leap wildly, though for no good reason that she could see, except that he had startled her. ‘ It ’ ll probably snow again before evening, ’ she told him, and made no attempt to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
    ‘ And you ’ ll be stuck with us for another day, poor you. ’ He sounded sympathetic, but the expression he wore betrayed him and she felt the familiar flush of anger when she answered.
    ‘ That ’ s your opinion, Mr. Darrell, not mine, I hope you ’ ll remember