A Village Affair by Katharine Swartz

Author:Katharine Swartz [Swartz, Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Kate Hewitt Limited
Published: 2013-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Ben didn’t talk as he unlocked his car, a battered Mini that seemed entirely appropriate to his relaxed and yet sardonically self-aware attitude.

“So how does it feel to be Public Enemy Number One?” he asked as he drove down the high street. He spoke lazily, his voice laced with laughter.

“Is that what I am?” Sarah answered. She sounded prissy but she didn’t know how else to be.

“For Megan, maybe. I don’t think Robert emotes that much, actually.”

Sarah turned to stare blindly out the window at the world swallowed by darkness. “You must all miss your mother very much,” she said quietly.

Ben was silent for a long moment; she kept staring out the window. “That’s a very kind thing for you to say,” he said finally.

“Is it?” She turned to look at him, but in the darkness she couldn’t make out his expression.

“It is, considering how Megan tried her damnedest to make you feel like a pushy interloper tonight.”

“Is that how you see me?”

“No…”

But he didn’t sound certain, and that stung. “I’m his housekeeper, you know, and that’s all.”

“The trouble is,” Ben said as they approached the town, “I don’t think that’s all.”

Sarah stiffened. She’d let herself be lulled into a belief that Ben was on her side, that he understood her. Now she wondered if he’d just been luring her into some kind of trap. Were all people like this, she wondered desperately. Was this how life was really lived?

“It is all,” she said firmly.

“But you’re quite friendly, the two of you. Dad has mentioned you, you know, over the phone.”

“We are friendly,” Sarah confirmed coolly. She felt her nails dig into her palms. “I don’t see why that is such a problem.”

“I never said it was a problem.”

“No, but you act like it is. Megan and Robert act like it is. The neighbors—” She stopped abruptly, but she knew she’d already said too much.

“The neighbors?” Ben repeated. “How do they act?”

Sarah sighed wearily. “They all hate me, and I’ve never even spoken to any of them.”

“They’re probably just a bunch of jealous old cats. My father’s fresh on the market and they want him for themselves.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped. “It’s not like that,” she protested, her voice rising to something almost resembling a shriek. “It’s not like that!” she repeated, even more wildly.

“I think,” Ben said softly, “the lady doth protest too much.”

Sarah let out a sound, something between a sob and a groan, and shook her head. Neither of them spoke again until they reached town, and then Ben only asked directions to her place. Sarah gave them dully, too tired in every way to argue with him, or attempt to convince him just how innocent her friendship with Peter really was.

When he pulled up in front of the terraced house where she rented a room, he got out of the car and came around to open her door before she could do it.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, her head bowed, and he followed her to the door. She fumbled

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.