The Summer House by Santa Montefiore

Author:Santa Montefiore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

22

That night David and Phaedra dined alone in his kitchen. Phaedra had cooked a mushroom risotto, and David opened a fine Burgundy. It pleased David that he had managed to smuggle her onto the estate without his mother or grandmother finding out. He had her all to himself.

They had spent the afternoon together, driving round the farm in his Land Rover with Rufus on the backseat. She had delighted in accompanying him as he went about his work and didn’t mind at all that by the time they returned home she was hot and dusty.

After dinner they went outside to see the stars. Unlike the stars in London, which were dimmed by the smog, here they were as bright and twinkling as the most exquisitely cut diamonds. They decided to walk around the lake with Rufus. The darkness added an element of excitement to their midnight stroll, and David had to put his hands in his pocket to stop himself from reaching out and taking hers. He kept reminding himself that they were siblings, but the words seemed empty and meaningless. She didn’t feel like his sister. Saying it was so didn’t change the way he felt about her and the way those feelings were growing stronger and more unmanageable by the minute. If he could be convinced that she didn’t feel the same, he would somehow smother those feelings—but she laid her heart open every time she locked eyes with him.

They reached the lake, where the moon was reflected on the water like mercury. Bulrushes were silhouetted against it, their heavy heads gently swaying in the wind, and a fat moorhen sat sleeping on her nest in the middle, out of reach of foxes. As they walked around it they began to hear the dulcet tones of the piano, carried on the breeze from the big house. “Who’s playing at this hour?” David asked.

“Does your mother play?”

“She used to. But she hasn’t touched the piano in years.”

They diverted their course and wandered up the lawn. “You’re not going to spy on her, are you?” Phaedra whispered.

“Why not?” he replied, setting off over the recently cut grass.

“You don’t think Rufus will give the game away?” she hissed.

He watched his dog bound up to the window, where a single light shone from the drawing room. “As long as Mother’s dogs are shut away, we’ll be okay.”

The music grew louder as they neared the window. It was a sad tune played fluidly.

“Is your aunt still here?” Phaedra asked.

“Yes. I think she’s here for good.”

“Doesn’t she have a home of her own?”

David chuckled quietly. “You wouldn’t think so, would you? She came to comfort Mum, but now Mum’s comforting her. She fell down the stairs.”

“Yes, Margaret told me. Poor thing.”

“She had drunk too much, apparently.”

“Oh dear.”

“At least it’s given her the excuse to stay another week. Dr. Heyworth has insisted she rest.”

“It’s probably nice for your mother to have the company.”

“I think she’s getting a little tired of her, actually. She spends all day out in the garden or up at the folly, restoring it, probably to get some time alone.

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