Uninvited Guest by Brian Lancaster

Author:Brian Lancaster [Lancaster, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63476-702-6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

GIFTS

EARLY SATURDAY lunchtime traffic heading out of Newquay flowed far better than Anton had anticipated. Holiday weekenders must have written off the idea of getting away following a depressing November week of fierce winds and icy rain, a precursor perhaps to a bitter winter to come. But an early morning downpour had passed and given way to unfettered sunshine. In fact, Anton had made such good progress that he almost missed the hidden turnoff from the A30.

After glancing at the dashboard clock, he signaled and turned into the lane. Fifteen minutes out of his schedule would do no harm, he decided; a short errand before he hit the road for home. Maintenance work and other holdups aside, he would still be back comfortably by six thirty and ready to meet up with Christian at eight. Perhaps not comfortably. Even now his heart wavered at the thought of Christian’s mysterious yet insistent voice message, something he forced himself not to overthink. In his heart he knew he should be feeling remorse about cancelling on Martin and Gallagher, whose cheery reply had been, “No problem, old man. Another time.”

In daylight he had no trouble finding the route to the coach house, and even remembered the landmarks—the sentinel hedgerows concealing everything beyond, the sudden crossroads, the long straight lane with drystone walling cutting through the moorlands like the binding through a book—that would eventually lead to the coach house. Everything looked unthreatening and picturesque in the sunshine, a very different journey from the one he had taken a month earlier.

As he approached the cottage, his heart sank at the sight of something he should have expected. An unsightly new addition. The For Sale signpost of a regional estate agent in loud blue and red font had been fixed to one side of the front gate. Somehow the placard cheapened the setting and gave the cozy building an air of obsolescence, of impending abandonment.

After performing a three-point turn in the narrow lane and stopping outside the front gate, he climbed out of the BMW. Unlike the last occasion when he had stumbled on the cottage, he felt grateful to see no signs of life, no parked Range Rover or lights inside the building. Without fuss he could leave the gifts on the front step and make a quick exit. He propped open the gate and strode the few short steps to the oak door, but then glimpsed a field gate open to his right beyond the garden wall perimeter, one he had not noticed previously. Martin had mentioned stables at the back of the property, so out of curiosity Anton wandered along the length of the front garden to check. There, next to a track leading to the back of the property, parked under a lean-to shelter out of sight of the road, sat Stephen’s racing-green Rover.

Initially thoughts of creeping back to the door, dropping the gift off discreetly, and speeding away filled him, but another, undoubtedly a reflection of his grandmother’s sense of correctness, told him to check whether anyone was home.

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