Garden of Secrets by Suzanne Kelman

Author:Suzanne Kelman [Kelman, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

25

HATWORTH MANOR, PRESENT DAY

Laura

Laura was woken early by her honorary niece tugging on her arm. ‘Auntie Laura, you have a visitor,’ she said, her voice bright with the excitement of it. ‘He’s waiting in the front room for you.’

Laura lifted an eyelid and peered at the clock: 8.30 a.m. She couldn’t believe that Jamie had come back so early. He’d only left her hours before. He was eager. Maybe he was going to drive her to the village for a coffee or something. She yawned and sat up. That sounded nice, though she would have liked more notice. She wasn’t sure if they were at the ‘This is what I look like bleary-eyed and with bed hair’ stage yet. She also had mixed feelings. It felt as if the relationship was moving to the next level, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Having him turn up so early this morning didn’t give her much chance to process her feelings. Nevertheless, on the whole she felt happy.

After getting dressed, she made her way to the front room, realizing she couldn’t wait to see him again. She opened the door and he had his back to her and was shadowed by the early morning light. Though, as he turned, she realized it wasn’t him at all but…

‘Hello, darling,’ Liam said, bounding towards her. He took her in his arms before she had time to even think and kissed her brutishly on the lips.

Laura staggered back. ‘What are you doing here?’ she spat out, the shock and anger obvious in her tone.

She blinked as she tried to come to terms with the vision of the person in front of her. He had on a steel-grey-coloured suit, ice-blue tie, and a crisp white shirt. His white-blond hair was newly cut and washed, and the expensive aftershave he liked to wear was now scenting her cheek, overpowering the last strains of orange spice that had still lingered.

His blue eyes appeared silver grey in the morning light as he continued to rove about the room, taking in everything, as was his way.

‘Well, that’s a nice way to greet your boyfriend.’ The anger and surprise of rejection was obvious in his tone. ‘I haven’t seen you for months and that’s the best you can do? I know you needed some space, but Laura, don’t you think you are overreacting to all this? It wouldn’t be the first time, now would it.’

She hitched her breath. Surely, he wasn’t referring to her breakdown, was he? She knew that during that time her mind had distilled the world into a dark and fearful place that he had felt was his job to guide her through.

She shook the notion from her thoughts; no, she wouldn’t even entertain what he was insinuating. It was obvious he had hoped to swoop in and bowl her over with his charm. And though, as always, she was taken in by just how good-looking he was, she wasn’t in a place to be swept away by him, in any form.

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