“I don’t snore!”
She hurriedly let Misty out and watched her relieve herself, then calling her back in went through to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. When she saw the time she couldn’t believe her eyes, it was gone midday.
“Would you like to go out for brunch?” Roman asked as he entered the kitchen.
“Surely by the time we get ready it’ll be too late to get food on a Sunday?”
“No, not at all, most places around here serve food all day, including the pub in the village. Though if we go there it’ll feed the gossip mill, after we left the dance together last night.”
Bella looked at him as she poured boiling water into the teapot. “It probably isn’t a good idea to set tongues wagging before we know ourselves what’s going on.”
“Don’t we?”
“Last night,” Bella laughed “and this morning, was great but we hardly know each other. I don’t know about you but I’d like to take things slowly.”
Roman wrapped his arms around her “If that’s what you want then slow is fine by me.”
He knew absolutely and certainly that he loved this woman, but he also knew how badly she must have been hurt just a few weeks ago; it could be for her it was a case of `on the rebound, and he couldn’t bear that. Never before had he felt about a woman as he felt about her. He’d been in lust and as a boy and young man, imagined himself `in love`, but this was a totally different feeling and he wanted her to feel the same.
Kissing her on her forehead he said “I tell you what we could do. Just before the turn off for the racecourse, there’s an American diner. We could eat there, then have a mooch around the boot sale. I know that’s what you would have been doing if I wasn’t here.”
“You want to take me to a boot sale. That’s so romantic!” Bella grinned.
“No expense spared for you, my love.”
“Am I?”
Roman frowned, not understanding the question, then he realised what he had said, so jokingly he said “You’ve spent the night in my arms and you ask that?”
“That’s nice” Bella smiled, “makes me feel better about being so easy.”
Shaking his head he said “No, not easy, never that.”
He kissed her and she allowed herself to dream that she was his love, because he certainly felt as if he was hers.
After they’d drunk their tea, they hastily showered with the rubber hose attached to the bath taps. Not easy, as Roman discovered, alternately getting red hot, then cold water over himself.Bella didn’t wash her hair and had a very quick wash, deciding there and then to buy an electric shower, especially if she was going to get hot and sweaty again.
While Bella was showering and dressing Roman took Misty out and threw a stick for her until she was panting and happy to eat and retire to her bed.
Dressed in tee shirt and jeans, with her hair in an untidy plait Bella joined him in the living room.
He grinned and said “Ah, there’s my scruffy decorator.”
For a moment her face dropped then she saw the look of desire in his eyes and felt a thrill that he wanted her however she looked. Tucking her hand through his arm she said “Come on I’m starving, I could eat a horse.”
“Might be” he laughed, “never can tell what’s in a beefburger.”
They went out to Bella’s van and she gave him the keys “You drive, I’m feeling lazy today.”
His eyes laughing at her he said “Can’t think why, you’ve been in bed for hours.”
To his delight she blushed and looked at her hands and he realised that she probably had never been made love to, for hours, before. What an absolute moron the man who’d hurt her so badly must have been. To save her further embarrassment he changed the subject and asked what other changes she had planned for the cottage. Her simple pleasure at the thought of even more hard work made him respect her all the more, and they chatted all the way to the diner.
The menu was large and varied but in the end they both settled for a stack of pancakes, maple syrup, and crispy bacon, washed down by excellent coffee. Watching her devour the food with great enjoyment he couldn’t help comparing her to the Sloane ranger types, who push a lettuce leaf around their plates in a desperate attempt to stay slim, and whose bodies came a woeful second to her delightful soft curves. She hadn’t put on any makeup. Her hair was struggling to escape the messy plait and she looked like most men’s dreams. When her tongue licked the maple syrup off her lips he almost groaned and choked on a piece of bacon.
“Are you alright?” she asked as she got up to thump him on the back.
Coughing up the blockage he muttered, to himself `Get a grip, Cowle,` while nodding at her to sit down. “Extra crispy bit, wouldn’t go down,” he managed to say while draining his coffee cup.
Unaware of how she was affecting him she said “I have to say this was a good idea. The food’s not bad.”
“Caters to the tourists, not exactly fine dining but it’s tasty.”
“Fine dining generally leaves you feeling hungry, from my experience. You’ve got to have six courses before you begin to feel full.” Bella said thinking of the misery of pushing two scallops round a plate, while longing for fish and chips, while Gervaise scowled at her for finishing before any of the other women.
Roman saw the bleakness that had entered her eyes and changed the subject. “I think that you should invest in an electric shower. They’re not that expensive and I could get the estate’s electrician to put it in for you.”
“I’d already decided to get one after the attempt at showering this morning. I’ll pay your electrician of course.”
“He’s paid by the estate, and it’s in my own interest for you to have one; that is if I’m going to be allowed to stay over ever again.”
Bella blushed “Do you want to?”
Picking up her hand he kissed her fingers “Every chance I get.”
She bravely looked him in the eyes “So it was alright?”
Roman frowned “Bella you blew me away, it was amazing, you’re amazing. I’m crazy about you, surely you realise that?”
“I don’t know, mmm, you, I’ve never, um,” she stuttered, “it feels as if it were a dream.”
“Then it’s a dream I want to share with you every night.”
“I’m afraid!” She blurted out.
“Sweetheart, you’ve nothing to be afraid of with me.”
“You could get bored with me. I’m not exciting, a go getter or high powered and never will be.”
“All the things I love about you,” Roman kissed her fingers again, “you’re kind, hard working, clever and very desirable. I’ll never tire of you.”
“Just promise you won’t hurt me. I’ve fallen for you despite all the promises I made myself, but I have to stand on my own two feet so that when we split up, I still have a life,” she swallowed hard and blinked away the tears.
“Bella, I’m no saint and although I’m certain that I love you, no one can foretell the future.”
“I’ve fallen for you hard, but I really do want to take things slowly.”
“That’s fine by me. You can take all the time you want, we have the rest of our lives to spend together.”
Despite herself she felt a surge of hope, he loved her and she knew that she could trust him, didn’t she?
* * *
After an enjoyable afternoon, when she bought three nice pieces of furniture to upcycle, they returned to the cottage and took Misty for a long walk. Sitting on a stone outcrop, while the pup sniffed around, Bella finally told him about her breakup with Gervaise.
“I suppose, looking back, it shouldn’t have been such a surprise. I just didn’t see the signs, or if I did I ignored them, sticking my head in the sand and expecting things to sort themselves out. I still don’t unders
tand how he could make love to me, no scrub that, have sex with me the day before he left me.”
Roman could, she was gorgeous and sensual, no man could refuse a last night in her arms, especially a rat like Gervaise.
“It sounds as if you’re well rid of him.”
“Oh I definitely am. I wasted eight years of my life on him, and I’ll never forget the weeks after he left me. I had nothing, no job, no home, and no one to turn to. Never again,” she said firmly.
Roman draped an arm over her shoulder and hugged her to him. She lay her head against him and closed her eyes, allowing a feeling of safety and comfort to wash over her. Misty’s bark brought her back to reality and she opened her eyes to see a family of Dartmoor ponies passing by.
“Misty, leave.” Roman said as he stood up.
The pup looked at him then back at the passing ponies undecided whether to obey or not.
Bella growled, “Misty, here. Do as you’re told,” and to her delight the dog obeyed.
Roman laughed “Told you that this breed were quick learners.”
“She has her moments. I was afraid she’d chase the foals.”
“She’d only do it once, the mares would quickly see her off.”
“I’d hate to see her get hurt because I wasn’t paying attention.”
“We’d better get back, it’s getting late,” Roman said looking at his watch, “I’m afraid I have to go home much as I’d love to stay.”
“I didn’t hear anyone ask you to stay.”
He grinned and taking her in his arms kissed her soundly, “I expect I could persuade you to ask.”
“Hmm, sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“No, not with you, never with you.”
They walked back to the cottage arm in arm and at the door he kissed her once more then said “Look, if I remember rightly we have a couple of electric showers in stock, in case anything goes wrong in one of the cottages. As soon as Tim, our electrician, has a free moment I’ll send him over to put it in for you.”
“Only if you tell me how much I owe you.”
Resisting the urge to tell her he didn’t want anything for it Roman said “Ok, Tim will know how much it is.”
Bella smiled at him “Thank you.”
A last lingering kiss and he left, refusing her offer of a lift and telling her it was only a twenty minute walk. She watched him go then took Misty inside, fed her and made a cup of tea and a toasted crumpet for herself. It had been a perfect weekend and she retired to bed feeling happy and settled for the first time in weeks.
Chapter 8
Luckily she was up at her usual time of seven o’clock the next morning, as at seven forty five there was a knock on the door. On opening it she discovered a lanky, ginger haired man in overalls, holding a white box in one hand and a tool box in the other.
“Mr. Cowle told me to pop over and put this shower in for you,” he said.
“Gosh, that was quick. Please come in, would you like a cup of tea, coffee?”
“A cup of tea would be great. I’m Tim, by the way.”
“And I’m Bella, the bathroom’s through here.” Bella said showing him the way.
“Changed a bit in here,” he said as he looked round, “it was getting a bit worn towards the end.”
“You knew my Aunt?”
“Yes, she was a terrific old girl. Prickly though, wouldn’t take anything for nothing.”
Bella smiled, so that’s where she got it from. “I’ll leave you to it and go get that tea.”
“Great shouldn’t take long. Afraid I’ll have to chop out a bit of the plaster, but I’ll redo it, all you’ll have to do is paint it.”
“That’s fine. Do whatever you need to. I haven’t finished the bathroom and may end up tiling round the bath.”
“Jack of all trades, are you?”
“No, only those that are simple to learn. Electricity and things like that I leave to the experts.”
“Too true, dangerous stuff electricity.”
Bella supplied him with the tea and left him to it, as she carried on sorting out the lean to. By lunchtime she’d scraped all the old flaked paint and rotten wood off the window frames, painted them with wood hardener and left that to dry, as she painted the inside wall and ceiling. After lunch she intended to use wood filler on the flaked off bits, leave it to dry for twenty four hours and then paint the frames white. Looking round she envisaged how it would look with some pretty furniture and plants, and went through into the bathroom to see how Tim was getting on.
The shower was in place as were the electrics and he was soldering the cold water pipe into position. Considering he’d had to take quite a bit of plaster and wall out, there was very little mess. Tim was obviously a very tidy worker.
“Can I make you a sandwich? I’m going to make one for myself and it’s just as easy to make two.” She asked from the doorway.
“Thanks, but I’ve got my lunch in the van. A cuppa would be nice though.”
“Ok, look why don’t you bring your lunch inside. More comfortable than eating in the van.”
“Thanks, I’ll just finish this joint then I’ll get it.”
After making herself a ham and tomato sandwich, she took it and two cups of tea through into the living room, to find Tim coming in the front carrying a plastic box. He’d taken off his overalls and washed his hands, so sitting down in an armchair he opened up his lunch, a large Cornish pasty, cheese and a packet of crisps.
As they ate he told Bella about himself, he was married with three children, two boys and a recently born girl, his wife was a local girl called Michelle and they’d been married for six years. They lived in a tied cottage on the estate and were very happy as Mr. Cowle was a great boss, paid well and treated all his workers with kindness and thoughtfulness. Bella learned that Roman was highly respected in the area, while still being treated, on occasion, as one of the boys. But no matter how she probed Tim would say nothing about Roman’s girlfriends, past or present.
Lunch over Tim returned to the bathroom and Bella started on the filling of the rotten window frames. By three o’clock the shower was fitted and working, the wall was re-plastered and there was no mess anywhere.
“Leave it for at least twenty four hours before you use the shower or you’ll spoil the new plaster,” Tim advised her as he packed away his tools.
“Yes, I’ll do that. It looks absolutely smashing,” Bella told him. “Roman said you’d know how much I owe.”
Indeed, Roman had told him to tell her it was one hundred pounds all in, so that’s what Tim told her.
“One hundred pounds? Surely it’s more than that? I’ve never seen a shower of that standard that cheap.”
“We buy things in bulk, for the estate, and it’s usually old stock anyway,” Tim shrugged, “so that’s what it is.”
“Hang on and I’ll give you the cash,” she said, and as he carried his tools out to the van she raided her nest egg, which she kept in the loft.
He came back with a receipt book, wrote down the job and amount and tearing it out, handed it to her in exchange for the money.
Holding out an extra twenty pound note Bella said “Look, it’s not much but you’ve been great, so buy your wife a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine.”
Tim took the note “Thank you, I’ll give her the money, expect she’ll buy something for the baby.”
“How old is she?”
Six months and growing,” he grinned, “always needs something.”
Bella smiled wistfully, she’d started wanting a baby a couple of years ago but Gervaise wouldn’t hear of it. Just another sadness she’d squashed.
“Thank you Tim, you’ve done a terrific job.”
“Nice to have a satisfied customer,” he said as he climbed into the v
an. “Bye love, you’ve done a grand job on that cottage.”
She waved him goodbye and returned to her job in the lean to, determined to finish it that day. A short while later, hands covered in wood filler, she heard Misty barking and muttered “Damn, what now?”
Going through the living room she opened the door nearly getting knocked over as Misty hurtled through the gap to confront a large sweat covered chestnut horse, that had just skidded to a stop on the gravel.
“Misty, come here,” she said as the horse swirled round threatening to kick the pup.
When she growled harshly at the the dog, Misty abandoned her game and slunk shamefacedly to her side.
“Get that cur under control,” the woman on top of the horse shrieked, “it nearly had me off.”
Bella surveyed the ultra thin, straight haired, sour faced woman. “She is under control which is more than can be said of that poor beast of yours. What possessed you to ride onto my land like that?”
“Your land,” the woman spat out, “a tumbledown, ramshackle filthy place. Come to think of it, it suits a slut like you perfectly.”
The horse was standing wild eyed, body trembling and Bella could see the whip and spur marks along its sweat soaked flanks. The poor animal had been ridden savagely and although she didn’t know anything about horses, she could see that it had been abused.
“Get off my property,” she said angrily, “but before you go, who are you as I fully intend to report you for animal cruelty?”
“I’m Louisa Patterson, Roman Cowles fiance and owner of a lot of land around here,” she sneered. “Report me? To whom?”
Stunned Bella’s face whitened and she struggled to stop the tears from overflowing.
“Roman’s fiance?” she said breathlessly.
“Yes. We’ve been promised to each other forever.”
“B-but he never said, no one told me.”
“Which is why I am here. To warn you off. I came back from London this morning and the first thing I hear is that the new slut in the district has dropped her knickers, like many others, for the lord of the manor.”
The Wishing Well Page 8
