Love in Spring BoxSet

by Jenny Lane

  A few minutes later, they were tucking into fluffy omelettes and winter salad, washed down with glasses of white wine.

  He had turned on the wall lights and soft music played from the expensive music centre. It was a romantic atmosphere and she felt totally relaxed in his company, loving every minute of it.

  This time they talked about their childhood and schooldays. They ate one of Mrs Briggs cherry pies for dessert with ice cream, and then they moved into the sitting room and sat over coffee.

  Keir joined Sophie on the sofa and it seemed natural when his arm slid round her waist. Suddenly, she was in his arms and he was stroking her hair and kissing her.

  ‘Thank you for a delightful day, Sophie. I enjoy being with you so much. We haven’t known each other very long, but there’s an undeniable bond between us.’

  She leant against him, feeling the warmth emanating from his muscular body, and this time when his lips met hers it was beyond her wildest dreams. His kisses set her on fire.

  She drifted away on a cloud of euphoria, nestling against him. The sound of the front door closing shot them apart.

  ‘What on earth?’ Keir sprang to his feet.

  ‘Burglars don’t usually use the front entrance. Could it be Mrs Briggs?’

  Keir’s tensed. Just as he reached the door it opened. The woman who stood there looked as if she’d stepped off the front of a fashion magazine.

  Keir was the first to speak. ‘Erica! I hadn’t expected to see you!’

  ‘Obviously not! Don’t I deserve a kiss, darling?’

  Keir obliged.

  Sophie stood, as if rooted to the spot. After a moment or two, during which Erica Mercer shrugged off her fur-trimmed coat and slung it over a chair, Keir propelled Sophie forward, his hand on her elbow.

  ‘Erica, this is Hugh’s cousin’s daughter, Sophie Burnett.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I thought I’d seen you somewhere before.’

  For a moment it was as if Sophie had been struck dumb, but then she felt Keir behind her, his hand gently resting on her arm.

  ‘I’m staying with Rose Harding,’ she said, when she finally managed to find her voice.

  Erica’s green eyes glinted. ‘Right that’s one of the reasons I’m here — to sort out all this wretched business over the stuff Hugh’s supposed to have left Rose and your father. So tiresome to have all this hassle, although it’s given me an opportunity to see Keir.’

  Sophie felt slightly faint. ‘It’s time I was going,’ she said, forcing herself to sound normal.

  ‘Yes, if you don’t mind,’ Erica said dismissively. ‘Keir and I have rather a lot to discuss, haven’t we, darling?’ She moved to a side table and poured herself a glass of wine and, as she did so, Sophie noticed the engagement ring.

  It was not the one Hugh had given Erica, which had been sapphire and diamonds in an antique setting. No, this was a modern design — an ostentatious cluster of diamonds.

  Sophie felt her throat constricting, mesmerised by the sight of the ring. She could not bear to look at Keir. He didn’t say anything merely nodded in reply to Erica who caught his arm.

  Sophie could not escape from the room quickly enough. It was less than a year since Hugh had died and Erica was engaged again.

  Sophie swallowed. She and Keir had been having such a wonderful day. Now she didn’t know what to think. Surely, he and Erica ...? She shook her head, as if to rid herself of the thought.

  They were obviously more than just friends. Keir hadn’t attempted to persuade Sophie to stay and Erica had kissed him warmly.

  Had he been leading Sophie on, just amusing himself until Erica’s return? The tears blurred her eyes and she dashed them away angrily.

  ***

  The following morning over breakfast, Aunt Rose stared at Sophie in disbelief.

  ‘You’re telling me Erica’s returned and she’s wearing an engagement ring?’

  Sophie patted Aunt Rose’s arm sympathetically. ‘I’m so sorry, but I had to tell you before someone else did, and I didn’t want to spoil your evening out.’

  Aunt Rose nodded. ‘Thank you for that, dear. It was a very good film. Well, I’ve no idea what to make of all this. I suppose Erica’s met someone in Spain.’

  If only that were the case. Sophie couldn’t trust herself to voice her thoughts. She’d tossed and turned most of the night, trying to make sense of it all. She felt a deep pain inside her, as the realisation dawned that Keir was no better than Brett when it came to deceit.

  ***

  Back at Rowanbank, Keir was finding it hard to have his space suddenly invaded by Erica. She had swept in like a whirlwind, full of demands, and didn’t seem to realise the mayhem she was causing.

  He’d seen the hurt in Sophie’s eyes, the unspoken questions.

  If only Erica’s arrival could have been timed a bit differently. If only she hadn’t barged in like that. There was so much he needed to say to Sophie and now he’d have to postpone it. He had thought their relationship was going places, but now, thanks to Erica, it was in danger of falling apart.

  ‘I could have wished you’d have given me a little warning, Erica, rather than turning up out of the blue like this,’ he said, as they sat over a late breakfast.

  Erica buttered a croissant. ‘Oh, you know me, darling. I do things on an impulse, but I would remind you that Rowanbank is still my house, so surely I can come and go as I please.’ She put a hand on his sleeve. ‘Anyway, you’re full of surprises yourself, aren’t you, darling? I wouldn’t have thought that mousy little creature was your type, Keir.’

  ‘Then that just shows how little you know about me, doesn’t it?’ he said curtly. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got rather a lot of school work to do this morning.’

  ‘So, what am I supposed to do whilst you’re doing that?’ Erica demanded petulantly.

  ‘I don’t know — paint your nails, read the newspaper, find something in the freezer for lunch,’ he said testily.

  ‘Oh, you can take me out for lunch,’ she told him airily. ‘You know how I detest cooking. What about these wretched boxes. Can’t I take a look at those to stop me dying from boredom?’

  Keir frowned. ‘You know you can’t, Erica. We’ve discussed that already. That’s mainly why you’re here, isn’t it, so that you can sort the matter out with John Munn and his mother. You’ll need to contact your solicitor first thing tomorrow. I’m working, but if you want me to come with you, I could probably ...’

  ‘That’s sweet of you, Keir, but unless you don’t trust me to sort it out, I’ll manage perfectly well on my own,’ she told him firmly.

  He didn’t bother to reply, merely cleared his breakfast dishes and went into the study, closing the door behind him.

  Erica reached for her mobile, a slight smile playing about her lips. The sooner she could get all this business over and done with the sooner she could get on with the real purpose of her visit.

  Chapter Eleven

  Crystal was bursting to tell Sophie something when they met up after church.

  ‘You’ll never believe what I’ve just heard.’

  ‘If it’s to do with Erica Mercer then yes, I would. How did you know? There seems to be a bush telegraph in this village.’

  Crystal looked disappointed. ‘Keir rang Mum just before we left for church. I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised. After all Rowanbank is still Erica’s property. Anyway, it seems neither of them are likely to be around when Mum does the cleaning tomorrow morning.’

  ‘OK, well, here’s something you won’t know. Erica is wearing a large diamond engagement ring,’ Sophie told her friend and waited for her reaction.

  Crystal was suitably surprised. ‘You’re kidding me! Well, she doesn’t believe in letting the grass grow, does she? Any idea who the guy is?’

  She saw the expression on Sophie’s face and her eyes widened. ‘Oh, Sophie, surely not! You must have got it wrong ...’ She trailed off as her mother and Rose caught up with them.

 
***

  That afternoon, Sophie threw herself wholeheartedly into helping Aunt Rose with the dolls’ house furniture. Later, after they had enjoyed a cosy tea in the sitting room, she indulged Aunt Rose by looking through some old photograph albums.

  ‘My goodness you and Aunt Mary were almost identical!’

  ‘In looks maybe, but our personalities were very different. I was born first. Mary was slightly smaller and always the weaker one. For that reason she always seemed to get her own way.’

  Sophie looked at Aunt Rose in surprise. She’d always thought the sisters had been very close, but now she detected the slightest trace of bitterness in Aunt Rose’s voice. ‘When Mary married Hugh, our parents were still renting Laburnum Cottage from Hugh’s parents. These two cottages were part of the estate. It was an awkward situation, as you can imagine, so the rent was waived and then, when Hugh’s parents died, he inherited the whole estate and gifted both cottages to Mary. Eventually, when our own parents had also passed away, she chose to sell our old home, but to keep this one.’

  Sophie tried to get her head round this. ‘So are you saying you still pay rent to Erica?’

  ‘Oh, no, dear. Mary left Rose Cottage to Tom and I ...’ She trailed off, as a thought suddenly occurred to her. ‘You don’t suppose that’s what Hugh meant, do you? Something of value that you’ve already got.’

  Sophie’s eyes widened. ‘Well, I suppose he might have done, except it wasn’t Hugh who gave you this cottage, was it? It was Mary and, if you look at it a different way, you and Uncle Tom, and his family before him, had been paying rent to Hugh’s family for it.’

  Aunt Rose’s face cleared. ‘Yes, you’re right, dear. Well, it’s no good thinking about it. We’re not likely to solve the mystery, so we might as well forget about it.’

  Sophie kept very quiet, determined not to say anything about the boxes they’d found.

  ***

  Sophie dreaded bumping into Keir, afraid that she might give her feelings away. She couldn’t avoid him at school, however, and found it difficult to concentrate during his pottery class.

  A plaintive voice beside her wailed, ‘I can’t do it, Miss! This pot’s rubbish!’

  Sophie endeavoured to help the young lad in her charge, but was all fingers and thumbs.

  Seeing her predicament, Keir came across to sort it out. She was so aware of him as he leant across the table, and had a strong desire to reach out and touch him. Her emotions were in turmoil. At the end of the lesson, after the students had gone, Keir said, ‘We need to talk, Sophie.’

  ‘Do we?’ she asked shakily, gathering her possessions together.

  ‘You know we do! I don’t know what ideas you’ve got in your head, but we need to sort things out between us. Quite apart from which, there’s good news concerning those gifts intended for Rose and your parents. Erica went to her solicitor on Monday and Mr Hodge has arranged to come to Rowanbank on Friday and to distribute the items from there. Would you like to inform Rose or shall I? Obviously James Hodge will be getting in touch with both her and your parents.’

  ‘Right,’ Sophie said. ‘I’ll leave it to you then, as you’ve been dealing with it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must grab a quick lunch.’

  She couldn’t meet his eyes, afraid of what she might read in them. As she opened the door, his hand shot out and caught her wrist, and it felt as if his fingers were burning into her flesh.

  ‘If you’d just let me explain about Erica and me ...’ he began.

  ‘There’s no need — absolutely none of my concern,’ she told him, shaking off his hand impatiently and turning, walked swiftly away down the corridor leaving him staring after her, wishing he’d been more upfront with her from the beginning.

  He couldn’t bear to lose her, but until she’d arrived at Rose Cottage he’d truly believed there would never be another woman in his life after Nina. He sighed and asked himself for the umpteenth time why on earth Erica had had to complicate matters by her untimely and unannounced arrival. Although, he still wasn’t quite sure why Sophie was so angry with him.

  Chapter Twelve

  On his way home, Keir dropped into Rose Cottage to see Rose. Sophie was at a meeting and Rose suspected he knew this. She took one look at his face and put the kettle on.

  ‘I understand Erica’s returned to Rowanbank,’ she said, as she fetched the cups and saucers from the dresser. Keir examined the china thoughtfully.

  ‘Yes, but she’s up in London today. The thing is, Rose, we think we might have solved the problem of the missing gifts Hugh referred to in those letters left with the will. You see, Sophie and I were sorting through some of those boxes last week ...’

  ‘Go on ...’ Rose made the tea, poured Keir a cup and pushed the biscuit tin towards him.

  Keir wished Sophie was there, sitting beside him at the table and was at a loss as to know how to put matters right between them. He sipped his tea, took a deep breath and attempted to explain to Rose Harding about the packages they’d discovered in the boxes.

  ‘Well, the pair of you have been busy,’ Rose commented when he’d finished. ‘And you say Erica’s been to see her solicitor?’

  ‘Yes, on Monday. At his request, John Munn’s been to see him too — with the packages. Mr Hodge has stipulated that the items will either have to be collected from his office or he’ll distribute them from Rowanbank on Friday. Apparently, he needs signatures.’

  ‘Well, I know James Hodge — Friday you say? I’ll get Sophie to speak to her parents tonight. Hopefully, they’ll be able to come then. They were going to visit us soon anyway.’

  Keir cleared his throat. ‘Sophie and I — well, I’m afraid there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding. You see, Erica turned up at a rather inopportune moment and I believe Sophie’s got the wrong end of the stick.’

  Rose Harding threw caution to the wind. ‘Keir, I’ve never pried into your personal life before. You wouldn’t have thanked me if I had, but perhaps you could just answer one question for me now, please?’

  Keir turned a troubled gaze to Rose. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Are you engaged to Erica Mercer?’

  He paused for so long that she thought he couldn’t have heard the question. She was about to repeat it when he said, ‘No, Rose, I am not engaged to Erica — whatever gave you that extraordinary idea?’

  ‘I think you’ll find it’s what Sophie believes.’

  Keir was astounded. ‘But what on earth would make her think ...’

  ‘Well, for starters, apparently Erica’s wearing a rather flashy engagement ring to say nothing of the fact that you two seem very friendly,’ Rose said quietly.

  Keir’s face was a picture. ‘Right well I can assure you I’m not engaged to Erica or anyone else. Erica and I have known each other for a number of years. Circumstances have thrown us together.’ Keir hesitated. ‘Rose, I really need to tell Sophie this myself, and I’ve been waiting for the right moment. It’s not the easiest of things for me to talk about, but ...’

  Rose sat and listened to Keir’s story and, when he’d finished, she placed her hand over his. ‘Oh, Keir. I’m so sorry. Life certainly deals some cruel blows, doesn’t it? Who else knows?’

  ‘My headmaster and his wife and a couple of my work colleagues. I was hoping that Sophie and I could exchange confidences. I felt we were forming a good relationship, but now she seems so distant.’

  ‘You must talk to her, Keir,’ Rose advised. ‘The problem is that she had her confidence severely shaken by a previous relationship and so, if she thinks she can’t trust you ...’

  He nodded. ‘I’m aware of that. Do you know what happened? Has she confided in you?’

  ‘No. I only know what her parents have told me. How long is Erica proposing to stay at Rowanbank?’

  ‘Oh, she’s just here to tie up a few loose ends. Hugh’s will was rather complicated.’

  ‘And this man she’s engaged to?’

  ‘It’s her news — I’ll leave it to her to t
ell you,’ Keir said. ‘Now, about that other matter. Can I leave it to you to sort it out with Sophie’s parents? James Hodge will be in touch before Friday. You’re all invited to stay on to lunch at Rowanbank after the business side of things is concluded. Mrs Briggs has agreed to provide a cold buffet and I’m sure she’ll do us proud.’

  Rose Harding made a sudden decision. Much as it went against the grain for her to set foot in Rowanbank whilst it still belonged to Erica Mercer, she was curious to know what James Hodge had to say about the packages found at Peggy Munn’s.

  ‘Thank you, Keir, that would be very nice.’

  Rose would go over to Rowanbank and would be civil and she just hoped that Erica Mercer would be the same.

  Chapter Thirteen

  ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about,’ Erica told Keir that evening. ‘Why do we have to have these people over here, when James Hodge could perfectly well go to Rose Cottage?’

  ‘Erica! I know there’s no love lost between you and Rose and, to a degree, I can understand why things are awkward between the pair of you, but on this occasion, I really think it would be good if you could bury the hatchet and — well, be gracious. After all, although it wasn’t deliberate, you did make rather a bad error when you left those boxes with Peggy Munn.’

  Erica pouted. ‘Oh, if you say so, darling. It’s such a pity Carlos is still in Spain, but his business is important to him. Now the most important thing on my agenda is to put Rowanbank on the market as soon as possible.’

  Keir stared at her in disbelief. ‘You’re not serious?’

  Erica smoothed back her blonde hair. ‘Deadly. We initially agreed that you’d stay here until Hugh’s affairs were sorted out and the craft centre got off the ground.’

  Keir rubbed his chin. ‘Yes, but that was then. Now things are different. Erica, would you be prepared to wait just for another week or two?’