Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle

by Sarah Bennett

  Straightening up, Iggy rested her hand on his arm. ‘I don’t particularly want her here, but it’s up to Arthur.’

  Lancelot’s features crumpled into a frustrated scowl. ‘She’ll ruin the bloody wedding. She’ll ruin everything, she always does.’

  Iggy squeezed his arm. ‘We won’t let her. Give her a couple of days and she’ll get bored and move on. You know what she’s like.’ It was the hope she had to cling to. Like a magpie, Helena was attracted to anything shiny and new. Right now, it was the idea of the wedding, but she fully expected something else to crop up on the social circuit which would draw her away. ‘It’s Ascot in a couple of weeks, and you know she never misses that.’

  Her uncle placed his hand over hers where it rested on his arm, squeezed her fingers and then gently removed her hold. ‘I’m sorry, darling, but for as long as she’s staying in the castle, I can’t be around her. I’ll be in the stables if you need me.’ Her uncle kept a room in what had been the old stable hand’s quarters in the upper floor of the stable block for the odd occasion where he had a sick horse that needed watching overnight.

  With a nod, Iggy stepped aside, feeling as miserable as Constance looked standing in the open doorway of Lancelot’s room. ‘I’ll talk to him later, once he’s had a chance to calm down a bit,’ she said, giving Iggy a lopsided smile that didn’t belie the worry in her gaze.

  ‘Just don’t find yourself caught in the middle of it all,’ Iggy begged her. ‘You’re so good for him, I’d hate for the two of you to fall out over this.’

  Constance shook her head. ‘I’ll try, but it’s not just me caught in the middle, I have Lucie to think of, too. Nothing’s ever easy, is it?’

  ‘Not where my mother is concerned,’ Iggy agreed ruefully and they shared a smile.

  ‘Are you all right, though?’ The warmth in Constance’s voice drew her like a magnet, and Iggy accepted a hug, fighting the urge to cling on when Constance closed her arms around her.

  Why can’t our mother be like this?

  It was a forlorn hope, a child’s foolish wish and Iggy pushed it aside. Helena was as she was, and that was all there was to it. ‘I’m okay. It’s a bit of a shock to the system, but as I said to Lancelot, with any luck, she’ll move on again just as quickly as she arrived. We’d better go back down and make sure she’s not causing any mischief.’ Another forlorn hope, as it turned out.

  When the two of them entered the family room, all eyes turned their way. Ignoring everyone else, Iggy caught Tristan’s gaze and gave an imperceptible shake of her head in response to his raised eyebrows. Rolling his eyes, he stood and offered his seat to Constance, fussing around her until she was beaming up at him.

  ‘I’ll fix some drinks, shall I?’ Arthur said, his hearty tone just the wrong side of fake. Iggy wanted to shake him. She understood his conflicted feelings about their mother, but he needed to get over them. She was never going to change.

  ‘A G&T for me please,’ Helena tipped her face up to smile at her eldest son as he stood, drawing Iggy’s attention to the fact she’d injected herself into the middle of the sofa between Arthur and Lucie. Turning that smile towards Constance, Helena notched it up and said in a sweet voice. ‘Poor Lancelot. He’s always carried such a torch for me. I had hoped he would’ve got over it by now, but apparently not.’

  Watching Constance’s brow crease in shock, Iggy glared across the room at her mother. ‘How can you possibly say that?’

  Helena opened her mouth to respond, but Morgana cut her off. ‘Forget about the drinks, Arthur, let’s go straight into dinner.’ There was no missing the warning look she shot at Helena on her way out of the room.

  Completely nonplussed, Iggy exchanged a look of confusion with Arthur who was standing beside the drink’s cabinet still clutching an open bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin. Lancelot couldn’t stand Helena, so why on earth was she suggesting otherwise?

  As the others filed out, she cornered Arthur. ‘You can’t let her stay here. Can’t you see she’ll ruin everything?’

  To her shock, his expression darkened to a frown. ‘You’re just like all the others. It can’t have been easy for her to come here after all this time, knowing the kind of reception she’d receive.’

  ‘With bloody good reason,’ Iggy hissed. ‘She’s going to drive a wedge between all of us if we’re not careful.’

  Red-faced, Arthur glanced towards where Lucie was waiting for him by the door before glaring back down at Iggy. ‘The only thing that’s going to drive a wedge through this family is your inability to let the past go. Mother wants to celebrate mine and Lucie’s wedding with us, is that really so bad?’ Without waiting for her response, he stalked across the room, took Lucie’s arm in his and walked out.

  Her heart wanted to break. Not because of his uncharacteristic outburst, although she hated the idea of being at odds with him for even a moment. Beneath his anger, she sensed a terrible need for their mother’s love and acceptance. She would give anything to be proven wrong, but she desperately feared her beloved brother was in for a terrible fall. ‘Oh, Arthur.’

  Chapter 15

  Will had never seen a family dynamic change so swiftly as that of the Ludworths’ in the space of a few minutes. He’d been about to descend the stairs for dinner when a furious Lancelot had rushed past him, with Constance and Igraine in his wake. She’d barely given him a glance, and her worried expression had been enough for him to decide not to interfere and continue on his way down to the family room.

  He still had no real grasp on what was going on, but he’d instinctively disliked the way the stranger seated on the sofa had widened her eyes at him as he walked through the door. He knew that look, had seen it too often in the past. He was interesting to them because of what he was, not who he was. After managing a polite introduction, Will had retreated to the opposite sofa and done his best to remain inconspicuous.

  The distress and confusion on Igraine’s face as she watched her brother walk away from their whispered exchange sliced at him, and he crossed to her side. ‘What’s going on?’ He kept his voice low, angling his body to block out the rest of the room.

  ‘I don’t know. I feel like I’ve woken up in the middle of a nightmare.’ Her eyes closed for a second, before snapping open, a fire of determination burning in the gold-flecked hazel. ‘Will you keep my mother occupied during dinner?’

  He’d rather pet a viper, but understanding she was asking for his help, Will agreed at once. ‘Of course, we’ll talk later, yeah?’

  She nodded, opened her mouth to speak then hesitated.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Don’t let on to her about us, okay? She has a nasty habit of spoiling things and I don’t want what’s between us to be any more grist to her mill.’ Popping on tiptoe, she pressed a quick kiss to his lips. ‘She’s trouble, Will, be on your guard at all times.’

  Not liking this latest development at all, he hurried from the room to find almost everyone else had disappeared leaving Helena alone in the great hall. Lengthening his stride, he caught up to where she stood with one hand resting on the enormous round table, a look of sadness on her face. She looked so sad and forlorn he felt sorry for her until he remembered Igraine’s warning. Turning on the empty smile he’d honed from years of practice, he held out his arm to her. ‘Would you do me the honour?’

  ‘How kind.’ Her face brightened at once with a smile as fake as his own as her fingers closed over his forearm. ‘I had no idea I’d be meeting a celebrity when I arrived today to surprise Arthur and Lucie.’ Her lashes fluttered, her smile turning coy. ‘You must tell me everything about why you’re here.’ Oh, Igraine hadn’t been kidding, this one could switch it on and off like a lightbulb.

  Will escorted her into the dining room, giving her a brief outline of the ongoing renovation works for the grounds and gardens, but making no mention of the fact it was Igraine who’d first got in touch with him. ‘It’s a pleasure and a privilege for me to be able to work somewhere with so m
uch history.’

  Noting that Tristan had already taken the seat beside Constance and Morgana the one opposite him besides Lucie, he decided he’d better act as a buffer and pulled out a chair for Helena one further down from Morgana then settled on the seat between them.

  Igraine slid into the seat opposite him beside her brother and he gave her a quick reassuring smile. ‘I was just telling your mother about the works in the gardens.’

  Picking up his cue, Igraine joined in their conversation and between them they managed to keep the topic going through most of the meal, leaving Helena little chance to switch the topic of conversation until after the plates had been cleared away. ‘Have you chosen a date for the wedding?’ she asked Arthur, who’d been leaning close to Constance and talking to her quietly.

  ‘What? Oh, I think we’ve settled on the middle Saturday in August.’

  He turned to Lucie for confirmation, and she nodded. ‘That’s right. The gardens will be ready, and we should have most of the exhibition stuff sorted out by then. I spoke to the team at Witherby’s and they’ve agreed with me that we should push back the opening until the beginning of October. It will give us a couple of extra months to secure the last of the Viggliorento paintings we need to complete the exhibition.’

  ‘Exhibition?’ Helena all but leaned across Will, and he pushed his seat back a few inches to avoid her brushing against him.

  Lucie’s eyes darted to Arthur, a quick flush marring her cheeks. Will watched him take Lucie’s hand and give it a squeeze before he answered his mother. ‘Thanks to Lucie’s detective work, we discovered a quite valuable painting hidden in the castle. It’s currently being restored and once that’s completed, we’re mounting an exhibition of several works by the artist, with our picture as the centrepiece. We’re then going to auction it off at the end of the year and put the funds towards the upkeep of the castle.’

  ‘Well, that makes things a little clearer,’ Helena said, settling back into her seat once more. ‘I was beginning to wonder where all the cash was coming from to pay for all these grand plans for the grounds. And I’m sure a celebrity like Will doesn’t come cheap.’

  ‘Mother,’ Igraine hissed across the table, as Will sensed Morgana stiffen on his left, though she made no move to turn in Helena’s direction as she had throughout the meal.

  Apparently undaunted, Helena gave an aggrieved sniff. ‘Well, you can’t blame me for wondering when your brother was pleading poverty not six months ago.’ She let out a brittle laugh that went straight to Will’s nerves like nails on a blackboard. ‘I assumed Arthur must be marrying for money when I saw the announcement.’

  At Lucie’s shocked gasp, Helena leaned forward once more, that horribly fake smile on her face. ‘But as soon as I met you, I knew that wasn’t the case.’ She paused a beat too long before adding. ‘He’s obviously in love with you, my dear.’

  Will met Igraine’s eyes across the table, and knew he wasn’t the only one who’d caught the sly dig in her mother’s words. Like him, Lucie had been raised on a council estate in London, although unlike him, she’d also spent some time at a private school and carried no trace of a city accent.

  ‘I don’t think I’ll bother with dessert,’ Constance said, her voice stiff with what Will suspected was outrage. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’

  ‘I’ll come with you, Connie.’ Morgana made a move to stand, and Will hopped up to pull her chair back. She gave him a nod. ‘Thank you, Will.’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  He was about to resume his seat when Igraine stood up. ‘Come on, Mother, you’re looking a bit tired after a long day of travel.’ There was a razor edge to the smile she gave Helena, and Will glanced away before he started laughing at the absolute affront on the older woman’s face. Circling the table, Igraine placed a hand on her mother’s chair, giving her no option but to stand up. ‘I’m sure you’ll just want to relax for the rest of the evening. I’ll arrange for some tea to be sent up to your room.’ With a hand on Helena’s lower back, she all but propelled her out of the room.

  The rest of the group dispersed; Arthur and Lucie to take the dogs out for a walk as was their usual after dinner routine, Tristan to go and check on Lancelot who’d apparently moved out of the main castle and into the stables in protest at Helena’s arrival. Left alone in the dining room, Will took a minute to rotate his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension in his spine. If the triplets’ mother was planning a prolonged stay at the castle, it was going to be a very long summer.

  *

  The knock on his bedroom door came a couple of hours later. Although he’d changed for bed into a T-shirt and a baggy pair of sleep shorts, it was still too hot to be comfortable, so Will was sitting in the armchair as close to the open window as possible, enjoying the light breeze floating in. ‘Come in.’

  Igraine poked her head around the door, her dark hair caught up in a long plait which trailed over her shoulder. ‘I’m not disturbing you, am I?’

  Putting down the risk assessment the groundworkers had sent through for the next stage of their works, Will patted his lap. ‘Come here.’

  With a sigh, she closed the door behind her then crossed the room to curl up against his chest. ‘What a bloody day.’

  He loved the way she melted into him, could feel her relaxing by inches as he pushed his hand under the base of her plaited hair to stroke her nape, his other curling under her knees to tuck her a bit closer. ‘Are you all right?’ It was a stupid question, because she clearly wasn’t, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.

  ‘I just wish I knew why she decided to show up now, it’s all so out of the blue.’

  Will pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘Didn’t she say something about seeing the wedding announcement? It’s only natural she’d want to be involved in that, I guess.’

  Igraine stiffened against him. ‘She’s never shown any bloody interest in what any of us do before now, I don’t see why a wedding should be any different.’ Her tension drained out on another sigh. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be snappy, it’s just not like her to turn up like this.’

  She had a point, he supposed. If it was him getting married, would his mum suddenly drop everything to show up unannounced? He hardly thought so. ‘When was the last time you saw her?’

  ‘She hasn’t been home since she first left when we were little. The few times we saw her, she picked us up from school for a day out. She lived abroad for about six years with her third husband.’

  ‘Third?’ Will laughed. ‘How many has she had?’

  Igraine shifted on his lap so she could tilt her head back against his shoulder and look up at him. He was pleased to see she looked a bit cheerier than when she’d first come in. ‘She’s up to four, so far. The latest one does something very important for one of the big banks. As to your original question, I haven’t seen her since I graduated from university, and she only dropped in that day because she was visiting some friends who lived in Gloucestershire at the time. I haven’t really thought about it until now, but it’s been over five years.’

  ‘You didn’t miss her then?’ He’d got used to his mum not being about, but he couldn’t assume it was the same for Igraine.

  ‘Hardly! You’ve seen how much havoc she’s created in just a few hours. I was more than happy when she married Beaumont Jones the third-he’s an American, in case you hadn’t guessed by the name-because it meant they were always off travelling because of his work. It became easier for her to stop any more half-hearted attempts at keeping in contact, which was a relief as far as Tristan and I were concerned, though it’s always been harder on Arthur.’

  Ah. Things were starting to fall into place. If Arthur was the one closest to her, it was only natural he’d want her to stick around if she was showing an interest in his wedding. ‘How long is she intending to stay?’

  Igraine shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. She said Beaumont is on an extended business trip, so I’m worried it’ll be for the whole summer.’ Letting out a
groan, she buried her face into his neck. ‘God, I hope not.’

  He hoped not as well. ‘Can I ask why you don’t want her to know about us?’

  Raising her face, she gave him a challenging look. ‘If you’re thinking it’s because I’m ashamed of you in anyway, you can put that idea right out of your head! I adore you. Being with you makes me feel so good.’ He accepted the kiss she offered, liking the idea of this beautiful woman adoring him more than was probably sensible.

  ‘But?’

  She nestled back into his chest, one hand stroking over the thin cotton of his T-shirt. ‘You saw the way she sharpened her claws on poor Lucie-well, she’s been doing that to me for as many years as I can remember. She can spot a weak spot a mile off, and will exploit it mercilessly.’ Her hand pressed over his heart. ‘You’re a very big weak spot, and I don’t want to give her the chance to spoil things between us.’

  Holding her close, Will shuffled his bottom along the seat of the armchair to create a bit more space for her to lean against him. ‘Don’t fret, sweetheart. I won’t let her do that.’

  ‘Promise,’ she whispered against his skin.

  ‘I promise. Whatever you need me to do, you only have to ask. Even if that means keeping a low profile.’

  She fell silent for a long moment, then raised her face to stare up at him. ‘Will you hold me?’

  ‘I thought that’s what I was doing?’ he teased, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose.

  ‘You’re such a funny guy.’ Shifting position, she pressed her hips down into the hardness of his lap and all humour between them melted into a deep, throbbing need. She stretched her neck up to capture his lips with her own. ‘I want.’ She kissed him again. ‘You to take me to bed.’ Another, deeper kiss. ‘And make love to me.’