‘Do you know why I haven’t asked you which room you’re sleeping in?’
Thea lowered the spoonful of lemon ice cream that had been on the way to her mouth. ‘I assumed it was so you didn’t accidentally ravish me without asking permission first.’
‘Precisely.’ Shaun’s teasing eyes took on a more serious sheen. ‘Although, I have a confession to make on that score.’
‘Then confess.’
Thea, relaxed under the effects of alcohol, good food, lack of sleep and the heat of the pub fire. They were tucked away in a village on the edge of Taunton, far enough away from Upwich for her not to worry about them being seen out together. Her calm state was helped by the fact that, contrary to expectations, not only had Tina honoured her promise to inform Malcolm of what had happened, he hadn’t gone mad about the damage to the house. He’d been impressed by their handling of the situation and relieved that the ill wind meant some good in the shape of an insurance payout. The lost vase could now pay for all the materials needed to update the mill before renting it out.
Shaun watched Thea lick ice cream from her lips as he said, ‘I am going to find it challenging not to search the attics for your room tonight. That being said, would you rather I stayed here? They have rooms.’
Thea studied his expression, not sure if he was joking or not. ‘And what would I do if you were here and another member of Exmoor’s wildlife population decided to visit the house in the middle of the night?’
‘Call Sam?’
‘An impractical suggestion for obvious reasons. Anyway, he’s promised to watch the chickens tonight. They are so cute! And as Sam is taking his promise to care for them very seriously, I’m not calling him away.
‘Anyway, if you remember, you drove us over here. Hence why you’re on lemonade and not beer. If you stayed, I’d have to stay too.’ Realising that idea was not unappealing, Thea picked up her spoon and stared into her bowl. ‘Now stop being so chivalrous and eat your pudding.’
Shovelling a large helping of Baked Alaska, Shaun shook his head in mock despair. ‘Well don’t blame me if I get lost going to bed and end up in the wrong room.’
‘I promise I will guide you safely to where you belong.’
‘Will you?’ Shaun placed a palm on her leg. ‘Will you, Thea?’
She nodded, her mouth suddenly too dry to talk despite the ice cream.
‘I don’t want to force the pace, and this isn’t just me taking advantage of an exhausted woman in a deserted house.’ He winked before becoming more serious. ‘Truly. I’m not trying to get my leg over before disappearing in a puff of smoke.’
Swallowing, knowing he was dead right about the exhaustion, Thea said, ‘If you happen to be passing my bedroom door, feel free to come in.’ She started to laugh. ‘Although frankly, I’m more likely to fall asleep on your shoulder than anything else.’
Shaun smiled. ‘That sounds rather nice.’
‘But not as much fun as what you had in mind.’
‘I had it all in mind. Slowly, over a period of years. Including lots of cuddled sleep.’
Thea reached out her hand and laid it over his. ‘You mean that, don’t you?’
Shaun said nothing, as his eyes filled with desire.
Whispering under her breath to stop anyone overhearing, Thea said, ‘There’s no way you’d fit into my bed. I hardly fit in it. Victorian serving girls were clearly built on much slimmer lines than twenty-first-century heritage managers.’
Shaun’s eyes dropped to her chest and back again. ‘And thank goodness for that.’
Thea shifted on her seat. ‘Perhaps we should talk about something else for a minute.’
‘I’d rather whisk you back to the manor right now and test your bed theory, but I do have something else I want to talk to you about.’
‘Go on.’
‘Come round here and I’ll tell you.’ Shaun patted the place next to him on the short settle.
‘Will I fit?’
‘Cheek! I’m not that big you know!’
Shaun budged up a fraction so Thea could squash up next to him. His arm came around her shoulder, half due the lack of space, and half because it felt good to be held and be holding.
‘What do you have to tell me? You’re being whisked away from the manor and can’t help after all?’
The words had come out lightly. A joke. But as soon as they’d escaped her flippant lips, Thea saw how real that possibility was – a fact echoed by the uncomfortable look in Shaun’s eyes.
‘Oh God, I was only joking. You’re not really leaving, are you?’ Shaun’s earlier words swam back to her. ‘You’re about to disappear in a puff of smoke?’
Resting his free arm on the table, Shaun fiddled with his lemonade glass. ‘Richard, the bloke coming tomorrow to start work on the table, needs to take me away for a few days to give a possible filming location a once-over.’
‘Oh.’ Thea felt her heart sink. Tina had gone, and now she was losing Shaun too. ‘How long for?’
‘A week. Ish.’
‘Right.’
‘Maybe more, but hopefully not.’ Shaun shuffled around so he could see Thea properly. ‘I’m sorry. I know this is rotten timing with Tina not being around. The production company told me I wouldn’t be needed for another month at least. Apparently there is a place in Cornwall ripe for investigating, but the owners need convincing. They want to meet me to reassure them that I won’t be riding roughshod over their land just for the sake of it.’
‘The perils of being the front man.’ Thea tried to ignore the disappointment that had gripped her insides. ‘I’m sure Tina and I will be okay soon.’ It was ridiculous. She shouldn’t feel this desolate. He was only going for a week. He’d been amazing already, and the fact that Richard was coming to take him away meant that the table was going to be fixed sooner rather than later.
‘I’d rather stay.’
Thea smiled up at him. ‘This is your job. You have to go.’
‘I’ll come back as soon as it’s sorted.’
‘It’ll be longer than a week though won’t it? There’ll be other things that have to be done. You’ve been away from your post for a while already.’ Being more practical than she felt like being, Thea added, ‘We’ve been very lucky to have your help for as long as we have. Mabel will be gutted though.’
Shaun spoke into his glass as he took a drink. ‘If I thought you’d agree, I’d invite you to come with me. Your expert eye would be welcome, as well as your company.’
‘If you’re going to Cornwall, you’re hardly likely to need the eye of a Roman historian.’
‘I think we both know that you’re much more than that.’ He flicked back her fringe and smiled into her eyes.
Thea lowered her eyes to her lap. If she looked at him now she’d either kiss him or her fatigue and guilt over hurting Tina would take over and she’d humiliate herself by bursting into tears. Despite her best efforts earlier, she noticed there were still specks of white on her palms. ‘We should have the mill whitewashed completely by the time you get back. I can’t believe how much we got done today.’
Recognising Thea’s determination to stay positive, Shaun squeezed her closer to his side. ‘Why don’t you visit Sybil’s place tomorrow and get those adverts for the rented space up?’
‘A good excuse for comfort food, as well as a sound business move.’ Thea gave him a brave smile.
‘Talking of mixing business with pleasure,’ Shaun said, withdrawing his arm, ‘I’m going to drive us home now.’
*
John sat very still. They hadn’t seen him. He hadn’t been sure he was going to follow them until the very last minute. Even now, he wasn’t entirely sure what he hoped to achieve by doing so. He’d been very careful about where he’d positioned himself. Behind them, and shrouded by a half-draped curtain that divided the restaurant from the bar.
He suspected however, that they wouldn’t have noticed him even if he’d paraded in front of them stark naked, they’d been so wrapped up in each other.
This is what Thea was warning me about – about not wanting to hurt me again – but the boring archaeologist is going away.
John scrolled through the emails on his phone. He needed to get back to Bath if he was going to consolidate his promotion.
But without Thea, I might not be able to keep my post anyway.
He drank the rest of his pint of Coke slowly. It was time to come up with a better plan.
*
April 19th
‘Who is that gentleman in with Shaun?’
Mabel, clipboard clutched to her chest, arrived in the office with her usual lack of greeting.
‘Richard. He’s a furniture expert who is going to try and save our table.’
‘Oh.’ Immediately satisfied that her territory hadn’t been invaded and that her work schedule hadn’t been messed up, but merely added to, Mabel referred to her list. ‘Aren’t you and Tina heading back to the mill today?’
‘Just me, Mabel. Tina is at the Trust office dealing with the insurance company about the vase.’ Thea crossed her fingers under her desk. ‘First, however, I have a mountain of paperwork to sort out. I have to book the health and safety people to come and give the place the once-over in time for Open Day.’
Frowning, Mabel scribbled extra notes on her chart. ‘Well, I wish you’d said. Should I rearrange things and get Derek and his team to do the whitewashing in the meantime? The garden is almost there, and I’m sure Sam and that nice John would rather do the outside jobs.’
Thea bit back the urge to ask Mabel why she always referred to John as being ‘nice’.
‘That would be helpful, thank you. The equipment is there already.’ She took the mill keys from the desk drawer. ‘Oh, and Mabel, Shaun has to leave today. He and Richard are needed in Cornwall to work on the next series of Landscape Treasures, so you’d better take him off your rota for now.’
The old lady was horrified. ‘Leaving?’
‘Yes.’ Thea resisted the temptation to say ‘I told you so.’
‘But he said he’d stay here. He promised.’
‘Only if and when he could get the time off work. We’ve already had Shaun’s help for much longer than I imagined, plus he got Richard here to mend the table, saving us hundreds of pounds.’
The crease on Mabel’s forehead deepened. ‘It’ll take more than today to mend the table. The layers will have to be built up slowly to hide the scratch properly.’
‘I’m aware of that.’ Thea met Mabel’s eyes. ‘He will come back with Shaun as soon as he can.’
‘So, Shaun will still do Open Day then?’
‘I don’t know, Mabel. Why don’t you ask him?’
‘No need to snap!’
Thea exhaled slowly. ‘Forgive me, I’ve had very little sleep for two nights running.’
‘You do look a bit tired.’ Mabel lightened her tone. ‘Shall I fetch you a coffee, dear? We don’t need you overworking and getting ill. Whatever time do you get here in the mornings? You’re always here before anyone.’
Looking back at her laptop screen so her eyes didn’t give her away, Thea mumbled, ‘It’s as if I never leave.’
*
‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course.’ Thea gave Tina a half-smile as her friend sat on the opposite side of the kitchen table, perched as if she might run off again at any moment. ‘It’s great to see you, I—’
‘I came to tell you that I should hear about the insurance claim today.’
‘Oh, right. Thank you.’ Feeling the weight of everything that needed doing crashing down on her, and not wanting to miss this chance to apologise to Tina, Thea leant across the kitchen table, and took Tina’s hands. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Please don’t go back to the Trust office to work. If you don’t want to share the scullery with me, I’ll find somewhere else. I miss you so much… I mean, I know it’s only been a few hours, but… Look, I don’t think you’re a gold-digger at all and—’
‘You were right.’
Tina’s words came out so quietly that Thea wasn’t sure she’d heard them properly. ‘Sorry?’
‘I said you were right. That’s sort of how I’ve been, although all I wanted was someone to take care of me. I hadn’t thought about the gold-digger side of it. It isn’t like I don’t want to pay my own way.’
Getting up, Thea hurried around the table and wrapped an arm around her friend. ‘I still shouldn’t have said it. I honestly didn’t mean it. It’s just that you and Sam get on so well. I’ve seen you working so happily together. It’s a shame for you to miss out on something because he doesn’t fit the image in your head.’
‘Maybe.’ Tina looked out of the window. ‘How about you and Shaun? You like him, don’t you?’
‘Against my better judgement.’
‘He clearly likes you. Just the way he glances in your direction is enough to tell me that.’
‘Do you think so?’
‘You know he does, or he wouldn’t have invited you out for a meal last night. Did you go? I wanted to ask you about it before but…’ Tina swung around to face Thea and sighed.
‘I wanted to tell you all about it as soon as I got back, but…’
‘But it’s hard to talk to someone when they aren’t talking to you.’
‘I really am sorry Tina. Basically, I was trying to be encouraging and cocked it right up.’
‘I know.’
Thea smiled. ‘Why don’t we climb today’s paperwork mountain and then escape for a while? I think we’ve both earned one of Sybil’s scones and some decent coffee. Not to mention a proper catch-up.’
*
‘Yes!’ Tina punched the air with her fist before turning to a yawning Thea.
‘Success with the insurance company perchance?’
‘Yep. It’s going to take time to process, but the smashed vase comes under accidental damage. It makes no difference that it was a bird that caused the breakage rather than a human.’
‘Thank God for that!’
‘And I forgot to tell you, I’ve finally found a locksmith who is willing to have a go at the mill doors. He’ll confirm a date tomorrow.’ Snapping her laptop closed, Tina moved around the table to perch next to Thea. ‘Now you can tell me about last night.’
Feeling the blush as it hit her cheeks, Thea laughed. ‘We went out to dinner.’
‘And?’ Tina lowered her voice, aware that there was always a chance John might be lurking within earshot.
‘And he’s leaving.’
‘What?’
Explaining the situation to Tina, Thea left out the part where Shaun had, once again, declared how much he wanted to take her to bed.
‘Have you told Mabel?’
‘Yes. It went down like a lead balloon.’
‘I bet. He’ll be back for Open Day though?’
‘No idea.’ Thea gave an accepting shrug. ‘We had a great time together last night, but I’m going to have to accept that that was it. There is always going to be somewhere else he has to be. Not his fault. It’s the nature of the job.’
‘Did you, you know…?’
‘I know perfectly well, thanks.’ Thea still regretted her decision to sleep alone the night before. Or rather, fail to sleep. All night she’d lain there, wishing she’d said yes, that she would join Shaun in his bed. She’d wanted to. Very much. But, the notion of sleeping with him and then never seeing him again… it just wasn’t her style.
‘Of course not.’
‘Shame.’ Tina gave her friend a hug. ‘It would have been a nice memory.’
‘Or something to make his leaving even harder.’
Tina lowered her voice further. ‘You’ve gone and fallen for him, haven’t you?’
‘Maybe.’ Thea straightened up. ‘Mabel is sending Derek and the boys to crack on with the whitewashing so we can do the paperwork. Would you be a star and check on Shaun and Richard?’
‘No problem.’ Accepting the change of subject for now, Tina headed towards the door. ‘Then I am taking you to Sybil’s. Cheese scones and hot coffee! Plus, we can pick her brains about local craft folk who might be up for new premises or a studio in the village.’
No sooner had Tina’s footsteps finished echoing along the corridor, than John appeared on silent feet. ‘I imagine you’re very tired this morning.’
The accusation shot from his lips like a bullet.
Thea closed her eyes. ‘John, I’m very busy. If we take it as read that you are about to ask me out, and I’m about to say no, then we can get on with our day.’
‘I came to apologise.’
‘Apologise?’
‘For coming on so heavy with the constant date requests. I hadn’t realised your taste in men had changed so dramatically.’
Thrown by the apology, and not quite sure whether she and Shaun were being insulted, or if John was simply stating a fact, Thea mumbled, ‘Oh, right then.’
‘But he’s leaving.’
‘For a short time.’
His smile suddenly returned. ‘He won’t come back.’
John didn’t say anything else, but the certainty of his words hit Thea hard as she realised that, just this once, he might be right.