Married For Real. Lindsay ArmstrongЧитать онлайн книгу.
aren’t I? And with an impatient grimace, took herself off to attack the garden.
She backed the ride-on mower out of the shed and started on the wide expanse of lawn in front of the house. Scawfell, which Peter Adams had inherited from his parents, was situated on the south coast of New South Wales and comprised about fifty acres. The house was old, two-storied, large and rambling on the outside, but over the years Peter had redesigned the inside so that it was light, modern and very comfortable. It stood with its back to a tree-lined ridge and faced, over its several acres of lawn, the sea. There was a fairly steep cliff face beyond the lawn down to a perfect little bay with a crescent of sandy beach. It was a wonderful place to live if you liked the out-doors, sweeping vistas and the sea. Arizona, born in a city and carted from city to city, excepting while she’d been training to be a teacher, had taken to Scawfell and country life as if she’d been born to it. Always an energetic person, she’d found she loved gardening, grew her own herbs and vegetables and had reclaimed the orchard from a charming wilderness to a garden of bounty. She’d also had the stables renovated, and at present they housed three hacks and three ponies. All of which Declan Holmes had been paying for, she thought with a sudden pang.
Which led her to think further, as she drove the mower expertly and the scent of freshly cut grass filled the air, that she’d been proud of her achievements in her three years at Scawfell, proud in her first year as governess of what she’d achieved with Pete’s children, then in her second year all she’d achieved with his estate. And I even thought I was holding it all together over this last year, she reflected a little bitterly. Little to know...at least I was a model of thrift and resourcefulness. Little to know that the money Declan was feeding into the bank as per the arrangement after the will was read and until probate was his own. Not that it’s helped me much, being so thrifty and resourceful, he still views me with the utmost cynicism and he’s still determined to marry me...
She sighed again and thought of Peter Adams, who had been a vague, warm, friendly man, a genius at designing buildings but not a good businessman, apparently, yet a man who had understood her and had known something of the forces that had moulded her. Why did he have to die? she thought sadly. For the first time in my life I felt...safe.
She spent that day and the next working extremely hard, often alongside Cloris although certainly not in the same mood. But she couldn’t deny that she was also motivated to have Scawfell looking its best. It was unfortunate that Declan Holmes, who’d said he would arrive on Saturday morning, arrived late on Friday afternoon, catching her unkempt after a bout in the orchard. But the news he brought with him upset her all the more...
CHAPTER TWO
SHE was crossing the driveway, hauling the dead bough of a peach tree, when he drove up in his dark red convertible Saab.
She dropped the bough and stood with her hands on her hips as he stopped the car only feet from her. It was a windy, cool dusk with the promise of rain in the air, and she wore a pair of denim dungarees over an ancient checked shirt, wellingtons, gardening gloves and had her hair bundled into a red scarf.
On the other hand, as he opened the door and stepped out of the Saab, she saw that he was wearing well-pressed khaki trousers, highly polished brown moccasins and a white knit sports shirt beneath a beautiful dark brown leather jacket.
‘What are you doing here today?’ she said crisply as his blue eyes drifted amusedly over her.
‘Came a bit early, that’s all,’ he drawled. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘You could have warned us!’
‘Sorry,’ he said entirely unrepentantly. ‘But if you’re embarrassed about how you look, may I say that it makes no difference what you wear, you still look like a goddess, Arizona. Although in this case an avenging goddess,’ he added with soft mockery.
Arizona’s expression defied description for a moment, then she said tautly, ‘Cloris will be thrown into despair. She’d planned to roll out the red carpet for you and make every meal a masterpiece, whereas it could well be mince on toast tonight.’
He laughed. ‘I quite like mince on toast, and I loathe red carpets, but I will make my formal apologies to Cloris.’
‘Not to me, though.’ She gazed at him coolly.
‘I really don’t think there’s anything I need to apologize to you for, Arizona, is there?’ He raised an eyebrow at her.
‘No, nothing!’ she marvelled. ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get rid of this and—’
‘Incidentally,’ he broke in as she turned away, ‘I’ll be staying for the week.’
She turned back immediately. ‘A week! Why?’
‘I felt like a break, that’s all.’ He shrugged. ‘And seeing as we’re betrothed, who better to spend it with than you? Of course I didn’t expect the prospect to fill you with undiluted joy, but—’
Arizona muttered something under her breath and went to turn away again, whereupon he stopped her with a hand on her wrist. ‘But we do have a bargain, don’t we, Arizona?’
‘Let me go,’ she said proudly.
‘In a moment. Don’t we, Arizona?’ he repeated evenly.
‘Yes,’ she said through her teeth. ‘However, in private, Declan, don’t expect much joy at all!’
His blue eyes narrowed but he said merely, ‘And in public, Arizona?’
‘I have no idea how—things will come out,’ she said through her teeth.
‘Then you better start thinking about it,’ he replied dryly. ‘Or thinking about the kids,’ he added with all the pointedness of an unerringly aimed arrow. ‘Are they all home?’
‘No. Ben is out camping with his scout group.’ She paused then decided not to tell him that Ben had not intended to go on this camp—until he’d heard about Declan Holmes spending the weekend with them. So she added instead with a scornful toss of her head, ‘I’m not in the habit of placing children in the line of fire, Declan.’
‘Good,’ he murmured. ‘Then allow me.’ And he picked up the bough. ‘Where do you want it?’
Arizona gazed at him for a long moment but his eyes were a placid, mild blue. ‘Over there, thanks,’ she said briskly, pointing towards a pile of timber. ‘I thought we might have a bonfire tomorrow night, if it doesn’t rain.’
‘Sounds like fun,’ he said casually. ‘Stay there, I’ll drive you up to the house.’
‘Won’t you be bored stiff—here for a whole week?’ she said abruptly as he drove the short distance to the front door.
‘No. Why should I?’
‘It’s not exactly a dashing lifestyle we pursue,’ she said with irony.
‘It’s not exactly a dashing lifestyle I’m after. And I thought it would be nice to—ride with you, swim with you, that sort of thing. We could also,’ he went on as she cast him a weary look, ‘go over the estate together and decide what needs to be done.’
‘There’s quite a lot—’ She broke off and castigated herself mentally.
‘Quite a lot to be done? Good—we’re here, Arizona,’ he murmured gravely, but his eyes were full of amusement.
‘Well, would you mind if I left you to Cloris’s tender mercies for a while, Declan?’ she returned swiftly and sweetly. ‘I rather desperately need a bath.’
‘Not at all, Arizona, not at all.’
She took with her, upstairs to the privacy of her own suite, a raging tendency to want to swish her tail like an angry lioness.
Her suite, which Pete had designed specially for her, comprised a bedroom, bathroom and