A Family Forever by Helen Scott Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

makeup."
    "Of course. No problem." Adam headed back into Great Monkton and stopped outside the quaint cottage. "Do you want me to wait in the car?"
    "No, don't be silly. Come in and we'll have a cup of tea before we leave again. I feel as if I need something to bolster my strength."
    Adam followed Victoria inside. While she nipped upstairs, he put the kettle on and made a pot of tea. She returned in a couple of minutes with makeup disguising her flushed face and red eyes. She'd put something pink and shiny on her lips and they looked very tempting as she pursed them to sip her tea.
    In the quiet moments before Adam fell asleep last night, she'd invaded his thoughts. Now the memory of her slim body in his arms and the fragrance of her silky hair was going to plague him. This woman had cast a spell over him with her gentle smile and luminous blue eyes.
    In the tight space of the tiny kitchen, she brushed past him as she tidied up. He longed to take her in his arms again, to kiss her and make her forget about the miserable old farmer. But as he was only here for a few weeks, it would be unfair to start something between them
    When they finished their tea, they headed back to his car and set off to explore another area for potential hedgehog release sites.
    Unfortunately, the rest of the day continued as it had started. The people they called on were mostly disinterested, a few actively hostile. By the end of the day, they had only found one place that would take a hedgehog.
    That evening, as Harry slept in his camp bed in the sitting room at Larchfield, Adam spread the map on his sleeping bag and examined the area surrounding Great Monkton. He circled Willowbrook Farm in red pen, and chewed his lip as he surveyed the green fields around the property.
    From the map, it was impossible to tell how much land old Andrews owned, but he certainly owned the field beside Larchfield. Adam wanted that field. If he could persuade the old guy to sell, it would solve the hedgehog relocation problem. From the state of Willowbrook Farm, the farmer obviously wasn't flush with money. Adam knew from experience that a wad of cash often talked when words failed.
    Victoria had confided in him that Andrews regularly threatened her when she walked across the field. If Adam bought it, she would be able to walk all over it to her heart's content and release her hedgehogs into the hedges without fear of intimidation.
    He needed to ask around, find out more about the farmer. The obvious place to start was with the man's daughter who owned the pub.

Chapter Six
    "Come on. Out you get." Adam held open the car door and watched his son clamber out, a scowl on his face. Harry had hardly said two words to him that morning. He didn't know what he'd done to earn the cold shoulder.
    "Cheer up. It's a lovely day." They headed across the Plume of Feathers' car park and around the side of the pub to the garden at the back where they'd arranged to meet Harry's tutor.
    Tim Donaldson sat at one of the wooden tables under a fluttering green umbrella, reading a newspaper. This early in the day, the garden was quiet. They had the grassy area to themselves.
    Wooden tables and benches with umbrellas above dotted the lawn. Ducks sat on the grass or wandered around pecking at the ground. The peace was broken only by the noise of the birds and the rushing water in the river that ran past the pub.
    The place was a far cry from noisy central London where Adam and Harry lived. Even when they walked in the parks, they could never escape the ever-present drone of traffic and the smell of pollution.
    Harry had taken his lessons from Tim on planes and yachts, in hotel rooms and the backs of cars, by a pool in Florida, on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean in Greece, and once, in a sheik's palace. But it was the first time they'd sat in the English countryside for a lesson.
    Tim raised his hand when he spotted them. "Hi there. Ready for a morning of math, Harry?"
    Harry grunted,