An Exception to His Rule by Lindsay Armstrong Read Free Book Online

don’t you think?’
    Harriet pursed her lips. ‘I suppose so,’ she said at length, and flinched inwardly a little to hear herself repeating the bit about it being rather a thoughtful thing to do to Brett that evening when she drove over in the blue Holden to see him.
    ‘Thoughtful?’ Brett repeated as she wheeled him out to the car park to look at it. ‘You sure the guy’s not sweet on you, Harry?’
    ‘Quite s...’ Harriet paused then said hastily, ‘I think your car keeps reminding him of what I did to his beloved Aston Martin with it.’
    ‘But he’s not here to see it,’ Brett objected.
    ‘He has eyes in the back of his head—or something like that,’ Harriet said gloomily, then forced herself to brighten up. ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘I’ve got a new physio,’ Brett replied. ‘She’s really cool. I’m walking a wee bit further every day.’
    Harriet narrowed her eyes as she picked up a jaunty note she hadn’t heard in her brother’s voice for a long time. And she found herself crossing her fingers metaphorically and sending up a little prayer at the same time that this ‘she’, this new physio, might just be the one to provide her brother with the spark he needed.
    * * *
    The other aspect of life at Heathcote, of course, was Charlie. He didn’t spend a lot of time on the estate during his furlough but when he did he always popped in to see Harriet.
    It was probably during the third such visit that Harriet confirmed what she’d first suspected—that Charles Walker Wyatt treated her in rather a strange manner.
    And she couldn’t help mentioning it at the same time as she couldn’t keep a straight face. ‘Charlie,’ she said with a chuckle, ‘do I look as if I’ve popped down from Mars?’
    ‘Mars,’ he repeated, looking startled. He was lounging at the refectory table eating an apple plucked from her bowl when he wasn’t watching her in that curiously assessing way he had. ‘What makes you say that?’
    ‘You have a way of looking at me and sort of...testing everything I say as if it has a hidden meaning or I have something about me you just don’t understand.’
    ‘Ah.’ Charlie took a large bite of his apple. ‘Well...’ He munched and thought. ‘I’ve never met anyone quite like you, I guess.’
    He paused and studied her thoughtfully. She wore tight black shorts and a sapphire-blue tank top. Her hair was bunched up on top of her head and she wore her red-rimmed glasses as she studied a recipe she was planning to make for her dinner. It was an unexceptional outfit by any standards and yet it emphasised how trim and slim her figure was, how long her legs were.
    No wonder Damien had got a bit carried away, Charlie found himself thinking as Harriet reached up and took down a pottery casserole dish.
    Even used as he is to the crème de la crème, there’s certainly something, well, subtly, but all the same eye-catching about Ms Harriet Livingstone, Charlie thought. Why on earth did I promise to leave her alone...?
    ‘Charlie?’
    He came out of his thoughts to find Harriet staring at him. ‘Uh—I’ve certainly never met anyone who works as hard as you do. You were still working at midnight when I got home last night!’
    ‘That’s because I’d like to finish this project before your brother gets—’ She stopped abruptly.
    ‘Before Damien gets home? Why?’ he asked simply.
    Harriet shrugged.
    ‘His bark is a lot worse than his bite, as I should know.’
    ‘It may be but I...’ She paused.
    ‘And you certainly must have made quite an impression on him because, believe me,’ Charlie said earnestly, ‘he’s usually intensely private about his affairs. I got put firmly in my place only a couple of weeks ago when all I did was mention Veronica’s name. She’s his ex-wife,’ he added obligingly, and waited.
    I will not rise to the bait, Harriet vowed.
    ‘So am I—very private,’ she said shortly then relented as Charlie’s expression became wounded. ‘Look,