Down the Garden Path by Dorothy Cannell Read Free Book Online Page A

Should I have found them locked together like Siamese twins, I would have died. As it was ... I must remember I had come to urge Harry to be my accomplice ... nothing more.
    “Good morning,” said the hussy. “Don’t you think we should introduce ourselves?”
    Twisting my hands behind my back I lifted my chin and tried to force my lips into a superior smirk, but it was hard when they kept quivering.
    “Come on,” came that marvellous breathy voice. “You must be someone very close to Harry to make free with his house. What are you, his sister? His mother?” She was laughing at me! And Fergy thought I was born to be a wicked brazen thing!
    I unfroze. Leaning forward I gave the bedspread a jerk, which sent her backwards against the pillows. This creature rated meat pie, sherry, and fruit, did she? All I had ever got were burnt bangers and stale cakes! “His mother!” I hissed. “I’m his wife, you poor deluded fool. When I think of what I have suffered with all his women, I wonder I don’t throw myself in the nearest river.” I ground my teeth. “And I would in a minute, if it weren’t for the little ones. Six of them I have downstairs, crying for their daddy.”
    With that I walked with noble tread to the door. That should fix her! But the muffled sound of her throaty laughter followed me downstairs. Slamming the kitchen door I leaned up against it, blinking. Behind me I thought I heard another door open and close. Return of Lord Harry Heartthrob? No. At least not by way of the front door, because at that moment he came in through the one next to the pantry. Head down, he was pulling out a bottle of cream and a packet of cheese from a brown paper bag.
    “What did I tell you? Mrs. O’Leary was only too pleased to oblige with ...” He looked up. “Tessa!” The bag, cream, and cheese all slipped and he made an automatic clutch at them. “This is so—unexpected.” What was unexpected was the look in his eyes.
    He was pleased to see me. Nothing could disguise the delight in his dark blue gaze before it travelled furtively to the door which had edged open when I moved away from it. Through the gap he would have a good view of the staircase.
    “Well, isn’t this nice. I have a guest.” His hearty tone was an attempt to reach the upper regions and warn the other guest to dress before descending. A waste. The bird had already flown. A calm settled over me, bred of a mixture of amusement and sadness.
    I pointed at the pie. “You seem to have been expecting another guest. Harry, I’m sorry, my stopping by like this was a real cheek. I shouldn’t have walked in without your being here.”
    His eyes changed, became enigmatic. “Contrary to rumour, bachelors don’t all exist off diets of bread and dripping and marmalade sandwiches. I really do rather well for myself. You will stay for lunch, won’t you? We’ll celebrate with some wine. I can’t believe you’re here, Tess. That last time I saw you ... I’m afraid I rather went off the deep end....”
    “Forget that. I want us to be friends, Harry.”
    “Friends.” He paused, looked away from me, then back again. “Yes, I suppose.... You do look splendid, but then—look, I’m sorry, I drank an ocean of coffee this morning, and if I don’t hit the loo ...”
    He fled through into the sitting room and leapt up the stairs four at a time. Seconds later he came bounding halfway down again, pausing, eyes narrowed. Suddenly he grinned. “I should have known,” he said. Leaning back against the staircase wall, he folded his lean brown arms. Marvellous how in the faded blue jeans with the rip above the knee he still managed to look like a model from a Horse and Hound magazine. His lip curled. “What did you do with her? Bury her in the cellar?”
    “Don’t be silly.” I looked up at him. Was he angry? Was it possible that he really cared about that woman? Was he realizing now that my nose was undignified and that the way my mouth tilted downwards at