Escape to the Country (5 page)

"A break from what?"

"London, work, stuff like that." She'd better keep it
simple.

"Maybe I'll see you around then?" he said.

"It's quite possible."

Her heart was beating faster and not just because they were walking
uphill. She was surprised to see they'd already reached the stile.

"Yes, well thanks again for your help."

"My pleasure." He definitely looked like he meant that.

Despite her feet which were starting to get sore, she could feel a
smile on her face as she walked back. She glanced at her watch, she'd
spent half an hour in his company. They hadn't said much; darn it,
she hadn't even thought to ask his name! It hadn't been the same as
an awkward silence at home though, where she was afraid to speak for
fear of saying the wrong thing and starting a row. She'd definitely
like to spend more time talking, or otherwise, with him.

She didn't know why she was getting in such a state about him. He was
good looking enough, but no more so than Adam. He'd pulled her out of
some mud, not saved her life or reputation. It was her idea of a
romantic rescue though and what girl wouldn't want to be picked up
and whisked away from her problems. That's what she'd wanted from
Adam when she'd had her world shattered by her boss accusing her of
dishonesty. She'd wanted him to wade in and protest that of course
she was innocent, make a fuss, demand an apology from her accusers
and then take her away. Ride off into the sunset she supposed. She
was hardly being fair. Adam had his own career and reputation to
think of and he'd never been the romantic type.

"Get what you wanted?" Jayne asked as Leah let herself and
Tarragon back into the yard.

"I think so. I never made it to the shop though."

"Oh? Sounds as though I'd better put the kettle on for this
one."

"And cut a slice of cake. I've had an adventure!"

"Well, tell me," Jayne demanded as soon as she'd poured the
tea.

"I've been swept off my feet!"

"What? By a man do you mean, or knocked over by a gust of wind?"

"Both, well I didn't fall over, but he had to rescue me. Jayne,
I'm afraid I rather flirted with the dishy tractor driver you told me
about. I think it was a sort of reaction to Adam as honestly I'm not
usually like that, but he really was gorgeous and he picked me up
just as though I was as light as you seem to think I am and he's got
such lovely big brown eyes and..."

"Hang on a minute... Dishy tractor driver?"

"You told me about him and I have to admit you were right."

"Sam Cartwright is the estate's tractor driver," Jayne said
slowly, in the same patient voice she'd used to explain things to ten
year old Leah during school holidays.

"Well, Sam Cartwright is a dish."

"If you like 67 year old men with faded red beards, then I
agree."

"What?" Leah looked at the puzzled expression on Jayne's
face. "Oh, Jayne! You didn't lie about the dishy tractor driver
too?"

"'Fraid so. You sounded so upset on the phone that I'd have said
anything to get you down here."

"So, any idea who my mystery hero is?"

"Yes, but you're not going to like it. It's Oliver
Gilmore-Bunce."

"No way."

"Describe him again."

"Well over six foot. Gorgeous brown eyes with lashes that'd make
even Rosemary jealous, lots of curly hair, strong obviously, but not
in a body builder kind of way. Oooh and his voice... sounds like he
should be doing voiceovers for some really rich and expensive
chocolates."

"Definitely him. Told you he was nice. Just a bit young for me,
but I still wouldn't mind being rescued by him."

"No. This guy is a tractor driver, not some pretentious
landowner."

"He's not pretentious and he can drive a tractor."

"Sorry, Jayne, but it wasn't your Mr Gilmore-Bunce. I've seen
him and he's nothing like my rescuer."

"You sound very sure."

"I am, he was a client of... well, he still is a client of the
company I used to work for. He's the reason I had to leave. He isn't
as nice as you think he is. Doesn't look as good either, he's older,
fatter and shorter and balding. Adam pointed him out to me, but
didn't introduce us because he knew he'd be rude, or patronising, or
both. He's a sexist pig who wouldn't let a woman handle his accounts
until Adam intervened on my behalf. Obviously now, I wish he hadn't
but I was regretting it even before the present trouble." Leah's
rant eventually ran out of steam in the face of no reaction from
Jayne. She lamely added, "I'm very disappointed by your taste in
men."

"Hmm, speaking of which, has Adam phoned back about your trouble
at work?"

"No. D'you know when I saw my phone was flat I was almost
pleased because I could kid myself he'd been trying to call and
apologise. Or say he was doing something to help, or even just check
I was OK. He's not going to do any of those things, is he?"

"Doesn't sound like it, lovey. No wonder you want a simple
tractor driver," Jayne said.

"I don't, I just said he was kind and..."

"Good looking, right. Hmm, but if he's not my landlord, he must
be someone new. I'll see what I can find out."

"Not on my account..." Leah started to say, but she had to
admit she was curious. It was no more than that really. OK, he'd
lifted her out the mud, but Adam had saved her at work. When he'd
heard Gilmore-Bunce hadn't wanted Leah to handle his account, Adam
had swallowed his own dislike of the man and taken him out to dinner
in order to tactfully persuade him to change his mind. He'd even come
up with the brilliant idea of having Leah and her client communicate
exclusively by e-mail, so she was spared his boorish rudeness and he
could pretend that L.J.T. was a man if that's what he wanted.

It rained heavily that night and all the following day. Feeding the
sheep, milking Rosemary and collecting the eggs were all much less
fun in the wet. The bales of hay soaked up water and were heavier to
carry. The mud was deeper making it harder to keep her wellies on.

"Sorry about this," Jayne said as they took a fresh dry
bale of straw from the barn and carrying an end each dashed to the
pigs with it before the animals' bedding could get wet. The mud
splashed up Leah's legs.

"Don't be - these are your trousers, not mine," Leah
laughed.

"I didn't really mean the mud. I was thinking of the work you're
doing. Your talents are rather wasted on manual labour."

"Talents?"

"You always were a genius at maths and you've got all those
finance qualifications. I don't even understand the names of them."

It was true, she did have excellent qualifications. They were what
got her into trouble at work. Because of them she'd been involved
with the biggest accounts and had access to information that probably
would have allowed her to commit the fraud she was accused of.
Unfortunately she didn't have the experience she'd have gained if
she'd had to work her way up more slowly to such a position of trust
so hadn't spotted when somebody else had tampered with the accounts.
Adam had let her down there, by pushing her to accept promotion when
she hadn't felt ready. Perhaps because he too had been so impressed
with her abilities he'd not foreseen any potential trouble. That
proved he wasn't quite so clever himself as he liked to suggest. On
the other hand, Jayne was much more astute than she gave herself
credit for.

"You know all sorts of things I don't though, Jayne. You're
clever too."

"OK, we're both geniuses! Maybe we'd better put our massive
brains to the task of eliminating mud from our lives."

"We can try," Leah agreed. The answer for her was easy. She
could simply return to London. As she looked at the pigs romping
around in their fresh dry straw she wasn't entirely convinced her
answer was perfect.

The house smelt of wet dog and drying clothes, both strategically
positioned in front of the Aga.

At least, coats, hats and gloves were drying. Some of Jayne's other
clothes were getting nearly as wet inside as the ones she wore
outside thanks to a leak in the thatched roof. Calmly, Jayne emptied
and moved the wardrobe, stuck another load in the washing machine and
telephoned her landlord. Leah would have demanded instant action,
whereas Jayne made rather light of the situation. Apparently Oliver
Gilmore-Bunce promised to deal with the problem at the earliest
opportunity.

The following day, Valentine's day, the rain still poured down,
inside and out. Jayne received a card, on the front of which was a
very fat cartoon Santa.

"Is the post a bit slow round here?" Leah asked.

"No, why? It's Valentine's Day today, isn't it?"

"Yes, but that's a Christmas card."

"Kind of. My friend Jim sends me a Christmas or Easter or
birthday card every year. At least, I suppose it must be him."

"Explain."

"He sent me a Valentine's one when we were at school and I got
teased so much I told him not to do it again. Ever since then, I've
received a Christmas or other type of card on Valentine's Day, so I'm
pretty sure he sends them."

"You country people are weird!"

At lunchtime, the women came in to find a single long stemmed red
rose lying on the mat in the porch. It was beautifully wrapped in
cellophane and lace and tied with a ribbon, but there was no note.

Leah picked it up and carried it in. "You didn't tell Jim he
couldn't send flowers, then?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure this isn't from him. The cards are just
a joke now and in any case, this isn't his style. Jim doesn't do
subtle and mysterious, if he wanted to give me flowers he'd turn up
with a big bunch of daisies or something. How about Adam, could he
have sent this?" As she spoke, Jayne started to get lunch ready.

Leah knew he hadn't. Worse, she knew he never would. "I really
don't think so. If he did, it's the most romantic thing he's ever
done."

"He didn't give you flowers?"

"Yes, of course, but there was always a reason. I got a huge
bouquet on Valentine's, my birthday, our anniversary, as an apology.
This looks a bit more..."

"Romantic, not to mention subtle and mysterious?" Jayne
asked.

"Yeah, well one of us has an admirer - unless it's for
Tarragon?"

"Could be. There's a collie in town who's always very pleased to
see him. Come on then, let's eat."

They enjoyed hot tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches.

"No one has been round to check up on the roof," Leah
complained after they'd eaten.

"What's to check? He knows what the problem is because I told
him."

"If someone came round you'd know it was being taken seriously."

"It is being taken seriously. G-B will arrange for someone to
fix it as soon as possible."

"You were too soft with him, saying it wasn't a big problem. You
should insist something is done right away. People like him get rich
by riding roughshod over ordinary people."

"Not him, besides these things take time. He's a good landlord,
he'll see it's done right."

Leah wasn't convinced, but clearly Jayne, whilst perfectly capable of
running the small farm, wasn't able to deal with the likes of her
negligent landlord. Fortunately Leah was; thanks to the way Adam had
toughened her up. She could take on the high and mighty Gilmore-Bunce
and win this battle - and the one for her own reputation.

The following day the rain eased. Maybe that's what caused the
improvement to Leah's mood. Equally it could have been learning the
tractor driver was called Duncan. "Actually, he's not just a
tractor driver, he's a kind of foreman. And he's not married,"
Jayne added as though that information might be of interest to Leah.

"Where do you get your information from?" Leah asked.

Jayne held up the morning's post.

"You wrote and asked someone?"

"No silly. Round here we actually talk to each other instead of
doing everything at second hand via e-mails and the like."

"So you asked the postman? That's a good idea, he'd know who'd
moved in and what their names were. I'm not sure it was ethical to
tell you though."

"Not ethical to know your neighbour's name? How can you welcome
them or offer help when it's needed or direct visiting friends who're
looking for their new home?"

"Well,..." Leah was at a loss. Jayne knew the life history
of everyone in Winkleigh Marsh. Leah didn't know the names of all the
neighbours in her London flat. When she'd visited as a child she'd
never questioned the fact that everyone they met knew not just
Jayne's name, but her own and their relationship and what minor
mischief they were about to cause. It had been Adam who'd discouraged
her habit of making friends at every turn. It was a habit she
intended to re-acquire. Quite possibly she'd practice on Dishy Duncan
the tractor driver.

Although they still had to wade through mud in the yard, to reach
some of the animals, the farm work didn't seem so hard in the
sunshine. Leah fed the chickens and cleaned out and refilled their
water containers before gathering the eggs. She carried buckets of
feed for the pigs and declared herself brave enough to attempt
cleaning them out. To her surprise the pens weren't particularly
dirty and all Leah had to do was sweep up the mess they'd carefully
deposited in a corner away from their bedding. They didn't even smell
too bad. Her next task was to fetch a bale of straw to top up their
bedding.

Occasionally Leah almost lost one of her boots in the mud, but each
time just managed to avoid getting a wet and dirty foot.

"I think I'll get myself a pair of wellies that fit," she
said.

"Good idea. I've got to go into town and some some feed soon, so
we could go this afternoon and get you a pair."

Leah decided to buy herself some suitable clothes too. Jayne's were
OK as a temporary measure, but she'd prefer her own. She wasn't sure
how long she'd stay this time, but planned to visit far more
regularly in future. There was now nothing to stop her coming down
whenever she wanted. If she wasn't reinstated at work there'd be
nothing to stop her staying permanently. Of course she would be and
then she'd be back to her normal busy work schedule and long hours.
With a sigh Leah realised that when she wanted to visit Jayne before,
it hadn't just been a shortage of time which prevented her, she
hadn't liked to risk upsetting Adam by being more insistent that he
accompany her and somehow he'd made her feel it wouldn't be a good
idea to go alone.