Shattered Dreams (20 page)

The
combination was heavenly and made him smile even more because, for
the first time since he had arrived, the house started to feel like
home.

“
Let’s find something to eat, shall we?” He suggested gently
when Zack had sidled closer to the boxes to take a sniff, and
inspect the contents.

They all
worked together to put all of the purchases onto the table, before
they then found spaces for them on the freshly washed shelves, and
in the pantry. Only the pies, bread, milk and butter remained in
the middle of the table, along with a joint of ham, and a large
slab of cooked beef, an assortment of pickles, as well as three
cheeses and two large fruit cakes.

Tilly
collected freshly washed plates and cutlery, and took a seat while
Harry served everyone generous portions of everything.

“
Thank you for that, it was very kind of you,” Tilly sighed
as, stomach full, she sat back to sip her wine. She studied the
rest of the food still on the table in amazement. Even with the men
from the Star Elite in residence, they could eat like kings all
week and never touch even half of what Harry had
purchased.

“
Thank you for sorting the kitchens out,” Harry replied
quietly. The appreciation his gaze as he studied her made her want
to fidget, and she smiled at him somewhat awkwardly while she tried
to think of something to say.

Harry
watched a pink stain flood her cheeks, and realised that she was
not used to being praised or thanked for her work. He made a mental
note to do so as often as possible, as long as she smiled at him
like that again.

How long
they sat there staring at each other, heaven only knew. It was only
when Zack shifted in his seat that Harry realised what he was
doing, and reluctantly turned his attention to the young
boy.

“
Are you better now that you have eaten properly?”

Zack
nodded enthusiastically. “Much better, thank you,” he mumbled
around a mouthful of ham. “I have never had food like this before.
I love it.”

Tilly
looked at Suzanna. “Why don’t we go and take a look at those
bedrooms now. If we just shake out the sheets for now and refresh
the water, we can polish and scrub everywhere down in the
morning.”

Harry
frowned at that. “I don’t expect you to spend your days cleaning.
You are a guest here, Tilly. All three of you are.”

“
I know,” Tilly replied quickly. She hoped that he didn’t
think she was using the opportunity of being in the house to get
the housekeeper’s job. “I don’t mind, really I don’t. It is just
that I cannot repay you for your hospitality, and seems the least I
can do given everything you have done for me – well,
us.”

She
glanced hesitantly at Suzanna and Zack, who both nodded
enthusiastically.

“
We are used to working, and cannot sit around here all day
doing nothing,” Zack piped up. “I can help,” he added with a nod,
and eyed an apple thoughtfully for several moments before he looked
askance at Harry.

Harry
nodded and sighed. “I want you to have whatever you want to eat,
whenever you want while you are here. You don’t need to wait until
we are all here, if you are hungry.”

He
sensed that Tilly was about to argue with him, and knew he needed
to explain.

“
My colleagues will keep strange hours because they will work
in shifts throughout the night. They will eat before they go, or
when they get back, so we need to keep food available for them at
all times. Let me know when we run out of something and I will
arrange for more to be delivered.”

“
Let me bake what we need,” Suzanna demanded, only to look
sheepishly at both Harry and Tilly. “I love to cook but I rarely
get the chance to, especially since I left home.” She shrugged. “I
don’t mind. I want to. Tilly and Zack can sort out the house, and I
can do the cleaning in here and all of the cooking. I can also draw
up a list of the things we need so we don’t run out of anything. I
can write now, you know,” she added proudly. “One of the women I
shared a room with showed me how.”

Tilly’s
heart wept for her friend’s simple statement and was momentarily
lost for words. She had never stopped to think about the many hours
her mother had spent teaching her letters and numbers. It was just
something she took for granted, and never really thought just how
important being able to read and write was to one’s survival
before. It was strangely humbling.

“
I am happy with that, if you are?” Tilly said, and lifted her
brows at Harry, who nodded.

“
If I am honest, I wouldn’t have any clue where to start,” he
admitted somewhat sheepishly, and shared a grin with Zack, who
merely dug into his apple with renewed gusto.

“
That’s settled then,” Tilly declared firmly as she collected
everyone’s plates.

She was
relieved that the next few days were sorted out, and quickly
blocked out all thought of the future in the longer term. It was
nice to have the distraction of washing the pots and tidying up so
that she didn’t have to think too much about anything right now. So
much was happening that she wasn’t sure what to make of any of
it.

“
Have any of you taken a look at the Housekeeper’s rooms yet?
What kind of state are they in?” Harry asked as he made his way to
the bedroom and sitting room the Dandridges’ had used.

Tilly
looked at Suzanna.

“
They are a mess,” Zack declared flatly. “They have pulled up
the floorboards and everything.”

Sure
enough, when Harry opened the door and studied the mess that was
the Dandridges’ living accommodation, nothing short of absolute
destruction met his stunned gaze.

“
Now, why would they do that?” he murmured softly and stared
at the dislodged floorboards, and upturned mattress that now sat in
the middle of the floor.

He was
still thinking about how the house had been transformed later that
night as he lay staring at the canopy over his bed. The clock on
the mantle chimed midnight, but he still couldn’t sleep, in spite
of the weariness that drew him down.

He
couldn’t get over the shocking transformation his three new guests
had managed to perform in the brief time they had been in
residence. The sight of Barnaby’s face when he had seen the changes
Tilly, Suzanna and Zack had managed had been priceless, and still
made him smile even several hours later.

However,
it was the look of tearful relief on Tilly’s face when she had seen
her belongings that humbled Harry the most. Her possessions could
have fitted into one of the legs of his breeches, they were so
sparse. He was fairly certain that they had absolutely no financial
value whatsoever. However, they clearly meant the world to Tilly,
who had struggled not to cry as she had thanked Barnaby prettily
for his returning them to her.

Zack and
Suzanna had also been too grateful for words, and had merely nodded
their thanks before they had taken their precious belongings to
their respective rooms with a reverence that had left Barnaby and
Harry speechless.

Harry
yawned, and was contemplating whether to go downstairs for a brandy
when the creek of a door downstairs drew his attention. At first he
thought it was Dandridge, but then realised that the man was no
longer in the house.

He
glanced at the clock with a scowl. First watch weren’t due back for
another four hours at least. So who the hell was creeping around at
this time of night?

He threw
back the covers and climbed silently out of bed. After stopping
long enough to don his beeches and collect his gun, he tip-toed to
the door and quietly made his way downstairs. The soft glow of
candle light beneath the door warned him that someone was in his
kitchen. Had Dandridge returned to pull up the last of the
floorboards?

“
Zack, what are you doing up?” he growled huskily as he
lowered his gun.

“
I j-just wanted a drink,” the boy replied, terrified at the
sight of the gun in Harry’s hand.

“
Sorry. It is just that we are in the middle of an
investigation and we are all on edge, that’s all,” Harry assured
him with a smile.

He
watched Zack glance awkwardly toward the pantry, and became aware
of the soft rustle of something within the small square space. The
quick glance he threw Zack warned him that it was either Tilly or
Suzanna.

Thankfully, it was Tilly.

“
Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she gasped, and threw
Zack a worried look. “Zack was hungry, so I thought a piece of
bread might help him.” She lifted the plate to show Harry what she
had been doing in the food cupboard.

“
It’s alright. I just heard noises down here, that’s all. Help
yourself whenever you want to. Don’t mind me,” Harry murmured
gently.

He saw
her gaze wander to the gun in his hand, but he had nowhere he could
put it without tucking it into his breeches, and he didn’t want her
to look there because then she would know just how interested in
her he really was.

Tilly’s
stomach flipped as she eyed the broad width of his hair smattered
chest, and shivered as a fresh wave of awareness swept through her.
Luckily, she had fallen asleep on her bed still fully dressed, but
was acutely aware of his semi-clothed state, which seemed to add to
the strangely intimate atmosphere that now hung over the
kitchen.

She
handed Zack the plate absently, and nodded when he thanked her and
hurried out of the door without a backward look.

“
He is a growing boy,” Tilly murmured quietly, and took a
moment to steady herself when she turned to close the pantry door
behind her. “What do you want us to do about the housekeeper’s
quarters? It is a complete mess.”

Harry
knew that there was nothing inside the rooms of any consequence
now. It had been stripped by the Dandridges’ before they had left.
He rather suspected that the things that had gone missing around
the house, the incriminating evidence, now languished in their
temporary lodgings in town.

“
I think that I will put the floor back down tomorrow morning
when I come off my turn on watch. Then we can rearrange the room,
and put it back to the way it was. After that, I think it is best
if we undertake an inventory of all of the house contents. I need a
complete list of what has been stolen so Joshua and Joseph know
what to look for. They are going to look around the pawn brokers in
town to see what they can find.”

“
Joseph and Joshua?” Tilly asked with a frown. So far she had
known someone called Barnaby, seen the dark haired man called
Marcus knew Harry, of course. But she had never heard Harry mention
a Joseph before.

“
He was one of the men keeping watch over the wardens
yesterday. He let us out of the building.”

His gaze
locked onto hers, and silence settled between them for several long
moments.

“
I-I’ll head off to bed now then,” she whispered in a voice
that trembled with the force of the emotions that swept through
her. She didn’t know what to say to him, or how to react given that
she had never been alone with a half-naked male before. It took a
lot of effort to keep her gaze off the muscles clearly visible
beneath the broad expanse of tanned flesh.

She
glanced around absently, then realised that she should be on her
way to the door.

“
Tilly,” Harry growled, and caught her arm in a gentle hold as
she passed him. “I really do want you to make this house your home
while you are here,” he assured her.

“
I can’t do that, but thank you anyway,” she replied
quietly.

Harry
frowned at her. “Why not?” He couldn’t understand her logic and
waited, not so patiently, for her to reply.

“
Because at some point, when your investigation is over, I
will have to move on,” she replied simply, although tempered her
blunt statement with a soft smile.

“
Where to though, Tilly? I mean, you have no relatives, and
nowhere to go.”

Tilly
felt a little impatient. She knew her situation; she didn’t need
him to point it out to her. She struggled to find a way to respond
without offending him because she wasn’t ready to answer his
questions. If she was honest, she didn’t have any answers for
herself, let alone him.

“
I know. I will just have to pick somewhere to go, I suppose.
I think that I might use the coins I have left to buy a broadsheet,
and see what I can do about finding a job while I am here. I will
at least then have somewhere to move on to when you leave for your
next investigation.”

Harry
wanted to deny that he needed to move on, but he couldn’t. It would
be wrong to offer her false assurances, and she was right really.
She would have to move on when the investigation was over. She just
didn’t need to know of his intention to take her with him to
Cumbria.

“
Good night,” she said softly, and made her way to the
door.

“
Wait. Tilly,” Harry growled. He moved to stand beside her in
the doorway, and lowered his voice to an intimate whisper. “Don’t
make any plans to do anything right now. Please?”