Chapter Ten

Kate was still annoyed by the next morning. She'd turned the situation over and over in her head and had eventually managed to go to sleep in the early hours of the morning. When she did doze off, her dreams were full of images that just didn't relate to her life as she knew it. They were more in keeping with the Victorian daydreams she'd been having — because they couldn't have been anything more than daydreams. Could they? Working in a museum consumed a person — you got used to the old things you were surrounded with, and it was only a small leap of the imagination to visualise the lives and loves of the people who had owned them.

Or so she tried to tell herself. But part of her didn't quite believe it. There were just too many strange things happening to her.

Kate half-listened out for the chimes or the cuckoo-clock; with her eyes closed, she could almost imagine she was back at home and she could walk downstairs and see Will, in whichever guise he decided to appear in . . .

* * *

‘Will, I heard a rumour you were leaving Hartsford. It's not true, is it?'

She was sitting in the little garden behind his house. He'd brought a stool out for her to perch on, still concerned, she suspected, about her leg. She was clutching a bunch of wildflowers and buried her nose in them. He'd picked them for her on a little walk — or a little hobble, in her case — along the riverbank. To her mind, they were the nicest bunch of flowers she'd ever had.

‘I'm not sure where that rumour came from.' His voice was guarded and she looked up. Their eyes met and she saw something in his expression that she couldn't quite place.

‘Why not? You must have an idea. Rumours are usually based on fact.'

He shook his head, then his easy smile broke out across his face. ‘I can't tell you for sure, Cat, my love, because even I don't know where they came from.'

‘I'm a captive audience, so you can tell me how these wicked tales started, because I can't really run away very fast.' She nodded to her legs. The hated Bath chair was parked up at the side of the cottage. She hadn't managed to discard it completely yet, but she was still trying her best. That blasted walk the other week hadn't helped. If it hadn't been for Millie rescuing her — she felt sick at the thought. That's why Millie was skulking around today. She'd been the one to bring her here, after all. Millie was the best friend anyone could ever want. ‘I just know I don't want the rumours to be true. I like you being here. I like being here with you. Look — Hector agrees.' The dog wagged his tail and flumped down next to her, his boxy head resting lovingly against her legs.

Will reached over and smoothed her hair away from her face. She could feel his warmth, feel the tenderness in the touch of his rough fingertips and it sent a shiver down her spine.

Kate parted her lips on a little sigh and leaned instinctively towards him. He moved closer to her until he was so near to her, she thought she'd died and gone to Heaven. His eyes were inches from hers and—

* * *

Kate woke up with a start, her twenty-first century heart pounding as fast as her nineteenth-century one had done. She blinked into the darkness, realising that the glow coming through the blinds was a streetlight, not the warm, Suffolk sunshine she'd been enjoying in her dream. That might have been the point she also realised the look in Will's eyes had been regret.

She couldn't get back to sleep after that.

Eventually, when it was a reasonable time to get up, she did so. She padded over to the en-suite and stared at herself in the mirror over the sink. Her hair was all over the place and she was white and drawn, her freckles standing out hideously — her usual hangover face. Not a good look. As she cleaned her teeth and switched the shower on, she couldn't even fathom out what was going on in her own head — never mind what had been going on in Cat's mind during the dream. Was she really Cat? Had she been Cat in a previous life? She half expected to see a bunch of wildflowers lying by the sink; but there wasn't one. Kate wasn't quite sure if she was disappointed or relieved.

A little later, over coffee with Chris in the big, open kitchen, Kate wondered again how disloyal those fantasies might be. And she smiled stiffly through her hangover and agreed to walk to a little deli café where Chris promised her breakfast and the best Eggs Benedict ever; from there, he would head into work. There's this client from Canada, you see and . . .

She was more of a bacon sandwich girl, really. He should know that by now.

* * *

That walk the other week had set back her recovery like nothing else. Here she was, practically crippled again, pitching up at his cottage defiantly. He knew she'd been the one to instigate it, and LadyAmelia, God love her, had brought her.

Cat closed her eyes and parted her lips, and her face was inches from his. He just stared at her for a moment, marvelling at how this girl had come into his life like a whirlwind. Then he closed the gap between them.

He had just intended to kiss her gently, scared in case he frightened her. But once their lips met, it was as if their two souls became one. The chaste sentiment disappeared as their tongues met, seeking each other, as if it they were always meant to. And Will couldn't have stopped kissing her if his life had depended on it. But eventually, he ran out of breath and had to.

Her arms were around his neck, stretching up from her sitting position, pulling him towards her. He leaned down, his hands gently on her waist, then buried his face in the sweet, sweet curve of her neck and drew her closely to him.

‘Oh, Cat. I'm sorry.'

‘Sorry? What for?' She pulled away and stared up at him, confused.

‘I ask one thing from you. If I ever should leave here, will you keep me in your memory? No matter what happens?'

‘So you are leaving?'

‘I didn't say that. But if there should come a time where I'm not here, will you do that for me?'

‘Will. I'll never forget you. It would be like forgetting myself.' She searched his face, her eyes puzzled. ‘I—'

‘Cat!' A shout from the riverbank, and a slim, blue-clad figure hurtling towards them. ‘Cat! You have to leave, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Will, but she has to come back now. Right now !'

‘LadyAmelia!' Will pulled away from Cat almost guiltily. It was madness; LadyAmelia had already seen them together. She knew exactly what was happening; she was pretty and giggly, but he knew that she was sharp as a tack and would have been standing sentry, lurking somewhere near the Faerie Bridge and watching the Hall whilst they spent this time together.

‘Charles has brought Edward Mountfort home. I've just seen the carriage pull up and I ran as fast as I could. Oh, my goodness.' She bent double, clutching her side. ‘I have a terrible stitch! Please — Cat. You have to come home.' The girl stood up and swept over to the Bath chair. She prised the brakes off and wheeled it hurriedly towards Cat. ‘Come on. Will, would you help her? Would you?'

‘Don't talk about me as if I'm not here!' Cat complained. ‘I'm perfectly capable of getting back into that thing. I — oh!' Will didn't give her time to say anything else.

He gathered her up in his arms and held her close as he placed her gently back into the chair. ‘Go now. It's safest.'

‘But Will . . .'

‘But nothing.'

He kissed her again as he settled her in the chair. ‘I'll see you soon. But you have to go now.' He looked at LadyAmelia. ‘Do you want me to help? I can push her to the bridge.'

‘That would be wonderful. Thank you.'

‘Will . . .' Cat protested again, but Will just took hold of the chair and headed towards the bridge. He hated doing it. He felt he was, in some way, handing her over to this Mountfort man like a parcel, all neatly packaged up in her fine gowns and ready to be unwrapped and put on display. A red-hot arrow shot through him at the thought. He recognised it as jealousy. He didn't like himself for it, but he damned well couldn't help it.

* * *

Theo had a couple of hours to spare between jobs, so he decided to waste some time — sorry, use it productively — and plan his next camping trip.

He had quite liked that field near Hartsford, and he wouldn't be averse to going back there. It was a nice village — friendly, welcoming and lively enough if you wanted it that way. Or, apparently, you could avoid the wine bar and go to the country pub if you wanted to relax a little more.

He sat back at his desk and put his hands behind his head. The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea seemed. He'd had a really odd dream about the place as well a few nights ago. He was living in the museum and talking to Cat in the back garden but it was all a bit vague. Cat? He'd woken up and corrected himself. He meant Kate, of course. It might have been because he'd had cheese on toast for his supper and it made him remember her.

Actually, to tell the truth, he hadn't needed any reminders, because he hadn't been able to get her out of his mind in the first place. Images of her had been popping up whenever he least expected it and he knew this yearning to go back to Hartsford had nothing to do with the village itself. It was her, Kate, who drew him.

Theo's mind drifted a little and he wondered if Hartsford was one of those places which were lovely from the outside, from a tourist perspective, but not so lovely if you lived there. He didn't get that impression. He would really like to go back to the Folk Museum as well. Theo smiled to himself thinking again of red-headed Kate and her penchant for Worcestershire sauce. He wondered if she would even remember him if he went back? It had been a few weeks and he was sure she would have seen and forgotten plenty of faces by now.

It was the beginning of July, but as his job also depended a little on the tourist trade, he knew he would soon be even busier than usual. As he'd told Kate, he often worked for museums and animal shelters and they wanted everything in place by the time the summer holiday crowds started visiting. The horses had to have new shoes, and the carriage rides through the grounds of the stately homes all depended on the horses being prepared for the job.

It was impossible, really, for Theo to take so much as a weekend off. He'd lose too much money. Which was why the fact that he'd had an email fifteen minutes ago asking him to help a friend out with a job in Newmarket had seemed like the hand of Fate shoving him out of the door and onto the motorway. Or, more precisely, encouraging him to hammer his tent pegs into the ground.

He clicked the mouse button a few times, and found himself Googling Hartsford and the surrounding area. There were quite a lot of other horsey places around there — race-courses and animal sanctuaries, including some dedicated just to horses. And, of course, there were museums down that way as well. Then he saw something very interesting that made him smile.

It might be a busman's holiday, but — Theo looked out of the window at his van — sometimes you had to put yourself out there, didn't you? He'd call into the Hall as part of his trip. There was no reason not to visit Hartsford again, was there? Kate's face floated in front of his mind's eye again and he smiled. There was, on the other hand, a very good reason to visit it.

* * *

‘Your costume's here!' Cassie's voice was unmistakeable on the telephone.

Kate heard her as, perhaps, did most of Suffolk. Her voice reverberated around the reception area of the museum and an old lady blinked in astonishment. Kate smiled apologetically at her.

She held the phone away from her ear until Cassie had calmed down a little and stopped shouting so much, then spoke to her.

‘What did you get me?' Kate was half-expecting something ridiculously outlandish, so she should have been grateful when Cassie told her it was a 1930's style trouser suit.

‘It's striped. And the blouse is belted and the legs are lovely and wide. You will look super.'

‘So I've got a wide-legged trouser suit and I have to ride a bicycle around the estate. Don't you think the fabric might get tangled up in the chain?'

‘Oh, I never thought!' cried Cassie. ‘Damn. It's too late to get anything else now. We've only got a few weeks and you have to get them sorted so far in advance. Oh, buggeration. I don't suppose . . . bicycle clips? No? Oh dear.'

Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head. ‘It's okay Cassie, I'll manage. I'll push the bicycle if I have to. I'll find a spot and stay there. Where had you thought of putting me?'

‘I think the pool area?' she replied, sounding contrite. ‘Please?'

‘The pool area will be fine.' It was no secret that Cassie was revamping that part of the estate and bringing back the old idea of it being the Spa. Her plan was that the visitors could plunge into the old swimming pool or have a game of tennis if they wanted — and even indulge in strawberries and champagne as well. Kate could think of worse places to be stationed with her ice-cream.

‘If you're sure you won't mind?' Cassie said.

‘It's fine,' Kate repeated. She checked the multitude of clocks around her. ‘I'm expecting Jenna in any minute. I'll pop over and collect the costume as soon as she gets here, all right?'

‘Sure. Gosh thank you for being so understanding Kate!'

‘I'm just glad you didn't get me a pencil skirt. Now that would have been impractical.'

‘I couldn't see you in a pencil skirt. Too severe a look for you. I did consider it, very briefly though, I must admit.' She sounded amused at, potentially, the image of Kate in a skin-tight skirt trying to mount a bicycle.

‘Then I'm glad I got the trouser suit. Where will I find you when I pop over?'

‘In the ballroom. I'm on clipboard duty today. Sneak in through the gift shop to find me — I'll tell Margaret to expect you. She's in there today.'

‘Okay. But just give me time for Jenna to turn up.'

Jenna eventually wandered in sucking a lollipop, which was a sight and a half. It was one of those little round red ones, and she was making it look very Lolita-esque. Kate was pleased no men were in the reception area; she thought they might have had difficulty functioning.

‘Good afternoon, Jenna.'

‘Mmrrf,' she replied through fifty calories worth of pure boiled sugar.

‘I have to go to the Hall. I need to collect my outfit for Cassie's weekend. You have remembered that you're working that weekend too, haven't you?'

Jenna removed the sugar-fest from her mouth with a little pop and stared at Kate. ‘Of course. I've told my friends I can only have a couple of drinks when we're out. I'll be fine.'

Kate closed her eyes briefly. ‘Dear Lord,' she murmured under her breath.