smile lit the inside of her. Ty must have come up the stairs purposely to collect her. ‘Busy day?’ she enquired, leaving her room and going along the landing with him.
‘Not as physically busy as you, from what I hear. Ash tells me you put him to shame.’
She shook her head. ‘Once Ash got into his stride it was he who did the lion’s share of lumping and bumping,’ she stated, and saw that Ty looked pleased.
‘And your friend Mickie Yates came and took everything away?’
‘You don’t mind?’
‘Good Lord, why would I?’ Ty replied, and startled her completely when, totally away from what they had been talking about, he shot a question at her. ‘Where’s your watch?’
Taken by surprise, she answered, ‘It got wet,’ quite without thinking. And was halfway down the stairs when Ty stepped in front of her, turned and halted—causing her to have to halt too.
‘You mean you forgot to take it off when you did your Olympian dive yesterday?’
‘I can’t think of everything!’ she exclaimed. ‘It will be all right when it dries out,’ she added off-handedly, knowing that it would never work again, but not wanting to make an issue of it. It hadn’t been an expensive watch, after all.
‘As you remarked—you’re no good at telling lies.’ He neatly tripped her up.
What could she do? Say? She gave him a cheeky grin. ‘The paddock is lovely,’ she informed him.
He shook his head slightly, the way she noticed he did when he was a little unsure of what to make of her.
Dinner was a pleasant meal, though Phinn observed that Ash ate very little. For all that the ham salad with buttered potatoes and a rather fine onion tart was very palatable, he seemed to be eating it for form’s sake rather than because he was enjoying it.
‘Did you find time to get into the estate office today?’ Ty, having included her in all the conversation so far, put a question to his brother.
‘Who wants to be indoors on a day like today?’ Ash replied. ‘I’ll see what I can do tomorrow,’ he added. Ty did not press him, or look in any way put out. And then Ash was confessing, ‘Actually, I think Phinn would make a better estate manager than me.’
Phinn opened her mouth, ready with a disclaimer, and then noticed Ty’s glance had switched to her. He was plainly interested in his brother’s comment.
‘I’m beginning to think that nothing Phinn does will surprise me,’ he said. ‘But—’ he glanced back to Ash ‘—why, particularly?’
‘Apparently I’m being taken on a tour of Pixie End Wood tomorrow. Phinn tells me there are a couple of trees there that need felling, and new ones planting.’
Ty’s glance was back on her, and she was sure she looked guilty. She knew that he was now aware that her trespassing had not been limited to the few places where he had witnessed it.
When, after dinner, a move was made to the drawing room, Phinn would by far have preferred to have gone to the stable. But, even though she felt that Ty would not expect her to be on ‘companion duty’ when he was home to keep his brother company, she was aware that there were certain courtesies to be observed when living in someone else’s home.
And so, thinking that to spend another ten minutes with the Allardyce brothers wouldn’t hurt, she went along to the drawing room with them. But she was hardly through the door when she stopped dead in her tracks.
‘Grandmother Hawkins’ table!’ she exclaimed, all the other plush furnishings and antique furniture fading from her sight as she recognised the much-loved, much-polished, small round table that had been theirs up until ‘needs must’, as her father had called their impecunious moments, and the table had been sold.
‘Grandmother Hawkins?’ Ash enquired. ‘You mean you once owned that table?’
Grandmother Hawkins had handed it down to Phinn’s parents early in their marriage, when they’d had little furniture of their own. They had later inherited the rest of her antiques. ‘It’s—er—lovely, isn’t it?’ she replied, feeling awkward and wishing that she hadn’t said anything.
‘You’re sure it’s yours? Ty bought it in London.’
‘I’m sure. We sold it—it wasn’t stolen. We—er…’ She had been about to say how it had been about the last one of their antiques to go, but there was no need for anyone to know of their hard-up moments. ‘It was probably sold to a dealer who sold it on.’
‘And you recognise it?’
‘I should do—it was my Saturday morning job to polish it. I’ve been polishing it since I was about three years old.’ A gentle smile of happy remembering lifted her mouth. ‘My father’s initials are lightly carved underneath. We both got into trouble when he showed me how to carve mine in too. My mother could never erase them—no matter how much she tried.’
‘The table obviously holds very happy memories for you,’ Ty put in quietly.
‘I had the happiest of childhoods,’ she replied, and suddenly felt embarrassed at talking of things they could not possibly be interested in.
‘You were upset when your father sold it?’ Ty enquired, his eyes watching her.
She looked at him in surprise, the blue top she wore reflecting the deepening blue of her eyes. How had he known it was her father who had sold the table and not her mother? ‘He was my father!’ she protested.
‘And as such could do no wrong?’ Ty suggested quietly.
She looked away from him. It was true. In her eyes her father had never been able to do anything wrong. ‘Would you mind very much if I went and took a look at Ruby?’
She flicked a quick glance back to Ty, but his expression was inscrutable. She took that to mean that he would not mind, and was on her way.
Ruby had had the best of days, and seemed truly happy and content in her new abode. Phinn stayed with her, talking softly to her as she did every evening. And as she chatted to her Phinn started once more to come near to being content herself.
She was still with Ruby when the mare’s ears pricked up and Phinn knew that they were about to have company.
‘How’s she settled in?’ Ty asked, coming into the large stable and joining them.
‘I think we can safely say that she loves her new home.’
Ty nodded. Then asked, ‘How about you?’
‘Who could fail to love it here? My room’s a dream!’
He looked pleased. ‘Any problems I should know about?’ he asked. ‘Don’t be afraid to say—no matter how small,’ he added.
‘It’s only my first day. Nothing untoward, but—’ She broke off, caught out by the memory of Ash giving her that knowing look that morning.
‘What?’
