But nothing happened as she carefully pushed open the door and peered inside. At first she thought the room was empty, but then a voice said,
‘Hello, there? Are you inspecting your domain?’
By the window stood a very slender young man, of medium height. His voice was light and his blue eyes looked as though they laughed a lot. He was regarding Meryl’s entrance quizzically.
‘My domain?’ she asked, regarding him askance.
‘It will be if you become Lady Larne.’
‘What makes you think—?’ Light dawned. ‘Ferdy,’ she said. ‘Ferdy Ashton.’
His impish face brightened. ‘Fame at last.’
She came to stand with him in the window. ‘You’d better get out of here before Lord Larne murders you—or I do. How dare you write me that letter!’
‘I had to. Jarvis was being difficult about it.’
‘When I’ve finished with you, you’ll know the meaning of “difficult”.’
He looked hurt. ‘I just wanted to help my friend out of trouble. He needs money badly, and you have it. It’s really very simple.’
‘Except that he and I took an instant dislike to each other. You never thought of that, did you?’
‘I know he’s not an easy man, but I didn’t think you’d just turn up without warning. I was going to manage it carefully so that you’d take to each other.’
‘You’d have to be a magician for that. It was a disaster.’
‘So I’ve heard. Jarvis called me first thing this morning and spoke his mind very plainly. He wants my blood.’
‘He can join the queue. I want your blood.’
‘Ah, now, that’s a different prospect.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘And stop trying to charm me. It doesn’t work.’
But she was lying.
He knew it, and she knew he knew it. Charm paid his passage through life, and in her eyes it was a fair currency. There weren’t enough charming people in the world, and trying to be cross with this one was like trying to reprove a sunny-tempered child.
‘The rage he was in, I’m surprised he waited until this morning,’ she reflected.
‘He didn’t. He called last night, but I was out, so he left a message that nearly burned up my answering machine, and he called me again early this morning, ordering me to get myself over here, fast.’
‘How did you get here while it’s still high tide?’
He laughed. ‘It isn’t still high tide. It’s high tide again. I have a little boat that I keep tied up on the shore. My sister, Sarah, insisted on coming with me. She’s gone in search of Jarvis. I warn you, she has designs on him.’
‘You mean she’s in love with him?’ Meryl asked, dismayed. ‘In that case maybe I should back off.’
‘Forget it. Jarvis has known Sarah most of his life, and if he’d wanted to marry her he’d have done it by now. But their only link is horses. He loves riding. She owns a riding stable, does a bit of breeding. The trouble is, she’s fixated on bloodlines, in people as well as horses. The Ashtons are “good family”.’
‘I’m glad you told me,’ she said, amused.
‘Yes, you’d never have known that I’m “the Honourable Ferdinand” would you?’
‘I wouldn’t have called you honourable in a million years.’
He grinned. ‘Well, I’m officially honourable. The Ashtons have married the Larnes before, and now Sarah thinks nobody else has any right to him. But love? No way. Just watch out in case she poisons your tea.’
‘If he doesn’t do it first.’
‘He improves on acquaintance.’
‘So I should hope,’ she said darkly.
‘You don’t think you might get to like him?’
‘Not if I live to be a hundred!’
‘That’s funny. He said the same thing about you.’
‘I don’t know why I’m even talking to you,’ she said, exasperated. ‘If I’d drowned it would have been your fault.’
‘But you didn’t. It was fate bringing you to us so that you could marry Jarvis, hand over impossible amounts of cash and save this place from falling down. Do you have impossible amounts of cash, by the way?’
‘Totally impossible,’ she assured him.
‘I thought so. I looked you up. You really are Craddock Winters’s daughter, aren’t you? Oil wells, etc.’
‘But he doesn’t believe that. He thinks I’m a journalist.’
‘Not any more. I’ve put him right. Jarvis needs a great deal of money, quickly.’
‘But if he doesn’t want to take mine, we’re no further forward,’ she pointed out. ‘And you still have to persuade me to waste even five minutes on a man who dislikes me almost as much as I dislike him. It’s a small point, but I thought I’d mention it.’
‘You’re right,’ he agreed solemnly. ‘One should always pinpoint the problems at the start. Then we can proceed to Stage Two—solving them.’
‘Don’t build your hopes up, Ferdy. As soon as my car’s been located and I’ve recovered my stuff I’m—’
She’d meant to say ‘I’m out of here,’ but she was standing by the French door with the sun on her face and the words died. All the sensations that had assailed her on the balcony returned with greater force. Moving automatically, she pushed open the door and found herself in the garden.
Here everything grew in profusion. Someone had tried to create a kind of order, but in a desultory fashion, so that there was none of the precision neatness that could make a garden appear soulless. Again there was the blessed sense of peace, and the realisation that she had never known it before today.
She began to wander along a path, slightly overgrown but passable. It twisted and turned and she followed it eagerly, stopping once or twice to look at the trees laden with blossoms. After the previous night’s storm everything was dripping. A large drop of water went down her neck, but she only laughed.
Ferdy trotted after her, a few feet away, watching her every move.
‘It ought to be better kept than this,’ he said, ‘but it’s a big job. And I’ve got plans.’
‘You’re the gardener?’
‘I do a bit, to make up to Jarvis for falling behind with my rent. I live in one of his cottages, inland.’
‘Do you do anybody else’s gardening?’
‘No, I’m a painter by trade. I just potter about this place to save him having to pay a gardener.’
‘And he doesn’t mind you getting behind with the rent? That doesn’t sound like the charmer I met.’
‘We were at school together. I probably know him better than anyone.’
‘And you thought he’d take to the idea of a strange woman?’
‘Not right away. He’s a very proud man. But if you’d only—ah, well, never mind. You blew it, but I forgive you.’
‘I—? You have an almighty cheek, do you know that?’
‘I’m