Hell Or High Water. Anne Mather

it.’ His gaze flicked Helen’s unguarded face in scornful dismissal. ‘And if, at the end of the summer, I do decide to buy, we can take it from there.’ He shrugged. ‘Believe me, I’ll get as much out of it as you will. It gives me all the advantages of the place, without any commitment whatsoever.’

      He was right—Helen could see that. But she was sickened at the thought. To have Jarret Manning in the house all summer long, to know that he was always there, always in the background. It was almost worse than having to leave the house immediately.

      But naturally Mrs Chase did not see it like that. ‘You really mean it?’ she said shaking her dark head, and Jarret nodded:

      ‘I really mean it.’

      ‘Well, I think it’s a ridiculous idea!’ Margot was clearly not at all suited by these unexpected arrangements. No doubt she had expected Jarret to have the place to himself, thought Helen cynically, her lips tightening at the images this evoked. ‘How much isolation do you think you’ll get here, with the house constantly in use, and visitors coming and going?’

      ‘We don’t get many visitors these days, Margot,’ Mrs Chase put in at this point. ‘Mostly there’s just Helen and myself, and Charles, of course, when he’s not at the stables.’

      ‘Charles?’

      Jarret looked questioningly at Helen’s mother, and she quickly explained. ‘Charles Connaught is Helen’s fiancé. His father owns the Connaught stables at Ketchley. Charles works with him, and they’ve produced some excellent mounts this winter.’

      ‘I see.’ Jarret’s eyes drooped over Helen’s face again, as he acknowledged this information, and quickly averting her gaze, she wondered what he was thinking. She doubted that Charles would have much in common with Jarret Manning, and dreaded his reactions if her mother chose to fall in with Jarret’s suggestions.

      ‘But it’s not the same, is it?’ Margot persisted, still pursuing her theme of isolation. ‘I mean, you’d be interrupted for meals, or someone could barge in on you …’