The Unwilling Mistress. Carole Mortimer

Davenport. ‘Our younger sister used to sing at a hotel in town and was recently—involved, in the arrest of a man who was attacking people in this area,’ she explained with a grimace.

      ‘I sincerely hope you’re not implying that I—’

      ‘No, of course not,’ May laughingly dismissed Will Davenport’s mocking query. ‘It just wasn’t very pleasant, for January, or anyone else, for that matter,’ she added with a frown. ‘In fact, her fiancé has taken her away for a short holiday to get over it.’

      ‘January?’ Will Davenport echoed ruefully. ‘Your parents certainly liked the names of months for their children, didn’t they?’

      ‘Personally, I’ve always been rather relieved I wasn’t born in September,’ March put in dryly. ‘I can imagine nothing worse than going through life being called Sept! I suppose August wouldn’t have been too bad—’ She broke off as May spluttered with laughter.

      ‘That wouldn’t have suited you at all!’ May explained with a grin.

      ‘No, March suits you perfectly,’ Will Davenport assured her wryly.

      March gave him a narrow-eyed look as she placed the mug of tea on the table in front of him.

      He returned her gaze with a look that was just too innocent for her liking. ‘I’ve always looked on the month of March as brisk and crisp, the month that blows all the cobwebs away,’ he drawled mockingly.

      ‘That’s March to a T!’ May confirmed with another laugh.

      ‘Thanks very much!’ she muttered disgruntledly.

      ‘You’re welcome.’ Will gave a derisive inclination of his head before turning back to May. ‘Dinner this evening sounds wonderful—if you’re sure I’m not intruding?’

      Of course he was intruding. But, as March knew only too well, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and the money he would pay them in rent over the next two weeks—once they had paid the commission to Carter and Jones, of course—would be very useful. The roof needed fixing on the barn, for one thing, and there were any number of small jobs about the farm that needed doing.

      No, all things considered, she didn’t mind this man ‘intruding’ for two weeks.

      Will couldn’t get over the likeness between the two sisters. He probably should have realized the connection when May Calendar had introduced herself on his arrival, but at the time he had had something much more important to occupy his mind.

      As it still occupied his mind!

      ‘You said your sister January is away on holiday with her fiancé at the moment?’ he prompted lightly.

      ‘Max.’ May nodded with an affectionate smile. ‘It’s been rather a whirlwind romance, but we like him, don’t we, March?’ She looked up at her sister for confirmation.

      Giving Will a few seconds’ reprieve to come to terms with this latest piece of information. Max had got himself engaged to one of the Calendar sisters? Well, that certainly explained a lot!

      ‘We do now,’ March said with satisfaction.

      ‘Oh?’ Will prompted interestedly.

      But not too interestedly, he hoped; he might have walked into the lion’s den by accident—designed by March Calendar herself, if she did but know it!—but he was staying through choice.

      He liked these two women. But especially March, with her quirky sense of humour and her outspokenness. It was refreshing to meet someone who said exactly what she thought. Or, if she didn’t exactly say it, looked what she thought.

      But he was still stunned by the fact that Max had become so personally involved with this family that he was actually going to marry one of them. Max had been a loner for as long as Will could remember, had always scorned the very idea of love, let alone marriage. Although if January was anything like March and May, perhaps the attraction was understandable…

      Yes, he liked these two women, but whether or not they were still going to like him at the end of two weeks was another matter…

      ‘Just a little family problem,’ May answered him dismissively.

      ‘Anything I could help with?’ Even as he asked the question Will knew he had gone too far, could see the puzzlement in May’s expression, March’s more openly hostile.

      ‘Not unless you’re acquainted with Jude Marshall,’ March bit out hardly. ‘Max is a lawyer, originally sent here on Jude Marshall’s behalf to buy our farm,’ she explained at Will’s frowning look. ‘Which we aren’t interested in selling!’ she added with a pointedly determined look in May’s direction.

      A look Will was all too aware of. Dissension in the ranks? It certainly looked like it. May’s next words confirmed it.

      ‘We’re thinking about it, March,’ she told her sister.

      ‘You might be—but I’m certainly not,’ March snapped, two spots of angry colour now in the paleness of her cheeks.

      May sighed before turning back to Will. ‘You’ll have to excuse us, I’m afraid, Mr Davenport—’

      ‘Will,’ he put in smoothly.

      May smiled in acknowledgement. ‘I’m afraid that whether or not we should sell the farm is an ongoing problem at the moment.’ She gave a rueful shake of her head.

      ‘May thinks we should, and I don’t agree with her,’ March snapped unnecessarily.

      ‘And what does January think?’ Will was intrigued about the younger sister, in spite of himself. Although he had already guessed at the rift between March and May over the situation…

      ‘She’ll go along with whatever I decide,’ March announced triumphantly.

      ‘Whatever you decide?’ he prompted mildly; there were three sisters, shouldn’t they all decide?

      ‘Yes, you see May is—’

      ‘I think we’ve bored Mr—Will,’ May corrected at Will’s gently reproving look. ‘We’ve bored him with our problems long enough for one day, March,’ she stated firmly as she stood up. ‘The only thing that Will needs to know is that we definitely won’t be selling the farm during the two weeks he wants to stay here,’ she added lightly.

      ‘That’s a relief.’ He smiled, preparing to leave as he took May having stood up as his cue to leave. ‘I should be back by about five o’clock, if that’s okay?’

      May nodded. ‘The garage beneath the studio is for your use.’

      ‘Yes.’ March grinned now. ‘One fall of snow and you could lose your little car underneath it!’

      What March described as a ‘little car’ was in fact a Ferrari! It was Will’s pride and joy, the culmination of years of hard work. But, he had to admit, March was probably right about the snow! Yorkshire was having a particularly hard winter this year, many people having been snowbound in their homes until the last few days.

      He gave a rueful smile. ‘I’ll try to remember that.’ He nodded.

      ‘Dinner is at seven o’clock,’ May told him briskly as she walked to the door with him.

      ‘Stew and dumplings tonight, isn’t it, May?’ March put in with a deliberately mocking smile in Will’s direction.

      She obviously didn’t see him as a man who normally ate such nourishingly basic fare, and in one way she was probably right; he lived alone, had a busy life, and things like home cooking were not a luxury he could afford. Although he didn’t think March would understand what he meant by that…

      ‘It sounds wonderful,’ he told May warmly.

      ‘Just like your old granny used to make?’ March put in tauntingly.

      ‘March!’ May