A Man To Marry. Carole Mortimer

looked perfectly relaxed, seemingly unaware of the underlying tension in the room. ‘It’s quite simple, really,’ he replied. ‘I’m interested in this house because my great-great-grandfather was its architect.’

      The two women couldn’t have felt—or looked!—more stunned if he had told them his ancestor had been Jack the Ripper!

      Cat didn’t know what explanation she had been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been the one Caleb Reynolds had just given. And poor Kate seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the conversation at all.

      ‘Clive Reynolds,’ he explained as their shocked silence continued. ‘The house was actually named after him. His name is carved into the stonework on the front of the house,’ he added as he still received no response from either of the two women.

      Clive Reynolds… He was right, it was. But time and familiarity had dulled for them the awareness of that name and a date, 1850, etched into the stone directly above the front door. Clive Reynolds. This man’s great-great-grandfather…

      The surname was obviously the same, and yet…

      ‘What a coincidence.’ Once again Cat’s barely veiled scepticism could be heard, and the sudden hardness of his grey eyes said Caleb Reynolds was well aware of it!

      ‘Not at all,’ he bit out crisply. ‘I’m in the area because I have some research to do at the museum in York, but I chose this village for my stay deliberately once I realised about the house. I’m curious to know whether or not my ancestor built any other houses in the area.’

      ‘Doubtful,’ Cat couldn’t resist snapping. ‘It’s hardly the sort of area that could have supported two such grand houses,’ she elaborated as he looked at her icily.

      ‘I’m a historian, Cat,’ Caleb Reynolds told her evenly, deliberately seeming to keep all emotion from his voice. Although his eyes were a different matter: hard, glacial, narrowed to icy slits as he looked steadily at Cat. ‘But I specialise in architecture. Perhaps only naturally with an architect as an ancestor,’ he added almost confrontationally.

      Cat didn’t see what was ‘natural’ about it at all; her own father trained and bred horses, but she had always been—to her father’s dismay—terrified of them. They were beautiful and powerful to look at and admire from a distance, but completely unpredictable in close proximity, she had found. Exactly like Caleb Reynolds…

      She brought her thoughts up short. Really! Caleb Reynolds might be powerful and attractive, but he certainly wasn’t beautiful! What on earth was she thinking of? Or maybe she just wasn’t thinking at all… And, around this man, that could be dangerous!

      He certainly didn’t look like any historian she had ever seen, on television or in the newspapers, most of them old and fusty-looking, as if they belonged in the past with their textbooks!

      ‘In the circumstances, I quite understand your interest in this house.’ Kate had recovered enough to be able to take over their half of the conversation.

      Which was perhaps as well; Cat, with her usual forthright manner, only seemed to be antagonising Caleb Reynolds! His knowledge of at least one past owner of the house was now more easily explained, although why he couldn’t have told them all of this yesterday was still a mystery…

      ‘And I’m sure, at some convenient time to all of us, that it could be arranged for you to look round the house,’ Kate continued politely. ‘Although, as I’m sure you appreciate, the house has been completely modernised over the years!’

      ‘We even have mains sewage nowadays!’ Cat put in sharply, ignoring Kate’s pained wince. Damn it, the man was the one asking them a favour, and a damned inconvenient one at that.

      She wished now that it had been Toby at the front door earlier; she wouldn’t have had any trouble saying no to any ‘secrets’ he might have wanted to share!

      ‘I’m sure you do,’ Caleb drawled drily, one dark brow raised questioningly at her continued aggression. ‘And don’t worry, I wasn’t asking if I could look round right this minute,’ he turned to tell Kate charmingly. ‘I more than appreciate the fact that I’ve rather sprung this on you. I also realise that you have other considerations to take into account.’

      Cat looked at him sharply, not fooled for a moment by that charm which he seemed to be able to turn on and off at will—it was usually off when he was talking to her! ‘What “other considerations”?’ she enquired warily.

      ‘The playschool, of course,’ he returned easily. ‘I appreciate I couldn’t just stroll about during the day when you have all the children in your care.’

      She had news for him; he couldn’t ‘just stroll about’ their home when the children weren’t here, either! He really was the most—

      ‘There’s also Kate’s grandmother to consider,’ he continued evenly.

      Stunned didn’t even begin to describe their silence this time—more like electric. This man, completely unknown to them until roughly thirty-six hours ago, knew far too much about their home and them; Cat was absolutely positive that neither she nor Kate had mentioned her grandmother to this man yesterday! But Cat’s earlier summing-up of this man still stood; getting information out of him that he didn’t want to give was like getting blood out of a stone. Though he had just spoken readily enough about his reason for being in the area, about his great-great-grandfather being the architect of this house, which was the reason he wanted to look round it, all that information had been volunteered—making Cat wonder exactly what it was he wasn’t saying!

      Cat glanced across at Kate now, seeing all too easily how the colour had faded from her friend’s cheeks, the way she looked at Caleb Reynolds in fascinated horror. Once again like the snake and its victim!

      ‘Don’t tell me,’ Cat put in scornfully. ‘Lilley at the post office, again!’ She gave a derisive shake of her head. ‘Really, Caleb,’ she taunted. ‘I would never have taken you for the gossiping kind!’

      He looked nonplussed. ‘I wasn’t aware that you had ‘taken’ me at all, Cat,’ he returned mockingly, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes at the way her cheeks suddenly burned. ‘But you’re right about the gossip,’ he continued before she could make any reply to his innuendo. ‘When I made my initial enquiries about Clive House I was told that a Miss Brady and a Miss Rourke lived here with Miss Brady’s grandmother.’

      Innocent enough. It certainly wasn’t a secret that Kate’s grandmother lived here with them. It was just thoroughly disconcerting that this man should know so much about them! And not just from Lilley at the post office, either… So where had he got his information? And why? So far he had been very cagey about his reason for being in the area. And if he should turn out to be a reporter…! Cat had allowed one reporter too close to her once, no matter how unwittingly, and she wouldn’t let it happen again!

      He looked at them both with assessing eyes. ‘I wasn’t aware I was saying something out of turn…?’

      ‘You didn’t,’ Kate answered him with a return of confidence. ‘Kitty—my grandmother—does live here with us. But she isn’t in the best of health, has few visitors, and goes out even less, and I would rather talk to her before you look round the house. I think you’ll be quite impressed when you see all of it,’ she assured him. ‘It’s really been very well looked after, with a lot of the original features kept in place—’

      ‘He doesn’t want to buy the house, Kate,’ Cat snapped. ‘Just look at it!’

      ‘I can see I’ve taken up enough of your time for one evening,’ Caleb put in sardonically, moving to the door. ‘So I’ll leave you all in peace.’

      Peace? The man didn’t know the meaning of the word!

      ‘I’ll see you out.’ Kate followed him.

      ‘Cat.’ He paused at the door to nod abruptly in parting.

      ‘Mr Reynolds,’ she returned