Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor. Faith Bleasdale

course not, you need to treat this place as if it’s your home, honestly.’

      In theory, Pippa was someone to dislike for literally having it all, but there was nothing about her that you could remotely take offence against.

      ‘I’m so sorry about last night. I tried to warn Freddie I wasn’t a drinker but, well, I don’t think he realised how much I meant it.’ Gemma flushed.

      ‘Oh, don’t worry. Fred is a terror. He feeds everyone his lethal cocktails. We have reined him in a bit. He was off the rails at one point – ten times worse than now. I mean he does like a drink, it’s not a secret, but actually he can handle it now, and he can also go days without one. To be fair he doesn’t often, but he can. Anyway plying you with cocktails, it’s almost The Freddie Test.’

      ‘Then I well and truly failed. He seemed very disappointed.’

      ‘Oh don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine. Harriet’s going to meet you in Dad’s office in twenty minutes. She wants to explain everything; she doesn’t think I’ve given you a thorough background to us and to Meadowbrook. She’s probably right. I get so excited you see, I just get carried away.’

      ‘I understand,’ Gemma said carefully. ‘And I guess Harriet is rightly protective of all of you, as well as the house.’

      ‘Yes, that’s exactly it! I knew you’d understand. I knew instantly when I met you, but I also knew if I let Harriet get involved she’d try to take over. I knew that this hotel didn’t need a carbon copy of Harriet, which is exactly who she would hire; it needed someone like you.’

      ‘Well I’ll do my best for you,’ she replied, feeling the pressure being loaded on top of the layer of flattery. Yes, she could see that Harriet would have taken over, and she saw Pippa in a bit of a new light. She was ballsy to go ahead and hire Gemma without the others knowing. She wasn’t as meek as she sometimes came across.

      ‘Oh, and when you’ve finished with Harriet, I’m going to help you with your wardrobe. I feel awful that I didn’t tell you that you’d need more casual wear than suits, but we’re about the same size and I’ve got loads of spare clothes. I’ve also got scruffier things, which you’ll need when you get more involved.’

      ‘What do you mean?’ Gemma startled. Although, most of her clothes were tatty actually.

      ‘Ah, perhaps I should have explained this before, but you see we all have our jobs at the animal sanctuary and, actually, it would be really good if you’d join us and help out – we think it’ll give you more of a feel for the place.’

      ‘You mean I have to work with the animals?’ Gemma heard the horror in her voice and felt her heart sink.

      Visiting the sanctuary had shown her how terrifying she found most of them. Surely they wouldn’t make her muck out the pigs, or deal with that scary-looking bull? Or even Madonna. And the hostile alpacas. This was not in the job description. Although thinking about it, not much was in the job description.

      ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We all felt that way when Daddy said we had to in his will, but we all came to love working at the animal sanctuary and you will too.’

      Pippa beamed and Gemma thought she must be mad. She would rather have a meeting with Harriet every day than do that.

      Gemma sighed deeply, tried to remember her “calm” mantra and knocked on the office door.

      ‘Come in,’ a clear, well-spoken voice rang out.

      Gemma said a silent prayer and pushed the door open. She stepped into the study, which still very much belonged to Andrew Singer. A huge mahogany desk dominated the room, with Harriet sat looking seriously terrifying behind it. There were some landscapes on the walls, very much in keeping with the rest of the house, a modern TV screen on another wall, and two leather sofas along with a drinks trolley, which looked pretty well stocked. The most dominating thing about the room, though, was a huge portrait of Andrew Singer. It was as if he were in the room with her.

      ‘Sit down.’ Harriet pointed at the sofa, facing the desk.

      Gemma did as she was told and tried to look at Harriet rather than staring at the image of her father.

      ‘We haven’t changed a thing about our father’s study,’ she said, her voice softening as she spoke of him. ‘Apart from putting the painting of him in here. It was upstairs – Dad was a little vain you see – but it seems right here, in his study.’

      ‘I understand,’ Gemma said carefully. ‘I guess this is his personality right here too.’

      ‘Yes, yes it is. I know when we open this hotel, if we do—’ she narrowed her eyes at Gemma, who felt her cheeks flame ‘—then I suppose this will have to be changed, but it’s so hard to eliminate him.’

      ‘I don’t see why you’d have to. This room isn’t going to be used by guests, so as long as it’s a functional office, you can have it as you want it. You might need to reorganise if more than one person needs to work in here. It might be nice actually, make you feel that your father has a place in the hotel.’ Gemma hoped she hadn’t overstepped the mark.

      ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that. Yes, you’re right, I like that.’ Harriet almost smiled at her, and she sensed a little thawing. Gemma nodded. ‘Right, well I suppose that’s by the by. I wanted to speak to you because I doubt very much Pippa has given you the background.’ The thaw had frozen over again.

      ‘Perhaps only a potted history,’ Gemma admitted.

      ‘My sister is bright, beautiful and enthusiastic. She is committed to this project, more than any of us, but we have all decided to support her. Did she tell you about her divorce?’

      ‘A bit, yes,’ Gemma admitted.

      ‘It knocked Pippa’s confidence, so she needs this. She’s never been a career woman but now she wants to be, and I for one want to make sure that happens. And of course, none of us want to see the house empty, and apart from Pip and Fred, none of us want to live here. Did you hear about last year?’ Gemma shook her head, although she had. ‘Right, well you know our father, Andrew, died suddenly, and it was a terrible shock to us all.’

      ‘Yes and I’m sorry.’ Gemma thought she could see a tear glistening in Harriet’s eye. She liked the tiny human glimpses she got from her, but she wished there were more of them.

      ‘Right, well yes, but anyway, that was when I came back from New York. My father, who had, shall we say, eccentric ideas, made a will, which meant all four of us had to live here, in this house, for a year. And we had to keep the animal sanctuary open, which is his great love – was, I mean – or we would forfeit our inheritance.’

      ‘So you all lived together for a year?’ Gemma knew all this, but was interested to hear about it from Harriet’s perspective.

      ‘Yes, and of course we hadn’t lived together since childhood, so it was interesting to say the least. The year was tough for us all.’

      ‘In what way?’ Gemma asked, wanting to hear more.

      ‘Oh many ways. But that’s by the by. The upshot was that in the will, Dad stated that the house had to be kept in the family. So when Pip and Fred came up with the idea for opening the house as a hotel, Gus and I agreed, well eventually we did, because the house needs to be used and this seemed like a good way to ensure all the family could be involved.’

      ‘I agree, and it will very much be a family hotel,’ Gemma stated, trying to sound authoritative. She wanted to hear more about the year they’d spent together – it was intriguing – but Harriet was once more all business.

      ‘Quite, although none of us agree exactly how at the moment, which is why your job isn’t going to be easy. But enough of that. Right, well, I want to go through the details with you. The salary is fine. In fact, before Pippa hired you, I did the budget for set-up costs. I’ll give you a copy, and if you do a good job then you’ll be worth