Saving Willowbrook Read Free

She’d manage somehow, pay Miles back, do whatever it took. She didn’t intend to be the Turner who lost Willowbrook, even though she was the first not to farm it. She’d no interest in raising beef cattle and had leased the fields out after her father died, keeping only the land around the lake. Her mother had moved back to Lancashire to be near her elderly parents and was now remarried, to a great guy.
    Miles smirked at Ella and she pulled her attention back to the present.
    â€˜You’ll have to get the chalets up and running without my help.’ He reached into his inside pocket. ‘I’ve drawn up an agreement. If you could just sign it and—’
    â€˜Send it to my lawyer.’
    â€˜I thought we were going to keep this between ourselves. It’s all perfectly straightforward, just read it.’
    â€˜I’m signing nothing without Ian Hannow’s say-so. I trust him; I don’t trust you.’ She gestured towards the door. ‘If that’s all, we’ll say goodbye. Don’t come back here again, Miles. You can make any further arrangements through my lawyer. If you want access to Amy, he’ll arrange that too.’
    He shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I might have known you’d go back to the Hannows. They’re as stick-in-the-mud as you are. Right, then. I’ll go up and pack my things, then I’m off.’
    He was out of the kitchen and up the stairs before she could stop him.
    She followed him up. ‘Your clothes are no longer here; they’re packed and waiting for you out in the barn.’ She hadn’t been able to face sharing a wardrobe for one hour longer with his precisely arranged row of designer jeans and trousers, expensive shirts and tops.
    â€˜You don’t mind if I check that you’ve got everything?’ He moved towards the wardrobe and stared inside, then opened the drawers that had been his one by one. ‘You were very thorough, weren’t you?’
    â€˜It was a labour of love.’
    Before he went downstairs he flicked a scornful finger towards her jewellery box. ‘You should put that away. It’s stupid leaving it in full view. Any burglar would go straight to it. As I said, you have no financial sense.’
    She shrugged and followed him downstairs.
    He looked at Amy. ‘I’m leaving now. Be a good girl.’
    But he didn’t touch the child or even wait for her answer, simply moved on across the yard to the structure they still called the barn, though it stood empty now, housing only her car and a few old farm tools. She gestured to the pile of rubbish bin bags to one side. ‘There you are. Every single thing that belongs to you. I doubt anything’s missing, but if it is, tell me and I’ll send it on.’
    â€˜You realize I’ll need to have them all ironed after they’ve been stuffed into those bags and dumped out here.’
    She shrugged. Whether his suits and shirts would need ironing had been the last thing on her mind. He dressed well, she had to give him that. No woman took more care with her appearance than he did.
    For a moment he continued to glare at her, then he picked up a couple of the bags and carried them out to his car.
    In the yard, Amy took a few uncertain steps towards him, the rolling gait caused by her weak lower spinal muscles very marked. He didn’t even slow down as he walked to and fro, just said, ‘I’m busy, Amy.’
    Ella put her arm round her daughter. ‘Let’s go into the house, love. Your father’s in a hurry to leave.’
    Inside, she went round bolting all the external doors so that he couldn’t come back in. She’d have the locks changed tomorrow. Well, the house locks, anyway. The barn locks were centuries old and would have to stay, but she didn’t think he had keys to them. Why would he? After his first tour of the group of outbuildings, he’d hardly ever gone inside