The Silent Touch of Shadows Read Free

that she didn’t want to spend the weekend in the country ‘with a stuffy old aunt’. She’d gone off to explore the enormous garden of the manor house with her canine companion, eyes sparkling with excitement.
    ‘Of course you’re welcome any time, dear.’ Dorothy stood up. ‘Now I expect you’re thirsty after all that exercise. I’ll get you some squash, shall I? And some biscuits, perhaps? You youngsters are always hungry, I understand.’
    ‘Er, do you have Coke?’ Jolie looked mildly offended to be offered a drink she considered fit only for babies.
    ‘I’m sure Jolie could find her way to the kitchen to fetch something for herself,’ Melissa protested. Since her divorce from Jolie’s dad the previous year, she’d been trying hard to make her daughter more self-reliant. ‘And water is fine, thank you.’
    ‘No, no, it’s no bother. I shan’t be a moment and I’ll see what I can find.’
    ‘Great, thanks.’ Jolie nodded and, as soon as Dorothy had left, she whispered, ‘Your aunt is really nice, Mum, I like her. And I like this house, too.’
    ‘Great-aunt,’ Melissa corrected automatically, ‘and yes, I think I like her, too.’ She felt it was early days yet and she didn’t really know Dorothy well enough, but at least they had made a start. ‘She might like you better if you take your shoes off next time you come in from the garden, though.’ She glanced at the rapidly drying mud on the carpet.
    ‘Oops.’ Jolie grinned and Melissa couldn’t help but smile back.
    She shook her head at her daughter. ‘You’re impossible.’
    ‘But you love me anyway,’ Jolie shot back with a cheeky grin, her red curls bouncing. Her hair was of a particularly vivid shade of red, unlike Melissa’s own which was more a warm auburn.
    ‘Hmm,’ Melissa said, but they both knew she found it hard to be stern and she loved Jolie to bits.
    She took a deep breath and tried to relax again, soothed by the peaceful setting. It really was an amazing house, she had to agree, although a slight feeling of unease still lingered in her mind. ‘It must be wonderful to live here,’ she said, ignoring a little voice inside her which insisted that somehow she knew exactly what it was like. ‘Aunt Dorothy is a lucky woman.’
    As she prepared for bed that night in the guest room she was sharing with Jolie, Melissa thought about the odd sensations she’d been experiencing all day. Was she just imagining things, affected by the unusual surroundings? If not, what else could be causing them?
    Dorothy had confirmed that neither Melissa, nor her parents, had ever visited Ashleigh, so she definitely couldn’t have any real memories of the place. There must be another explanation. Had her grandmother told her tales of the house when she was a little girl, perhaps? But she couldn’t recall Grandma ever doing anything except tell her not to put her sticky fingers on her furniture.
    It was a mystery.
    With a sigh, she crept into bed and listened to Jolie’s soft breathing. She was glad now that her daughter had insisted they share, even though Dorothy had offered them a room each.
    ‘I’d rather stay with you, Mum,’ Jolie had whispered. ‘Just this first time.’ Melissa knew what she meant as waking up in strange surroundings was always daunting.
    She closed her eyes and as she drifted off to sleep her mind filled once more with bewildering images. Images that teased at her brain, tantalising, beckoning her. Melissa concentrated hard. She wanted to remember more, much more, but someone was calling her   …

Chapter Two
    Ashleigh Manor, Kent – 1460
    ‘You are to return by this afternoon or I’ll fetch you myself, girl!’
    Her father’s bellow echoed through the hall as Sibell scurried to the door. She bit back a sharp retort while fumbling with the latch in her haste to escape his presence. ‘Girl’ he called her, even though she was a woman grown and a widow to boot. Not that it made a difference to him, she