She sat at the small desk and opened her laptop.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Answering emails,’ she said.
‘I can’t write with you tapping away in the corner – you’ll make me feel inferior and it will annoy me.’
‘I’ll go and work in my room then,’ she said with a laugh.
‘Don’t go too far away – I might need to check the spelling of a word,’ he said and she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not but it made her stomach flip a little, but then she felt silly for thinking this was flirting.
She packed up her things and put them in her tote bag and then moved to pack up the tray.
‘Leave that. Hil will get it. She’s back – I saw her return a little while ago. Now go away. I’m on deadline and if I don’t get these pages done, my editor Ms Pilkins will have my guts for garters tomorrow.’
Eve laughed and left him to work, praying to the god of writers that Edward would stay on track. There were so many rooms she could work in. The large dining room looked like the plans for the Battle of Hastings had been drawn up at the large oak table – not a great place for someone to answer emails about nonsense from their micromanaging boss.
The kitchen was clearly Hilditch’s domain and despite its warmth, there was something about Hilditch’s manner towards Eve that was cold.
She could head up to her room again but that was a long way from Edward, although he could text if he wanted; but the thought of being cooped up in her room day and night was claustrophobic.
Walking the halls of Cranberry Cross, Eve wondered why Edward’s ex-wife had wanted to live in such a huge, cold, spooky house. Perhaps Serena was right and she had seen herself as the lady of the manor, only to see the heating bill and run to the warmth of the California sunshine.
It was a huge house to fund even for someone as successful as Edward. She had seen cleaners moving about that morning, and there was a handful of gardeners pottering about in the cold.
Hilditch was there more than she wasn’t, and Eve wondered what else she did besides cook and odd jobs.
Eve walked through the house, looking for Flora, but found Hilditch coming out of a wooden door that was part of the wall panelling. She glanced at a staircase behind her.
‘A secret passage? How wonderful. Where does it go?’ she asked Hilditch.
Hilditch snapped, ‘None of your business. And you’re not to go up there. It’s not yet been assessed by the builders.’
Eve looked at the plate of a half-eaten tomato sandwich and near-empty glass of milk in Hilditch’s hand.
She nearly made a glib comment about Hilditch taking her lunch upstairs to sit in an unsafe environment but decided against it. Hilditch was intimidating on most days, let alone now.
‘I’m looking for a spot to work. I don’t feel like staying in my room all day and Mr Priest wants me to be nearby in case he needs some editing done.’
Hilditch started to walk away and Eve was unsure if she should follow.
‘Come on then,’ said Hilditch. ‘You can have the snug.’
She stopped outside a small door that Eve hadn’t noticed before. It wasn’t anywhere near as grand as the other doors and there wasn’t a door handle but a small knot in the wood that Hilditch pushed and the door sprung open.
Hilditch gestured for Eve to enter and she saw three flagstone steps that led into a sunken room.
The stone walls were painted white and there was a large rug on the floor that looked heavy and very old, in muted colours of blue and pink. The pattern was fading but Eve felt the quality when she stepped onto it and looked about the room.
A comfortable sofa with a small table that looked to be Moroccan or Turkish was inlaid with pearl and covered with intricate carving.
The bay window looked out over some bare branches and the expanse of lawn showed on the horizon.
There was a small gas fire in the hearth and empty bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. Two cosy armchairs faced the sofa and against the wall was a desk with a round convex mirror above it, showing the view over the branches to the lawn.
Hilditch went to the fire and pressed a button and the fire sprung to life. ‘Mrs Priest didn’t like wood fires either.’
The room was so obviously different from the rest of the manor that Eve wondered if she had entered another house by accident.
