The Mercer's House (Northern Gothic Book 1) (24 page)

‘I’ve been calling,’ he said. ‘Have you changed your number? Is that why you didn’t answer?’

‘Not exactly,’ she said. ‘This is my friend’s mobile. I didn’t want to call from my phone, as it turns out Garrett’s been hacking into it.’

‘You’re kidding,’ he said after a pause.

‘No,’ she said. ‘He’s been deleting my calls and my emails and doing all kinds of other stuff.’

‘Other stuff? Like what? Are you all right?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I will be when I’ve got my head round it. Anyway, I was just calling to say I’m sorry if I annoyed you. I seem to be upsetting everybody lately.’

‘You took the words out of my mouth,’ he said. ‘I was calling to apologize for being snippy the other day, but I thought you were ignoring me.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ve just been keeping away from the phone.’

‘It sounds like you’ve got yourself a stalker, then. So much for the nice guy act. He hasn’t hurt you or threatened you, has he?’

‘N-no,’ she said hesitantly.

‘Zanna,’ he said. ‘This isn’t the time to keep things to yourself.’

‘Well, he just got a bit heavy, that’s all. But I threw him out.’

‘When was that?’

‘Monday.’

‘And have you seen him since?’

‘No, but I haven’t been out.’

He gave an exasperated sigh.

‘He threatened you three days ago and now you daren’t leave the house, and you think that’s OK? I think you should call the police.’

‘There’s no point. He’s hardly done anything. They’d need a lot more than that before they’d charge him. I’m sure he’ll calm down eventually.’

‘And you’re going to hide indoors until he does? You can’t do that forever.’

‘I suppose not.’

‘Why don’t you come up here for a few days? To Elsbury, I mean. Corbin’s not well so I’ve come down to help my dad.’

‘Well—’ she began, thinking of how much it would cost.

‘You could stay here. We’ve got a couple of spare rooms.’

‘Won’t your dad mind?’

‘Of course not. He likes you. Come tomorrow. I’ll be here until Monday at least.’

For the first time in over two weeks Zanna felt roused from her gloom. She hadn’t alienated Will forever, then. He wanted to see her again. The invitation might be only a friendly gesture on his part—she couldn’t tell from his tone—but it didn’t matter. It was a few days away from her troubles here in London, and was bound to do her good. Seeing him again was just a bonus. She’d take her cue from his behaviour and do her best not to throw herself at him in an undignified manner.

‘Maybe I could,’ she said. ‘I’ll see if there are any trains and let you know.’

‘Great,’ he said. ‘See you tomorrow, then.’

He hung up before she could thank him, and she wondered whether he was this abrupt with his customers. He certainly wasn’t the gushy sort. She checked the train times and found there was one that would get her there at seven. An exchange of texts told her that was fine by Will, so she booked the ticket and went to pack an overnight bag.

It was dark and drizzling the next evening as she stepped off the train at Elsbury. Will had told her to come straight to the Mercer’s House, but just as she set off along the nearly deserted platform towards the exit she saw him come out through the station building, a few yards ahead, in a hurry. He had obviously just arrived, and he stopped as he saw her. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice had dried up at the sight of him and the words wouldn’t form. Instead, her mind was filled with a sudden vision of the last time she’d seen him, when they’d been alone in her room at the Coach and Horses, and he had set all her nerve-endings aflame with only the lightest of touches. The memory of it had dimmed since then, but now it returned in full force as she saw him, and the impact was almost like a jolt through her whole body. There was a buzzing in her ears, and she had no idea whether he’d said hello or not, but he was looking at her as if waiting for something, and so she took a step forward, then another, and then before she was aware of it she had dropped her bag and was stumbling towards him, and he was striding quickly towards her, and when they met it wasn’t so much an embrace as a collision, as their lips and their bodies came together hard and all the pent-up tension between them was finally acknowledged in one fierce, hungry kiss. His fingers tangled in her hair, and she fastened her arms around his neck as if to seal their lips more tightly together, while a thousand lights lit up inside her and for the first time in nearly two years her mind told her yes, and urged her onward, instead of forcing her to retreat to the safety of nothingness. He tasted every bit as good as she had imagined, like salt and rain and seagrass, and as he shifted to pull her more closely against him she forgot everything else in the intensity of the moment, wanting only to make it last as long as she possibly could.

At last they broke apart and gazed at each other, stunned and breathless.

‘Well, so much for not throwing myself at you,’ she managed eventually.

‘Er—yeah. Likewise,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘What for?’

‘I don’t know. I just feel like I should apologize for something.’

‘There’s no need, really,’ she said.

They were still clinging together, staring at each other. He seemed as dazed as she was. Then he let go of her suddenly and picked up her bag as if he didn’t quite know what he was doing.

‘I’ve brought the car,’ he said. ‘Have you eaten? I told Joe you were coming and they want you to go and see the painting. They’ve just had it framed.’

‘I had some food on the train, but I don’t mind going for a drink. I’d like to see what the picture looks like,’ she said.

It was a ridiculously formal conversation in the circumstances, but he seemed to have retreated back into himself. There was an awkward silence, then he set off into the car park without another word, and without waiting for her. Zanna raised her hand to touch her lips, which were still tingling, and wondered whether she had imagined what had just happened. Then he turned around.

‘Come on, then,’ he said, and the look and the half-smile he gave her convinced her that it was all real enough. Her heart leapt and she hurried to catch up with him.

They stayed in the Coach and Horses for the rest of the evening, and Zanna was hailed as a local celebrity by Ewan, who was hugely excited about the painting, which he had hung in pride of place behind the bar. He insisted on pointing her out to all his customers, many of whom knew Will, and so they were kept busy in conversation with other people for a while. Zanna was almost glad of it; she was still so flustered by the kiss that she suspected she wouldn’t be able to string a sentence together properly if Will asked her even the simplest question—and on top of that, the pub was crowded, so they were having to sit close together, which was making her even more jumpy. Eventually, however, they were left alone, and she found to her relief that she could converse with him almost normally. He wanted to know about Garrett, and she told him what had happened.

‘He sounds pretty disturbed,’ he said. ‘Has he always been like that?’

‘No,’ said Zanna. ‘At least, I didn’t think so. But now I’m wondering whether he’d been doing things like that for ages. He was always going on about me being depressed, even long after I’d started to feel better. I thought he was just being a bit overprotective, but I realize now that he wanted me to feel down, so he’d have a reason to hang around. I can’t believe I was so stupid.’

‘You weren’t stupid,’ said Will. ‘I assume you trusted him.’

‘I did, but I won’t again.’

‘Is he still pestering you?’

Zanna shook her head.

‘Nothing since yesterday,’ she said. ‘Maybe he’s given up.’

‘Let’s hope so,’ said Will. ‘He sounds a bit dangerous, if you ask me.’

‘I don’t think he’s that bad,’ said Zanna. ‘He just likes to get what he wants. As we all do.’

But it didn’t look as if Zanna was going to have any luck in that respect, as Will had withdrawn again and was showing no sign of awareness that anything had happened between them, leaving Zanna wondering whether Garrett might not have been right when he’d accused Will of being manipulative. They returned to the Mercer’s House after the pub closed, and Zanna received a warm welcome from Alexander, who was delighted to see her again, and insisted on showing her to her room, which was upstairs on the first floor.

‘This is our
nice
spare room,’ he said. ‘The other ones can be a little damp, to be honest with you, but we keep this one for best.’

‘It’s really pretty,’ said Zanna, looking at the brass bedstead and the flowered wallpaper, which made her think of a quaint old hotel.

‘I know it’s a bit old-fashioned, but it fits the style of the house, don’t you think? So dismal, these historic old houses that one sees all decorated in minimal beige and white. Oh, very smart, I concur, but hardly fitting. Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you. Corbin’s not well—I expect Will told you—and I’m in charge of doling out his medication. The nurses don’t do nights, so Will and I are having to take him to the bathroom and all that sort of thing.’

‘Will he be all right?’

‘Oh, I expect so. It’s just an infection, but it’s laid him rather low. A healthy person would shake it off, but stroke patients are weaker. Now, it’s late and I imagine you’d like to get some sleep. Will’s room is next door, so you can knock him up if you want anything in the night.’

He was heading down the stairs as he spoke, and Zanna was left to the silence of the first floor. Will would be next door if she wanted anything, Alexander had said. What she wanted was him, of course, but where was he now? Presumably seeing to Corbin, whose room was downstairs. They’d hardly spoken on the way back from the pub, and she was beginning to wonder whether he thought the kiss had been a mistake. The idea filled her with anxiety, and she stood uncertainly in the middle of her room, staring at an antique chest of drawers, unsure as to what to do.

When Will came up ten minutes later he found her waiting for him on the landing outside her door. They stood there in silence, then he said, in reply to her unspoken question:

‘I was trying to be polite.’

‘I don’t want you to be polite,’ she said, in a low, urgent voice. ‘I want you to finish what you started.’

She was itching to reach for him, touch him, and she had to ball her hands into fists to stop herself.

‘What
I
started?’ he said in disbelief. ‘Are you kidding? Do you have
any
idea what you do to me?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I have no idea at all. You give nothing away.’

‘Don’t I? I thought I was being obvious enough.’

‘Because you kissed me? You’d think that would be an obvious sign, yes, but you’ve spent the whole evening pretending it didn’t happen, and now I’m thinking I must have imagined it.’

‘You didn’t imagine it,’ he said. ‘Not unless I did. I’m sorry—it’s just that I’d promised myself I was going to behave, so I thought I’d better take a step back before we did something we might regret.’

‘
We
might regret? Or
you
might regret?’

‘Not me,’ he said quickly. ‘I meant you, really. I’ve been fighting to keep my hands off you ever since I met you, if you must know. It’s been driving me insane.’

‘Maybe you should have stopped fighting it, then.’

‘I might have, but I was getting too many mixed messages.’

‘Mixed messages?’ she said. ‘I wasn’t giving you mixed messages.’

‘Yes, you were. One minute you were giving me all the doe-eyed stuff, and the next you were running off with Garrett as soon as he called. What was I supposed to think?’

‘Oh,’ she said, and looked at the floor. She couldn’t deny it. ‘Well, now you know why that was.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘And now?’ she said. ‘I’m not giving you mixed messages now, am I?’

‘No, but it’s not that simple.’

‘Yes it is,’ she said. ‘It’s very simple. I want you and you want me. Why make things any more complicated than that?’

‘Garrett jumped you when you were depressed,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to be the kind of person who does that.’

‘But I’m not depressed,’ she said. ‘I haven’t felt this good in months. And it’s mostly because of you.’

A smile touched the corners of his mouth.

‘That’s quite a responsibility to lay on me,’ he said.

‘Don’t worry, you didn’t cure me. I was already better when I met you. It’s just that I can appreciate you properly now.’

‘Well, maybe—’

‘Look, don’t think you can get out of it,’ she said. ‘You can’t kiss me like that and then just back off.’ She moved closer to him, until they were almost touching, and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Kiss me again,’ she said. ‘Show me how much you want me.’

His expression was unfathomable, and she held her breath, wondering whether she was making a fool of herself.

‘You’re kind of bossy,’ he said at last.

‘It’s been a long time. Maybe I’m just feeling cranky.’

‘And you think I can help you with that?’

‘Oh, yes,’ she whispered. Her hands were no longer under her control. She reached up and touched his face, and at the same time felt his arms slide around her waist.

‘I guess I’d better do as I’m told, then,’ he said, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down towards her.

The eagerness of his mouth on hers proved beyond doubt that his reluctance was all show, and she experienced a sort of triumph that her gamble had paid off. Then his grip tightened and the connection deepened further, and she closed her eyes and breathed him in, letting herself be carried away by the pleasure as it pulsed through her system. This was how it was supposed to be. She had almost forgotten what it felt like in the emptiness of the past two years, and now she had Will to thank for making her feel alive again. His hands ran over her back and down her sides, and she threaded her fingers through his hair, feeling the warmth of his scalp underneath. Her breath was coming rapidly now, and she lifted her chin to give him access to her neck, then gave a little shudder as she felt his hand fumbling to undo the buttons of her dress. He pulled the dress aside and his lips trailed lower, and involuntarily she gasped. Then without warning he paused, and she whimpered and her eyes snapped open.