now, meeting Marjery again, I wanted to at least look like a professional caterer! I’m not quite sure I’ve managed it, though. My ‘snug’ shirt and skirt, and black heels make me feel more like a secretary in a saucy Carry On movie. I just need glasses to whip off. (Oh, Miss Jones!)
I clear my throat.
And that’s when I hear it.
A high-pitched screech from somewhere off to my left.
My blood chills at the sound. I spin around, staring over in the direction of the wooded area to the side of the house. The dead silence that follows it is almost more chilling than the agonised cry itself.
Maybe it was an animal in the woods? I’ve heard that the cries of a fox can sound similar to a human shriek.
I glance back at the door, wishing Fen would appear, trying to rationalise the shrill sound that’s still echoing in my head. It’s beginning to seem as though there’s no-one in. I suppose I am a little early…
And then I hear it again.
A long, blood-curdling scream, echoing through the trees.
My skin prickles. That’s not an animal. It’s human.
Someone is in trouble…
I lay my bag and the cake in its carrier on the doorstep, and I hurry as best I can in my movement-limiting skirt and heels to the side of the house, before following a path that leads past a pretty, ornate summer house and into the woods.
Plunged into the shadowy trees, I stumble along in the direction I imagine the screams came from, hoping I’m not too late, but at the same time, dreading what I might find. My heart is thudding in my ears. Suddenly, I catch a chink of light up ahead and I’m so focused on it that I’m not watching where I’m running – and suddenly, my foot catches under what must be a bramble snaking across the path. Pitching forward, I land with a sickening thud on my knees, the heels of my hands taking a battering on the forest floor. And as I struggle back up, panting, another hair-raising screech fills the air, causing the birds in the nearby trees to rise up, flapping and squawking.
My heart in my mouth, my knees stinging, I blunder on, along the fern-strewn path, towards the winter sun gleaming between the trees up ahead. I can hear voices now. Shouts. Maybe someone has got there before me…
As I burst, breathless, into a clearing in the trees, out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of something big flying towards me. There’s a whirring noise as I turn, and a deep male voice shouts urgently, ‘Out of the way!’
It all happens in a flash.
Before I can work out what’s happening, a solid weight is cannoning into me and I go flying backwards. Winded, I end up lying in a heap of bracken, with someone heavy lying spread-eagled on top of me.
Gasping for breath because he’s lying right on my diaphragm, I find myself staring up into a pair of deep blue eyes…
CHAPTER TWO
The scents of earth and pine needles are tingling my nose. The owner of the eyes is gazing down at me intently, as the shock of what’s just happened stills my breathing altogether.
Then in one movement, he removes his weight from me with a grunt – as if he’s doing a swift, reverse press-up – and sits back on his heels, hands on his thighs.
‘Are you okay?’ he asks with a frown, as I struggle onto my elbows, still feeling dazed but at least able to breathe again. Gingerly, I move my legs. Then my arms. All in working order. Except my butt really hurts where I landed on it so suddenly.
‘I think I’m okay,’ I tell him, taking the hand he’s offering me, and feeling myself pulled easily to my feet. I stagger against him a little and he steadies me, his hands around my waist, and a funny little shiver runs through me. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him what happened but for some reason, when I meet his deep blue gaze, the words get stuck in my throat.
‘We were trying out the zip wire,’ he says, pointing over his shoulder. ‘When you ran into the clearing, I was already on the way and I couldn’t stop.’ He’s very tall and his voice is deep and velvety, like melted chocolate, and I suddenly wonder if my legs will hold me up once he lets go.
‘Zip wire?’ Puzzled, I look over