‘So are you, dear,’ George told his wife, who pouted girlishly, but made no protest.
‘I wouldn’t mind a nice little job like Kate’s,’ she declared, ‘but George won’t let me work.’
From the look on his face, Kate took it this was news to him.
‘I never minded making coffee for my boss. In my opinion you just can’t beat the personal touch,’ Lucy went on relentlessly. ‘The man I worked for was utterly devastated when I left to get married.’
‘How about you, Kate?’ said Ben, taking the chair nearest to her. ‘Did your boss tear his hair when you resigned?’
She grinned at him. ‘She paid far too much to her hairdresser to do that.’
‘I’d hate to work for a woman,’ said Lucy promptly.
‘Kate worked with one, not for one,’ said Anna, licking her fingers. ‘She was Deputy Director of Human Resources by the time she resigned her London job.’
Lucy was silenced for a split second. ‘Goodness, life must be very different for you in a quiet town like this,’ she said, regrouping.
Anna got up. ‘If Kate will direct me, I need to find the ladies’,’ she announced.
‘You’ll have to ask Jack,’ said Kate, smiling at her. ‘I don’t know where it is.’
‘Really?’ said Lucy, brightening. ‘I’ll come with you then, Anna.’ She took Jack’s arm, smiling up at him coquettishly as they left the room.
‘You mustn’t mind my wife, Kate,’ said George kindly. ‘She’s got this boundless curiosity. She’s probably nagging Jack to show her round the entire house right now.’
Kate gave him a friendly smile, and got up to take the coffee pot. ‘I think I’ll ask Molly for a refill. I do know where the kitchen is,’ she told Ben as he opened the door for her.
Kate met Jack in the hall. ‘I’m on my way to ask Molly for more coffee.’
‘Good idea.’ He grinned conspiratorially. ‘How are you, Katie?’
‘Bearing up,’ she returned, rolling her eyes, and he laughed, smoothing a hand down her hair as she went on her way.
The kitchen was already tidy and the redoubtable Molly had a thermos of fresh coffee waiting to refill the silver pot.
‘Mum can take it in.’
‘Thank you,’ said Kate gratefully. ‘It was a fabulous meal, Molly,’ she said as Hazel went off with the coffee. ‘I hear you want to open a place of your own one day. When you do I’ll be your first customer.’
‘First dinner on the house then,’ Molly assured her, beaming. ‘You think the meal went down well tonight? I hope it wasn’t too boring.’
‘It was perfect. You must have seen the empty plates coming back! Mr Maitland had two helpings of everything. He said the apple pie was even better than his mother’s.’ Kate smiled at the sound of an imperious bark from the boot room.
‘I think someone wants to say hello,’ said Molly, and handed over a small dish of titbits. ‘You can give Bran his treat, if you like—only mind that velvet.’
Kate received an enthusiastic greeting from Bran, who fussed over her in delight for a while, then wolfed down his goodies and went to stand pointedly at the outer door.
‘You go back, Miss Durant. I’ll let him out,’ said Molly. ‘The downstairs cloakroom is second on the right across the hall, by the way.’
Kate spent a few minutes there to marshal her forces, then went back to join the others.
‘You’ve been a very long time,’ commented Jack.
‘I had a chat with Bran.’
‘You were so long I poured the coffee,’ said Lucy sweetly. ‘Who’s Bran?’
‘My dog,’ said Jack, and smiled as he took hairs from Kate’s sleeve. ‘You’ve been cuddling him.’