‘Who in their right mind would want to take on Harville Hall? You’re from round here. You must know what they are.’
‘I’m not interested in the Harvilles,’ she said after a moment’s pause, during which she thought how like Deano he sounded when he talked about them. A guilty memory of her fantasy about Lawrence Harville made her skin prickle. ‘This house is my house now. I can do what I like with it. And you can help me turn it into something different. You can help me kick the Harvilles out, lock, stock and barrel.’
This had been the right tack to take, she saw. Leonardo brightened straight away, liking the idea.
‘They must be sick as pigs about having to sell up,’ he said, cheerfully, sitting up and running his hands through his overlong, unkempt hair.
Jenna shrugged. ‘How did you manage to avoid the surveyor?’ she asked.
‘I know this place inside out. Kept a step ahead of him while he was poking about. Went into the garden for a bit. Came back in when he left.’
‘You must have known somebody was interested in buying, then?’
‘Didn’t think it’d go through. There must be a hundred things wrong with this place. Like I said, who in their right mind?’
‘Perhaps I’m not in my right mind,’ said Jenna.
Leonardo drank his coffee, his brown eyes fixed upon her.
‘You look all right to me,’ he said, once he’d swallowed, and she felt that heat and prickle again.
Leonardo, for all his show of wilful ignorance, was clearly bright and articulate, and there was something of swagger about him, something of charisma. The same things Deano had had, and squandered.
It made him strangely dangerous. Not in the knife-wielding, killing way, but in another way she didn’t really want to think about. Dangerous to her defences.
The moment was interrupted by a hammering on the door.
‘Fuck,’ said Leonardo, reflexively curling his fingers around his knife.
‘It’ll be the heating engineer,’ said Jenna, after an heroic effort to return her thoughts to the earthbound and practical. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll let him in. And just think – you’ll be able to have a bath. You must be desperate for one. I know I am.’
She let herself out of the attic, leaving Leonardo to restore the hatch.
She became so engrossed in watching the engineer at work and listening to his verdict on what else needed to be done and how much it would cost that she quite forgot she had arranged to meet Lawrence Harville for lunch.
His knock at the door almost made her react as Leonardo had done – with fear and hostility.
‘Oh,’ she exclaimed to the boiler man. ‘I forgot. I have to go out for an hour or so. Are you OK here on your own?’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ve got another couple of hours’ work at least. I should think I’ll still be here when you get back.’
‘Good. See you later.’
She opened the door to Lawrence Harville, ashamed of her unprimped state. Jeans, cashmere hoody, messy topknot, flipflops. Still, it would save her being recognised by too many rubberneckers.
‘The state of me,’ she said apologetically, looking a suited and booted Lawrence up and down. ‘I’ve been playing heating engineer’s mate this morning. Got carried away with it all and forgot we were going out. If you’ll give me a minute I can change …’
‘Not necessary. You look lovely,’ he said gallantly. She noticed he held a tissue-wrapped bouquet in one hand, which he now proffered. ‘I thought these might go nicely in your living room. Or wherever.’
‘Oh, peonies and sweet peas, that’s kind of you. I’ll put them in water. Now I’ve got some.’
She stuck them in a bucket, which was the nearest thing she currently had to a vase, decided against putting on her raincoat since the skies were looking clear, and dashed out of the house.
What would Harville think if he knew the Hall had had a house guest for the last six weeks? Of course, he hadn’t been living there, so he would never have noticed. All the same, it might give him the creeps, especially if he knew that his attic-dweller was no great fan of the Harvilles.
‘How’s it going?’ asked Lawrence, steering his expensive car out of its parking space and towards the outskirts of the town. ‘I hope the thunder didn’t keep you awake. Not the ideal place to spend that kind of night, I must admit.’
‘I was in two minds about keeping it on,’ Jenna confessed. ‘It’s so huge and dark and lonely. I was considering putting it back on the market at three this morning.’