Sweetly Isolated (The Swallow Barn Cottage Series, Book 1)

Blogs and Loops

Tina fled - with a coffee mug and two rolls on a plate - cowardly backing away from him and mumbling. And of course she saw a mocking smirk on his lips, but at this stage he needed to be blind and daft - the jury was out on the latter, as the Americans called it - to think his finger licking trick hadn't worked. So, what? He was hot, and tried to fluster her, and he had. Nine out of fourteen actors playing the Doctor in Doctor Who could do it. Not much of an accomplishment, innit? Tina sighed and settled to write.

Three hours later she was still feeling pretty restless, and she decided there was no use fighting it. Tina knew her writing quirks. She wouldn't be able to focus on the interrogation she was describing unless she did something about the jitters. She needed endorphins. She needed to be physically tired. She needed to skate.

She was changing when she heard the doorbell downstairs. She rushed out of her bedroom - but of course the furry menace was faster.

"John!" a female voice rang, when Tina was turning the corner into her hall.

There was a second there when she thought she'd see Deidre Hooper née Holyoake - but the woman standing a few meters away from Tina's entrance door on the pavement was a petite blonde, dressed better than Kate Middleton attending the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church.

"Darling, you look well," the blonde said. "Clearly, you aren't in as much distress as Di painted it."

"Good day to you too, Etty," the bearman answered with a chuckle.

He was once again leaning on a door frame, taking all of the doorway with his massive body. Stop appreciating his wide shoulders, Tina!

"Call me Etty again, and I'll throw something at you. And you know me, dear, I won't miss." The blonde gave out a lilting laugh. "How are you feeling?"

"Fit as a fiddle, darling," he said, his shoulders shaking in a full-body laugh.

Tina wondered if this 'darling' was the same 'darling' who'd rang him up the day before. Did she come to check on him?! And then Tina realised she was as much as stalking, and she edged away from him.

"Ms. Popplewell," the man purred, making her freeze on her spot, like a racoon caught trying to sneak through a cat flap. He threw her a cheeky glance over his shoulder. "Allow me to introduce you to my friend, Georgette Millais-Scott."

Tina stepped forward and stopped near him. Too close! The man is like a furnace! Is he radiating heat?! Also... awkward! How does one talk to a 'friend' of a man one's unwillingly lodging with?!

"Di told me about your predicament, Ms. Popplewell," the blonde said and clicked her tongue. "My condolences."

"'Tina,' please. And it's quite alright," Tina mumbled.

"I doubt it. You're stuck in the same house as with him." The woman pointed at Holyoake with the index finger of her gloved hand. "Don't let him hog the duvet. And a good kick should stop the snoring."

"I don't snore, Etty," Holyoake said lazily.

Tina remembered how Brigit told her he had a strict rule against staying the night, and it seemed even the elegant, confident, fit Etty hadn't been given a chance to find out whether he snored.

"I was simply taking the mickey," the blonde dismissed. "Poor Tina will need as much humour as possible to get through her incarceration."

"How are the little'uns?" Holyoake asked.

"Recovering. The doctors don't predict any complications." The woman's voice grew serious. "We're more concerned for you, to be honest. As annoying as you are," she added with a small smile.