Ravens Gathering Read Online Free PDF Page A

lifetime. 
Within that closeness, even where there was antipathy, there was also
camaraderie.  And with that came a sense of safety that promoted
confidence.  At that moment, all sense of safety and confidence had gone.
    Satisfied he had everyone’s attention, the stranger
spoke.  “I think it’s time you found out who I am.”

Four
     
     
    Tanya McLean wasn’t happy.  To be fair, this wasn’t
unusual, and hadn’t been for some time.  This afternoon her main cause for
complaint was that she had yet again been forced to make a twenty-five mile
round trip to pick up some decent groceries.  And having made the journey
she now realised she’d forgotten to pick up some lentils and ginger.  She
didn’t stand a chance of finding that vital ingredient for the curry she
planned to make this evening.  At least not without returning to the
Sainsbury’s at Westfield.  The Post Office in the village only stocked the
essentials, and even some of those were questionable.  The local shops in
the nearest villages were slightly better.  Long Clayford actually had a mini-mart.  But the chances of finding lentils or ginger
there were pretty remote.  Both at the same time would be damn-near
impossible.
    This was her main cause for complaint this afternoon. 
But she was perpetually in a complaining mood, a fact she grudgingly admitted
to herself as she walked back across the yard to her car.  It wasn’t a
state she was happy about being in.  Some people seem to get a real sense
of pleasure from moaning.  That wasn’t something that suited Tanya at
all.  But since she and her husband had moved up here from Oxford, things
just seemed to have gone from bad to worse.  And, as time had passed,
every little niggle that she would previously have just shrugged off seemed to
become a major downer for her.
    She hadn’t been too impressed with the idea of moving north
in the first place, but Ian had insisted that it presented a fantastic
opportunity.  It had turned out to be such a fantastic opportunity that he
was currently with a bank manager in Nottingham trying to renegotiate the terms
of a loan with them so they could afford to maintain the payments. 
Tomorrow, he would be with another bank manager in Westfield begging for
mortgage arrears to be added to a different loan, because there was no way they
were going to be able to cover the last three months’ payments.  It was
even questionable as to whether they could afford to pay anything in the coming
months.  But Ian was fighting for their financial survival, and buying
time was the most important thing to do right now.
    In the mean time, Tanya could only curse his decision to
come here, and look out for her own opportunities.  Though the
opportunities she was looking for were ways to escape – and not necessarily
with Ian for company.  She realised that wouldn’t be as easy as it could
have been in the past.  She also knew that it was her own fault that she
was in the more difficult position.  When she’d first married Ian, the
house was in his name.  With plenty of equity in it, Tanya hadn’t been too
impressed that he did nothing to put that right.  So when they were
arranging the move up here, she’d subtly dropped hints about her own
insecurity.  The result – as anticipated – had been Ian asking if she’d
mind becoming a joint owner.  It would demonstrate their commitment to
each other as husband and wife, he had explained.  So she’d got what she
wanted.  And now she wished she hadn’t.
    With debts in joint names, she couldn’t just walk
away.  If she didn’t have them, it wouldn’t be a problem, and the next
gullible man would be more than happy to take her on.  She knew she was
attractive, and she always made the best of herself.  Even now.  She
might have only been to the supermarket, but she was wearing a cream sweater
that clung to all the right places, jeans that appeared to have been moulded to
her, and five inch heels on