Sommersgate House Read Online Free PDF Page A

a week).
    Julia walked
to the enormous windows and stared at the dormant garden, still
thinking of Douglas, the man with whom she was now forced to live
for at least the next twelve years.
    Unlike his
mother, he was always courteous to her, often gallant and sometimes
fleetingly friendly, but never warm. She learned not to be
concerned by his demeanour, that, she soon discovered, was how he
treated everyone and was quite like his father’s behaviour (for the
short time she knew Maxwell Ashton before his untimely death).
Douglas’s cold indifference was legendary, he rarely smiled and
even more rarely laughed.
    After he came
back from whatever he was doing those two years, something had
changed in him. He had a strange, yet magnetic, sinister quality.
She couldn’t put her finger on it but whatever it was made him no
less attractive, in fact, this mysterious allure, including his
remoteness, added to his appeal. He used to be quiet, watchful, you
could almost, but not quite, forget he was in a room and then be
startled when you caught him watching you.
    And Julia had
caught him watching her a great deal, probably wondering
(undoubtedly somewhat clinically) how she had managed to insinuate
herself into the Ashton Family Fortress.
    Once
he’d come back from his Disappearance (made notable in her mind
with a capital “D”), even if you hadn’t seen him enter a room, you
knew he was there. His very presence was forceful and the moment he
cut his dark eyes to you, Julia could think of no other way to
describe it, except, oh my .
    Julia knew,
though, that her ex-husband had been the beginning and the end of
dealing with those kinds of men, handsome, arrogant and entirely
self-centred. She’d rather be alone for the rest of her life than
endure even a smidgen of the heartache Sean had bestowed on her or
the relentless days of piecing together your life and
self-confidence when they were gone.
    “Dinnertime!
Come on children, it’s all served up. Get it while it’s hot.”
    Mrs. K had
walked into the drawing room. The room was enormous, could easily
and comfortably fit thirty (maybe even forty) people. Decorated in
ice blue and white, unflinchingly formal with three gigantic
crystal chandeliers running the length of it, it was chilly, even
with the fire that now burned in its colossal grate.
    The kids had
headed to that room straight after tea. Not to the warm
leather-couched entry, or the slightly more comfortable, book-lined
library or the definitely more suitable billiards room or
lounge.
    “ Grandmother Monique says kids are seen and not heard, the
drawing room is the farthest away from Grandmother’s morning
room and Uncle
Douglas’s study,” Lizzie had explained while Julia tried not to
show any reaction, least of all her extreme, albeit exhausted,
irritation.
    They all
quietly trooped into the dining room. Quiet, Julia was learning
quickly, was very important not only for the children but also the
staff. The young Russian girl so excelled in it that Julia had been
startled by her twice. Veronika drifted about like a ghost.
    The dining
room, Julia thought while entering it, was the most extravagantly
appointed room in the house. The walls richly covered with embossed
paper that was created to look and feel like leather and was hand
painted in deep moss green, black and rich bronze with accents of
gold. The room not only held a long, shining walnut table that
seated eighteen but also had two semi-circular windows along one
side that held tables that each sat an additional four apiece and
an enormous fireplace in which Ruby could set up house.
    Mrs.
Kilpatrick had gone all out, as best she could without forbidden
fattening sauces and delicious desserts. Halved avocados filled
with succulent shrimp to start then fillet steaks, steamed
broccoli, Brussel sprouts, boiled potatoes and carrots and to end,
a fruit parfait separated with layers of thick, rich,
honey-sweetened Greek yogurt.
    Julia and Mrs.
K both tried to