The Way to a Woman's Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

still not quite ready for us I could go away and come back tomorrow. I’ve been sleeping in the car for a while now – one more night won’t make any difference.’
    ‘No!’ Poll was horrified. ‘You can’t do that – no. We’re all ready, honestly, and – oh, yes, please bring your stuff indoors and I’ll show you to your room and – ah – and this must be Roy.’
    She turned her welcoming smile to the tall, thin, gawky Art Garfunkel lookalike who was emerging from the estate car’s passenger seat.
    ‘Er, no.’ Ash shook his head. ‘Actually, Roy’s been staying with someone else on a very temporary basis since we had to leave the restaurant, but there wasn’t room for me as well. This is Joe. A mate of mine. He’s going to help me move my heavy stuff in. Roy’ll be along later.’
    ‘Oh, right. Hello, then, Joe.’ Poll turned back to Ash. ‘I’ll look forward to meeting Roy when he arrives. Look, shall I just show you to your room? Then you and Joe can get your bits and pieces in without too much interruption.’
    ‘Lovely, thanks.’ Ash flashed the devastating smile again. ‘You’ve no idea how grateful I – we – are. Right, Joe, if you start unloading, I’ll find out where we’re going.’
    Coming downstairs and after several false starts, Ella eventually found her way to Hideaway’s kitchen. As there was no sign of Poll on the stairs or in the house, she assumed the Ash-arrival was still taking place outside.
    Wow, though – she looked around in delight – whateverelse Poll had not been truthful about, she certainly hadn’t lied about the kitchen. It was exactly how she imagined a farmhouse kitchen would be: quarry-tiled floors and nubbly plastered walls, with a huge refectory table surrounded by ancient Windsor chairs, and several gorgeous floor-to-ceiling dressers loaded with china, and pots and pans hanging from a clothes airer contraption – oh yes, and herbs drying there too! Ella inhaled the wonderful scent of thyme and basil and parsley. Cooking in here was going to be absolute bliss.
    And wow again! Walking from the cool kitchen into the searing heat of the garden, Ella was met by a tidal wave of warm, honey-sweet air and a deluge of butterflies.
    In the lee of the farmhouse, the yard was exquisitely country cottagey, with a little patch of lush lawn and flower-packed beds to one side, shaded from the sun by fronding trees, and set out with a canopied swing seat and parasoled wooden table and chairs. It was idyllically pretty, like something from a child’s picture book.
    On closer inspection, the floor of the high-walled dusty yard was actually mellowed bricks, with a sort of hollowed out bit in one corner which was clearly George’s dirt pit. Ella smiled delightedly, watching him now as he industriously chugged his vividly coloured lorries in and out of the miniature quarry, helped by the sturdiest dog, while the remaining dogs, cats and hens had all found respite from the heat beneath the overhanging branches of the heavily blossomed lilac trees.
    The remains of George’s lunch were on the table, and Ellaflicked the buzz of inquisitive wasps and bees away with her hand.
    George looked up and waved at her, yelling some unintelligible and lengthy greeting. Ella waved back.
    She sank on to the canopied swing seat and rocked gently back and forth, watching George playing, swamped with pleasure. Why, oh why couldn’t Mark be here to see this? Surely, seeing this place, meeting George, he’d understand that this really was her dream come true. She’d always adored children, and had always wanted to be a nanny for as long as she could remember, but had been persuaded to do business studies and find a ‘proper job’ by her teachers and parents. So, reluctantly, she’d gone along with it until the urge became just too much to bear. And now, she thought, gazing up at the cloudless sky, and listening to the sound of country silence and George’s cheerful prattle, she’d