September 24th, 2008 Posted in Book Preview | 2 Comments »
Here is an extract from Chapter One of Dangerous Shores which will be published in paperback on November 6th 2008. Hope you like it and want to read the book. Another extract will appear shortly
‘What’s the problem, love?’ Eliza asked, when John reached the window. ‘I suppose it has to do with the papers in your hand?’ she added as she rose from her chair and came to join him.
‘It’s a wonderful view, isn’t it?’ was all he said in answer to her questions.
‘Wonderful,’ she replied, and waited patiently for him to explain what troubled him.
How often had they had stood here gazing across the terrace and over the lawn to the cliff edge beyond overhanging a tiny bay where at this moment the sea lapped lazily. No matter what the season, no matter what the weather or the tumult of the sea, this view always entranced them and inevitably their fingers entwined as they enjoyed it together..
‘Well, what is it?’ she prompted quietly. ‘What as that piece of paper to do with the view?’
John turned to her. As ever she saw love and adoration on his handsome face, but she also saw from the shadows in his deep blue eyes that he was troubled.
‘Maybe we’ll leave it,’ he said quietly, letting go of her hand and running his hand through his thick dark hair; a worried gesture.
‘What?’ His statement evoked disbelief in her. She stared at him, her eyes wide with shock and curiosity. ‘Leave Bloomfield Manor, Why?’
He hesitated as if he was searching for the right words. ‘This,’ he said holding up the papers.
She took them. The top one was a letter written in immaculate copperplate handwriting; obviously executed by someone used to producing clearly legible documents. Her eyes skipped over the words quickly. The shock she received caused her to sink on to the window seat to read the letter more carefully, making sure she had truly understood the contents at first glance. When she knew that she had she looked up slowly to meet John’s anxious gaze.
‘Well?’ she said.
He tightened his lips and shrugged his shoulders. She noticed his quick glance out of the window but could not interpret whether he was deliberately redirecting her attention to the view they both loved and silently saying: ‘This is what I want.’ She stood up and placed a comforting hand on his arm. Her blue eyes met his, asking him to say something, for whatever he wanted she would agree to.
‘I wish Uncle Gerard hadn’t done this then we wouldn’t have been faced with a decision that could affect our lives and even Abigail’s.
‘Well, he has. We cannot get away from that. I don’t think we can walk away from his immense generosity without considering it carefully.’
‘I suppose not. But I hardly remember him. He left Whitby when I was a small child. Under a bit of a cloud, I believe. He was twelve years older than my father. Never set foot here again. Sailed the seven seas and, it was rumoured, made a fortune. He finally settled in Cornwall.’
‘And now he’s died,’ added Eliza when her husband hesitated, ‘and left everything to, as it says here, “John Mitchell, my nephew and only male relation.” According to these figures it’s a considerable fortune in money and land.’
‘Yes, but note the proviso, I will have to take up residence in his property, and he stipulates that I must reside there for twelve years otherwise everything I inherit will be forfeit. If I were to leave within that time then I would have to make good the estate’s worth to its present value.’
‘Or you could refuse the bequest,’ Eliza pointed out.
‘Are you saying that’s what I should do?’
‘No. I am just pointing out that there is an alternative.’
‘And if I do the whole of my uncle’s estate will pass to the government.’
‘Do I detect from your tone of voice that you would not like that to happen?’
‘It would seem as if we were throwing his kindness back in Uncle Gerard’s face. After all, though I have barely met him since childhood, it seems he did not forget me.’
‘True. It looks as though he forgot Martha, which is strange considering your sister is four years older than you.’
‘What would he know of her, not having been in touch with the family? He probably assumed she’d be married with a husband to provide for her now.’
‘He could have bothered to find out. If he had he’d have known she lost the love of her life when he was drowned on a whaling voyage in the Arctic,’ Eliza pointed out.
‘Maybe he was planning to. That letter says he died suddenly.’
‘It also states he had drawn up his will two years ago; if he had planned to consider Martha he would have had time.’
‘Well, we will never know his reasons for leaving everything to me, but we have a decision to make.’
