a relief to you.’
He smiled. ‘Yes, it was. Best of all was the homecooked food—I wasn’t expecting that, but she used to bring me pot roasts or invite me round to her part of the house for dinner of an evening. I think she liked to have company.’
‘Yes, that was probably it.’ Her mouth softened at the image of her aunt befriending this young doctor. ‘I suppose the hot and cold running water goes without saying?’
‘That, too.’
She sighed. ‘I wish I could say the same about mine. I would have loved to take a shower after doing all that weeding, but something seems to have gone wrong with it. I tried to get hold of a plumber, but apparently they’re all too busy to come out and look at it. Three weeks is the earliest date I could get.’
He frowned. ‘Have you any idea why it stopped working? Perhaps it’s something simple, like the shower head being blocked with calcium deposits?’
‘It isn’t that. I checked. I’ve a horrible feeling it’s to do with the electronics—I suppose in the end I’ll have to buy a new shower.’ Her mouth turned down a fraction.
‘Would you like me to have a look at it? You never know, between the two of us, we might be able to sort it out, or at least find out what’s gone wrong.’
‘Are you sure you wouldn’t mind doing that?’ She felt a small ripple of relief flow through her. He might not know much at all about plumbing, but just to have a second opinion would be good.
‘I’d be glad to. Shall we go over to the house now, if you’ve finished what you were doing out here?’
‘Okay.’ They left the walled garden, passing through the stone archway, and then followed the path to the main house. Out in the open air, the hens clucked and foraged in the run amongst the patches of grass and gravel for grain and food pellets, and ignored them completely.
‘So, what happened when you tried to use the shower last time?’ Matt asked as they went upstairs a few minutes later.
‘I switched on the isolator switch as usual outside the bathroom and everything was fine. but after I’d switched off the shower I noticed that the isolator switch was stuck in the on position. The light comes on, but the water isn’t coming through.’
‘I’ll start with the switch, then. Do you have a screwdriver? Otherwise I’ll go and get one from my place.’
‘The toolbox is downstairs. I’ll get it for you.’
‘Thanks. I’ll turn off the miniature circuit-breaker.’
He went off to disconnect the electricity and a few minutes later he unscrewed the switch and began to inspect it. ‘It looks as though this is the problem,’ he said, showing her. ‘The connections are blackened.’
‘Is that bad? Do I need to be worried about the wiring?’
He shook his head. ‘It often happens with these things. They burn out. I’ll pick up another switch from the supplier in town and get someone to come over and fix it for you. I know an electrician who works at the hospital—I’ll ask him to call in.’
‘Oh, that’s brilliant…’ She frowned. ‘If he’ll do it, that is…’
‘He will. He owes me a favour or two, so I’m sure he won’t mind turning out for this. In the meantime, if you want to get a few things together—you can come over to my place to use the shower, if you like?’
‘Really?’ Her eyes widened and she gave him a grateful smile. ‘I’d like that very much, thank you.’
She hurried away to collect a change of clothes and a towel, everything that she thought she would need, and then they went over to his part of the house.
She looked around. The first time she had been here she’d been so taken aback by his revelation about the inheritance, and everything had been a bit of a blur, so she hadn’t taken much in.
But now she saw that his living room was large and airy, with a wide window looking out on to a well-kept lawn and curved flower borders. He’d kept the furnishing in here simple, uncluttered, with two creamcoloured sofas and an oak coffee table that had pleasing granite tile inserts. There was a large, flat-screen TV on the wall. The floor was golden oak, partially covered by an oriental patterned rug. It was a beautiful, large annexe—what could have persuaded Aunt Annie to leave him all this?
‘I’m afraid I’m on call today with the first-response team,’ he said, cutting into her thoughts, ‘so if I have to leave while you’re in the shower, just help yourself to whatever you need—there’s tea and coffee in the kitchen and cookies in the jar. Otherwise I’ll be waiting for you in here.’
He paused, sending her a look that was part teasing, part hopeful. Heat glimmered in the depths of his grey eyes. ‘Unless, of course, you need a hand with anything in the bathroom? I’d be happy to help out. More than happy…’
She gave a soft, uncertain laugh, not quite sure how to respond to that. ‘Well, uh…that’s a great offer, but I think I’ll manage, thanks.’
He contrived to look disappointed and amused all at the same time. ‘Ah, well…another day, perhaps?’
‘In your dreams,’ she murmured.
She went upstairs to the bathroom, still thinking about his roguish suggestion. It was hard to admit, but she was actually more than tempted. He was strong, incredibly good looking, hugely charismatic and very capable…he’d shown that he was very willing to help out with anything around the place.
So why had she turned him down? She was a free spirit after all, with no ties. The truth was, she’d no idea how she’d been before, but right now she was deeply wary of rushing into anything, and she’d only known him for a very short time.
Or had she? He’d said they’d known one another for quite a while, years, in fact. What kind of relationship had that been? For his part, he was definitely interested in her and he certainly seemed keen to take things further.
But she still wasn’t sure she could trust him. He was charming, helpful, competent…weren’t those the very qualities that might have made her aunt want to bequeath him part of her home?
She sighed. It was frustrating to have so many unanswered questions.
Going into the bathroom, she tried to push those thoughts to one side as she looked around. This room was all pearly white, with gleaming, large rectangular tiles on the wall, relieved by deeply embossed border tiles in attractive pastel colours. There was a bath, along with the usual facilities, and in the corner there was a beautiful, curved, glass-fronted shower cubicle.
Under the shower spray, she tried to relax and let the warm water soothe away her troubled thoughts. Perhaps she should learn to trust, and take comfort in the knowledge that Matt had only ever been kind to her.
So far, he had been there for her, doing his best to help her settle in. She had been the only stumbling block to his initial efforts by being suspicious of his motives around her aunt. Perhaps she should do her best to be a little more open to him.
Afterwards, she towelled her hair dry and put on fresh clothes, jeans that clung to her in all the right places, and a short-sleeved T-shirt the same blue as her eyes. She didn’t want to go downstairs with wet hair, but there was no hairdryer around so she didn’t really have a choice. Still, even when damp her hair curled riotously, so perhaps she didn’t look too bad.
Anyway, if Matt had been called away to work, it wouldn’t matter how she looked, would it?
‘Hi.’ He smiled as she walked into the living room. ‘You look fresh and wholesome—like a beautiful water nymph.’
She returned his smile. ‘Thanks. And thanks for letting me use the shower. Perhaps I ought to go back to my place and find my hairdryer.’
‘Do you have to do that? I’m making some