Page 13 of Leather and Longing (Island Tales #3)

Chapter Ten

Paul had been up since six, cleaning. By the time he heard Adam stirring, the kitchen shone, every bit of stainless-steel gleaming. The library was tidied and dusted, all evidence of Adam’s sleeping habits removed. The cloakroom was pristine.

At eight o’clock he took a mug of freshly brewed coffee up to Adam’s room and knocked.

“Come in.”

Paul pushed open the door and entered. Adam lay in the bed, the quilt folded over to one side: it had been a hot August night. A white sheet covered him. Paul walked around the bed to place the mug on the bedside cabinet. “I thought you might appreciate an early start today.”

Adam sniffed up. “God, that smells good. Thank you, yes.”

“How did you sleep?” After weeks of spending nights on the couch, Paul assumed the bed was a blissful improvement.

He smiled. “Like a log. I haven’t slept that well for a long time. I could hear the waves as I fell asleep. It took me back.” Then his face straightened. “Thank you.”

It felt like—no, it was —a dismissal.

Paul bit back his sigh and left Adam to his coffee.

At least with Adam awake, Paul could use the Dyson on the hall and stairs carpet.

He had no idea when to expect Caroline, but she had said early, and he was taking no chances.

By nine, the house was spotless, and Paul was preparing soup for Adam’s lunch.

At least she can’t say I’m giving him crap to eat .

Paul made sure Adam’s diet was healthy. The bread dough was already proving in a bowl under a damp tea towel.

Adam had finished his breakfast and was sitting in the library, listening to music, lost in a world of Beethoven’s piano concertos.

That had been one of Paul’s brainwaves. In the car on the way to Binstead, he’d asked Adam what CDs were in the house.

A wistful expression had flickered across Adam’s face.

It turned out that his CD collection was yet another thing he couldn’t lay his hands on.

Paul grimaced. Somewhere in that house were tons of boxes with Adam’s possessions in them.

Now that Adam was beginning to settle a little, it was important to have his belongings around him, so that the house felt like home.

Paul wasn’t sure how he felt about tackling Caroline on the subject: his job was in the balance.

Let’s make sure she’s happy with the situation, then we can work out where she’s put everything.

Apparently, Adam was a classical music nut, so Paul had dashed into the house and begged his mum to let him borrow some of her classical CD’s.

She’d agreed, albeit with a bemused expression, and then laughed at the sight of him laden down once more with his belongings.

She’d followed that with mutterings under her breath, something about never knowing if Paul was coming or going.

Paul had waved his hand. He’d explain it all when he had the time. Right then he’d been on a mission.

When midday arrived and there was still no sign of Caroline, Paul began to think she’d changed her mind, until he heard a car pulling up outside.

“She’s here,” Adam called out.

Paul hurried to the library door when the music died. “No, put it back on.” Anything to help create a positive first impression.

Adam reacted swiftly and hit the remote. Once more, the music wafted through the house. Paul took a deep breath and crossed the hallway to open the front door as Caroline approached, a briefcase clutched in her hand. “Good afternoon,” he said politely.

She smiled. “Hello, Paul.”

He stepped aside to let her enter and closed the door behind her. “Adam is in the library.”

She strode briskly past him, and Paul caught the muttered words, “where else?” He followed her to the library door where she stopped so abruptly, he almost ran into her.

He could only imagine what was going through her mind.

Not that he could blame her reaction: it was certainly a different picture from her last visit.

“Good afternoon, Caroline.” Adam’s tone was polite, but there was a warmth to it Paul hadn’t yet heard. “We’re about to have lunch. Paul’s made some soup. Would you like to join us, or have you only got time to get your paperwork sorted out?”

There was a delay of several seconds before Caroline responded. “Paperwork?” To Paul’s mind, she didn’t sound with it at all.

“Yes, Paul’s bank details. The reason for your visit?” Adam sounded distinctly amused. Paul’s head was buzzing from Adam’s use of pronouns.

We’re about to have lunch? Join us ?

“Oh, yes. Well. I don’t want to disturb you. I can always come back another time when it’s more convenient.” There was no escaping it: Caroline was flustered.

“The soup will keep,” Paul interjected. The last thing Adam would want would be to give his sister an excuse to visit again. “And besides, the bread’s fresh out of the oven. It needs to cool down before I can slice it.”

“Oh, well, if you’re sure.”

“Why don’t you go into the office with Paul, and do what you need to do? That way, we can relax and have lunch afterward.” Adam was smiling.

“Very well.” Caroline went toward the office door, Paul behind her. One glance at Adam confirmed his suspicions: Adam was enjoying this.

Filling out his details took less than five minutes, and when it was completed, Caroline tucked the papers away into her briefcase and placed it on the floor next to her chair.

“I realize one thing we didn’t discuss last week was your time off.”

“Time off?” Paul mimicked her words, floored by the realisation it had only been a week since his interview.

“You can’t be expected to work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” Caroline said, her dry tone so reminiscent of Adam’s.

“You will need some time off, if only to… chill out. I imagine looking after Adam can be quite fatiguing.” She smiled, her gaze trained on him as though awaiting a response.

“Funnily enough, we were discussing this only yesterday.” Adam stood in the doorway, his hands on the doorjamb.

“But you don’t need to worry your head about this, Caro.

I’m sure Paul and I can come to an arrangement that suits us both.

For example, he’s going to a party tomorrow night.

” He sniffed the air. “That soup smells good.”

“It certainly does,” Caroline agreed, “but I’m afraid I can’t stop to try it. I’m meeting Dean in Newport.”

“Oh, that’s a pity. Another time, perhaps.”

Paul was trying hard to stifle his chuckles. Adam was really laying on the politeness with a trowel.

“I’d like to use the bathroom before I go, if I may.” Caroline rose to her feet.

Adam extended his arm in a wide sweep to encompass the hallway. “Please, feel free.”

Caroline gave Paul a polite nod and exited the room, slipping past Adam in the doorway. Paul listened to the soft fall of her feet as she went up the staircase.

Adam stepped into the office and inclined his head upward. “What do you think the likelihood is that right now, my dear sister is upstairs, snooping?” he said in a whisper.

Paul thought it extremely likely, especially when the ceiling above him creaked. That was his room. “Do you think she buys it?” he said in an equally hushed tone. After all, it was quite the transformation from the Adam he’d met.

If Caroline knew her brother well, she might smell a rat.

“I don’t care if she does, as long as it keeps her from coming out here whenever she feels like it.” Gone was any semblance of warmth: Adam’s voice was ice, sending a shiver through Paul.

The sound of Caroline descending the staircase brought a halt to their conversation. She came to the door and glanced at Paul. “Well, I think I’ll be going. If I could have my briefcase?”

Paul nodded. He went around to the other side of the desk to retrieve it. Adam didn’t move.

“So glad you could visit, Caro.” He gave a thin smile.

Caroline regarded him in silence, her forehead furrowed. “Take care, Adam. It’s good to see you’ve decided to join the human race again.” She turned to Paul. “You are to be congratulated, Paul. You appear to have wrought a miracle.” With that, she crossed the hallway and left the house.

Paul stared after her, a fluttering deep in his stomach.

Something really odd is going on here.

“What is it?” Adam demanded. “There’s that weird silence again.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s…” Paul struggled to make sense of what he’d seen and heard.

“Don’t do that,” Adam growled. “Either tell me what’s bothering you or say nothing.”

Paul sighed in silence. It seemed the truce was over. He thought hard about how to frame his thoughts. “Her mouth said one thing, but her expression said something else altogether,” he said at last.

Adam jerked his head in Paul’s direction. “Explain.”

“You heard her, right?” Adam nodded. “Well, if I only had her facial expression to go on, I’d have said she wasn’t happy. Not happy at all.” But that didn’t make sense. Paul was doing the job she’d hired him to do, wasn’t he? Why would she be unhappy about that?

Adam had become silent.

Paul looked over to where Adam leaned against the office door, an air of fatigue surrounding him. There was no trace of the man who’d greeted Caroline.

“I’m going up to my room.” His voice was flat. “I’ll have my lunch there.” He turned on his heel and entered the library next door. Seconds later he emerged, cane in hand, and crossed the hallway to the staircase.

Paul waited until he heard Adam reach the landing. He’d walked up slowly, his cane swinging, his hand clutching the balustrade.

He did it . Paul breathed a little easier.

He went into the kitchen and dropped into one of the chairs.

Some chilling out time sounded very appealing.

He’d really thought they’d had a breakthrough, but Adam seemed to have regressed.

Certainly, the man who’d just gone upstairs was nothing like the Adam who’d teased him the previous day, who’d shown emotion for the first time since they’d met.

That Adam was gone, and Paul felt very insecure about his job prospects.