Harriett (38 page)

“
If the relationship doesn’t warrant them even sleeping in the
same room at night, there is a fundamental problem in their
relationship that they need to work out as a couple. This is their
relationship though, and down to them to sort it out. All you can
do is advise her.”

“
I am sorry you got dragged into this.”

Mark
smiled. “With everything else that is going on right now, Babette
is the least of the problems, don’t you think?”

“
Where will it all end?” Harriett whispered and rested her
head on his broad shoulder for a moment. His palm cupped the back
of her head and he pulled her tightly against him.

She was
so content that she could quite easily have stayed there for the
rest of her life.

“
Out of every darkness there comes light. You just have to be
patient and allow certain matters to unfold for you. You can’t
fight everything all of the time. In this, I am going to deal with
Hepplethwaite, Humphries and Miss Smethwick in the morning.” He
tipped her chin up and nudged her off his shoulder. “All you have
to do is keep yourself out of harm’s way.”

He
didn’t give her the chance to say anything more and captured her
lips in a kiss that swept them both away on a tide of sensation
that left them gasping and wanting more. Harriett trembled with the
force of the desire. A need to draw him closer than ever before had
her clawing at his jacket as he nibbled and nipped his way down her
neck. The warmth of his breath in the hollow there made her shiver
with desire and her head fell back to allow him greater access. She
was stunned that someone like Mark would want her: Harriet, but she
couldn’t question it. A small part of her wondered if these were
the feelings Babette had for her solicitor friend. If it was, then
she could only feel compassion and commiseration for Babette’s
situation.

“
Harriett, we have to stop,” Mark murmured gently. Every fibre
of his being screamed at him to carry on: to ease the ache in his
body and claim her as his, but the reality of their situation added
an edge of caution to the passion that he couldn’t ignore. Even if
he discounted the fact that they were in Harriett’s sitting room,
they were in the middle of a murder investigation in which Harriett
was one of the witnesses, and a potential victim. There were
boundaries that even he couldn’t cross.

Harriett
heard his words and felt a wave of shame for her rash behaviour
sweep over her. Colour flooded her face and she tried to ease away
from him only to find that he wouldn’t allow her any
distance.

“
Please believe me when I say that I want nothing more than to
be able to allow things to continue between us. You and I are both
adults, and we know where this is going to lead us. I want that
more than anything.” Mark knew that if he had any chance of keeping
her with him after the investigation, he had to approach the
subject now; police investigation or not. “I want to be able to
continue to see you after this investigation is concluded, and the
mysteries that surround us are unravelled. I hope that you will
seriously consider a brief courtship before we marry. Right now, it
is chucking out time at the pub in a few minutes and Charles, if
not Babette, will soon be home but, at some point in the not too
distant future, you and I are going to discuss our relationship,
Harriett.”

In a
desperate attempt to snatch whatever time he had left alone with
her, Mark dipped his head and gave her a kiss that was so fierce,
so possessive, that by the time he drew his arms away and put some
distance between them, they were both shaken.

He had
kissed a few women but none had ever had the ability to turn him
inside out like Harriett. The last few hours had allayed all of his
doubts about the speed in which he seemed to have grown so attached
to her. There was a lot they had yet to learn about each other but,
given the passion that had raged between them with so very little
provocation, he had no doubt at all that she would be
his.

Harriett
leaned against the dresser and had barely a moment to compose
herself before Babette appeared in the doorway. Her head whirled at
his declaration and she was as thrilled as she was stunned by that,
and the kiss that had followed.

“
Mark, you are here. I was worried about Harriett being all
alone, so hurried back early,” Babette gasped.

“
It’s alright. I just stayed to keep Harriett company for a
while,” Mark sighed. He studied Harriett carefully and was a little
concerned with just how quiet she had grown. Was she worried about
her conversation with Babette, or shaken by what had just happened;
about what he had just said?

“
I will leave you two to chat.” Regardless of Babette’s
presence in the room, Mark skirted around the table to face
Harriett.

She
glanced up at him and felt her stomach flip at the tenderness on
his face. “I will be by first thing in the morning to take you to
work again. Don’t leave home without me.” His soft words were
accompanied by a tender smile.

“
Goodnight, Mark,” Babette called as Mark left the
room.

“
You don’t have to look so scared. Everyone in the village
knows that he is protecting you because of the threats against you.
Nobody is going to think twice about him calling around here so
often,” Babette assured her with a wry smile when Harriett returned
to the sitting room once Mark had gone.

“
We both know what the gossips would do if they got wind of
clandestine assignations,” Harriett replied quietly. “Although it
would outwardly appear innocent, they wouldn’t be able to resist
discussing it. It would bring shame upon the entire family, and
could damage business at the tea shop.” Her eyes met and held
Babette’s with such directness that the older woman paused in the
doorway to the kitchen.

Babette
looked frightened for a moment. Her eyes locked with Harriett’s.
Harriett knew that it was now or never.

“
I am not judging you.” Mark’s words echoed in her ears and
she now knew what he had meant. Given what she had just shared with
Mark, and the emotions he so easily stirred in her, she could
understand Babette’s decision to seek solace in the arms of a man
who did care. “I just think that you need to consider that there
are other people involved in what you are doing.”

“
What do you think I am doing, Harriett?” Babette dropped into
a seat at the table wearily, as though having to maintain the
subterfuge had sapped her strength.

“
Well, as far as I can see, there aren’t many solicitors who
wish to meet their clients at two o’clock in the morning or after
eight o’clock in the evening, especially single, eminently eligible
bachelor solicitors.” She watched Babette’s shoulders slump moments
before she began to weep. Harriett felt like an eel for having
raised the matter, but had to get Babette to at least acknowledge
the risks involved in what she was doing.

“
I am sorry, I truly am,” Babette sobbed. “I don’t know how it
started. I went to see him to discuss divorcing Charles. I hate it
here, Babette. Charles is so fixated on work and the pub that there
is nothing between us anymore. There hasn’t been for several years
but, of late, we are veritable strangers in our own home. When your
parents died, we kept things going for the sake of raising you. It
has suited us fine, until about five years ago when I started
arguing so much with Charles that life became unbearable. He is
never here and, when he is, hardly speaks to us. At work, he always
has his friends dropping by for a chat and seems a different person
entirely. I don’t know why we are together. I went to see Andrew
about a divorce and he asked me what had gone wrong. You know, if
there was any chance of reconciliation, because a divorce would
bring scandal, especially in a small village like Tipton Hollow. I
came home to think about it but continued to argue with Charles.”
Now that the subject had been raised, Babette’s words came out in a
constant flow as she tried to explain herself. Harriett could do
little else but listen while she ineffectually patted her aunt’s
hand. “At first, the meetings were in his office. We went through
everything; the house, the business, you, the lot. The business is
mine, as you know. It was handed down to me, but Charles has taken
over practically everything to the point that I have been squeezed
out of my own inheritance. Andrew started to look into the finer
details of a separation and asked me a few questions. We met
several times, and I popped information around to his house because
it was quicker than having to travel to Great Tipton. We got
talking and, well, things just progressed from there.” She lifted
water-filled eyes to Harriett’s. “I love him, Harriett. If it
wasn’t for Charles, I would be with Andrew.” She hiccupped and
began to weep quietly into her handkerchief. “I have never felt
like this before, not even with Charles. I know it is foolish, but
I love Andrew. He has urged me to divorce Charles so that we can
marry.”

“
I understand, Babette, truly I do,” Harriett whispered. Her
heart ached for her aunt’s predicament. To be able to be with the
man she really cared about, Babette would have to face public
censure and gossip the likes of which could pose a significant
problem for the good name of the business the three of them had
spent many years building up. However, to ignore her feelings and
remain with her loveless marriage would mean personal misery, and
being separated from the man she truly loved.

“
I have to break it off, don’t I? With so many police around
day and night, it is impossible to go anywhere without being seen.
It is only a matter of time, as you say, before I bring the entire
family name into disrepute.” She heaved a sigh and blinked
tearfully at Harriett. “I knew that one day I would have to say
goodbye to Andrew, I just didn’t think it was going to be
yet.”

“
You could just stop seeing him until Mark finishes his
investigation. As soon as the killer is caught, the policemen will
go back to Great Tipton and everything will quieten down in the
village, you’ll see. You can then -”

Babette
began to shake her head. “You know as well as I do that someone, at
some point, will see me and there will be no explaining what I am
doing. Everyone will know. It isn’t just my scandal and the
tea-shop that will be damaged, it will be Andrew’s business as
well.”

“
I am sorry, Babette, I truly am.” Harriett didn’t know what
else to say. “I can’t even begin to imagine the hurt you must be
feeling. Being torn between family duty and your heart is an
unbearable situation. I wish I could help you. I can only go on how
I would feel if I had to watch Mark walk away.” She shook her head.
“I think I would be just like you are now.” Her voice quivered with
tears and as one, they moved away from the table and shared a
hug.

“
We are a right pair of water babies, aren’t we?” Babette
sighed when they broke apart. “You love him, don’t you,
Harriett?”

It was
all Harriett could do to nod. Her feelings for Mark seemed to grow
stronger every day, to the point now that she knew she would be
devastated if she lost him. She couldn’t lose sight of the fact
that out of the two of them, she was in a far better situation than
Babette, because at least she could have the future with Mark that
he had hinted at. For Babette, the possibility of a happy outcome
was remote.

“
I wish I could help you.”

“
There is nothing you can do,” Babette assured her and wiped
the tears off her face. “I shouldn’t have started this in the first
place. It is now down to me to put a stop to it.”

“
You are going to end it then?”

“
I have to, don’t I?” At the door she paused and looked back
at Harriett. “Mark knows doesn’t he?” She looked
fearful.

Harriett
hastened to reassure her. “He does. He saw you when he was watching
for someone in the village. He told me, but I had already seen you
on the night that Minerva died.” She knew from the realisation that
dawned on Babette’s face that she knew what Harriett meant. “He
suggested that I talk to you about it, although said he isn’t going
to speak of it because it is a family matter. He is protecting us,
Babette. He won’t gossip about it.”

“
I like Mark. He is one in a million.” She pointed one long
finger at her niece. “If you take one piece of advice from me? When
a man like that loves you, don’t ever let him go.” Her voice choked
and she remained quiet as she quickly left the house.

Harriett
didn’t need to ask where she was headed. She knew that if she
followed, Babette would lead her straight to Andrew’s house. There
was very little that she could do to help Babette with her current
problems except be there for her when she came home heartbroken.
She settled down in the chair before the fire, wrinkled her nose at
the rattle of the front door, and remained quiet as Charles let
himself in and stomped up the stairs.

With a
quick glance at the clock, she picked up her sewing and waited for
Babette to return.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

“
Harriett, you look exhausted. Why don’t you stop at home
today?” Mark scowled at the dark circles beneath Harriett’s eyes
and he knew that she had slept little, if at all. He glanced around
the quiet house.