Rob flicked on the radio, filling the car with the sound of her voice.
Oh God, anything but this.
Her vocal cords contracted and her throat went dry. The song was “River Tide,” her favourite, a tribute to the Scottish folk band they’d gone to see on their first date. The song Rob had whispered in her ear when he’d proposed to her at Heaverlock Castle. They had slow danced and it had rained, but they hadn’t cared, letting the droplets fall on them until they ran to the abandoned manor for shelter. What happened after that would be emblazoned in her memory forever. It played through her mind along with the song on the radio. Was Rob remembering also? Was he thinking of how—
No! Longing and desire were not going to submerge her in the past. Anger was a much more useful coping method for dealing with painful memories, and where anger failed, there was nothing like a healthy dose of avoidance. Rob hit the CD player and the music changed over, easing the pressure on her chest. The song was mainstream. Safe.
“One Direction?” Since when was Rob interested in reality TV bands?
He turned up the volume. “Mac makes compilations for me. I’ve got Scouting for Girls in the next slot.”
“So...you’re in touch with your boy-band side now?”
“Girl band, too. They’re much nicer to look at.” He flashed her a lopsided grin.
Oh, boy, that’s lethal. Anjuli took a deep breath. “I was way out of line at the pub. I jumped to conclusions and I apologise.”
And just like that she’d wiped the grin off his face.
The Land Rover hit a deep pothole, jolting Anjuli forward.
“The next time you want to ask a man for help try not to insult his integrity beforehand.”
Heaverlock Castle’s stark outline loomed ahead, separated from them only by a thin line of trees. Three intact turrets and a crenellated parapet crowned the perfectly symmetrical semi-ruin. It had been a Border fort and its defensive purpose showed in the narrow slits carved into its walls.
It had no windows except for one elegant Elizabethan frame in the west turret. Anjuli had always wondered at that window, her teenage imagination conjuring a trapped princess looking out, or perhaps a Border Lady sewing a tapestry in her incongruous corner of graceful beauty.
The ruins watched over them like a sentry as they drove past. The moat was dry, the only evidence that the river had once been diverted to fill it was the empty space at the castle’s entrance, where a drawbridge used to exist. Two hundred metres ahead the River Redes raced violently past, separating the ruin from Castle Manor. Anjuli strained forward as they approached the crossing. The river looked likely to burst its banks at any minute. The rocks she could normally see were covered by fierce rapids only a few feet from the underside of the arched stone bridge.
Rob glanced at her worried face. “It’s been higher.”
He jumped out of the Land Rover and unlatched the heavy chain between the posts. Crossing over, she had the fanciful thought they were leaving the modern world behind. Maybe they were. Approaching her grey sandstone manor felt like stepping straight into a Brontë novel. She only hoped what happened when they arrived wouldn’t play out like one.
Chapter Five
Castle Manor stood defiantly, crumbling in isolation, dark walls worn by gale-force winds and heavy snowfall. Large and square, built in a small valley between the gradually sloping moors and the river that separated it from Heaverlock Castle. Boarded-up windows on the third floor screamed years of neglect, as did the moss growing between the stonework. Anjuli heaved a small sigh. The graffiti on the front façade was a glaring reminder of which century they were in.
The trust that had owned Castle Manor had cut down the trees that used to form a perimeter around the house and hadn’t finished chopping up the wood. Chunks of silver birch and pine lay strewn haphazardly, forming a natural obstacle course to the front door. Anjuli peered at the swaying birch sapling on her roof and grimaced. The slender trunk looked as if it would fly off any minute. Maybe it would take her with it.
Rob let the Border collie out of the back seat and took out her bike, and Anjuli mumbled a “come on in” and sprinted up the steps to Castle Manor. Awkward, to leave him behind so rudely, but she had to save Chloe’s things.
She raced down the entrance hall, trailing water on the faded Victorian tiles as she searched the house. The box wasn’t on the day bed in the spacious morning room where she’d fallen asleep, nor in the empty library. Kitchen? She’d taken it in there at breakfast, hadn’t she, wanting to unwrap the more fragile items after she’d finished? But then Ash had texted her about Rob and she’d been thrown into chaos. Anjuli ran across the spacious hall, checking the central staircase as she went. No box. That left the large, double-fronted sitting room.