‘Lily, that’s enough.’ Some of the steel had returned to his tone. ‘It’s time I gave you some tea since your grandmother hasn’t bothered.’ He looked at Ella. ‘It seems my mother has brought you here on rather false pretences, Ms Grant. I’ll reimburse the expenses you’ve incurred. I’m sorry you’ve had a wasted journey.’
She stared as Max disappeared through the arch with his children. At a nod from Noelle, she hurried after him, and caught up as he opened the front door of the cottage.
‘Excuse me?’
He turned and a glance was enough for Ella to recognise the tension lingering in the lines around his mouth and his refusal to meet her eye. ‘Lily, go and play with Arlo, I won’t be long.Ça va?’
‘Oui, Papa.’
French sounded even more adorable spoken by Lily. Ella realised she’d left her phone in her car, and she needed it. She crossed the drive, retrieved it from the front seat and opened the most recent email from Noelle, wondering if her temporary and apparently straightforward new job was going to be considerably less straightforward and possibly a lot more temporary.
‘Your expenses for today?’ Max had followed with impatient strides and he produced a wallet from a pocket of his jeans. ‘And of course, I’ll compensate you for the inconvenience you’ve incurred.’
‘I’m not sure it’s quite that simple.’ Ella jabbed her phone towards his face, making him blink. She wasn’t expecting the vibrant, cornflower-blue eyes revealed by the flash of light. ‘I was offered this job in good faith by your mother and have a written offer of employment to prove it. I accepted and have rented out my flat on the strength of her offer. Although I haven’t yet signed a contract, I’m sure you’re aware that one still exists. And I’m not going anywhere unless she withdraws the offer in writing with a proper period of notice.’
‘My mother had no right to give you any sort of a job without agreement from me.’ Max was forcing the words out through gritted teeth. ‘Halesmere and all of its interests are run by me, and the decisions are mine to make.’
‘And yet here we are.’ Ella reverted to politeness. ‘Noelle made it perfectly clear you need some help, at least temporarily.’
‘What about my children?’
‘What about them?’
‘Does this offer,’ Max glanced at her phone again, ‘say anything whatsoever about taking care of my children?’
‘Only that I would be collecting them from school and giving them tea a couple of times a week. Maybe some babysitting.’ Ella had been looking forward to it. In a place like Halesmere she didn’t expect to run out of things to do with them, even in winter.
‘We’ll come back to that.’ He rammed his hands in his pockets. ‘So what exactly does your job description say?’
‘I haven’t got one yet. Noelle said the family needed me and we’d, er, we’d make it up as we went along.’ Ella knew this sounded too casual, and Max pounced.
‘No job description? Humour me. Make up what as you went along? How do you expect to be spending your time here, time my mother presumably intends me to pay you for?’
Ella spotted a dog racing towards them, and opened her mouth, a fraction too late, to warn Max. It cannoned into him from behind, sending him staggering, and she had to leap out of his way before he knocked her backwards into her own car.
Chapter Two
Max righted himself and spun round to face the large, leaping dog, which was clearly ecstatic to see him. ‘Get down,’ he roared, but it completely ignored that instruction to hurl itself at him again, tail wagging madly. ‘Lily! Who let her out?’
‘Sorry, Daddy.’ Lily was trotting across the gravel with Arlo not far behind. ‘She saw you and ran off. I couldn’t stop her.’ Lily reached for the dog and tried to tug it from Max’s thighs, but it was hopeless, like expecting a cat to take down a lion. ‘Prim, you naughty girl. Daddy’s cross with you again.’
‘Here, let me.’ Ella was enjoying seeing Max so disconcerted and called to the dog. Excited by a new person, it turned its attention to Ella and she ran a hand over its back as it leaned against her legs, staring up at her with a face that seemed to be grinning. At least it was warm and happy to see her, she thought gratefully.
‘Who’s this, Lily?’ It didn’t seem the right moment to ask Max, who was still furiously brushing short white hairs from his black jeans.
‘This is Primrose because she’s lemon and white. She’s an English pointer.’ Lily bent down to wrap loving arms round the dog’s neck. ‘She’s only eight months old and very naughty sometimes. We’ve never had our own pet before and now we’ve got three chickens and we’re getting guinea pigs for Christmas. We call her Prim for short.’
‘And a few other things as well,’ Max muttered. His gaze met Ella’s over the dog and his daughter, and her lips flickered at the flare of amusement in his eyes. ‘And you’re going to have to write a very nice letter to Santa about the guinea pigs, I’m sure he’s not decided yet.’
‘Daddy loves Prim really, especially when she curls up with him after we’ve gone to bed. But she chewed up his favourite work boots last week and broke a tooth on the steel in the toes and had to go to the vet. Daddy said she’ll have to live in a kennel in the garden if she doesn’t stop misbehaving.’
‘That seems a bit mean,’ Ella murmured, still stroking the dog, so pale against the flash of Lily’s red-gold plaits. ‘Most dogs love to live with their families in the house.’
‘That’s what I said too, and Arlo told Daddy he’d sleep in the kennel with her if he made Prim go outside.’
‘Right, enough, you two.’ Max seemed satisfied he’d got rid of the dog hair on his jeans and gave the children a nod. ‘Wait inside, Lily, I won’t be long. And your brother too.’
‘Oui, Papa.’ Lily slipped a lead round Prim’s neck. She stared up at her father, holding Arlo’s hand as well, and her voice became defiant. ‘Don’t make Ella leave, Daddy, please. Mamie says we need her, and I think she’s right. You’re always working or cross, and you didn’t used to be. I think you might be happier if you didn’t have so much to do, and Ella can help with that.’
