Paul cleared his throat once more. “I thought you might have some questions for me.”
Adam’s steady silence was disconcerting. After waiting for a minute with no response from him, Paul’s heart sank. It was obvious his new employer had no intention of speaking to him. He turned around and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. As he reached for the handle to return to Mrs Lambton, he caught the unmistakable sound of a key turning in a lock, coming from behind him.
Shit. Couldn’t be much clearer, could it?
Adam Kent did not want a companion.
Sighing inwardly, Paul knocked on the door to the previous room and entered. Mrs. Lambton was standing by the window, looking out over the bay. She turned as he entered.
“How did it go?”
Paul resisted the urge to snort. “As well as you’d led me to expect.”
“Why, what did he say to you?” She crossed the room, closed the door gently behind him and stared, drawing her mouth into a straight line and biting her bottom lip.
Paul’s cheeks burned. “He wouldn’t speak to me. In fact, as soon as I’d left the room, he locked it from the inside.”
Her expression betrayed nothing of her feelings. “I am so sorry, Paul. I’m sure the situation will change. It’s not the first time he’s done this, although I had hoped he’d grown accustomed to the idea. Apparently not.” She patted his arm, an unexpectedly warm gesture. “I have your details here, and I’ll sort out payment details next week.” She walked over to the desk and picked up a keyring with several keys attached. “These will be yours. The one with the yellow tag is the front door key.” She handed them to him, and he shoved them into the pockets of his pants. “Now let me show you where you will be staying.”
Paul followed her out of the room and into the huge hallway with its high ceilings and ornate balustrades. The room they’d left was one of several leading off from the hall, which was dominated by the wide front door, bordered on both sides by beautiful stained-glass panels. She led him up the thickly carpeted staircase to the first landing, where more rooms awaited them.
Mrs. Lambton opened the door straight ahead. “This is the bathroom, with a connecting door to Adam’s bedroom. I wanted him to convert one of the rooms downstairs into a bedroom, but Adam being Adam, he refused.” She sighed. “My brother is as immovable as a mountain.” She pointed to the right. “That is Adam’s room. You will be next to it.” She walked up to the cream painted door that was to be his room and pushed it open.
Paul had just enough time to peer inside and get a glimpse of the room before she was pulling it shut and leading him away. At the foot of the stairs, she faced him.
“I don’t expect we shall see much of each other, so I will take this opportunity to wish you luck.” Her eyes gleamed. “You’re going to need it.”
Paul had had enough for one day. He gave her a polite nod. “Thank you, Mrs. Lambton. I’ll see myself out.”
He turned and left the room, his back straight, chin high. Once he was outside, however, his shoulders hunched over, and he forced out all the tension of the afternoon in a long exhale of air.
God, I need a drink.
Chapter Two
Adam Kent expelleda breath at the sound of the front door closing.
The guy had a pleasant enough voice and he’d been polite, but that didn’t alter the fact Adam had no intention of letting another would-be companion within three feet of him. He hadn’t tried silence as a means of dissuading Caroline’s interviewees before now, but after he’d gotten rid of the last one, Adam had decided to shorten the process.
Will this one even return?
God, he hoped not. And he’d do the same thing again and again until the message finally got through Caroline’s thick skull.
I don’t need a companion.
I don’t needanyone.
Maybe if he told himself that enough times, he’d talk it into existence. Because right then, he’d never felt so utterly powerless.
Why can’t I make her understand?
What filled every part of him, what permeated every cell, what choked him when he awoke in the middle of the night, was an overwhelming sense ofloss.
It had taken him losing his sight to realize what a dominant, integrating sense his vision had been. A little more than two months after becoming blind, Adam had no confidence in his remaining senses. He’d believed the stories that blind people had acute senses of hearing and touch, but it just wasn’t true. Gathering information about his environment was difficult, and had led to several falls, bumps and collisions. It was too much to cope with, and instead of practicing using his other senses as his instructors had suggested, Adam had retreated, until his world had shrunk to the size of the library. For a man who had always been in control, always relied on himself, this…fearof venturing forth was anathema to him. And as for having to rely on others…
It just wasn’t him, thisfrustrationwith trying to accomplish the most basic tasks, a constant reminder that he was blind.
The house itself was an issue. It had sounded like a great idea: to move back to the house he’d known as a child, to leave London behind, with its noise and sensory overload, and hide away from the world. But his lack of familiarity with the house created more problems, only adding to his sense of isolation. What made it worse was recalling memories of his grandparents’ home, the spectacular views, and the rich scenery beyond every window. All he had of those days was the sound of the sea, yet if he concentrated, in his mind’s eye he could still see its movement, see the constantly changing color as it reflected that huge expanse of sky.
