The Knapthorne Conspiracy Malcolm Ballard (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📖

cut of her expensive clothes. And she wasn’t a tall woman, by any means. Even with her high heels, which she always wore, she was no more than five foot eight inches in height. Dyed-blonde hair worn short, brushed back, and parted, like a man’s, gave her a rather severe look that was more than compensated for by the combination of her soft brown eyes and seductive rosebud-pink lips. To most of the staff she was an enigma, seemingly arrogant and aloof, even aggressive sometimes but respected, nevertheless. Initially, even Ben, who considered himself something of an expert, wasn’t sure about her sexuality though he found himself strangely attracted to her. His type of woman was quintessentially feminine, the more obviously so the better, and he liked them tall but then he had never met anyone like Barbara Richmond. At first, in their daily encounters, she was the consummate professional and gave no indication of her feelings. But gradually that began to change and she would do things to stir Ben’s interest. Sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes not so subtle until Ben took action to see if she would respond. On the pretext of discussing the forthcoming budget presentation, he informed her that he’d arranged an after-hours partners’ meeting, for the following day, and asked that she be present. A few minutes before the appointed time, Barbara Richmond arrived, to find him alone in his office. At first, of course, she had been surprised.

“Where are the others?” she had asked, in all seriousness, but then her face began to soften as she got the picture.

“Lock the door, behind you, would you please Ms Richmond.”

The trees had turned out to be a small copse covering about half an acre. Although the track continued through the middle and, as Bella could now see, on to the village she felt that she’d come far enough for her first outing. Even though she was feeling exhilarated from walking, it was uphill for most of the way back and she was also beginning to get hungry. The track was quite wide, big enough for, say, a tractor or other farm equipment and Bella had noticed one or two similar paths going off to the left and the right. It opened up possibilities for further exploration on future walks. With a determined step, she began the journey back in excellent spirits due not only to the fresh air and exercise but also through hearing from Ben. She enjoyed his company and had found him charming and funny. He had been frank about his marriage but did that mean he could be trusted? You just never knew with men but she had a good feeling about Ben. He hadn’t lied to her, after all. Bella found that she was enjoying herself immensely. The walking was certainly doing her good but she had discovered that it gave her the opportunity to think very clearly and this caused her to smile. Maybe she had found the means by which to come up with the idea for the book. It occurred to her that she ought to invest in a good pair of walking boots as she reached the brow of the hill and looked down on her property. It wasn’t long before she was back into the welcoming warmth of Willow Cottage. Back home. Strange to say, even though she had only just got to know the place, there was a familiarity about it that gave it the feel of home, more so than there had ever been with her apartment. That had a transitory feeling to it which she hadn’t recognised until now. Also, being in the heart of the metropolis, with its fast-paced lifestyle, it was now so comforting to be away from the crowds.

Bliss. She savoured the word knowing how fortunate she was but she didn’t dwell on it, eagerly looking forward to a snack and a glass of wine, happy to settle for a heat’n’eat ready-made lasagne later. Pleased with her day’s work and the fact that she had actually been out for a walk, she collapsed into one of the three large armchairs in the lounge, content that she had earned a rest, and put her feet up. Feeling she’d earned it, she took the glass of wine from the table next to the chair and was about to drink from it when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Uncertain of what it could be, she turned to get a better look when something leapt towards her and she screamed, dropping the glass on the wooden floor where it shattered noisily. The cat would have landed on her lap, had she not screamed, but it jumped straight off and headed for the kitchen as Bella fought to regain her composure.

Properly awake now, and listening to the birds, she smiled as she recalled the incident from the previous evening. It had been a memorable day, for a number of reasons, and the cat was only one of them. When she had gone to the kitchen, the cat was sitting there, large as life, as if nothing had happened and came up to smoodge her ankles. How the cat had come to be in the house was a mystery, as Bella had left everything locked when she had gone out. She would have to make sure there was no opportunity for larger intruders to get in. With that thought in mind, she finally, managed to sum up the willpower to throw the duvet off and get out of bed. Dawn had brightened the room by now and she pulled the curtains back to reveal a mottled canvas of blue and grey sky.

“The first day of the rest of my life,” she murmured, “so let’s make it worthwhile.” As if in agreement, a strident miaow greeted her comment and she looked down to see the cat.

“I shut you out, last night, you little devil! How did you get