Rejection Runs Deep (The Canleigh Series, book 1: A chilling psychological family drama), Carole Williams [ebook reader 8 inch .TXT] 📗

Charles!  Ruth bit her lip, her heart missing a beat.  “I think it’s time to get some sleep, my girl,” she told herself firmly, going back to bed smiling widely.  “You’re being ridiculous.”

Having only just snuggled down, luxuriating in the soft downiness of the mattress and crisp cotton sheets, she heard a soft tap on the door.  She sat up, wondering if she was mistaken.  Who on earth would want her in the middle of the night?  It certainly couldn’t be Richard … and no, Charles would never do such a thing.

The tap came again, quiet but firm.  Ruth got out of bed and wrapped herself in her white cotton dressing gown which matched her nightdress before opening the door, astounded to see a grim looking Delia on the threshold.

“I want a word with you,” Delia snarled, pushing her way passed Ruth to stand menacingly in the middle of the room, the faint whiff of horses coming in with her.  She had removed her boots but was wearing scruffy jeans and a thin cotton blouse.  “Shut the door.  I don’t want to wake the whole household.”

Startled into obedience, Ruth did as she was told, her hands trembling slightly on the door handle.

Without further ado, Delia launched into confrontation.  “I’m not going to mince my words.  I’ve come to warn you that if you’ve any designs on my brother, to forget them right now.  Richard’s title and fortune are not for the likes of you.  Do I make myself clear?”

“What?” Ruth gasped, astounded by the words but even more by the ferocity in which they were delivered.

“Oh, don’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about,” said Delia scathingly.  “Not only have you arrived here with designs on my brother but once you met my father, you really got stuck in,” she snapped, her dark eyes full of hate.

Ruth, appalled by the attack, spat back quickly.  “How dare you!” she said angrily, with rising indignation and resentment.

But Delia was desperate.  To see a woman, and a very attractive one at that, turn up with Richard had been a ghastly shock to the system.  Richard hadn’t brought a woman home before and all the signs were ominous.  The world was suddenly full of fortune hunters; Barrie was an obvious one, then there was this ridiculous female and finally, that bloody Sue woman with Philip.  She was with him now.  Delia knew because she had galloped Demon up to the south gates but there was no joy in watching the sunset without Philip and his arms around her so she had turned Demon towards Tangles, her gorgeous, trusty horse heading towards the house without a stumble in the dim light.

Delia had known it would be folly to go to Tangles again that day but couldn’t help herself and the amount of alcohol she had consumed before, during and after dinner, was giving her false courage but as soon as Demon turned towards the house Delia pulled him up sharply.  That bloody woman’s van was there.  It was definitely hers.  The security light was on outside the kitchen and Delia could see the van clearly with the words ‘The Tack Shop’ emboldened in big green lettering with a picture of a saddle and bridle beneath. There was a light on in Philip’s bedroom and terrible, savage pain ripped through Delia again and again.  It wasn’t hard to imagine what was going on in there.  The tears coursed down her cheeks while Demon stood patiently, sensing there was something badly wrong.  She turned him; in slow motion, it seemed to her, towards the Hall and instead of heading back at full pelt like they usually did, Demon walked slowly home, his rider overcome with grief on his back.

Eventually, they reached the stables.  The weather forecast had predicted rain throughout the night and Demon hated to get wet so she would stable him for the night.  She slid off his back outside his loose box, hugged his neck, and cried softly into his coat.  The horse nuzzled her protectively, trying hard to give her solace and it gradually worked.  The tears ceased, she wiped her face, blew her nose with a tissue she had stuffed in the pocket of her jeans, took off the saddle and bridle and let Demon into his box.  He whinnied softly as she walked away and she blew him a kiss.  He was the only constant in her life now and she loved him so much.  Nearly as much as Philip.

By the time she had returned the tack to the tack room and walked back up towards the house, the grief was subsiding and anger was beginning to set in again.  How dare Philip do this to her?  Even more, how could that bloody woman do this to her?  Who did she think she was?  She better not become too comfortable at Tangles because this affair wasn’t going to last long.  Philip was not going to marry her.  Delia would do anything she could to prevent it.  It wasn’t happening.  Full stop.

All this was rushing through her mind as she walked back up to the Hall, a light on in one of the bedrooms catching her eye.  That simpering Ruth was perched on her windowsill in a flimsy nightdress.  She was another opportunist who had to be sorted.  She could not be allowed to get a foothold into Canleigh, and a stop had to put to this at once, for all their sakes and now the woman was going to be told exactly where she stood.

“I dare, madam, because I have the welfare of my family and the safety of Canleigh firmly at heart and I shall remain in this room until such time as I have a commitment from you that you’ll leave the estate as soon as is humanly possible and