Read Next Door to Romance Online
Authors: Margaret Malcolm
Next Door to Romance
By
Margaret Malcolm
Contents
OTHER
Harlequin Romances
by
MARGARET MALCOLM
923—KIT CAVENDISH — PRIVATE NURSE
1028—THE MASTER OF NORMANHURST
1084—GALLEON HOUSE
1098—THE UNCHARTED OCEAN
1164—MEADOWSWEET
1199—JOHNNY NEXT DOOR
1255—LITTLE SAVAGE
1287—THE WALLED GARDEN
1316—CAN THIS BE LOVE?
1340—THE HOUSE OF YESTERDAY
1363—STAR DUST
1391—MY VALIANT FLEDGLING
1419—SO ENCHANTING AN ENEMY
1447—THE TURNING TIDE
1488—THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE
First published in 1970 by Mills
&
Boon Limited.
17-19 Foley Street, London, England
ISBN 373-01539-9
© Margaret Malcolm 1970
Harlequin Canadian edition published November, 1971
Harlequin U.S. edition published February, 1972
A solitary bird gave a single, tentative cheep, liked the sound of it and did it again.
With a little moan of protest, Lisa lifted her head and peered sleepily at her alarm clock. Four o'clock! She turned over and prepared to drowse off again, but ten minutes later the entire dawn chorus was at it hammer and tongs, and sleep was out of the question.
'You noisy little horrors!' Lisa apostrophized them, but with a tolerant note in her voice. They were noisy —but how awful it would be if there weren't any birds! Besides, already, so early, there was the promise of a heavenly day—so why waste a minute of it?
Smothering a yawn, Lisa slid out of bed, gave herself a hurried shower and put on an open-necked shirt and shorts. Childishly flat-heeled sandals completed her outfit. A quick comb through of her straight, honey-coloured hair, and she was ready for anything the day had to offer. And as she went downstairs, her nose told her just what that was! Someone was cooking bacon, and it made her realize that she was as hungry as a hunter.
She went quietly out to the kitchen and grinned as she saw who it was standing before the electric cooker.
'Did the birds wake you up as well, Tom?' she asked from just behind him, hoping to make him jump at her unexpected advent.
But Tom Farrier was made of sterner stuff than that. He turned his head slightly and gave her an answering grin.
'Haven't been to bed yet,' he explained cheerfully. 'Been over at Bourne Farm all night. One of the cows had trouble with her calf. Still, she made out in the end—as nice a little heifer as you could want. Have some bacon and eggs?'
'M'm!' Lisa said appreciatively, and got further supplies out of the refrigerator. Five minutes later she and Tom were sitting opposite one another at the kitchen table, tucking into bacon and eggs and sharing a silence that was quite as companionable as any amount of chatter.
It was two years now since Tom had come to share the Bellairs' ugly Victorian house. And it
was
ugly in a way that only the Victorians seem able to have achieved. It was pretentious in style, the colour of the bricks made one wince, and its fancy decoration of stone and wood made it, as Professor Bellairs said, an architect's nightmare. But it did have one saving grace. It was big enough to contain plenty of generous-sized rooms. Not, perhaps, of very attractive proportions, but still affording ample living space for the various members of the fairly large Bellairs family to be able to spread out and not get on each other's or their parents' nerves in their young days.
Now, with most of the family either married and living away from home, there was only Lisa and her parents left, and because, as Mrs Bellairs said rather wistfully, the three of them rattled about like peas in a pod, the idea of moving was considered. But very regretfully. For where else would Professor Bellairs find sufficient room to keep his ever increasing library, each book in which was a friend he treasured jealously? Or Mrs Bellairs have been able to hold committee meetings so comfortably of all her hundred and one interests? And then it was so nice for Lisa to have a little sitting room of her own where she could entertain her friends—
None the less, it really was too big for them, and it didn't do rooms any good to be left closed and unused indefinitely, to say nothing of the work entailed keeping them clean. So really something had to be done about it.
It was at this point that Tom Farrier came into the picture.
Mr Teasdale, the local vet, decided that it was almost time for him to retire. As a preliminary, he took a younger man, Tom Farrier, into partnership. For a while they would work the practice together with Tom taking an increasing amount of responsibility and hard work. It was a sensible arrangement, for it meant that by the time Tom took over entirely, he would be well known locally and, it was to be hoped, liked.
There was one difficulty, however. Mr Teasdale had his waiting room and consulting room in his own house, but the accommodation was not big enough for the two men to work simultaneously in them. Besides, when he did retire, Mr Teasdale wanted to have the entire house for his private use. So other premises had to be found for Tom.
After some thought, Mr Teasdale, knowing that the Bellairs were thinking of moving, suggested that as an alternative, they should sublet part of the house to Tom, and this, after due consideration, they agreed to do. Tom had a small sitting room and a large room which was divided to form waiting and consulting rooms on the ground floor. The bigger room had a door which opened on to a flagged courtyard on the opposite side of which was a gateway leading to the lane which ran along the side of the house, so the Bellairs were not disturbed during consulting hours. In addition, Tom had the butler's small pantry as a kitchen, and a bedroom with its own bathroom upstairs. In theory at least, he was entirely independent of the Bellairs and they need not have concerned themselves with him in the least.
But it didn't work out that way. In no time at all, Tom was part of the family. Mrs Bellairs decided that he was far too lean for his height, and insisted on him mealing with them whenever possible so that he could be decently fed, she having no faith whatever in a man's ability to cook proper meals. The Professor found him extremely useful when it came to doing the practical jobs about the house and garden which he himself found so difficult to do successfully.
As for Lisa, she took him in her stride. She lent him a hand when a patient was too much for Tom to handle alone, sewed on his buttons, and, on the other side of the picture, took it for granted that unless his work interfered, she could rely on him to partner her to any of the local functions. In other words, she regarded him as an extra brother, though much more obliging than her real ones.
As for romance, where he was concerned, it simply didn't enter her head. Nor, she was confident, did it occur to Tom.
'And that's one thing I like so much about him,' she confided to her mother. 'There's no nonsense about him! We can be good friends without making a fuss about sex—'
Mrs Bellairs, who had more than once seen something in Tom's eyes when he looked at Lisa which, to her, suggested something other than friendship, agreed that it was always a good thing if people saw important things from the same angle, and left it at that. She sincerely hoped that one day a romance might blossom between them, but if it was to do so, it had got to happen spontaneously. Any interference, however well-meaning, might ruin everything.
So now, their meal finished, Lisa tossed a tea-towel to Tom so that he could dry as she washed up.
'Though really you ought to turn in,' she told him with a hint of her mother's maternal attitude. 'You must be flaked out!'
'Not a bit of it,' he declared stoutly. 'Fresh as a daisy! As a matter of fact, why did you get up so early, Lisa? I didn't disturb you coming in, did I?'
'I told you, the birds woke me up—and then it seemed a pity to waste time sleeping. So I decided I'd go down to the river. There's a kingfisher nesting there and I'd love to get a glimpse of it.'
'Great!' Tom approved, and added diffidently, 'Mind if I come too?'
Lisa, clattering a little as she put the china they had used away in its cupboard, had an excuse for not answering immediately—and she needed it.
Really and truly, she didn't want Tom's company. He was a dear—but he wasn't exciting, and somehow Lisa had the conviction that this morning, given half a chance, could prove to be just that. Right from the moment she had woken up, she had felt that promise.
But she had heard that note of diffidence in Tom's voice and knew that though he really wanted to come, he wouldn't if she gave the least hint of preferring her own company. He was so sensitive and understanding that way. But all the same, it would be a snub—and you couldn't hurt a nice person like Tom if it could possibly be avoided.
The thoughts passed through her mind so quickly that as she turned away from the cupboard she was able to say frankly—and almost truthfully: