Read Paradise Park for Free Online Page A

Dafydd across the wide hallway and a smile curved his mouth. The seduction of Jayne Buchan would be pleasurable – very pleasurable indeed.

CHAPTER FOUR
    â€˜RUM LOT, THESE Buchans.’ Mrs Jones was kneading dough with vigour, pummelling it within an inch of its life. ‘Mrs Buchan is enough to try the patience of a saint, and as for that husband of hers, he’s a ne’er-do-well. I’ve only been here six months and already I’m thinking of finding myself a new position.’
    Rhiannon looked up from the sink and saw that the cook was flushed from her neck to her hairline. Something had really got her temper up.
    â€˜
Duw, duw
, it’s enough to turn an old woman silly – all these rows and all the banging of doors. I thought the master and mistress were supposed to show
us
how to behave.’
    â€˜I suppose they have off days too,’ Rhiannon said. ‘And Mrs Buchan did warn me not to take any notice of her little moods.’
    â€˜That’s all well and good but when it comes to having my honesty called into question I draw the line.’
    Rhiannon shook the water off the last of the plates and stacked it on the wooden table beside her. ‘I’m sure no one doubts your honesty.’ She dried her hands on her apron. ‘In any case, you’d think with their sort of money a few more pounds spent at the grocer’s or the butcher’s wouldn’t make any difference.’
    â€˜Well, it does! Called me into his study, Mr Buchan did, and asked me to explain the accounts for the last month. I told him Mrs Buchan likes things done proper and if he didn’t want to spend the money not to give so many lunches and dinners to a gaggle of disagreeable folk who turn up their noses at good home cooking.’
    Rhiannon was intrigued. ‘What did he say?’
    â€˜He looked as if he would dismiss me on the spot at first but then he burst out laughing. Told me I was quite right.’
    â€˜Good for him, then.’ Rhiannon pushed the kettle on to the fire. ‘Cup of tea, Mrs Jones?’
    â€˜Aye, good idea. Let’s sit down a while.’ She placed a cloth over the dough and set it down in the hearth. ‘Just let that breathe.’ She smiled. ‘Have I been going on a bit?’
    â€˜Of course not. I think you’re right to say what you think to folk.’
    Mrs Jones sat in her rocking chair and kicked off her shoes. ‘Ah, that’s lovely, that is. Couldn’t do me a favour, could you,
cariad
?’
    â€˜Just ask and I’ll see what I can do.’
    â€˜Fetch me a bowl of nice warm water to soak my feet in and you’ll be my friend for life.’
    Rhiannon nodded. ‘I’ll push the kettle on the side of the fire and warm some more water. Shall I put a bit of mint in the bowl? It’s supposed to be refreshing.’
    â€˜Aye, go on, then.’ Mrs Jones had been good to Rhiannon: in the few weeks she’d been there, Mrs Jones had made her second-in-command in the kitchen. The other girls were younger than Rhiannon, more scatter-brained, and didn’t do half the work she did.
    â€˜You was a lucky find, you know,’ Mrs Jones said, pushing her stockings down over her varicose veins. ‘These young ’uns haven’t got an ounce of elbow grease between them.’
    Rhiannon nodded, grateful that she no longer had to scrub floors and carry coal and water upstairs. Those jobs had been delegated to the ‘young ’uns’. She smiled to herself. Violet and Hetty were only a year or so younger than she was but they had lived the life of the innocent while she had been a harlot.
    She made the tea and prepared the bowl of warm water for Mrs Jones. ‘There we are, then. Put your feet in that while you drink your tea. You’ll soon feel better.’
    â€˜Oh, it’s heaven on my corns, that is.’ Mrs Jones swished the water between her plump toes. ‘I’m that