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tried to call, Gram and I,” he told his father. “Call the police about Lottie, I mean, but we couldn’t get through.”
    “Old tree’s finally fallen on the line,” Lord Torrington assured him, sounding quite cheerful. “No use trying.”
    Nigel swallowed hard, as if his mouth were too dry to speak. “No,” he said, “not the tree. Someone has…” He swallowed again. “Someone has cut the telephone lines.”

CHAPTER FOUR

    No one spoke. Without knowing she had done it, Laura took a large gulp of her drink. She choked, and Thomas patted her absently on the back. She longed, suddenly and irrationally, for a hot shower, for clean clothes. She was still in her muddy hiking socks and even muddier pants, and her untidy state made her feel helpless, unable to cope or even to think. Surely if she could just find her suitcase, have a shower and change her clothes, everything would go back to normal and she would be all right…
    A gong sounded, and the door burst open. “I made the sandwiches,” Angelina shouted. “That’s all we have for dinner because cook’s gone and mother doesn’t know how to cook, so we’re to have tea instead, and I’m to help mother serve it, as there’s no butler either. There’s some soup, too, but it’s all vegetables and it’s nasty.
    “It’s in the dining room, in half an hour,” Angelina continued, “and Gram says I’m to show you to your rooms right away, and not to be late so the dinner, I mean tea, won’t get cold. Hurry up!” she chastised them when no one moved.
    Numbly, Laura followed Angelina out of the room. Thomas followed.
    “We were going to put you in the green room before,” Angelina confided,” but my mother decided the blue room would be better since there’s two of you.”
    Laura shuddered. She really did want to know more about Thomas, but that didn’t include sharing a room with him. Still, the green room was worse.
    The blue room, however, turned out to be two connecting rooms with a bath between. Laura’s mood lifted, and she felt even better when she saw her suitcase in one of the rooms, delivered as promised by the tour company to her next stop. She would have her own room and the longed-for shower would be hers – if a shower existed. Many English bathrooms possessed only tubs, and she had never understood how anyone could take a bath in ten minutes or less, as they always seemed to do in books.
    “Do you mind if I go first?” she asked Thomas politely, indicating the bathroom. “I’m such a mess after all that hiking.”
    “I guess you are,” Thomas agreed with unflattering honesty. He smiled, making the laugh lines at the sides of his eyes crinkle. “Mess or no, however, I find you utterly bewitching.”
    Astonishment rendered Laura speechless, and then, to her horror, she blushed. “Oh,” she mumbled. “Thanks.”
    “You are quite welcome,” he replied. “Let me know when you’re finished.”
    Laura felt the blush deepening. She fled into the bathroom and shut the door hard behind her. If only she had more experience as a single woman she might know how to interpret remarks like that, or at least learn not to blush like a teenager. He must think she was terribly naïve. She was, too. She had believed him, proving all over again that she knew more about fifty-thousand-year-old men than contemporary ones. No man could find her bewitching in this disreputable state. Donald certainly wouldn’t. He’d said she always looked unkempt, which had infuriated her. She wasn’t really. She just hated the tailored look and refused to wear clothes that made her look like some kind of neatly wrapped package. Like Patti.
    Laura flung off her filthy clothes and stepped into the shower, which fortunately did exist. The hot water felt blissful, and she luxuriated in it for as long as she dared. Images of the dead woman came into her mind, but she pushed them away determinedly. There was nothing she could do for the poor woman now except try