Christmas at Wynter House Read online

  Christmas

  at

  Wynter House

  Emily Harvale

  Copyright

  Copyright © Emily Harvale 2019

  All rights reserved

  Emily Harvale has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organisations, businesses, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Crescent Gate Publishing

  E-edition published worldwide 2019

  ISBN 978-1-909917-46-0

  Paperback edition published 2019

  ISBN 978-1-909917-47-7

  Cover design © JR and Emily Harvale

  Edited by Christina Harkness

  Other Titles by Emily Harvale

  Highland Fling

  Lizzie Marshall's Wedding

  The Golf Widows' Club

  Sailing Solo

  Carole Singer's Christmas

  Christmas Wishes

  A Slippery Slope

  The Perfect Christmas Plan

  Be Mine

  It Takes Two

  Bells and Bows on Mistletoe Row

  The Goldebury Bay series:

  Ninety Days of Summer - book 1

  Ninety Steps to Summerhill - book 2

  Ninety Days to Christmas - book 3

  The Hideaway Down series:

  A Christmas Hideaway - book 1

  Catch A Falling Star - book 2

  Walking on Sunshine - book 3

  Dancing in the Rain - book 4

  Hall's Cross series

  Deck the Halls - book 1

  The Starlight Ball - book 2

  Michaelmas Bay series

  Christmas Secrets in Snowflake Cove - book 1

  Blame it on the Moonlight - book 2

  Lily Pond Lane series

  The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane - four-part serial

  Part One - New beginnings

  Part Two - Summer secrets

  Part Three - Autumn leaves

  Part Four - Trick or treat

  Christmas on Lily Pond Lane

  Return to Lily Pond Lane

  A Wedding on Lily Pond Lane

  Secret Wishes and Summer Kisses on Lily Pond Lane

  To Nigel.

  You're in one of my books, at last!

  Thanks for getting me and my car

  out of that ditch, all those years ago.

  We still laugh about it.

  Table of contents

  Title

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Other titles

  Series info

  About this book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Coming Soon

  Also by

  Acknowledgements

  A note from Emily

  Contact

  This is the first title in my Wyntersleap series. This series is interconnected with my Merriment Bay series. Each series can be read alone, but several characters appear in both series.

  About this book:

  Christmas at Wynter House

  After a frosty welcome, things soon heat up at Wynter House.

  Neva Grey is looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with her family in the cosy cottage they've rented in the picture-postcard village of Wyntersleap. Nestled between rolling hills and a gently burbling river, it's going to be idyllic.

  Except it's not. Torrential rain causes the river to burst its banks and the quaint little village isn't quite so cosy with water lapping at the doors. Add to that a power cut and a sudden blizzard and Christmas is looking bleak ... until gorgeous Adam Wynter invites them all to Wynter House.

  Although not everyone is happy to share the ancestral home. Adam's elder brother, Rafe is less than pleased. Their grandmother, Olivia extends a grudging welcome. And for Carruthers, the oddly arrogant butler, unexpected guests are a Christmas surprise he could do without. Especially one as troublesome as Neva's eight-year-old niece.

  But something's not quite right at Wynter House. What is Rafe intent on hiding behind the locked doors of the old barn? And what really happened to his first wife? It's a good thing Neva has a sense of humour. She's going to need it this Christmas at Wynter House.

  Chapter One

  Neva Grey squeezed her holdall into the boot of her Ford Fiesta estate, shifting plastic boxes filled to the brim with a variety of hair products, brushes, hairdryers, curling tongs, nail polishes and various other tools of her trade.

  'You've still got to find room for all these,' Jo, her best friend and flatmate said, grinning as she handed Neva several glimmering, Christmas gift bags. 'Weren't you going to sort out this boot before you went away?'

  Neva grinned back as she tried to find space for every bag, each containing presents beautifully wrapped in sparkly red and gold paper.

  'I was going to do a lot of things before I went, but as usual I didn't have time.'

  'You could've done it this morning if you'd gone to Barb's Bloomers yesterday, instead of having to dash all the way there and back at some ungodly hour today. But you insisted we had to do last minute Christmas shopping in Covent Garden.'

  'Excuse me,' Neva said, throwing Jo a sarcastic smile. 'Who insisted?'

  Jo shrugged. 'OK. Perhaps it was me. But you were the one who suggested we go for a Baileys Hot Chocolate in the Skate Lounge at Somerset House. And you don't even like ice skating.'

  'I like watching other people ice skating. There's something special about that ice rink. The lights, the music and that massive tree make it seem so magical. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without an evening there.'

  'You say that every year.' Jo shook her head and laughed. 'You do realise that with all those poinsettias and God knows what else you've got spread all over your seats and in every footwell, your car looks like a mini, mobile Kew Gardens.'

  'Oh funny. I promised Mum I'd get them. Barb has the best poinsettias and her mistletoe looks like it's just been picked off the tree. I should've put some black bin bags on the seats though. If those berries, or the holly berries get squished on the journey, I'll have stains all over my seats.'

  'I think that's the least of your worries. If you brake too hard, you could well be buried under plants and presents and boxes. It'll take days to dig you out.'

  Neva grinned as she jammed the final bag into a tiny space and quickly closed the tailgate, pushing against it with b
oth hands until it locked. The sound was barely audible above the noise of the passing traffic, tooting car horns and Christmas tunes blaring from vehicles, homes and shops on the busy, south east London street, but Neva heard the satisfying click and gave her car a 'well done' pat. The lock was iffy sometimes.

  'One of the things I'm looking forward to the most about this holiday,' Neva said. 'Apart from seeing my family, of course. Is having time for myself. Time to sort out this boot and all those boxes and crates. Time to relax. Time to think. Time to make a proper plan for my new business. Time to decide what else I want to do with my life and where I want to live.'

  Jo raised one perfectly shaped, black-tinted eyebrow. 'You haven't sorted your life out in the last thirty-four years. What makes you think you'll do it in two weeks? That's a bit optimistic, even for you.' She laughed as she pulled Neva into her arms.

  They hugged each other tight, and Neva breathed in Jo's perfume as if by doing so, she could take a small part of her best friend with her.

  'Because I know I have to. I won't have you to sort things out for me anymore. I need to get my act together and concentrate on my new business.'

  She eased herself away taking Jo's hand in hers and smiling at the massive diamond engagement ring neither of them had quite got used to seeing.

  'You'll always have me,' Jo said, her voice cracking just a little. 'I'm only moving in with my boyfriend - sorry. My fiancé. I'm not taking a vow of silence and joining a group of monks in Outer Mongolia.'

  'You're moving to Upminster. Isn't that the same?'

  Neva gave Jo a playful shove; Jo did the same before giving her a serious look.

  'Nothing's going to change between you and me, Neva. Friends forever, remember?'

  Neva nodded. 'Friends forever. But we both know things will change. For one thing we won't be living together.'

  Linking arms, they looked up at the second-floor windows, aglow with multi-coloured lights, as were all the other flats in the converted four-storey Victorian house.

  'I can't believe it's been ten years since we bought that flat,' Jo said. 'I still remember what a wreck it was when we moved in.'

  Neva laughed. 'I still remember the expression on my dad's face when he saw how much work there was to do, for him and his team of builders. What I can't believe is that it sold so fast. I honestly thought it would take longer. And I'll admit, I'm not looking forward to moving out in January. Or to finding somewhere else to live.'

  'I told you there's a spare room at Rob's.'

  Neva pulled a face. 'When Rob proposed last month and asked you to move in with him, I'm pretty sure that invitation didn't extend to me.'

  Neva and Jo had put the flat on the market one week after Rob's proposal. They discussed various options first, but Neva couldn't afford to buy Jo out, and she wouldn't have done so, even if she could. Living there wouldn't be the same without Jo crashing around the place. They'd both been surprised when an offer for the asking price was received the very next day.

  'He wouldn't mind.' Jo turned to face her. 'I'm serious, Neva. You're more than welcome to come and stay with us. Even if it's just until you find somewhere.'

  Neva nodded. Jo would welcome her with open arms. Rob, on the other hand might not be so keen - despite what Jo thought.

  'I know. And I really appreciate the offer. But it's time I stood on my own two feet. We both know you've been the grown up in our friendship. Making my own decisions without getting a second opinion from you beforehand will do me good for a while.'

  Neva would miss living with Jo. They had been friends since they were at nursery school. They'd done everything together. They even went on their first date together, with two male friends. They went to college together to study hair and beauty. Got their first job together twelve years ago and had worked together ever since, until Jo left the salon two months ago when Rob got her an interview with another well-known salon chain. The owner was a client of his. Rob was an electrician and had his own firm. Which is how he and Jo first met.

  One weekend, four years ago, when Neva was at her parents' and Jo was alone in the flat, all the lights went out. Jo used her phone to search the web for local electricians, and Rob Ashford was the first on the list. That night he asked Jo out on a date - and he only charged her for parts to fix the damaged electrics, not for his labour cost, which both Jo and Neva thought was quite romantic.

  Neva knew Jo wasn't sure about taking the salon job when it was offered, partly because she felt bad about moving on from Darius May Hair & Beauty without her best friend.

  'We could look for somewhere else together,' Jo had said.

  'We could. But the offer you've got is fantastic and we might not find one to match it. You shouldn't turn it down because of me. It's much better money and far better prospects. Besides, I'll get to take over some of your clients once you leave.'

  Jo clearly wasn't convinced and it had taken a lot of persuading from Rob, to make Jo finally accept the offer.

  But Jo's new job gave Neva the push to think about her own future career prospects. She had always wanted to run her own hair and beauty business but had never had the guts or the money.

  And now she had. Well, she would once the sale completed. They had made a killing, thanks to buying their flat for a snip ten years ago and doing it up with the help of Neva's dad.

  Even after paying off their joint mortgage, Neva would have more money than she ever imagined. OK, it might only be two hundred thousand pounds, but as she usually only had about ten pounds left in her account at the end of each month, the thought of suddenly being that much in the black was a heady one.

  Which was why she had decided that now was the right time to pursue her dreams. Shop rents were sky-high in London and she wasn't ready to tie herself down in some other location, so she had the perfect solution: a mobile hairdressing and beauty business.

  She handed in her notice at Darius May the minute she and Jo signed the contract for the sale of the flat. Some of her clients would use her if she remained in London, but the more she thought about it, the more she wondered if perhaps she should leave the bright lights and settle down somewhere closer to her family in Surrey. Or somewhere entirely new.

  Now that Jo was moving in with Rob, there was nothing to keep Neva in town. Her new business was mobile. She really could go anywhere. And despite what Jo thought, Neva knew they wouldn't see each other as often. If that was the case, getting a train and meeting up with Jo in Covent Garden, or anywhere in central London wasn't much different to getting a tube to Upminster, at the end of the District line, or driving to the house Jo would be sharing with Rob.

  Residential property prices in London were through the roof, so buying a place on her own would now be impossible for Neva. She didn't want to rent. She and Jo did that for a short time when they first moved to London but Neva's dad had instilled in her at a very young age the importance of owning your own property.

  'Tenancies can end abruptly giving you fairly short notice to find a place to live,' he had said. 'If you buy your own home, you'll always have a roof over your head. Provided you pay the mortgage.'

  But she couldn't afford to buy somewhere on her own, so she and Jo had bought the flat together.

  And now it was sold, and she would have to make a decision soon about where she was going to live. She needed a place to put her furniture and belongings when the sale completed. And she'd need to hire removers to move all her stuff. She would sort all that out over Christmas. She always left things until the last minute. Which was one of the things she was determined to change. But there was plenty of time to do that.

  For now, all Neva wanted to think about was having a peaceful Christmas with her family. Not that their Christmases were ever peaceful. Especially not with her eight-year-old niece, Sasha there. But Neva had been working non-stop and once she started her own business, the hours would obviously increase. She was really hoping for some rest and relaxation and the cosy cottage her parents had r
ented was going to be the perfect place to do that.

  'I'm only a phone call away,' Jo said. 'And I like giving my opinion on everything you do, you know that. In fact, don't think that us not being under the same roof is going to stop me, because it's not. I definitely want to hear all about this village you're going to. What's it called again?'

  'Wyntersleap. It sounds idyllic.'

  'It sounds tiny. Don't go into hibernation. Are you sure it's not Winter sleep?'

  Neva giggled. 'I'm certain. According to the website for the rental cottage, it got its name because the wife and teenage daughters of some old, defeated chieftain back in the day, leapt off a cliff beside a waterfall rather than end up in the hands of the invading Vikings. There was a son too but he didn't jump. He was injured in the battle and left for dead until someone saved him and nursed him back to health. That's why there're Wynters at Wyntersleap. But they don't live in the village. They live in a big house nearby.'

  'Don't tell me. It was a beautiful girl and they fell in love and married. And he got his revenge on the Vikings who caused the deaths of his family.'

  'How did you know that?'

  Jo laughed. 'I read all the stuff on the website when you showed me the photos. I was just winding you up. I really don't get why the wife and daughters jumped to their deaths, though. Personally I'd love to be in the hands of a hunky Viking. Oh. Not now, of course.' She glanced at her engagement ring and suddenly grew serious. 'I'll only ever be in one person's hands from now on. As much as I love Rob, that's a bit frightening.'

  Neva eyed her friend. 'You are sure about this, aren't you, Jo?'

  'About moving in with Rob? Yes.'

  'About marrying him.'

  Jo sighed. 'I think so. You know me. It's just the marriage bit. It didn't work out well for my parents.'