Lots of Love Read Online Free Page B

Lots of Love
Book: Lots of Love Read Online Free
Author: Fiona Walker
Pages:
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was clearly a force to be reckoned with. And, having been asleep, he looked as though he was in a very bad mood.
    ‘Eh?’ He yawned widely, showing a lot of gold teeth, before noticing the jeep, then Ellen, and blinking hard to make sure he really was seeing what he thought he was.
    ‘I’m Ellen Jamieson!’ she called, hopping back down the path and trying to be heard over the rhino dog. ‘I’ve come to collect—’
    ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP, FLUFFY!’ he yelled.
    Ellen balked in surprise. Then, when the rhino dog suddenly stopped barking, she chewed back a wry smile because maybe she wasn’t so unlike her mother, after all.
    Fluffy wouldn’t win any obedience classes at Crufts: within seconds he was barking again so loudly that the door rattled on its hinges.
    ‘I’ve come to collect the keys,’ Ellen called up to ‘Wycky’, miming unlocking a door. ‘Goose Cottage. Keys.’
    ‘Eh?’ he shouted, not hearing a word but using his high vantage-point to look down her T-shirt and decide that perhaps this was worth getting out of bed for. ‘Hang on – I’ll come out.’
    Ellen turned away and lifted her face to the sun, anticipating a short wait. She almost jumped out of her skin when, the next moment, he landed beside her.
    ‘Christ.’ She looked from him to the window and back. It was certainly a novel route to the front garden, but she guessed it avoided dealing with Fluffy. And he clearly used it often because the BMX kids, who were still hanging round the jeep, didn’t look remotely surprised.
    ‘Saul Wyck,’ he introduced himself, checking out her body slowly with the bluest pair of eyes Ellen had ever seen.
    ‘Ellen Jamieson.’ She eyed him through her shades in return. He was a few inches shorter than her, and built like a boxer with vast, muscular shoulders and a legion of small scars embossing his face. It was quite a handsome face, although its belligerent expression did it no favours. ‘Are you Reg’s son?’
    ‘Grandson.’ He narrowed one bright blue eye and studied her suspiciously. ‘Why d’you want to know?’
    ‘I’ve come for the Goose Cottage keys – I’m Theo and Jennifer’s daughter.’
    ‘First I’ve heard of it.’ He crossed his arms defensively.
    ‘Your grandmother’s expecting me.’
    ‘Nan’s out – gone to the market. Won’t be back till teatime now.’
    Ellen glanced at her watch. It was only just after midday. Dot hadn’t given her much grace to be late. ‘Is Reg around, maybe?’
    ‘In the pub.’ He looked over his shoulder at the jeep, taking in the loaded roof racks and boot crammed high with bags and boxes. ‘Always is on a Saturday.’
    Ellen remembered her father telling her that Reg was a big drinker who rarely moved from the bar of the Lodes Inn from sundown on Friday until last orders on Sunday. Stories of his drunken antics were village folklore. ‘Oh – right. Maybe I should pop over there and see if your nan’s left the keys with him.’
    Saul cackled delightedly. ‘Won’t get no sense out of him. Besides, Nan wouldn’t trust him with them keys.’
    Ellen took off her dark glasses and rubbed her eyes tiredly, not relishing the prospect of hanging around the village green until teatime with an overexcited dog and a furious cat. Even less waiting here with Saul and Fluffy. ‘Do you know where they’re kept?’
    He rubbed his tongue over his teeth, blue eyes narrowed. ‘Might do.’
    Ellen cocked her head. She was starting to find his surly attitude seriously irritating. She knew that he was probably only protecting her parents’ cottage by not trusting her word, but she hated being disbelieved. She mustn’t start a fight. She always did this.
    ‘Would you mind finding them for me?’ she asked, as politely as she could.
    Not budging an inch, Saul carried on the teeth-rubbing routine, which was clearly intended to intimidate but made him look as though a stubborn raspberry pip was wedged between his molars.
    ‘You don’t look much

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