Deceit of Angels

Thank you for choosing to read Julia Bell’s second
novel, Deceit of Angels.

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R White (Editor)

www.JuliaBellRomanticFiction.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Bell lives
in West Yorkshire, England and has two children and five grandchildren.  Her
various jobs have included working as a qualified nurse, training at St James’s
Hospital in Leeds and also Darlington Memorial Hospital and she has also worked
as a civil servant in the Prison Service.  When her children were young she
successfully completed an Open University B.A. degree studying psychology and
sociology.  She has been a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association for
the last four years.

As well as
writing she loves country walks and travelling abroad (she adores bus stations,
railway stations, airports and ferry ports – any place where people are on the
move). 

Contact the
author by email at

[email protected]
 

or visit her
website on

http://www.JuliaBellRomanticFiction.co.uk

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to
thank Amanda Lillywhite for the excellent work she did creating the front
cover. Amanda can be contacted on [email protected] or via her website at
www.AJLIllustration.talktalk.net.

I would also
like to thank Rob White for all his technical know-how, moral support and
encouragement for which I am very grateful.

First Published
in Great Britain 2012

Copyright © 2012
by Julia Bell Romantic Fiction

No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission from the Publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles or reviews

Names and
characters except for the historical figures are purely the product of the
author’s imagination.

JuliaBellRomanticFiction.co.uk

For my
daughter-in-law, Shazma

DECEIT
OF ANGELS

by

Julia Bell

JULIA BELL ROMANTIC FICTION

CHAPTER
ONE

T
he
train slowed down as it reached the outskirts of Bristol.  Anna pulled on her
coat, ran a comb through her hair and checked her makeup in her compact
mirror.  Pulling a face at her image she glanced once more out of the window,
noticing the customary large warehouses and business premises that often
littered the area surrounding a mainline station.  Passengers stood and
gathered their belongings, but Anna remained seated. 

The
platforms and buildings of the station finally came into sight, the train
sliding to a stop.  As passengers scrambled to get out of the doors first, Anna
decided to take her time and wait for the carriage to empty.  There didn’t seem
any point in hurrying.  But once on the platform, the walk to the exit seemed
interminable, her heart racing with a mixture of excitement and fear.  She took
a deep breath, trying to soothe her guilty conscience at deceiving her family. 
Perhaps she should have been honest with them?  She shrugged knowing it was too
late now.

Outside
the station, her eyes swept around the rushing melee of moving figures and
traffic, searching for the vehicle that was to pick her up.  She was about to
give up and try and contact someone on her mobile, when a pleasant husky voice
came from behind.

“Mrs
Stevens?”

Anna
spun round and came face to face with a man smartly dressed in a chauffeur’s
uniform.  He raised his hand to the peak of his cap as he smiled and asked her
name.

“Yes.
Yes, I’m Mrs Stevens.”

“My
name’s Ben.  If you’d like to come with me, I’ll show you where the car’s
parked.”

She
followed him, trying to keep up with his long strides by skipping every other
step and then raised her eyebrows at what awaited her in the car park.  Ben
opened the door to a sleek, grey limousine and Anna slipped into the back seat,
falling against the luxurious black leather of the interior.  She watched him
take his place behind the wheel and skilfully pull out of the congested car
park.  As their journey started, Anna looked around the inside of the car,
feeling impressed.  She noticed a small hatch and pulling it down revealed a
whole array of drinks and liqueurs.

“Very
nice,” she murmured.

“If
you’d like a drink, miss, please help yourself.  Mr Harrington never minds.”

Anna
felt embarrassed and shut the hatch with a slam.

“Actually,
I don’t drink much alcohol.  Is it very far, this place we’re bound for?” she
asked, running her fingers through her hair.

“It’s
near Bishop Sutton, about twenty minutes drive.  Why don’t you just sit back
and enjoy the ride.”

She
didn’t answer, but watched the houses and shops pass her by, smiling to
herself.  For the first time in weeks she felt relaxed and strangely
contented.  She decided to let the coming events unfold naturally.  After all,
she was only doing this for experience.  Her eyelids felt heavy and she tried
to blink away the sudden tiredness that overcame her.  But then her head nodded
in sleep.

She
jerked awake when the driver’s door slammed shut as Ben jumped out and came
round to her side.

He
opened the door.

“Here
we are then.  You seemed to have dozed off.”  His eyes crinkled with
amusement.  Anna gave him a wry smile and stepped out of the car.  “If you’d
like to follow me, miss.  We need to go round the back to the kitchen
entrance.  It’s been decided that applicants wait in the kitchen with Mrs Wilby
and have a cup of coffee, until their turn comes to be interviewed.” 

“Have
there been many applicants?” she asked.

“Well,
you’re the sixth, I believe.  Mr Harrington wanted all the interviews out of
the way by two as he’s rushing off to a meeting in London this afternoon.  I
think you’re the last.”

As
she entered through the kitchen door, her gaze took in the back of the house
and she gave a low whistle.  It was a large building in mock Tudor style with
many rectangular windows staring out over the lawn and flowerbeds.  The garden
was beautiful, with a manicured lawn and borders full of lily of the valley,
primulas and a few late tulips.  The trees groaned under the weight of the pink
cherry blossom and at the far end she could see an area set aside for
barbecues.  Ben led her into a spacious and well-organised kitchen, where a
stout, middle-aged woman hauled herself to her feet to greet her.

The
chauffeur gestured with a casual wave of his hand.  “This is our Mrs Wilby, the
cook-cum-housekeeper of our happy home and the only one who can keep us all in
order.  Mrs Wilby meet Mrs Stevens, the last applicant for the post of PA.”

Mrs
Wilby gripped Anna’s hand.  “Come and sit down, my dear.  You’ve come all the
way from West Yorkshire, haven’t you?  My late husband came from Leeds, so we
often came your way when we visited the in-laws.  That’s when I was a young
bride, of course.  They died within six months of each other, did my in-laws,
just five years after I married.  It was so sad.  Would you like a cup of
coffee?” Anna felt overcome by her friendly manner and could only find the
strength to nod.  “Sit down.  Sit down and we’ll soon have you all sorted out.”

She
bustled about the kitchen setting out crockery and filling the cups with the
sweet aroma of freshly ground coffee.

Ben
took off his cap and threw it on the pine kitchen table.  Turning a chair round
and sitting astride with his arms across the back, he winked at Anna.

“She’s
a bit of a chatterbox, but she’s the loveliest person you could ever meet,” he
said in a low voice.

Three
cups of coffee appeared and Anna sipped hers, gathering her courage for what
lay ahead of her.  Mrs Wilby lowered her large bulk into a pine chair with arms
and scrutinised the young woman sitting across from her.

“Now
then, my dear.  I hear you’re a widow like me.  Although you’re so young to be
without a husband.   Has he been gone long?”

Anna
started visibly and Ben broke into the conversation.  “Do let her catch her
breath, Mrs Wilby.  She’s not been here five minutes and you’re giving her the
third degree already.”

Anna
took another sip of her coffee.  She felt as though her secret was there for
all to see and a terrible feeling of uncertainty washed over her.

The
housekeeper’s face flushed red with embarrassment.  “I’m sorry.  I do talk, I
know.”

Anna’s
heart went out to her.  “It’s all right, really it is.”  She took a deep
breath.  “My husband died six years ago.”

There,
it was said!  Hang on in there girl, she told herself, you’ll never see these
people again after today, so it doesn’t matter what they hear.

Mrs
Wilby’s face became sombre.  “Oh, how sad.  Were there any children?”

“Twin
boys, but they’re hardly children,” smiled Anna, concentrating on her cup of
coffee.

 They
were interrupted by the entrance of a slightly built young girl, in her early
twenties, with long brown hair plaited at the back.

She
glanced towards Anna and smiled.  “Ah, you must be Mrs Stevens.  I’m Sharon
O’Reilly, Mr. Harrington’s personal assistant. We’re ready to interview you now
if you’d like to come with me.”

It
wasn’t difficult to recognise the soft southern Irish accent of the woman on
the phone, although Anna couldn’t help feeling surprised at how young she was. 
She stood up and thanked Mrs Wilby for the coffee.  Ben put his thumb in the
air and mouthed ‘good luck’. 

Anna
followed Sharon out of the kitchen and across a spacious hallway.  Making her
way to the furthest end of the hall, she opened the door and stepped through. 
Hard on her heels a very nervous Anna tried to take in huge gulps of air to
calm her racing heart.

“Jason,
this is our last applicant, Mrs Anna Stevens.  Anna, this is Jason Harrington,
the Managing Director of Harrington Rhodes Shipping Agents.”