Free Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

and tangled, with tiny flowers clinging to every crevice of the old stone wall surrounding the yard. I stood on the back step for a moment, loitering in silent admiration.
    'Coming up behind you,' Iain Sumner announced from several yards away. 'There,' he said, joining me on the steps, 'was that better?'
    Laughing, I shook my head. 'I'm sorry, but no. I still jumped.'
    'Ah, well,' he sighed, 'we'll think of something. I'd not want to give you a coronary.'
    'Hullo!' Geoffrey de Mornay came round the corner of the house, looking oddly elegant in denim jeans and a casual shirt. His greeting was directed at Iain, but his smile, I fancied, was for me.
    'Why would you be giving her a coronary?' he asked. Iain grinned. 'I move like a damned cat.'
    'I beg your pardon?'
    'He keeps sneaking up on me,' I clarified.
    Iain took offense at that, raising both eyebrows in mock indignation. 'A Scotsman,' he informed me, 'never sneaks.'
    'Well, whatever. I never hear him coming.'
    Geoff frowned. 'You could wear heavier boots, I suppose,' he suggested, but Iain shook his head.
    'Can't get much heavier than these.'
    The three of us looked down at Iain's mud-splattered boots, our expressions contemplative, until the sound of a throat being ponderously cleared brought our heads up in unison.
    'Hello.' Vivien smiled at us brightly from the open doorway. 'Would you three like to come inside, or should I join you out there?'
    'Hullo, Viv.' Geoff leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. 'Thanks for inviting me.'
    He brushed past her into the house, with Iain and I trailing after him. Vivien closed the door behind us, shaking her head. 'What on earth were you all doing?'
    'Looking at my boots,' Iain supplied, kicking off the articles in question and strolling into the little kitchen in his stockinged feet. He, too, was wearing jeans and a flannel work shirt, and I might have felt overdressed in my skirt and sweater had it not been for the fact that Vivien was wearing a dress, a nicely cut navy-blue dress that set off her fair hair to advantage.
    'You have a lovely garden,' I said to her, and she smiled.
    'Thanks, but I can't take the credit. Iain's done most of the planting."
    'Is there anybody's garden he hasn't worked on?' I wanted to know.
    'Likely not,' Iain himself answered over his shoulder, rummaging in the refrigerator. 'I like gardens. Hate to see them wasted.' He straightened up with a sandwich in his hand. 'There used to be a nice garden up at your house, come to that. Old Eddie let it grow over. Didn't want to be bothered with it.'
    'The garden where the Green Lady appeared.'
    'That's right,' Geoff spoke up, seating himself on a long sofa in the open-plan sitting room. 'You have been digging up the local legends, haven't you?'
    'I find it fascinating. I've never had a ghost before.'
    'You don't necessarily have one now,' he pointed out. 'The Green Lady hasn't been seen since I was in short pants. Unless you've seen her yourself, lately?'
    'No, I'm afraid not.' I shook my head, as Vivien drifted across from the dining area and handed a glass of pale amber liquid to Geoff.
    'She has been finding old letters stashed about, though,' she told him. 'Was there a Mariana lived there, do you know?'
    'Mariana ...' Geoff sipped his drink thoughtfully. 'I'm not sure. Do you know what her last name was?'
    'Farr,' I said. And then, in response to Vivien's questioning look, 'I found her grave in the churchyard.'
    'Mariana Farr. No, I don't remember. But she may be mentioned in here.' He tapped the thick file folder he'd brought with him, which now lay on the low coffee table at his knees, flanked by trays of carefully arranged cheese and dry biscuits.
    'You'd better sit beside Geoff, Julia, so you can see better,' Vivien maneuvered smoothly. 'Iain, did you want some Scotch as well?'
    'Single malt?'
    'Blended.'
    'Then I'll just have one of these, thanks.' He lifted a bottle of imported beer from the refrigerator and joined us in the lounge, settling himself