When Darkness Falls

By Marina Anderson

When Abby and Dominic move into the beautiful Dower Cottage it seems like a dream come true. But beneath its chocolate box exterior, the cottage holds a terrible secret, and unknown to her; Abby holds the key to rewriting a terrible wrong from the past.

Soon she becomes obsessed by the dark stranger whose spirit is trapped in the attic, a man who teaches her more about herself and new pathways to ecstasy than she had ever imagined possible, until she is lost in his world of dark pleasures and his overpowering need for her.

As their love grows, Dominic fights desperately to keep his wife, and Abby is caught between her husband and her charismatic, jealous lover from the past.

But their mutual obsession will take her to the edge of insanity as she discovers what her stranger needs from her to ensure they are the ones to be together forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marina Anderson
• Release date: Dec 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519914323

Book preview

For my SD with love

PROLOGUE

He’d lost track of time since the last couple had left. It was hard to tell when time to him was counted in centuries. So many years, and so many disappointments, but still he waited.  One day she would return, he was sure of it.  One day she would find him again, and then he would be able to put things right.  Only then would he finally be free. He also needed her to know that she’d been the only woman he’d truly loved, and what had happened had left him a broken man. Afterwards there had been no joy in anything in life, nor any peace in death.

His line of thought was interrupted by the sound of a heavy lorry on the road outside the cottage. He moved swiftly to the small window that looked out over the front garden and saw a removal van turn slowly into the drive.  His brown eyes, so dark they looked almost black, watched keenly as he waited for the occupants of the following car to get out.

The driver got out first, a very tall, broad shouldered man, in his late twenties he thought, with a mop of blond hair, dressed in the scruffy clothes so favoured by younger men now. But the man was of no interest to him. It was the woman he wanted to see. As the passenger door opened he realised that he was holding his breath, hoping, praying that at last, this time, it would be her.

She was holding one hand up to shield her eyes from the bright summer sunlight, and her long chestnut hair fell to her waist in the tight curls he remembered so well.  His fingers moved as he remembered the way her hair had felt when he’d run his fingers through it, and how she’d watched him, half-warily and half expectantly as she’d waited silent and obedient for him to take charge.

Next to the blond man she looked tiny, as small as he’d remembered her, and she was still as slender as a reed, with a tiny waist. She was wearing a pretty floral dress that reached to her ankles, and he realised it was the first time he’d seen her wearing anything other than black and white.  It was a shock, but apart from that nothing had changed, and through the ill-fitting window he heard the sound of her laughter, that well remembered sound of delight and excitement that he’d so often coaxed from her, and he knew that finally the wait was over.

Abigail had returned to him.

Chapter 1

TWO MONTHS LATER

‘We are so lucky,’ said Abby, as she and Dominic took the shopping out of the back of their 4x4 and started to walk up the four old grey stone steps that led from the side of the narrow road over the grass verge to the low dry stone wall that marked the beginning of their front lawn.

‘I certainly am,’ agreed Dominic. ‘Lucky I don’t have to cut the verge as well as all our front grass I mean!’

‘When Mrs Boyce was round the other morning she rather hinted that although strictly speaking it’s not ours, as owners of the only cottage on the outskirts of Lower Nettleton, we’re expected to do the decent thing and cut the verge as well!’ retorted Abby with a laugh.

‘’Trust you to be befriended by someone like Mrs Boyce,’ said Dominic. ‘Doesn’t she have any other friends beside you, to whom she can impart her words of wisdom?’

‘I’m beginning to think that everyone else in the village must be highly relieved she’s got someone else to visit,’ admitted Abby. ‘Now that I’ve got three new commissions I’m going to have to stop offering her coffee every time she happens to be passing as she puts it.  It’s kind of her to take an interest though, especially as we don’t know anyone round here, and you keep such long hours.’

‘We’ll get you a dog soon,’ promised Dominic, dipping his head so that he could fit into the front porch. ‘I hope I’m not expected to get all the ivy on the walls cut down as well?’

‘She didn’t mention the ivy!’ laughed Abby. ‘She did give me tips for cleaning the windows though, so obviously I’m not quite up to the mark there. The tiny panes are a nightmare, but the windows look so beautiful that I shouldn’t complain. I’ve always wanted to live in a cottage in the country, and this is just like the one I used to dream about as a child.  I still can’t get over us finding it so quickly either.’

Dominic put an arm round her.  ‘You look different since we moved here, even more beautiful if that’s possible and, far more relaxed. I don’t think you’re a City girl at heart.’

Abby shrugged. ‘I wasn’t brought up in the country, and I liked our little flat in South London, but for some reason moving here feels almost like coming home. I don’t even mind when you’re held up late at the hospital.’

‘That’s a big relief,’ admitted Dominic as they put the week’s shopping away. ‘It’s a bit isolated here, which is why the idea of a dog is a good one.  Now, do we have time for a rest before we go out for a pub lunch?’

‘A rest?’ asked Abby in amazement, and then saw the look in his eyes. ‘Oh, that kind of rest! Yes, I think we do. I definitely feel in the mood for a lie down!’

Dominic bent and kissed the top of her head. ‘That’s good to hear.’

Hand in hand and laughing with rising excitement they hurried eagerly up the narrow winding staircase to their bedroom, and within minutes Dominic had removed Abby’s clothes and his own and they were naked on the bed together.

As his large, capable doctor’s hands moved with surprising delicacy over her slender body she gave a small sigh of contentment, and when he lowered his head and licked gently at her breasts while one hand moved softly over the curve of her tiny waist and then lower to caress her hips and thighs she let her legs fall apart and was soon moaning with pleasure as he began to use his tongue on her.

Only when the warm rush of pleasure had caused her body to arch upwards did he thrust into her, and she felt the flicker of yet more pleasure beginning deep inside her, but then he groaned loudly and collapsed against her.

‘Sorry, I was a bit quick,’ he muttered, pulling her close.

‘I’m fine,’ she said truthfully, and snuggled against him, loving the feel of his large, well-muscled body against hers.  He always made her feel so safe and loved, and she often wondered why such a good looking, popular and outgoing young doctor had chosen her out of all the girls he could have had.  Whatever the reason, she was grateful that he had, and for their life together.

Lying together with the hot mid-day sun filling the room they both drifted off to sleep, and when Abby finally woke she was astonished to see from the bedside clock that it was nearly three o’clock.  ‘Dom!  Dom, wake up!’ she said, trying to shake his big frame but failing. He was fast asleep, and she realised the toll the long hours at Lincoln County Hospital’s busy cardiology department were taking on him.

She blew gently in his ear, and then when that didn’t work she pinched the lobe and immediately his eyes flew open.  ‘What the hell...?’

‘We fell asleep and it’s nearly three,’ she explained.

‘Bloody hell!’ exclaimed Dominic.  ‘No chance of a pub lunch then. I’m on call at four. I’m so sorry, darling.’

‘I slept too,’ she pointed out. ‘Besides, I don’t think we would have had as much fun in the local pub!’

Stumbling around their bedroom, trying not to hit his head against the low beams, Dominic laughed. ‘That’s very true. We’ll go out for a meal Friday night. I finish at three then, and it’s my weekend off. What will do you for the rest of the day?  Work on your jewellery?’

Abby shook her head.  ‘I should, but first I must finish emptying the last of the boxes, then they can be put out for the recycling people tomorrow.’

‘I thought you’d done them all,’ replied Dominic, hastily running an electric shaver over his face and pulling a comb through his thick blond hair.

‘I meant to do them last week when you were on that course, but I know it means braving the attic, because there’s nowhere else left to store things.’

‘What’s wrong with the attic? Too many spiders I suppose!’

Amber nodded, but it wasn’t really spiders that were putting her off going into the attic.  She didn’t know what it was, but every time she started climbing the steps to the large attic she began to feel strange.  She didn’t know how to describe it even to herself, but it was a mixture of fear and something else, something that excited and yet scared her.

‘I wonder if a dog would eat spiders?’ mused Dominic, before leaning over her still naked body and kissing her softly on the mouth until she started to feel herself becoming aroused again. ‘Greedy girl!’ he said with a smile, running the back of one hand over her rigid nipples.

‘I’m not! You made me like this!’ she protested. ‘It’s not my fault.’  To her astonishment she sounded both angry and ashamed.

Dominic hastily stepped back from the bed. ‘Goodness, I’m so sorry,’ he said shortly.

‘No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.  It came out all wrong,’ said Abby, who couldn’t imagine why she’d spoken the way she had, but Dominic was already out of the bedroom and she heard him running down the staircase and then the front door slammed shut behind him.

She hurried to the window, and when he reached the car she saw him look up to their window and waved, but he quickly looked away and within minutes both he and the car had gone and she was left alone and naked at the bedroom window.

At that moment the sun went behind a cloud and a chill ran through her.  Quickly she pulled on her clothes and then slowly walked along the landing to where the remaining boxes were waiting for her. There was no point in showering until she’d dealt with at least one of them she thought to herself, and the sooner that was done the better.

Still puzzled by the way she’d spoken to Dominic, Abby started to climb the worn stone steps to the attic so that she could open the trapdoor. Half-way up she froze, unable to move forward or back.  Her heart was pounding in her chest and her throat felt tight, making it difficult for her to breathe.  Part of her wanted to go back down again, but another part was urging her on.

‘I don’t want to,’ she whimpered, ‘I mustn’t.’ She was aware that she was talking nonsense but couldn’t stop herself. ‘Not again, not after last time. It’s wrong,’ she continued. She didn’t understand what she was saying, but she did know that it felt wrong to be climbing the stairs, as though what she was about to do was forbidden.

Her mouth was dry, her hands shaking, and she was about to turn around when common sense took over. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous!’ she said loudly. ‘This is your house, and if you don’t get these books put away Dominic is not going to be very happy, especially after the way you spoke to him.’

With a huge effort of will she forced herself up to the stop step and then pushed on the low door. She’d expected it to be stiff, but it swung open easily, and when she stepped inside she was relieved to find that it seemed relatively clean, with some light coming in through a small skylight window. It was still too dim for her to see clearly, but there was a light switch behind the door and she quickly switched it on.  Nothing happened, but then she realised there was no bulb in the old fashioned light fitting. ‘Bring a new bulb next time, stupid,’ she chided herself, moving further into the room.

‘At least there’s plenty of room,’ she continued, feeling safer if she talked aloud to herself. ‘Perhaps we could buy an old bookcase at the local auction and bring that up here. Dom’s old medical books won’t spoil as there’s so little light.’

Gradually, as she picked her way round a very old, narrow iron bedframe and a wicker backed rocking chair, the strange feelings she’d experienced on the way up to the attic began to fade. As she moved a couple of empty boxes to the side of the space she even began to hum to herself, although she hadn’t hummed ‘ring a’ ring of roses’ for a very long time, and wondered what had put that tune into her mind.

She was surprised to discover a tiny window at the front end of the attic, covered by a piece of very old sacking. Reaching forward to pull it off and let more light in she suddenly felt something moving in her hair, and with a scream she twisted sideways to try and dislodge what she assumed must be a spider, only to feel the heavy mass of hair on the nape of her neck being pushed to one side.

Terrified she screamed again, then began a mad scramble for the door. Once she was outside she slammed the door shut and stood shaking and sobbing on the top stair. It had felt like a hand she realised.  A hand moving in her hair, before pushing it off her neck, but that was impossible.  She’d definitely been alone in the attic.

‘Something caught in it, silly,’ she told herself. ‘A hot bath and a large glass of wine is what you need,’ she added through chattering teeth as she slowly descended to the landing, with only the untouched boxes to remind her of what had happened.  The boxes and a light tingling feeling on the nape of her neck, which persisted even after she’d finished her bath and drunk her wine.

***

It was after midnight when Dominic arrived back at the cottage. He was surprised to see a light on in the front room, and even more surprised to realise that the curtains hadn’t been drawn. When he looked through the window and saw Abby lying on the sofa with her eyes closed he was filled with panic.

Hastily unlocking the front door he rushed into the front room and then saw an empty bottle of wine lying on the carpet, while at the same time the professional part of his brain registered that Abby was breathing deeply and evenly, and her colour was good.  Frowning to himself, because unlike Dominic and his doctor friends she only ever drank lightly, he touched her on the shoulder but she merely turned away in her sleep, murmuring something that he didn’t quite catch.

Her hands felt cool to his touch, so he put a throw over her before picking up the bottle and glass, while his eyes swept the room for any sign of food, but it didn’t look as though she’d eaten at all, and there was no smell of cooking in the kitchen either.

Abby loved to cook, and there was always a meal waiting for him to reheat in the microwave when he got back late from the hospital, but clearly not tonight. Remembering her strange reaction to his joking remark in the bedroom earlier he frowned, wondering if perhaps he should have insisted on them buying a house in the centre of the village rather than on the outskirts where they didn’t have any immediate neighbours. But the moment Abby set eyes on Dower Cottage she’d fallen in love with it, and had been adamant that she’d enjoy the peace and quiet because she needed it for her work as a jewellery designer. She didn’t want people forever calling in, or asking her to take part in some local activity, and she certainly didn’t want to be asked to join a Young Wives group.

Although he’d initially been attracted to Abby by her beauty, and she was stunningly beautiful, he’d fallen in love with her kindness and sweet nature.  She always saw the best in people, and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Adopted as a baby by a middle aged couple she was now an orphan, as she often said with a laugh, and Dominic’s protective instincts had been aroused by this. Sometimes he felt that she was too sensitive for her own good, too easily upset by national and international disasters.  When they got married, he knew that he would always want to protect her, even though at times she’d tell him to stop babying her, and remind him that she wasn’t a child even if she still looked like one.

It was true that she looked very young for her age.  At 25 she was always being asked for ID when buying alcohol at the supermarket, and had even been queried about her age at cinemas. He supposed her slight frame and long curly hair added to her youthfulness, but there was also an innocence about her that was unusual these days.

He and his friends, most of them from his days at medical college, were a loud crowd, parties and pub crawls were part of the fabric of their lives but Abby was different, and he liked that.  Seeing her lying on the sofa, clearly the worse for drink, was a huge shock to him and he wondered what could have happened while he was away. After looking down at her for several minutes he finally touched her lightly on the shoulder again while calling her name.

After a few minutes her eyes opened and she looked up at him in bewilderment. ‘Who are you?’ she asked sleepily.

‘Darling it’s me, Dominic.’

She continued to stare at him, her eyes clouded with puzzlement.

‘I’m your husband!’ he said with a laugh, ‘and I rather think you’ve had too much to drink!’

For a few seconds she continued to stare at him as though he were a stranger, and then he saw recognition in her eyes and she struggled to sit up. ‘Heavens, what’s the time?  Have you eaten?’

He didn’t think it was quite the moment to tell her he couldn’t eat because she hadn’t cooked him a meal. ‘I’m fine, but I think we need to get you to bed,’ he said firmly.  ‘By the look of this empty wine