Peppercorn Rent

By Violetta Antcliff

Samantha, with her fair hair, green-flecked eyes and perfect figure, was at the front of the queue when good looks were handed out. She only has one flaw: she is a woman who can’t take no for an answer. A battle of wits between two like-minded people occurs when she goes after a cottage that isn’t for sale. Rumours circulating it is haunted don’t deter her; she wants it and is determined to have it. The owner is equally determined he isn’t going to sell. A compromise is struck that is acceptable to both sides. But the outcome is bizarre and unpredictable

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Apr 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781619502871

Violetta Antcliff

Violetta Antcliff has been a member of the Nottingham Writers' Club for over twenty years. A winner of numerous short story competitions, her work was area short listed in Waterstone's Wow Factor story competition. Took first prize in Nottingham County Council short story competition with a story called "Irish Mouse Tales," which was published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing as an eBook in July of 2012. She has had her poetry and short stories read on local radio. Violetta is a prolific writer of short fiction, having written and published more than 40 short stories with Gypsy Shadow.

Book preview

Contents

Copyright Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 6

About the Author

Peppercorn Rent

by

Violetta Antcliff

All rights reserved

Copyright © April 4, 2016, Violetta Antcliff

Cover Art Copyright © 2016, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-287-1

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: April 22, 2016

Chapter 1

The cottage on the outskirts of a hamlet in the Yorkshire Wolds was just what Samantha had been looking for; there was only one problem, it wasn’t for sale.

As a rule, whatever Samantha Ferris wanted she got, and the cottage she was now stood outside looking at was going to be no exception.

At the precise moment she had no idea how she was going to go about getting it, but when her mind was made up, heaven help anyone who tried to stand in her way.

Samantha, an only child with more than her fair share of looks, had never wanted for anything; both her parents doted on her, denied her nothing.

By the time she was twenty, they had provided her with a self-contained apartment in a select area on the outskirts of Nottingham, a top of the range sports car, and a well-paying job—PA to her father in his wholesale-retail business.

For some time, Samantha had been looking for a cottage, a weekend retreat where she could uncurl, let her hair down, slouch around in torn jeans, T-shirts and trainers. This cottage she had come across by chance ticked all the boxes, and the longer she stood looking at it, the more determined she was to have it.

Pushing open a gate that needed to be rehung, Samantha scrunched up the cinder path to the front door of the cottage in her high heels. She didn’t knock straightaway, she just stood there looking around, taking in the overgrown garden, the curtainless windows, the door in need of a lick of paint. The place, when she took it over, she mused, would need serious money spent on it.

She was on the point of walking away when she glimpsed movement in an upstairs room. It could just be a trick of the light, she reasoned, then again it might not be. She balled her fist and knocked on the door; it was opened almost immediately by a man in his