Between Heaven and Rock (The Swallow Barn Cottage Series, Book 3)

Bleh Bleh Bleh!

1 out of 2 :) 

Please read and comment on the author's note at the end of the next chapter.

Love you,

K. xx

***

They thankfully weren't approached by a single well-wishing parishioner of his while they enjoyed coffee slash Earl Grey and the strawberry scones, which were indeed well deserving of their fame, in Miss Rosa's cosy tearooms. There was only one more customer inside, an elderly gentleman who was hidden behind his paper the whole time. Miss Rosa was a pleasant middle-aged woman with a thick Portuguese accent, who served them their treats herself and disappeared in the kitchen right after.

There was still a moment Ulla found somewhat challenging when he put down his cup and leaned down to his paper bag, announcing "I have a present for you." Ulla froze with her teeth sunk into her second scone.

Um, how about no? Ulla Svensson didn't accept presents from men! If one was to be completely honest, the men she'd slept with had never given her presents. They just weren't the type. She'd been propositioned and offered 'presents,' which had made her feel like a call girl and had been refused most firmly. Which often involved such phrasal verbs as 'sod off' and its ruder equivalents.

She quickly chewed and swallowed - still unsure what to say - when he put a book in front of her on the table. Ulla snorted.

"Heretics Anonymous," Ulla read the title.

"It's very good," he said with a smile. "A Catholic school, hormonal teens, and no pressure to convert," he announced. "I think you might enjoy it."

He picked up his cup again, and Ulla touched the picture of a slice of burnt toast on the cover.

"If memory serves me right, you suggested I read up in the genre I'm writing," he said innocently. "I think this book could be a good compromise between your interest in middle-grade fiction and–" He trailed away and took a sip of his tea.

"And what?" Ulla asked. "Oh! You're being clever here, Rev, aren't you?" She shook her finger at him. She should be feeling pretty cheesed off, shouldn't she? He was trying to educate her. Enlighten her, even! And yet, she didn't. Ulla laughed again. "At least you didn't buy me a Bible."

"I should hope I'm more subtle than that," he said.

Ulla shook her head and chuckled.

"You're lucky I'm so full of the moreish scones I don't feel like picking up a fight," she said and bit into her scone again.

He saluted her with his dainty china cup. Clever, clever man. By the way his mannerly tea drinking was giving her palpitations! These lips, on the rim of a cup! Ooph!

Also, between him buying her a good book - at least not the Good Book - and them visiting his church next, in how much bloody trouble was she exactly?!

***

"It's– beautiful," Ulla said and cleared her throat.

She looked over the brick building, with its arches and a slim tower, and neat round columns. Ulla knew nothing of architecture, and the architecture of places of worship especially, but all and all, the church looked... charming. As in, one could imagine them filming a telly show here, about a quirky female vicar and her misadventures with the locals and eventual wedding to a tall dark stranger.

"It's not the oldest in the region, but there is some possible Roman work, and the tower is Norman," he said, looking at the building as well. "It was renovated, or one could say almost rebuilt from scratch, in 1876, and was paid for by the Oakby family. There has traditionally been a Holyoake vicar in it, with us being the descendants of an illegitimate child of Jonah Oakby, the crusader."