Shadow On The Fells

He’s a danger to everything she holds dear

With his unruly dog, big-city airs, and obvious ignorance of the Lake District and its traditions, Will Devlin is Chrissie Marsh’s worst nightmare. There’s nothing the shepherdess loves more than the land she lives and works on, and nothing she hates more than the tourists who threaten it. Except Will isn’t a tourist; he’s her new neighbor. And he intends to turn her hallowed fells into a playground for people on holiday. But when he keeps showing up at her farm to offer—and ask for—help, she realizes she’ll need to put a stop to her own feelings before she can even try to stop him.

Chrissie watched helplessly as sheep disappeared in every direction.

She whistled to her collies, but she would have needed half a dozen dogs to keep the terrified sheep together.

“Max!” cried the man. “Max! Bad dog. Come here.”

The big dog ignored him, but he managed to grab hold of its collar. For a moment, they struggled, and then the man staggered forward. If the situation hadn’t been so desperate, Chrissie would have laughed as he sprawled to the ground.

She whistled to Tess and Fly, and they raced over. The sheep had calmed somewhat, but at best she’d be spending the rest of the afternoon gathering them. At worst…well…she didn’t want to think about that just yet.

“Good dogs. Stay.” The man was on his feet now, his leather shoes much the worse for wear and his suit pants ripped at the knees.

“You,” she said in a cold, flat voice. “You should get back to the city…and take your idiot dog with you. I’d have been well within my rights to shoot it, you know.”

He held her gaze with his piercing eyes. “But you haven’t got a gun.”

“Then I’ll start carrying one.”

Dear Reader,

This is the fourth and last book in my Creatures Great and Small series. I do hope you enjoy it. Any thoughts, comments or questions you may have about Shadow on the Fells or any of the other books in the series would be very welcome. I really do appreciate feedback from my readers, for without you I would have no reason to write.

You can contact me at info@holmescalesridingcentre.co.uk or through Facebook.

All very best wishes and happy reading,

Eleanor

Shadow on the Fells

Eleanor Jones

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ELEANOR JONES was brought up on a farm in the north of England and learned to love animals and the countryside from an early age. She has ridden all her life, and after marrying her husband at just eighteen years old and having two wonderful children, they set up a riding center together. This is still thriving over thirty years later, doing hacks, treks and lessons for all ages and experiences. Her daughter competes at the national level, and she is now a partner in the business and brings her adorable three-year-old son to work with her every day. Eleanor’s son is also married with two children, and they live nearby. Eleanor has been writing for what feels like her whole life. Her early handwritten novels still grace a dusty shelf in the back of a cupboard somewhere, but she was first published over fifteen years ago, when she wrote teenage pony mysteries.

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I would like to dedicate this book to my grandchildren, Dan, Emma and little Ollie

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

CHRISSIE STRODE OUT across the rough, damp earth, well-worn wooden crook in hand, reveling in the signs of spring. Green shoots broke through the parched brown of tufty winter grass, bringing new life to the fell; the sound of birdsong, different now, bright with hope and promise, filled her ears with nature’s own sweet music as they sang to the end of the cold, hard winter. And it had been hard this year, up here on the fell. She’d lost a dozen sheep to the snow and ice, only finding their sad, frozen bodies after the thaw.

Closing her fingers more firmly around the knotted wood, taking comfort from its familiarity, just as her father must have when he walked the fells with the help of the same curved crook, she stopped to take stock.

Today wasn’t about death; that chapter was closed, until next year at least. Today she was embracing new life, for lambing time was imminent and she needed to gather the ewes and take them to lower ground. There was a time when four or five shepherds, each with at least two dogs, would meet to gather up their sheep, bringing them down all together, as a team, but right now it was just her sheep on this part of the fell.

With a low whistle to her dogs, Tess and Fly, Chrissie gazed up into the wide gray sky that never failed to soothe her soul. She watched the tumultuous clouds slide away, revealing the clearest, palest blue that seemed to stretch into eternity. For twenty-eight years she’d gazed up into that same sky, here in Little Dale, following the traditions set by her parents and their parents before them, caring for the sheep way up in the bleak and beautiful Lakeland fells. It was a tough, harsh and lonely life, but one she wouldn’t swap for anything.

The border collies, one black-and-white and the other a distinctive blue merle, sank to the ground, heads on paws and keen eyes alert for their mistress’s every gesture, waiting patiently as she looked back down the steep slope toward the huddle of buildings that nestled in the crook of the land.

High Bracken, the place where she had lived alone with her dogs for almost seven years since her parents were killed in a car crash. It had happened on the first holiday they had taken for as long as she could remember. She had been only nineteen then, and already dedicated to the land and the sheep, so it had seemed the most natural thing in the world to carry on the traditions she had been learning for her entire life.

After the accident, her mother’s sister, Hilda, had arrived to help her niece organize both the funeral and her future. She’d been horrified when Chrissie revealed that she intended to live in her family home all alone and carry on working with the sheep; Hilda’s pleas for Chrissie to pursue a more “suitable” career had been a waste of time then—and still were—but Aunt Hilda kept turning up unannounced every few months to stay a while and nag Chrissie to change her job.

Her aunt had left Little Dale that very morning, in fact, which was why Chrissie was so late. If she hadn’t had to run her aunt to the station then she’d have had all the sheep safely down the fell and nearer to the farm by now.

Hilda had left, of course, with yet another well-meaning lecture.

“It’s not natural for a young woman to live like this,” she’d grumbled over breakfast. “You’ll never meet a husband nor have any children if you don’t shape up. You need to stretch your horizons, get out more...do something more feminine.”

“But I’m always busy and I do get out,” Chrissie had retorted. “I’m involved with Little Dale’s young farmers group, I’m on a couple of committees, I meet lots of people through my dog training and I even competed in some sheepdog trials this year.”

“Exactly,” her aunt had snorted. “That’s what I mean—it’s all about sheep farming and dogs and the land. Most of the farmers around here are already married and the single ones aren’t worth having. You’ll never meet anyone in Little Dale.”

Chrissie’s insistence that she didn’t need a husband and was perfectly happy on her own fell on deaf ears, but she’d been moved by the brief hug her aunt had given her at the station before heading back home to her comfortable cottage by the sea. Hilda had seemed satisfied that she’d at least tried to do the responsible thing for her poor dead sister. And Chrissie had to admit that High Bracken always felt empty after Hilda had gone.

A smile warmed Chrissie’s heart as she thought about Hilda. It was comforting to know that she still had at least one relative who cared, even if her aunt did try and persuade her to give up the way of life she loved.

Then again, perhaps Hilda was right. Perhaps Chrissie was becoming a bit reclusive. There was a time when she’d dated a bit and gone to the movies with friends, but that had gradually slipped away as everyone she knew got married and settled down. Maybe she should make a bit more effort to be sociable before she ended up being pigeonholed as a batty old lady.

She’d go down to the pub in the village tonight, she decided, to have a meal and catch up with her friends; at least it would be something. It was hard to be social, though, when everyday life took such effort. There was always so much to do with the sheep and the dogs that there never seemed to be enough hours in the day.

Just yesterday she’d taken on yet another young dog to train—stupid, really, when lambing time was nearly here, but she needed the money. Although she loved the farm, it was barely paying its way. Remembering the nervous young black-and-tan Welsh collie, Floss, who had arrived last night, Chrissie put her half-hearted idea of socializing on hold. She needed to spend time with the new arrival and begin the process of bonding. Her dogs were trained through love and trust, not fear and force, which was so often the way.

She shook Aunt Hilda’s words out of her mind. Chrissie didn’t usually have such thoughts; she had everything she wanted right here. Yet she couldn’t help but notice that the landscape she loved so much was changing. And she didn’t welcome change.

As she headed even higher up the fell, Chrissie spotted movement at Craig Side, the small farm that was her nearest neighbor. There were two four-by-fours in the yard, she noted, as well as a large truck with something on the back. Tiny figures moved around it.

That was a surprise; the place had been empty and up for sale for almost a year, ever since James and Doreen Allen retired, sold Chrissie most of their sheep and moved down South to live with their son and his wife. When Andy Montgomery, Chrissie’s vet, had stopped by last week, he’d told her that it had finally been sold and there was a rumor that the new owner might be converting the farm into holiday rentals. But Chrissie hadn’t expected anything to happen so soon.

Yet another farm, then, lost forever. In Chrissie’s opinion, there were far too many farms going the same way, turning their backs on tradition and transforming the fells into a playground for tourists. But what else to do when they could no longer make a living? James and Doreen had lived and worked there with the sheep for decades, but when their son had opted for an easier life there was no way they could afford to keep the farm.

Still, her sense of unease grew. Tourists messed with the way of things, coming up here to upset the sheep with their stupid dogs and lack of knowledge of the land and its traditions...and now it seemed they were about to infiltrate her personal space. She had always assumed that way up here they were far too isolated to have to worry about holiday rentals in the vicinity. Apparently, she’d been wrong. Though hikers crossed her land occasionally, it was nothing compared to the chaos people could create if they had accommodation right up on the fells.

Of course, that barn roof had almost caved in, she told herself, clinging to a tentacle of hope. Perhaps they were just fixing the place up.

With a heavy sigh, she turned her mind to the job at hand, heading on up the steep, rugged slope with the dogs at her side. Totally focused and eager to get to work, they sniffed the wind, tails wagging in anticipation.

The black-and-white-faced fell sheep moved closer together as they noticed the distant approach of the woman and dogs. Hefted here by their mothers and their mothers before them from time immemorial, it was ingrained into their makeup that this part of the fell was their space, their land. They knew every inch of land here, and totally aware of the invisible boundaries of their territory, they rarely moved away from it. If forced to leave, the fell sheep would overcome almost any obstacle to return to their “place,” taking down drystone walls as they clambered over them in their quest to come home.

Chrissie knew the sheep well, each face familiar to her. They were hardy, tough and wild, easily scared but fiercely protective of their lambs. She respected that, and so did the dogs.

Not wanting to panic the animals, Chrissie stopped for a moment, letting them settle before beginning the outrun—the wide sweep around the flock. Then she raised her hand for Tess’s attention. “Come bye,” she called. “Come bye.” She gave Tess the signal to run wide of the flock, clockwise. Fly trembled for action, waiting for her cue as her partner ran, low and silent, urging the sheep to move closer together.

“Away...away out,” Chrissie called to Fly, and the eager dog ran wide of the flock counterclockwise. The dogs disappeared, eaten up by the vast space of the fell, and then gradually they came back into view behind a dozen or so outlying sheep who were trotting quickly, heads up and eyes wide with apprehension as the collies herded them toward the flock.

“Easy,” yelled Chrissie. “Slow down.”

A long, low blast on her whistle and both dogs dropped to the ground, allowing the sheep time to huddle together before they began the task of moving the flock steadily down the hillside.

Both Tess and Fly were used to the procedure, barely needing a command from Chrissie as they worked together, reading the reactions of the sheep and going wide or moving closer as the white mass trickled down the steep slopes, jumping over craggy outcrops and negotiating sharp drops and ravines.

They were almost home when it happened, in sight of the open gate that led to the lower, fenced-in land where the ewes would stay for the lambing.

For a fleeting second Chrissie thought it was a crazy sheep racing toward the flock. Then with a sinking heart, she realized that it was a big, cream-colored dog, almost as fluffy as the sheep. That was where the likeness ended, though. The dog was big and fast; it looked fierce as it raced madly toward them, intent on trouble. Its pink tongue waved from the side of its mouth and its ridiculous ears flapped against its head. Tess and Fly stopped in their tracks, looking anxiously at their mistress.

“Lie down,” she shouted, and they dropped to the ground as one, whining their objection to the unwanted intruder and the interruption of their routine.

The sheep began to panic. They were accustomed to the quiet way the border collies worked and respected their boundaries. This was something different. Huddling close together, they started to run back up the fell, but they were too late; the big dog leaped into their midst, barking loudly and scattering them as they fled for the safety of the higher slopes.

Chrissie screamed at the dog. “Get away! Get out of here!” But the wind took her voice as the dog wreaked havoc with the flock before chasing after one small ewe that had split off from the rest.

Chrissie saw them heading for where the rough grass gave way to rocky scree just above an outcrop. She started to run, but she was too far away...

It was just as the ewe disappeared over the ledge that Chrissie saw the man.

CHAPTER TWO

PARKING UP IN FRONT of the gray stone farmhouse he now called home, Will Devlin grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat and climbed out of his newly acquired Range Rover. The satisfaction he felt as he took in his surroundings was shaken as a heavy banging floated over from the barn. So the men he’d hired must be here to fix the roof, he realized, and suddenly he wished he’d left it a bit longer before getting the builders in.

He’d only just moved into the farmhouse a few days ago and found himself enjoying the isolation of the place so much that he hated the idea of it being infiltrated by hammering and loud voices and music. This morning, when he went to the bank in town, all he’d been able to think about was getting back to the peace and silence of his new home. Strange, really, when just six months ago he’d reveled in the busy buzz of the city.

When a tall, gray-haired man approached, his hand extended, Will took it briefly.

“Jim Wentworth,” said the man. “I’ll be supervising the work here. You must be Mr. Devlin. All we can do at the moment, of course, is redo the roof before it falls in, but I have the plans with me, and I wondered if you wanted to look them over before we put them before the local council. Roger Simmons, your architect, asked me to bring them along. He says he’ll drop by later today to see if you have any comments.

Will’s response was immediate. The whole idea of workmen buzzing and banging about the place depressed him. “I can’t right now,” he said, turning abruptly away. “Maybe later.”

Will hurried into the house, breathing in the silence as he closed the old oak door behind him. But that only made him feel stifled. He’d go for a walk up the fell, he decided. That should clear his head.

The farmhouse backed onto a small garden, fragrant with wildflowers, and beyond that was the vast space of the open fell. Well out of sight of the builders, thought Will thankfully as he headed out through the back door, not bothering to get changed. He stopped for a moment to take in the scenery that never failed to move him, breathing in the cool, fresh air and willing nature’s yawning silence and the sweet scents of spring to refresh his zest for life.

Why had he left it this long to return to the Lake District hills? He had come here on holiday just once, with his parents when he was small, but its beauty and isolation had lingered in the back of his mind all this time, reemerging when his life became too much for him to bear. Yesterday had been his birthday—thirty-five years—but he felt as if he’d lived forever. And he had, if you counted all the drama he’d been involved with in the past ten years.

Calling for Max, the big daft labradoodle he’d bought on a whim when he decided to move here, he went through the rickety garden gate. The dog bounded ecstatically around him as he headed up toward the open fell, enjoying the clear air and drinking up the silence. Already he had hope that the beauty and tranquility of this place might heal his hardened soul and gradually eradicate all the cruelty and brutality that had consumed his life.

At twenty-five, a young and ambitious lawyer, he’d been honored to be offered a job with Marcus Finch. After he won his first big case, his reputation had spread. At first he had basked in the glory, pleased to be termed a hotshot defense lawyer who could get anyone acquitted if he put his mind to it. Playing with words like a cat with a mouse had been his forte.

Eventually, though, his mind had become clouded by the violence and inhumanity of the cases he was being asked to take on: murder, extortion and meaningless depravity. It had all come to a head when he was in the middle of a particularly gruesome and high-profile case. Will had looked at the man he was being paid a fortune to defend and realized with sudden clarity just how badly his ambitions had been compromised. He had come into law to defend the innocent and ended up doing the exact opposite; his client didn’t deserve to walk free. And with that thought, he had just walked away, out into the fresh, clear beauty of the autumn afternoon.

He’d never gone back, despite the threats and pleas of his superiors. “At least finish this case,” Roy Wallis, the senior partner, had begged him, but Will had turned a deaf ear. He was done. Done with listening to lies and defending those who didn’t deserve it. Done with the darker side of mankind. And that was when he had remembered the holiday all those years ago and realized that the silence of the Lakeland hills might still the buzzing in his head.

The private doctor he’d been persuaded to see had diagnosed a breakdown caused by mental exhaustion, but Will had known that wasn’t true. He was just sickened by humanity; that was the truth of it. When he’d handed in his notice at Marcus Finch, Roy had pleaded with him to reconsider, offering paid leave, but Will had been adamant. He needed more than just time to breathe; he needed a whole new life. And so he’d come back here to Little Dale, and found to his relief that it had hardly changed since he was a boy.

He’d been drawn to the window of the real estate office as he strolled along the street on that first day here, reliving his childhood memories. The picture had seemed to jump right out at him and he’d stopped to read the advertisement. Craig Side, a whitewashed farmhouse with gray stone outbuildings set way up the fell, with fifty acres of land and rights to graze the fell for as far as a man could see. Isolated, totally peaceful and everything he wanted.

Will Devlin wasn’t usually one to act on a whim. He thought things through, planned his every move...but not this time. He’d booked a viewing that very afternoon and made an offer right away, his head brimming with plans. The barn and outbuildings would make ideal holiday rentals. Money was no problem for now, but it wouldn’t last forever and if he never went back to law then he’d need some kind of income. And he wasn’t going back to law. Ever.

Within six weeks he had finalized the purchase and hired an architect to start drawing up plans. Only when he moved into the farmhouse had he realized he might have jumped into things too quickly. He should have waited awhile, taken time to appreciate the peace and solitude before putting his business plans into action.

Excited by the prospect of a walk, Max leaped up at his master in his usual unruly manner, appearing to smile as his pink tongue lolled from the side of his mouth, exposing sharp white fangs. The dog’s attitude was what had drawn Will to him in the first place. Max loved everyone and everything, albeit a little too enthusiastically at times.

“Come on, boy,” Will said, increasing his pace. He regretted not changing into more suitable footwear; the dampness on the vegetation was beginning to soak through his smart leather shoes. No matter, he decided. He wasn’t going back now, and there was no one here to notice, anyway. He’d just throw the shoes away if they got too badly damaged.

For the next fifteen minutes, Will climbed the steep slope, hearing only the heavy sound of his breathing. He stopped for a moment to rest his aching legs, leaning forward with his hands on his knees.

“Max,” he called. “Here, boy...come here.” The big dog raced up to him, collapsing onto a patch of rough grass. Will smiled, pleased that, for once, the dog had done his bidding. “Why, you’re no fitter than me, boy,” he teased.

He could see the low huddle of buildings at Craig Side way below him now, surrounded by the bright green of the home fields. Farther down, at the base of the valley, the lake sparkled in the spring sunshine as if ten thousand diamonds had been scattered on its surface.

Cool air filled his nostrils and he took a gulp of it, savoring the silence even as he realized that it wasn’t silent at all, not really. In the city there was always sound, sound that you no longer noticed after a while, the busy, constant hum of traffic, the honking of a hundred angry horns, the buzz of human voices. And here there was sound in the silence, too, different kinds of sounds: the scream of a buzzard, the song of the wind as it whispered and wailed, and the bleating of the rough fell sheep that wandered the steep slopes in their constant quest for food.

He could see a flock of them on the hillside, trickling downward with two dogs to guide them. He stopped to watch, intrigued by the way the dogs worked as a team, dropping to the ground and then creeping forward again before rushing to turn the flock if they headed in the wrong direction. It was all overseen by the shepherd, who gave low whistles and shouted commands in a loud, clear voice that carried across the distance in the thin air.

Calling to Max, who was now intent on digging beneath a rock, Will headed closer, watching the sheep and dogs, and ignoring the dull ache in his calves and the discomfort of his damp feet. He realized, suddenly, that the shepherd was a woman, a tall, straight-backed woman who strode confidently across the rough and rocky ground, a long crook in her hand. She wore blue skinny jeans and sturdy brown boots, and a thick blond braid hung almost to her waist. There was something about her that moved him. He supposed it was the timelessness of the way she strode the earth, commanding the dogs with confidence and certainty just as her ancestors must have done before her.

Ahead, the ground fell away, dipping steeply. As he headed down the slope, Will lost sight of the woman with her dogs and sheep. With a lurch of disappointment, he turned back to call Max again, surprised by his own eagerness to watch her work the dogs some more. Come to think of it, he hadn’t felt much eagerness or excitement about anything of late, not even buying and then moving into Craig Side; that had just felt like a necessity. The communication between the woman and her collies was something else, though, something he had never experienced before. Strangely, it humbled him.

Another yell at Max, and the dog finally gave up his frantic digging and raced to catch up, so excited by the unfamiliar scents and sounds that, all reason lost, he bounded right past Will and down the slope, leaping over the stream in the bottom of the shallow ravine.

“Max! Come here!” he called, his voice echoing. The big dog paused and looked back at him, wagging his plumed tail as if about to obey...until a high-pitched whistle sounded and the sheep let out several bleats. Then, totally ignoring his master’s urgent commands, Max took off up the slope on the other side and disappeared from view.

Will’s heart sank when he heard the woman’s angry cries. He started to run, ignoring the burning in his lungs and the ache in his calves.

“Stupid dog,” he groaned, unable to hear anything but the rasping of his own breath as he headed for the patch of clear sky at the top of the steep incline.

She was standing farther up the hillside, bright blue eyes blazing against her lightly tanned skin, two bright spots of angry color in her cheeks. “Get out of it!” she yelled, madly waving her crook. “Get away!”

Following her gaze, Will saw Max leaping toward the sheep, oblivious to everything else, barking with excitement as they started to scatter. The woman gave a long, low whistle and her two sheepdogs sank to the ground in total obedience, staring up at her with adoration. Will felt like a fool, totally out of his depth and unsure of what to do. He wasn’t used to feeling inadequate—angry, perhaps, and sickened by life, but in control...always in control.

“Max, come here,” he tried to yell, but the words couldn’t seem to get past his throat. Taking a gulp of air, he tried again as the sheep began to flee in a dozen directions. “Max, here! Now!”