Thanks to everyone who read my first story - this one's for you.

THE LANTERN HOUSE

PROLOGUE

Just as the coffin slid into the ground, the heavens opened and thick drops of rain pelted down on the crowd of mourners, drumming on the coffin lid and instantly turning the trampled grass between the graves into sticky mud. Squally blasts of wind whipped up the women's skirts and hair and the tattered leaves of the overhanging trees, disturbing the rooks in the highest branches and sending them wheeling into the air and onto the church roof, where they flapped and cawed in loud disgruntlement.

Caught on the exposed hillside and having no choice but to brave the elements or jostle for what little shelter was available, the mourners shivered and hugged themselves against the unseasonable weather, wishing they'd come prepared with overcoats and umbrellas. As they clustered further under the straggly trees they forgot where they were for a moment and bursts of conversation sprang up, before quickly fading out as their eyes turned back towards the graveside.

Waiting for the last voice to die down before continuing, the vicar stood firm and carried on with the service, bracing himself against the rising wind as his cassock billowed out around him and the rain plastered his thinning hair to his scalp and ran in rivulets off his bony forehead, fogging up his glasses and dripping off the end of his nose.

But the family members who stood silently beside the coffin, were so deeply caught up in their grief that they appeared to be immune to anything the weather could throw at them and when they stepped forward one by one, to say their final goodbyes and throw a handful of gritty soil onto the coffin lid, it was a sign of the affection they were held in that instead of making an immediate run for cover, the villagers waited in line to offer their condolences before gratefully hurrying for the shelter of their nearby houses.

Finally, the family party accompanied by the vicar, made its way down the twisting gravel path back towards the church, and the deserted churchyard was abandoned to the elements. Bruised by the rain, a single wreath of spring flowers glimmered brightly against the black earth, while overhead the clouds became ever thicker and darker, driven on by a westerly wind and bringing with them a rumble of thunder, which echoed around the bay.

-ooo-

CHAPTER 1

ten years later…

Woken by the unfamiliar sound of seagulls squawking on the roof of the chip shop across the street, Bella opened her eyes to a swathe of bright spring sunshine, which was streaming into the small attic bedroom and reflecting off the newly painted walls.

Pushing aside the heavy quilt, she gingerly stepped out onto the floorboards and opened the window, drawing in a deep breath of salty air and leaning out as far as she could in the hope of catching sight of the sea. Disappointingly, her only view was of grey rooftops and chimneypots, but if she listened very hard she thought she could catch the faint background murmur of waves.

Further down the corridor a vacuum cleaner purred into life and realising it must be later than she'd thought, Bella hurriedly searched for her phone to check the time, suddenly anxious that she would be late for her interview.

To her relief it was only just after nine and shivering slightly in the chilly air, she delved into her suitcase to find her dressing gown, before slipping into the shower. And after quickly getting dressed and drying her hair, she was soon sitting at a table in the bar downstairs with a huge fry-up in front of her.

Bella lost no time in clearing her plate then looked around for the landlady, who was hovering behind the bar.

'Thank you, that was just what I needed. I'm sorry if I'm being a nuisance, have your other guests already gone out?'

'Oh, don't worry, you're the only one at the moment. It's a bit early in the season yet, but if you'd tried to get a room in a couple of weeks' time, everywhere would have been booked up.'

'I'm really excited to be this close to the sea.'

The landlady looked at her with raised eyebrows, but said nothing, as she began to clear away the breakfast things.

Undaunted, Bella continued 'I know it's odd, but I've never been to the seaside before. And as I've got half an hour to spare, I was wondering if you could give me directions to the beach?'

The landlady, who Bella now noticed was wearing a badge which identified her as 'Jessica', laughed, not unkindly, and drew a rough map on a beer mat, before picking up Bella's empty plate and disappearing through a door marked 'Private' without giving Bella time to thank her.

-ooo-

But the directions weren't really needed. At first sight, the small village with its narrow streets and top-heavy fishermen's cottages perched in tiers on the steep hillside, was claustrophobic and confusing, but Bella soon realised every path led to the main street and from there to the sea, and after a short walk she arrived at her destination.

It was a perfect picture-postcard setting. She was standing on a cobbled quay in front of a final row of brightly coloured cottages and shops, looking out over a small bay which formed a natural harbour sheltered by cliffs on either side. To her right, a stone jetty studded with rusty mooring rings stretched out into the water, while to her left, rock pools and a tiny strip of sand had been exposed by the receding waves.

The small fishing fleet had long ago left on the tide and the harbour was deserted, so all Bella could hear was the soft swish of the sea and the squawking of seagulls circling high up over the mouth of the bay. Picking her way around the plastic crates, netting and coils of rope which littered the quay, she carefully made her way down a steep flight of stone steps onto the beach.

It was set to be a gloriously sunny day. The sun was already shining in a cloudless blue sky and the sunlight was reflecting off the tops of the waves, so that as Bella looked out over the smooth expanse of sea, all she could see was a glittering carpet of silver, while a few yards in front of her feet, small waves gently lapped at the sand, then retreated, belying the power of the high tide which had strewn a thick line of rubbery brown seaweed across the rocks.

Laughing with exhilaration and feeling like an excited child, Bella threw her arms out wide and spun round in circles on the sand, closing her eyes & leaning her head back to feel the warmth of the sun on her face. When she came to a stop, dizzy and out of breath, the waves seemed to be whispering to her and she imagined wading into the water and swimming out into the silvery distance, until her old life and the grey northern town which had been her home for so many years, were left far behind.

She desperately wanted to stay and explore the rock pools and spend the rest of the morning enjoying the sunshine and the scenery, but her interview was looming. Reluctantly dragging her eyes away from the sea, she turned and looked up over the houses and shops nestled at the bottom of the cliff, to the narrow road which wound like a white ribbon across the grassy hillside, past the church on the outskirts of the village, all the way over to the headland, where a single building was visible.

Large, imposing and painted white, so that like the sea it was glistening in the strong sunlight, Bella recognised The Lantern House immediately, but had to shield her eyes with her hand to make out the glass dome of the observatory tacked onto the side, which gave the house its name. In the last two weeks she had spent hours on the net familiarising herself with the area and somewhere up there Carlisle Cullen was waiting for her.

-ooo-

When Bella arrived back at The Sailor's Rest pub, the taxi driver she'd booked was already sitting at the bar. Although she'd been so tired the previous night that she'd fallen asleep on the journey from the station, she'd been awake long enough to find out the driver's name was Emmett and that he lived near the village, so it had seemed sensible to ask him to pick her up again this morning.

Despite his hulking frame, Emmett's kind face and obvious good nature had immediately made Bella feel at ease and she was pleased to see him again. Breaking off the conversation he was in the middle of, he greeted her with the same friendly grin she remembered from the night before and nodded towards the large TV screen on the wall, which was tuned to a sports channel.

'Hi, don't rush, there's still plenty of time and I'll have you there ten minutes before you need to be. I'm just keeping Mike here company and catching up on yesterday's rugby scores while I'm waiting.'

Trying to ignore Mike, the landlord, who'd greeted her with several unfunny and slightly suggestive comments the night before, Bella smiled back at Emmett, 'Ok, I'll go and tidy up a bit and I'll be down again in five minutes.'

When she reached her room she retrieved her hairbrush from her suitcase and ducking into the small ensuite, she brushed her hair and put on some lipstick, noticing that the sea air already seemed to be doing her good. There was colour in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes which had been missing for far too long.

But despite Emmett's cheery conversation, as Bella sat in the taxi on the way to her interview she couldn't help feeling sick with nerves. She had never done anything this reckless or impulsive before and she had no real plan to fall back on. If Mr Cullen turned her down, she would be more or less destitute with nowhere to go.

-ooo-

As promised, Emmett got her to her destination with ten minutes to spare and after drawing up next to the sports car which was parked on the wide stretch of gravel outside the front door, he helped Bella out of the taxi, wished her luck and disappeared towards the back of the house, whistling loudly and waving to someone inside as he passed a window, which made Bella smile.

Smoothing down her hair, Bella hurried up the steps and rang the bell, already worrying that the house was much larger and more imposing than it had looked online, which did nothing to help her nerves.

After a minute or two, the door was opened by a very elderly woman dressed in a polyester overall, who introduced herself as Mrs Cope.

'Come in dear, Mr Carlisle and Master Edward are waiting for you in the study.'

Bella was puzzled, 'I didn't know Mr Cullen had any children?'

'Oh bless you, my dear, Mr Carlisle doesn't have any children, not since Miss Alice. Master Edward 's his nephew and he's come down from London specially.'

Still slightly confused, Bella stepped inside and found herself in a large square hallway with patterned tiles on the floor. Directly in front of her, an imposing staircase with heavily carved banisters led up to a half-landing lit by a stained glass window, and opening off the hall were several doorways, through which Bella glimpsed spacious rooms furnished with beautiful antiques and rich fabrics.

Mrs Cope was leading Bella towards a corridor on the right, while peering back at her with bright beady eyes and her head on one side, like an inquisitive bird.

'My you're a pretty little thing. But you need feeding up and you could do with some new clothes by the look of it. We'll have to see what we can do.'

Her sharp eyes lingered on the small darn near the hem of her dress and Bella blushed.

'Oh, don't be shy my dear. There's no shame in not having two pennies to rub together. There's plenty of people in this world who've got more than their fair share and don't deserve it,' she sniffed dismissively, obviously with a specific example in mind.

Trying to turn the attention away from herself, Bella asked Mrs Cope if she worked for Mr Cullen.

'Bless you, yes. I've looked after the family, on and off, for more than fifty years. But it's never been a live-in position and Mr Cope's not been doing too well lately and needs me at home more.'

'Couldn't you find anyone local to fill in?'

'No dear. We tried, but as you know, Rosalie's insisting someone needs to be here twenty four hours a day now, which is a big commitment.'

Bella had no idea who Rosalie was, but she let Mrs Cope continue.

'Everyone's got their own families to look after and the youngsters have either moved away to find work, or they've got jobs in Falmouth or Redruth, and Mr Carlisle can't offer the type of wages a regular housekeeper would expect.'

By now they'd almost reached the end of the corridor and Mrs Cope came to a stop.

She looked at Bella kindly, 'Don't worry dear, you'll be fine. I'm afraid Master Edward isn't in a very good mood today. But don't let him bully you and I'm sure Mr Carlisle won't take any notice of the silly boy anyway.'

Wheezing rather alarmingly, she shuffled a few feet further down the corridor, opened a door and announced Bella's name, then stood back to let Bella through the doorway before firmly shutting the door behind her.

-ooo-

Bella found herself in a pleasant book-lined room, facing a large window through which the sun was blazing. Dazzled for a moment after emerging from the gloom of the relatively dark corridor, Bella turned to her right and stepped forward to greet the man she recognised from her research as Carlisle Cullen, who stood up from his seat beside the fire to shake her hand.

Despite his obvious frailty, Bella was surprised at how beautifully dressed he was and how well preserved for his age, which she knew was nearly eighty. She was aware that he had been considered one of the most important (and most handsome) novelists of his generation and had lived something of a celebrity lifestyle, but the old photographs had not done him justice and Bella was quite unprepared for the classically handsome face and still strikingly blue eyes she was confronted with.

'Good morning Miss Swan.' He smiled warmly, immediately putting her at ease, 'thank you so much for travelling all this way. Please take a seat.'

Smiling her thanks and making herself comfortable in the chair he indicated, which was directly opposite his own on the other side of the fireplace, a slight movement to the side attracted Bella's attention and she turned to greet the person she assumed must be Mr Cullen's nephew, who was standing near the window.

Rather unbelievably, Edward Cullen was even more handsome than his uncle. But before Bella could even take that in properly, she realised he was glaring at her with such undisguised hostility, that the smile froze on her face. Shocked by his unexpected reaction and feeling her heart thumping and her cheeks reddening, Bella immediately turned back to Carlisle and tried her best to forget Edward was even in the room, although his scowling presence behind her was difficult to ignore.

But Carlisle didn't seem to have noticed anything amiss and after exchanging a few pleasantries about Bella's journey and where she was staying, he quickly got down to business.

'Well Miss Swan, we do have a few other applicants, so I'd be very grateful if, first of all, you could explain why you've applied for this job and why you think you'd be suitable.'

He smiled encouragingly and determined not to be put off by his nephew, Bella launched into the speech she'd prepared on the long coach journey down to Cornwall the previous day.

She was slightly nervous about having to reveal so much of her personal history, but the years she'd spent looking after her mother were the main reason why she felt she was qualified to take on a similar role and although she was hesitant at first, under Carlisle's sympathetic gaze she actually began to feel as if she was talking to a friend and ended up going into much more detail about her life than she'd intended.

When her eyes threatened to overflow with tears as she described Renee's last few months and days, Carlisle reached forward to hand her his beautifully starched and pressed pocket handkerchief and Bella was surprised to see he had tears in his own eyes.

And as they shared a comforting smile, Bella had a strong feeling that they already understood each other quite well and for the first time she was confident that she hadn't wasted her time, or Mr Cullen's, by coming all this way.

But the mood was broken by a slow handclap behind her and Edward Cullen moved from where he had been standing to pull up a chair beside his uncle.

'Bravo! Well done Miss Swan, not a dry eye in the house. A very impressive appeal to the gallery if I may say so.'

'No you may not, Edward. You're not in court now. Miss Swan is our guest and I'd be grateful if you could treat her accordingly and remember your manners.' Carlisle's voice was stern and the tension between the two men was suddenly palpable. After a stand-off which lasted for several long seconds, Edward visibly backed down, but he was still bristling with anger.

While his attention was distracted, Bella gazed across at him, thinking it was a shame that someone so physically perfect was obviously such a complete asshole. Mrs Cope's 'silly boy' was in fact around thirty, and privilege and entitlement seeped out of his every pore, from his handmade shoes and Jermyn Street suit, to his manicured fingernails and his perfectly styled and glossy hair, which he was currently running both hands through.

Long limbs and an elegant but athletic physique completed the picture, but it was his face which had almost made her gasp when she'd first caught sight of him. Like Carlisle, his movie star good looks and perfectly chiselled features were completely distracting, but unlike Carlisle, who projected a quiet wisdom and kindliness beneath his sharp eyes and the slyly humorous turn of his mouth, Edward exhibited only arrogance and disdain. His expression, if possible, was currently even more thunderous than before and his arrestingly green eyes were blazing with anger.

He might not think she was good enough, but Bella needed this job too much to give up without a fight, so when Edward's eyes finally turned back in her direction, she steadily met his gaze, lifted her chin and waited…

-ooo-

For a moment, Edward seemed slightly uncertain, as if she'd surprised him. But his expression quickly hardened again and Bella braced herself for the cross-questioning she knew was coming.

'To put things plainly, you're obviously desperate for any job you can get. How can we be sure you won't run off with the family silver, or what's left of it?'

A sharp bark of derogatory laughter accompanied this question and Bella tried hard to remain impassive, as Edward's eyes roamed over her charity shop clothes and her pale and undernourished body.

'As you must already know, I do have references. Until my mother's condition suddenly deteriorated at the end of last year, I had a part time job at the local library and I also worked as a waitress.'

'Not exactly a great deal of responsibility, or very time consuming.'

Bella didn't feel it was necessary to even dignify that comment with an answer. It should be obvious to any normal person that looking after an ailing relative and working two jobs had been very demanding and absolutely exhausting.

Edward continued the attack, 'I won't ask why neither of your former employers has jumped at the opportunity to re-employ you.' He smirked.

Bella wasn't going to let that insinuation pass unchallenged, 'Unfortunately the library was a victim of the latest round of council cuts and the café didn't survive last winter's slowdown in customers.'

Edward continued as if she hadn't spoken, 'I'm also concerned that after being accustomed to the many diversions and temptations offered by such a large city, someone of your age would soon find our small and isolated community unbearably dull.'

Bella almost laughed. What 'temptations' was the idiot referring to? Partying and drunkenness at the least she suspected and crime and drugs at the worst.

'I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm used to a quiet life. I'm afraid my main interest is reading, hence the job in the library, and my current ambition is to complete the English Lit degree I've been studying online.'

Bella's face was still serene, but her eyes clearly said, 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Asshole.'

'And how old are you exactly?' As if he didn't already know, Edward pretended to look through her application again. 'Oh yes, here we are. You're twenty. Is that correct?'

Bella didn't miss the triumphant look Edward gave Carlisle, as if her age settled the whole thing.

She sighed, 'I can only repeat that I'm reliable, hardworking and have plenty of experience.'

'But that experience doesn't include any actual qualifications does it, Miss Swan?'

Out of patience now, Carlisle sharply interrupted, 'Thank you Edward, I think Miss Swan has put up with enough interrogation for one day.'

Edward glared at him. Clearly there were many more questions he wanted to ask.

Ignoring Edward completely, Carlisle turned to Bella, 'I'm sorry, my nephew seems to think he's still in court today. I sincerely hope he hasn't put you off coming here. I have a few more applicants to see, but I can promise you an answer by mid morning tomorrow if that's acceptable?'

'Yes perfectly, Mr Cullen. Thank you for considering me. I already love this beautiful part of the world and I hope you find the person that's right for you.'

Bella stood and shook hands with Carlisle, then reluctantly turned to leave. Despite Edward Cullen's behaviour, she really did feel she could be happy here, but as she crossed the room, everything she'd rehearsed but hadn't got the chance to say, flitted through her mind and she felt disappointed that after travelling all this way, she'd been denied a chance to make a proper case for herself.

Obviously impatient to get her out of the room, Edward strode to the door and held it open, grinning at Bella mockingly as she walked towards him. To her dismay, before she could escape he stepped closer towards her, so that she was forced to either stop or try to squeeze past him to get through the doorway.

Edward was so much taller than she was that his physical presence was overpowering in the cramped space. He was so close that she could smell the soap he used, mixed with a faint hint of expensively discreet cologne and her skin prickled when the edge of his jacket made contact with her bare arm. Fuelled by the force of their combined hostility, the air around them seemed to shimmer and vibrate with energy and for a moment Bella was trapped in the green glare of his eyes.

Suddenly Edward moved, breaking the tension and almost making Bella jump. His impossibly perfect face loomed over her and his lips skimmed her hair, as he leant in to whisper a parting comment in her ear, 'Nice try, Sweetheart. Now hurry back to where you came from, there's a good girl.'

Thanks for reading. See you soon-ish - Sue x