The House on the Shore (12 page)

“And don’t forget to give the tiles in bathroom in room four a good wipe down.
They look as if they’re covered in snow.
I swear the woman in there showers in talcum powder instead of water!”
s
he called, as she continued down the stairs.

The more Anna thought about Morag’s warning, the more concerned she became.
Since
arriving at the croft
,
she’d had more than her fair share of disturbed nights, but
had
put th
em
down to the unaccustomed silence, rather than Edinburgh’s traffic noise.
T
his talk of her being in danger
,
th
at was just nonsense.
Morag was just being her overdramatic self.
Even so, Morag had a point.
The croft was isolated, b
ut the dogs
would attack anyone who threatened her.

No matter how much the warning echoed in
her
ears, nothing could persuade her that Luke was anything other than what he appeared, a yachtsman whose boat was in need of urgent repair.
As soo
n as the necessary part arrived
he woul
d be on his way back to America.

Using her
staff
key
, she o
pened the door to room thirteen
and pushed the service trolley inside.
Only one of the two single beds had been slept in.
As she moved the bed away from the wall
,
the toes of her right foot hit something hard.
Why guests couldn’t use the stand provided for suitcases, she would never know.
She bent down
and reached under the bed, and
dragged
the case out of the way.

Only it wasn’t a suitcase, but the gun case she’d se
en the man carrying the day she ha
d visited Morag.
She starred at it for a moment, then something made her undo the catch and flip open the top.
A
bolt-action
rifle with a telescopic sight lay inside.
She shivered.
Did the guest have no sense?
He should have asked Ewan to lock it in the safe rather than leave it in his room.
She closed the case and put it back under the bed.
She’d mention it to Ewan and suggest he speak with the g
uest before she left the hotel.

Three quarters of an hour later
she
re
-
joined Morag in the kitchen.

“Ewan tells me the young Laird has returned from London,” Morag said.

Anna raised an eyebrow.
“
That’s right
.
Alistair called at the croft the other day.
I thought you said he’d sh
own no interest in the estate.”

“Until now he hasn’t, b
ut that might be about to change.
He’s holding a meeting on Friday to inform the tenants of his grand plans.”

“Actually, he mentioned something about having some business problems to sort out.
I wonder what they
are.
”

Morag looked thoughtful.
“I’m not surprised he has problems.
If he keeps
putting up the rent
,
his tenants will move away to less expensive housing
.
T
hen what will he do?
And more importantly, what will happen to the
families in the
village?”

“
He
could
always
sell or
lease the estate to
some oil-rich Arab or pop star.
”

“Now who’s being silly?
Why would
a pop star want to live up here
when he or she could have the bright lights of London?
Besides, the estate is Alistair’s heritage
;
he woul
d never sell it.”

“I reali
z
e that
, Morag
.
But if what I read in the papers is true, half the estates in Scotland are now owned by overseas investors, musicians
,
or film stars.”

“
Ewan says there’s to be a Ceilidh.
In fact
,
he’s already been asked to provide the refreshments.”

“Really?
Alistair’s hosting a dance?
That doesn’t surprise me.
He was always the one for a party.
W
hen is this great event to take place?”

“Three weeks on Saturday.
You will come, won’t you?”

“I’m not a tenant, I won’t be invited.”

“B
ut you are part of the community.
Besides, it will be good for you to get out and enjoy yourself.”

“I don’t know, Morag.
I’m not thrilled by the idea.
Lachlan will be home by then, and everyone else will have a pa
rtner.
Perhaps if Mark and I…”

“Well, think on it, lass.
You never know, something might happen between now and then to change your mind.”

The antique mahogany grandfather cloc
k in the dining room struck two as Anna
finished work
. She
stopped at the reception desk to see if any
mail had arrived
for her.
For a reason she couldn’t identify, she half-hoped for a letter from Mark
, b
ut there was nothing from him.
She felt stupid for thinking about him.
He was happy in Edinburgh with his
blonde
bombshell.
What need had he of her?

For the first time since
arriving
at the croft, she felt isolated and lonely.
She’d lost her boyfriend and given u
p her job in the space of a day, and
was living in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of nowhere.
Her parents would have advised her to stay in Edinburgh, swallow her pride, and ask for her job back, even if it meant working as an assistant to
Mark’s new blonde.
In her younger days
, she would have done as they
suggested
.
T
he new Anna said no, even th
ough it pained her to the core.

Twenty minutes later, she manoeuvred t
he old Land Rover along the pot
holed track towards the croft.
An
unexpec
ted warmth surged through her at the sight of
Luke leaning against her door.

He walked over and opened the driver’s door.
“Hi there,” he said, his face splitting into a wide grin.

When his gaze swept over her face and linger
ed
on her lips,
Anna
felt her pulse quicken.
A hot blush rushed to her cheeks
.
Luke intrigued her
.
H
e radiated a vitality that drew her like a moth to a flame.
No matter how hard she tried not to, she found herself
respond
ing
with a smile of h
er own.

“Don’t tell me
,”
she said, climbing out from behind the wheel
.
“
You want a lift to the phone again
.
”

“Actually, I came to borrow
the map
.”

Anna stared at him.

Luke tilted his head.
“
I
f this is a bad time or something, I’ll get by.
Never mind.”

“Come in and I’ll get it for you.”
She
pushed
her key in the door and threw it open.
“Just watch the dogs…” but before she could finish the sentenc
e, the two collies rushed past
nearly knocking Luke off his feet.
Anna smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, but they’ve been shut in since early morning and get—”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” he interrupted, rubbing his left knee where it
came
into contact with the wall.
He limped after her into the small kitchen.

She took the map out of the dresser drawer.
“How f
ar
are
you
planning on
walking
?”

“I thought I’d climb the hill behind the cottage
,
if it’s no
t private property, of course.”

“It is, but don’t worry.
There’s no law of trespass in Scotland.
Provided you don’t cause any damage, you can roam pretty much where you want
.
T
he only exception
is in the deer stalking season
when you have to be careful, but that doesn’t start until July.
Most of the land around here belongs to the estate.
It’s open to hillwalkers, except for a few weeks during the shooting season.”
She glanced at his feet.
“
Those trainers aren’t suitable—
you’ll break your ankle if you fall.”

“I don’t plan to fall.
Beside
s, I don’t have anything else.”

“I think Mar—a
friend
left a pair of boots here last time he stayed.”
She fished inside the cupboard under the st
airs.
“What size do you take?”

“Ten, but it doesn’t matter.
I’ll
walk along
the shoreline instead.”

“It’s no bother, besides I was going to throw them away.
Ah!
Here they are.
Mm, size eleven.
They should be just right with a pair of thick socks.
I’ll get you some
and you can try them on.”

Luke pulled off his trainers.
“This
friend…won’t he be pissed off when he finds out you gave away his
boots
?”

“I doubt he even remembers buying them, or leaving them here.
Besides, hillwalking was definitely not his forte.
I can assure you he has
other things
on his mind, and
he’
s too busy pursuing them to think about driving all this way to collect a pair of
walking
boots.”

“I can’t just take another man’s boots.
I—”

“Trust me, Mark won’t miss them.
Do you want to go hillwalking or not?”

“Yes.”

“
Then
quit arguing
and try the damned things on
.
O
therwise it’ll be midni
ght before you get out the door.
”

Luke pulled on the socks and boots, and took a few tentative steps around the kitchen.

“They’re actually pretty comf
ortable.
Good ankle supports.”

“Right then, you’re all set.”
She pushed the jug of marigolds to one side, spread the map on the table and pointed to a dot.
“Here’s the croft.
You follow this track for about a mile through the trees until it forks.
Take the left-hand fork past the ruins and then follow the stalkers’ path steadily up toward the top of
Buidhe Bheinn
.
It’s fairly easy going, just one or two steep sections that you need to take care over.
You can get to the top and back in about four hours, so I wouldn’t recommend go
ing
that far this late in the day.”

Luke squinted at the map.
“What are a
ll these squiggly brown lines?”

“They’re contour lines.
The closer together they are, the steeper the
land
.
T
hese blue lines represent streams or waterfalls.”
One glance at his face told her she’d lost her audience.
“You have seen an Ordnance Survey Map before, haven’t you?”

“No, b
u
t I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sorr
y.
I can’t let you go.”
She folded the map.

“Anna, I’m not stupid.”
He placed a restraining hand on her arm.
“Once I understand what all the symbols mean, it’ll be
fine
.”