The House on the Shore (26 page)

“And he shot at you?”

“Of course.
That’s how I came by this.”
He fingered the faint scar on his right cheek.
“We were both armed and dangerous with our air rifles.
He was
fourteen
.
I was eleven, and sometimes we were downright determined to take each other out.”

“Which is why you know so much about firearms.”

He looked at her with an expression she could not define.
A long moment passed.
She grew uncomfortable in the strained silence.

“I’ve a fair picture of your childhood.
T
ell me about your home on Cape Cod.”

A half smile crossed Luke’s face.
“It’s a three-storey—four if you include the watchtower—old wooden Coastguard station.
It was built back in the 1930s and stands on the dunes overlooking one of the best beaches on the Cape.
My studio is in the tower and has windows on every side.
The light is perfect for painting watercolours and watching the whales.
I love it best in the fall and
in
winter when the tourists
have left,
and the Atlantic rollers come thundering ashore.
Th
e beach is pretty deserted then
.”

“It sounds idyllic.”

“It is.
T
here are times when the house feels empty.
It should be a family home, not a bachelor pad.”

“So why isn’t it?”

Luke
was silent for the space of a heartbeat.
He fumbled with his Rolex.

“Nicole
,
my fiancée
,
died a week before our wedding.
She went to get her wedding dress altered and was crossing the road when a car ran a red light.
She didn’t even have a chance to see it.
She died in t
he hospital three hours later.”

“My God.
How dreadful for you.
I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.
See this watch?
Nicole had just given it to me.
She called it an early wedding present.
Funny thing.
She always said there was no reason to rush a wedding.
She said we had all the time in the world.
Turns out we didn’t.”

Anna looked at the watch.
Sleek, masculine, elegant
,
a perfect complement to its owner.
“You must have been in
great pain, b
ut you kept the house.
I’m surprised.”

“It was semi-derelict when I first saw it.
I spent a couple of years restoring it
before
I met Nicole.
She was a curator of a museum in San Francisco.
I’d been hired to investigate a case of art fraud.
You know the drill
;
boy
meets girl, love blossoms, etc,
etc.
I convinced her that
San Francisco
wasn’t nearly as wonderful as my digs, and she moved in with me.
She l
eft her whole world behind.
After our wedding
,
we planned on using the house as a gallery and studio.
Keeping it
seemed the right thing to do.”

“And you’ve never met anyone else you wanted to marry?”

His eyes glistened in the half-light.
“Let’s change the subject,
okay
?”

“Sure.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about your accent.
You don’t have much of what we Americans call a Scottish lilt.
Is th
at because of boarding school?”

Surprised by his question, Anna took a moment or two to reply.
“I presume so.
I went to school in England.
Any child who didn’t speak the Queen’s English was given elocution lessons, so my accent was tempered to what you hear now.
However, when Morag and I get together for any length of time
,
it does revert somewhat.”

“I like it.
It’s a soft round sound.
Kinda sexy.”

Anna smiled but didn’t answer.
She was thinking exactly the same thing about his voice.

“
I
t’s not at all like Morag’s or the people I met in Stornaway.
I co
uldn’t understand any of them.”

“You’re not alone.
There are certain dialects I have difficulty comprehending, and I’m a native.
You only have to drive from Edinburgh to Aberdeen to notice the difference, and of course
,
Gaelic i
s still spoken in the islands.”

Luke stretched out his long legs, careful not to kick the
dogs
lying o
n the rug in front of the fire.

“What do you do at nights, besides work on your book?”

“I have a radio and my CD collection.
Unfortu
nately, there’s no TV reception
unless you install a satellite dish, and that’s an expense I can do without.
Sometimes I visit Morag or she comes here, and we share a bottle of wine.
Now that the tourist season is picking up, the hotel hires a band at weekends to entertain the guests.
Twice a year the estate holds a Ceilidh—a dance.
In fact
,
there’s one in a couple of weeks’ time, so there are things to do.”
Anna stifled a yawn.

Luke glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece.
He stood and pulled her to her feet.
“It’s late.
You must be exhausted.
Why don’t you go to bed?
I’ll take the dogs out and l
ook around before I lock up.”

“Well, if you’re sure—
”

“I’m sure.
Besides, you look worn out.”
The hand that took hers wa
s strong, firm
and protective.

She lowered her gaze.
“I couldn’t have
made it
through the day without your help.”
Standing on tiptoe,
she
dropped a kiss on his cheek and began to climb the stairs.

“Anna?”

She paused, and
her hand rested on the banister.
“Yes?”

“Don’t worry, everything will be all right.
I’ll make sure no one hurts you
, sweetheart
.”

For a long moment she looked back at him.
An emotion without a name flickered through her heart.
She nodded and climbed the rest of the stairs to her bedroom.

“You don’t look as if you
got
much sleep
,” Luke said, placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Anna.
“W
hy don’t you take the day off?”

She poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip. It was hot and strong, just as she liked it.
“I can’t.
The hotel is full this week, and what’s mor
e, Morag
is
expecting me.”

Luke’s dark brows drew together in a frown.
“The hotel ran just fine before you ever started working there.
Besides, Morag’s not stupid.
She knows you need time to recover.”

“I need this job,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“I know you do, but I’m sure when everyone hears what ha
ppened they’ll be sympathetic.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think you appreciate how difficult it is to find work in the countryside.”

Luke took a grip on his temper.
“
Yo
u’re right
, m
aybe I don’t.
I can also see that arguing with you is pointless.
Since you
’re so
determined to go, I’ll drive you.”

“There’s no need.”

“Boy, are you wrong.
Don’t think I didn’t notice your hand shaking w
hen you lifted the coffee pot—”

“
It was not!”

Luke’s expression contradicted her.
“You’ve got black circles under your eyes, and your face has no colour at all.”

“If you can’t find anything positive to say
about my appearance, shut up.”

“Temper, temper,” he said sweetly.
“That’s no way to talk to your knight in shining armour.”

“I thought knights were always young and virile.
Aren’t you a bit old to be rescuing damsels in distress?”
Anna smiled sweetly
.
S
he picked up her knife
and fork and took another bite.

“I didn’t hear you complaining yesterday.
What happened this morning, Cinderella?
Did you wake up and
realize
life isn’t one long fairy tale?”

Anna ignored him.

“What you need,” he continued, “is a day away from the croft, and I’ve got the perfect solution.”

Anna sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
“You’re not goin
g to drop the subject are you?”

“Nope.”

“
All right, l
et’
s hear this solution of yours.”

He passed her the plate of toast.
“I’ll take you sailing
.
I
t’s warm and sunny, and there’s just a light breeze.
A day on the water will h
elp you relax and feel better.”

“I thought it wasn’t safe to take your yacht into open water.”

“Sandpiper is safe.
Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough.
The pump on the
autopilot
is what’s screwed up.
When you’re sailing single-handed
,
you use the
autopilot
to ste
er the boat so that you can eat
and sleep.
I don’t need it since I’m only planning on going as far as that little island at the mouth of the loch.”

“You mean Sandaig Island
?”

“If that’s what it’s called, yes.
Hey, what’s that dirty look?
If you’re that concerned about letting Morag down, I’ll use my considerable
American charm to placate her.”

Anna raised an eyebrow.
“And you really think that will work?”

“Sure.
She’ll be powerless to resist,” he replied with a grin.

“You don’t know Morag. S
he can be as stubborn as a goat.”

Luke laughed.
“Somehow I doubt that.
Besides, I’ve charmed my fair share of goats.
You go and get ready
.
We’ll stop in the village
on our way back from the hotel,
and pick up some stuff from the shop.
We’ll have lunch on the yacht.
How does that sound?”

“It sounds a lovely, but I still feel guilty about letting Morag down.”

“Relax.
I’m sure she’ll understand.
You had an ugly experience.
Give yourself another day.
Better yet, take the w
eekend,
please?”
He flashed
a comic grim that showed way too many teeth.

Anna didn’t have it in her to argue further.
She gave his shoulder a gentle push.
“You are a very naughty boy encouraging me to play hooky
.
Y
ou
win.
I’ll take the day off.
I’ll speak to Morag.
I know how her mind works.
I only hope I don’t lose my job.”

“That’s better.
You’re much prettier when you smile.
And if Morag and whoever owns the hotel gives you a hard time, you can blame the damned foreigner.”

“Oh
,
don’t worry, I will.” Anna started clearing the breakfast table.
“Ewan has been known to reduce the most fearsome of chefs to tears, and I for one
,
have no desire to feel the lash of his tongue.”

“Ewan?
Would he be the short tubby guy, with the beard and
the
big smile, I saw the day I used the phone?”

“T
hat sounds like him.
Don’t be deceived.
He might look jolly, but believe me, if you get on the wrong side of him, he’ll slice your face open with his tongue
.
”