Page 112 of Wild Scottish Beauty

“Trust me when I say I am very much used to it. Can’t say it’s been easy making my way in the construction business as a woman, but I’ve got a solid crew that I trust with my life. We’ll get you sorted out soon enough and at a fair price.”

“Your company comes highly recommended,” Ramsay said, putting his hands on his hips as he turned to look over the shop’s ruin. Orla mirrored the move, and I grinned, already liking this pint-sized powerhouse.

“I would hope so. We take great pride in our work. Why don’t you walk me through what you’re thinking, and I’ll work up an estimate for you?”

“So here was the line for the front room.” Ramsay stepped through the doorway that still stood, and began to walk around. As a stone building, much of the framework was intact, but we’d need to see about the structuralintegrity of the stones and if masonry work would be needed to ensure their stability.All part of the process. Ramsay had promised me it would be fine, and I trusted that we’d build back something beautiful together. “And then we had a back workroom, a kitchenette, and a downstairs loo. Upstairs was one single room with a bathroom attached. I was thinking that I’d like to extend farther out into the garden here.”

“You would?” I came up next to them as Orla measured and made notes, running her hand across the stone and jotting her impressions into her notebook.

“Yes, don’t you think? Look, there’s quite a bit of room back here. Since we don’t use it for parking, we could extend farther back, almost to those trees. That way you could have your own workroom, and we could have an actual walk-in closet upstairs.”

“Did you say walk-in closet?” I hissed, grabbing his arm and pretending to faint.

“Och, lass, I’ve seen your clothes. I know what I’m getting in for.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I met his eyes, my heart hammering in my chest. We were taking all these big steps, and currently Ramsay was technically living with me in the castle, but we hadn’t had a talk about if that would be official or not.

Orla made a humming note low in her throat and stepped discreetly away. I liked her. She clearly had good instincts when it came to reading people.

“Or if you prefer to live at the castle, that’s fine with me as well. But if I could have my way of it, yes, I’d like you to live here with me.” Ramsay squinted down at me. “Unlessyou’d prefer to have your space. Which I understand as well. It’s what you want, darling.”

“Well, then, yes, I’d like that. But we might need to extend the kitchen a bit then too, don’t you think?”

“Orla, what do you think?” Ramsay turned, and Orla picked her way back over to us and held out her pad.

“On a rough sketch, I’d say you could extend the kitchen here, add a breakfast alcove here, and then build out the second workroom in an L shape here.” Orla sketched quickly on the pad, showing us her thoughts. “If you carry that upstairs, the workroom space could become the walk-in closet, and the kitchen space could be a luxury bath.”

“I like the sound of that,” I said, nodding over the drawing.

“And here, you’ll still keep some green space and have the trees, so you could fit a darling wee table outside under the trees if you prefer to take your tea outside when the weather’s nice.” Orla jerked her head back and looked around the space, her eyes narrowing.

I felt a low hum in my gut.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Oh, sorry, nothing. Thought I heard something,” Orla lied neatly to me and, for some reason, I decided to press the point.

“Tell me what really just happened.”

Orla’s blue eyes snapped to mine, and she measured me for a moment. Raising an eyebrow, I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I got the sense something happened that you just lied about. If we’re going to work together, I’d like to know I can trust you.”

“I have impeccable business standards,” Orla said, pressing her lips together as she studied me.

“I don’t doubt it. But something just happened there.” I was being rude at this point, but something compelled me to push.

Orla sighed and looked up in the air for a moment, before seeming to collect herself.

“Have you had any paranormal activity here?” Orla surprised me by asking and Ramsay scoffed, leaning in.

“You think the shop is haunted?” Ramsay asked.

“I mean it’s not that far-fetched, is it?” I gave Ramsay major side-eye. He must have remembered our resident ghost coo because he eased back a bit.

“So you’ve sensed some activity then?”

“I personally haven’t in this particular space,” I clarified. “But I have seen ghosts in Loren Brae if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

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