Page 44 of The Castle in the Bay

‘I know this is not the time, and it probably won’t be a good time until you’re finished, but I’d really like to go back to Kisimul Castle.’

Iona leaned her chin on the back of her hand. ‘Why?’

‘I just feel like it. It’s important. This might be my only trip here, and I want to have good memories of the castle. I wasn’t feeling great, and I was a little emotional the last time, and I don’t want that as my only memory.’ Monty leaned against the doorframe, watching Iona.

‘Ok, fine.’ She checked her phone. ‘I suppose if I get all this done by the afternoon, maybe we could go to the castle at dinner time and have a picnic or something.’

‘Sounds great. And do you want me to help you? Or would you rather I bugger off?’

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. ‘You can stay for a trial period and I’ll see how you get on.’

‘Fair.’ He held out his hands. ‘Just tell me what you want me to do. I’ll be your servant for the day.’

‘Yeah?’ She gestured to the mess of papers and the laptop in front of her. ‘Ok, fine. But don’t blame me if you end up regretting it.’

Monty pulled a chair next to hers and sat down. Their thighs brushed, sending a jolt of energy through him. He glanced at her, but she was already pointing at the screen.

‘These are the emails I need to respond to,’ she said. ‘And here are the vendor contracts I need to finalise.’

Monty nodded, focusing on the screen. ‘Well, let’s get going then.’

‘What do you think I’m doing?’ She started typing, her fingers moving swiftly over the keys.

Monty watched her, saying nothing, but heavily aware of the closeness of her shoulder and her legs. Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen to sit this close, but he needed to see the screen. Scratch that. Hewantedto be this close. Something about her pulled him and he didn’t have the power to resist.

He watched her long slender fingers skimming the keyboard. What was he actually doing here? She didn’t seem to need his help at all. She was getting on just fine.

Turning to him, she smiled.

‘I’m not really doing anything, am I?’

‘You’re holding me to account. That’s all I need really.’

‘Well, that’s easy enough.’ He leaned into her a little. ‘And you’ve got a spelling mistake. He pointed to the screen where a red line had appeared under a word.

‘Obviously I would have gone back and fixed it before I sent it.’ She rolled her eyes, then gave him a little nudge.

‘Of course you would.’

She grinned as she carried on typing. ‘Ok, that’s the last email.’ She leaned back with a sigh. ‘I got them done really quickly.’

‘What’s next?’ Monty took off his glasses and cleaned them on the edge of his t-shirt. When he looked back, she was eyeing him.

‘Um… We need to send reminders to the vendors.’ She picked up a stack of papers. ‘Can you read through them and check if anyone has questions or issues in the “other information” box while I sort out the logistics for the surf gear?’

‘Sure.’ Monty took the papers from her.

They worked quietly, only occasionally exchanging comments or questions. The close proximity seemed to contain a pulse of energy. It built around them, intensifying with every little look, every brief touch, every word exchanged.

‘Amazing. I think we’re done.’ Iona shut her laptop and looked at Monty, her eyes bright, but her pupils very dark and wide. ‘Thanks for your help. Appreciated.’ She patted him on the knee, and he inhaled but didn’t let the air out. ‘Shall we make a picnic and head to the castle then?’

Monty nodded. ‘Yeah. Let’s.’

An hour later, Monty and Iona returned to the marina. The raised walkway from the land to where the boat was moored still gave him a queasy sensation – the fact that it felt flimsy and was open enough to see the water below didn’t make it easy. But he trusted that it was a lot stronger than it looked, took a deep breath and went for it, marching along behind Iona, who was going at her usual hundred-miles-an-hour pace.

The wind picked up and tugged at his jacket as he made his way down the metal steps. Fluffy white clouds raced across the bright blue sky.

Iona uncovered the boat and jumped on. She went straight to the little compartment at the front and pulled out the buoyancy aids and the wristbands as he climbed aboard. ‘Here you go.’

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