Page 26 of Surprises on the Scottish Isle

Not for the first time he wondered whether things would have been different if he had confided in her, if he’d broken his promise to his mum and had told Tara what his dad was going through. He mightn’t have been able to visit her often, nor she him, but at least she would have understood. Their relationship mightn’t have survived anyway, but that was something he’d never know.

Cal wondered what had brought her to Skye. Then he remembered that Mhairi had called her Tara McTaigh and the knowledge that she was married gave him an unexpected pang. He wondered whether she was happy, and hoped with all his heart that she was.

Did she even remember him? Ten years was a long time, and so much had happened.

A whole decade had passed, but as Cal glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, it felt like no time at all.

Then, before he was ready, he found himself on his own in the studio with nowhere to hide, and she was speaking to him and he had no choice other than to turn around.

‘Hello, Tara.’

He watched the blood drain from her face and her eyes widen in shock, and he wished he’d done something to prepare her. But he hadn’t expected her to react like this, and even if he had guessed she might, what could he have done?

‘What the—?’ she began, then stopped, her eyes narrowing. ‘Cal?’

His mouth twisted in an attempt at a smile.

Her lips became a thin line and her jaw tensed, before realisation dawned on her face. ‘You’reMhairi’s Cal.’ It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.

He shrugged, almost an apology but not quite, as though it was his fault she’d turned up in Coorie Castle, when it was she who was the interloper, not he. This washishome, not hers.

Her mouth dropped open. ‘And Bonnie is your daughter.’ Again, not a question.

‘Yes.’

Tara swallowed, and his gaze was drawn to her throat. The same throat he had kissed countless times. Abruptly, he looked away.

‘She’s lovely.’ Her words sounded forced, as though she was trying to be polite. But surely she couldn’t still be upset with him? Not after all this time.

‘She is.’ His voice was warm, reflecting the pride he had in his daughter.

‘She wants to attend a workshop if I hold one,’ Tara said, a frown wrinkling her forehead.

‘She told me.’

‘Good… good.’

‘I said she could.’

‘If I hold one,’ Tara repeated.

‘Yes, if you hold one.’

‘It’s just… I haven’t decided yet. I only moved in last week.’

‘I know.’

Her laugh was nervous and sharp. ‘Of course you do. I, er—’ She hesitated. ‘I didn’t realise… If I’d known, I would never…’

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, and the familiar habit hit him in the solar plexus. Memories rushed back, surging through his mind like a fast-flowing tide, washing away the years and filling the empty spaces in his head with long-forgotten images of her. Had he truly forgotten? Or had he deliberately not allowed himself to remember?

A silence stretched between them, tense and painful.

Cal broke it. ‘Where are you living? In Duncoorie?’ The thought of her living so near made his heart constrict.

Her eyes flickered to the door and back to him. ‘In the boathouse.’

‘In the—?’ Damn Yvaine and her bloody boyfriend. If she hadn’t decided to move in with Lenn, Bonnie wouldn’t have been upset at school and Cal wouldn’t have had to leave his meeting with Mhairi before she’d had a chance to tell him who was renting the cottage by the loch. ‘I see,’ he said.

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