Page 39 of Surprises on the Scottish Isle

As she stood on Jinny’s doorstep, thanking her for her hospitality and promising to return the favour soon, Tara spied Bonnie getting out of a car and walking up next door’s path.

‘Is that where Bonnie lives?’ she asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

‘Yes, but not for much longer. Yvaine, Bonnie’s mum, is moving in with her partner Lenn, who lives in Portree. I’m expecting to see a “For Sale” sign go up any day now. Oh, look, there she is. Hi, Yvaine.’

Jinny waved to a woman who had just emerged from the car, and Tara’s breath caught in her throat.

Yvaine was even more beautiful in real life. With her tall, slender figure and spiky platinum hair, the photos hadn’t done her justice.

A pang of jealousy stabbed Tara in the gut, and she felt sick.

No wonder Cal had dumped her. How could she ever have competed with that?

Chapter 12

Cal seriously didn’t want to go knocking on Tara’s door this morning, but Mhairi had informed him that Tara was expecting a tour of the castle and that he was the person who would be showing her around because Avril, who was supposed to be doing it, was busy. Cal couldn’t help wondering what Avril was so busy with that she couldn’t spare an hour, but he didn’t bother to argue – what Mhairi wanted, Mhairi got. The woman was a Rottweiler, despite her granny-like appearance and genteel demeanour.

As he made his way to the boathouse, Cal felt apprehensive. Tara was expecting Avril, and he guessed she mightn’t be pleased to find that he had been roped in as a substitute.

As he suspected, when Tara saw who was at her door, she didn’t look thrilled.

‘I know you were expecting Avril, but she’s otherwise engaged,’ Cal leapt in before Tara could say anything. ‘Mhairi asked me to step in. Is that OK?’

She was glaring at him, so he assumed not.

When she said, ‘I suppose Mhairi knows about us, too? I had a rather embarrassing conversation with Jinny yesterday,’ he knew that she most definitely wasn’t.

Cal thought it best to front it out, and he put a confused expression on his face as he said, ‘Was it supposed to be a secret?’

‘Well, no, but…’ Tara faltered, then she appeared to rally. ‘I wouldn’t have thought you’d want it to be common knowledge, considering.’

‘Considering what?’

‘What you did.’

‘We broke up. People break up all the time. It’s hardly anything to be ashamed of.’

That seemed to take the wind out of Tara’s sails. ‘Shall we get on? I haven’t got all day.’

‘Are you sure you want to do this today? You could wait for Avril to be free.’ Even as he said it, Cal had a feeling Avril was never going to be free. He had a suspicion Mhairi was forcing him and Tara together so they could learn to play nice and get along. He also had the feeling that he and Tara might regret it if they didn’t. Mhairi didn’t like being thwarted, and if she felt that her happy family of a workforce was threatened, he had no doubt she would lay down the law.

‘Let’s get it over with,’ Tara sighed. She seemed resigned.

‘It’s not root canal, you know.’ He was trying not to smile at the sight of the two little lines dissecting her brow and the disgruntled jut of her chin. How many times had he seen her wearing the same expression and it had always made him smile.

‘It may as well be,’ she muttered as she went back inside, leaving him to hover on the doorstep.

Whilst he waited for her to return, he hoped Tara would be able to put aside her obvious dislike of him. If she didn’t, it was going to make working together difficult. Admittedly, he didn’t need to have a great deal of contact with her day-to-day but, damn it, he didn’t want to have to slink around trying to avoid her either. He had enough going on right now with Yvaine’s move to Portree, without the added pressure that Tara’s presence was causing.

Why did she have to come to Coorie Castle? Surely there were other places she could have gone.

But if she had,a voice in his head pointed out,she wouldn’t be walking towards you now, looking more beautiful than you’ve ever seen her look, and making your heart do somersaults.

He’d been trying to ignore the nagging inner voice, because it kept trying to tell him that the love he’d once had for her hadn’t disappeared. It was still there, and burying it underneath a decade of life hadn’t made it go away.

The realisation was akin to being hit with a wrecking ball.

Cal was still in love with her.

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