Page 64 of Surprises on the Scottish Isle

His tongue sought hers as she slid her hands under his T-shirt, and she gave in to the desire thrumming through her veins. And as she made love to Cal on the far shore of the placid loch, with the sounds of the gently lapping waves and the wild cries of sea birds overhead, Tara felt as though she was home. This is where she should have been all along, in the arms of the man she had never stopped loving.

The grass underneath her tickled and scratched, but Tara barely feltit. She was far too content to move, with one leg over Cal’s, her bodycurled into his, her head resting in the dip between his chest and hisshoulder while she stroked the fine chestnut hairs on his stomach.

Cal had fetched the throw from the boat and it was draped over them, covering their nakedness, although the only witnesses were the seabirds and the occasional curious seal. One had hauled itself out onto a rock not far from the boat and Tara’s languid gaze rested on it as it sunned itself, a flipper raised to the sky.

Neither she nor Cal had spoken much since leaving the boat, except when she’d whispered his name and he’d moaned hers. The sound had made her shiver with ecstasy.

He lay there with one arm around her, the other under his head. His eyes were open as he stared at the sky, and she wondered what he was thinking but she was too scared to ask.

A quick, furtive, sleek movement near the water’s edge caught her attention, but Cal’s grip tightened and he held her still.

Tara subsided as he murmured, ‘Shh, otter,’ out of the side of his mouth.

She risked a glance at him. His eyes were on the otter and there was wonderment on his face.

She tracked the creature’s slinky progress along the shoreline as it dipped in and out of the water and winnowed over the rocks until it eventually disappeared. Then she slowly sat up.

Cal’s attention was on her, yet the wonder remained on his face, and she realised it wasn’t for the otter, but for her and what they’d just done.

Lying down again, she pushed the throw to one side, her invitation clear, and with a groan on his lips and hunger in his eyes, Cal made love to her once more.

There was no going back from this, Cal realised, as the boat chugged across the loch, back to the jetty and the little beach, and reality.

Did he regret it?

Not one glorious second of it. Making love with Tara had been the most natural thing in the world, and he’d relished every kiss, every touch, every sigh of pleasure. It was as good as he remembered. Better, because now he knew how awful life was without her. How incomplete he’d felt, and once again he kicked himself for letting her go.

Letting her go wasn’t accurate – he had pushed her away.

But what else could he have done?

They’d been out on the loch for hours and the day was edging towards evening, the shadows lengthening imperceptibly until soon they would be indistinguishable from the encroaching night. Sunset was still some way off, and he was glad because it meant there was more of this day to spend with Tara, and he didn’t want it to end.

‘Hungry?’ he asked, after she’d helped him dragMisty Ladyout of the water. ‘I’ve got a couple of steaks at the cottage and some beers.’

‘I can supply salad and focaccia. And me.’ Her voice was light and teasing, but her eyes told a different story. He couldn’t blame her for being a little fearful. After all, he had hurt her badly, and he suspected she was scared he might do so again.

‘Food first. Then I want to take you to bed.’ In his clumsy way, he was trying to tell her that what had happened on the loch wasn’t a one-off.

They walked to the cottage together, her carrying the cushion, him carrying the throw, then they made their way to the boathouse, she with the steaks in her hand, he with four bottles of Speckled Hen clinking in their cardboard container.

Tara cooked this time, the meal quickly prepared, although eating it was a slower affair. As they lingered at the table, hands stretched across its surface to touch fingers, Cal marvelled at the difference between the meal earlier today and this one. Both had been eaten at the same table, but the emotional distance between the two was vast. Tara occupied his mind and his heart, filling up the empty spaces he hadn’t realised were there until now.

With his stomach full, his heart even fuller, Cal suggested they take the two remaining beers and sit on the jetty. He needed to be outside, to breathe freely, because when he was indoors, Tara stole the very air from the room and the breath from his lungs.

Sitting on the edge of the jetty, the evening was serene and silent, in that magical time poised between day and night before the last rays of the dying sun tipped the world over the edge and into darkness.

When night finally descended and the beers had been drunk, Tara scrambled to her feet, slipped her sandals back on, held out her hand and led him back to the boathouse. And after they had made love once again and were snuggled under the duvet, limbs entwined, only one thing would make this wonderful, enchanted day even more perfect. Cal knew he was taking a risk that she mightn’t want to hear it, or mightn’t feel the same way, but it had to be said.

‘I love you, Tara. I always have.’

She stiffened in his arms, and his heart lurched as he thought he’d lost her, that he’d ruined this perfect day, but when she drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and said, ‘I love you, too,’ Cal didn’t believe he could be any happier than he was right now.

Chapter 19

Tara glowed. She knew she did, because she could see it whenever she caught her reflection in the mirror. She could even spot the glow in the door of her portable oven (an essential piece of kit to dry polymer clay models) and in the window of her studio. Which meant that other people could see it too.

When he’d kissed her before sneaking back to his cottage, the grin on Cal’s face had been brighter than the sun that had just peeped over the hillside behind the castle. Tara hoped he’d managed to dim the wattage down a bit before people started talking. She, for one, wasn’t prepared for anyone to know just yet. Their relationship was too new, and she wanted to keep it to herself and savour it for a while, to get used to it.

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