Page 75 of Summer Escapes on the Scottish Isle

‘Hadrian!’ she cried, when he answered. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Guess where I am!’ he cried chirpily, and she let out a sigh of relief.

‘I’ve no idea.’ Wherever he was, it was windy, and she could hear the sound of an engine and voices and… was that a seagull?

‘I’ll give you a clue – water.’

‘Somewhere near the Thames?’ she guessed, despite not being in the mood for games. Her heart hadn’t returned to its normal rhythm yet.

‘Not even close,’ he crowed.

‘Where, then?’ Frustrated and rather irritated, she put him on speaker and checked her emails. There were several new ones, but nothing from Jocasta Black.

‘Skye.’

Freya froze. ‘Where?’

‘Skye. Duncoorie, to be exact. I flew in this morning and was hoping you could pick me up from the airport, but you weren’t answering your phone. I had to hire a car.’

‘You’re inDuncoorie?’

‘I’m on a boat in the loch, to be precise, but I’m staying at the castle.Quelle surprise, eh? I’ve booked dinner for seven thirty.’ He uttered a lascivious laugh. ‘But if you get there sooner, we can have a quick catch-up before dinner. I hope the food is as good as you say it is. By the way, my room has a four-poster. Got any ribbon?’

Freya didn’t know which to reply to first, so she went with the last thing he said. ‘Why do you want ribbon?’

‘To tie you to the bed with, silly. Isn’t that what four-posters are for? Oops, gotta go. See you later, babe.’

Freya stared at the screen. He’d hung up.

Feeling bulldozed, she sank onto a kitchen chair, her mind whirling.

Why was Hadrian in Duncoorie? Not for one second did she presume to think he was here because he was missingher.

Orwashe?

Oh, God, please don’t let it be that, not when she had every intention of telling him they were over, and this would be the perfect opportunity to speak to him face-to-face. It had to be done, but sodding hell, she felt like a total cow.

She would be early, she decided, but there wouldn’t be any bedroom antics, and neither would she be having dinner with him. The sooner this was over, the better.

She was still reeling from the news that Hadrian had turned up out of the blue, when her dad appeared.

‘I thought you were making tea?’ He peered at her face and his eyes filled with concern. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Hadrian is at the castle.’

It took him a moment. ‘YourHadrian?’

‘Yes.’ Although he wasn’t going to be hers for much longer.

‘Did you know he was coming?’

‘No. It’s a total surprise.’

‘That’s nice, isn’t it?’

She shrugged, and he shook his head. ‘You never did like surprises, not even when you were little. He should know that.’

He probably did, but because it hadn’t fitted in with his agenda, he’d ignored it.

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