Page 20 of Highland Games
She let out a sigh. She would love to have the shirt off his back, and his trousers off too. When he sat next to her and leaned in to see the laptop screen, she could smell again the musky smell of man and woodsmoke, and feel the heat radiating off his body. She thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest. Her nervous excitement had made her speak faster than normal, move her fingers across the keys faster than normal. Was that it? Had she gone too fast for him to keep up?
‘Agghhhhhhhhhhhhh!’ She let out a cry of frustration and confusion and Basil squeaked. She stroked his soft brown body. ‘Sorry, darling, I just can’t work him out, and I doubt I ever will.’
She stared out at the loch under a darkening sky, then at her watch. Each day was getting noticeably shorter. And it was only going to get darker and colder as winter kicked in. She had chosen the worst time in the world to begin a renovation project.
She thought about driving up the road to get some phone signal and sighed again. It could wait till tomorrow.
Rory enteredthe small flat he shared with his mother, oscillating between shame, frustration, rage, humiliation, and despair. He had never felt so impotent, so useless. He was someone who got the job done, who was reliable, who you could depend on in the worst possible situations. The kind of man every soldier wanted by his side. And now? How could he explain to his mother how bad things truly were? As he hung up his jacket his mother called out to him: ‘I’m in the sitting room.’
He walked through and stood in the doorway, filling the space, not knowing what to do or say. His mother, Barbara, was reading a thick novel about medieval history. She inserted a bookmark and carefully put it down on a small side table, before pushing her reading glasses up into her impeccably styled blonde hair, and fixing him with her cornflower blue eyes. ‘Oh dear. Is it really that bad?’
His mother was immaculate as always. Small, trim, and stunningly beautiful. He always thought he’d failed to do her genes justice. She was in her early fifties but could have easily passed for his older sister. He dragged his hands through his unkempt hair and sighed. ‘I still can’t find a way to make the estate profitable. It’s going down the toilet. And fast.’
His mother arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. ‘There’s no need for language like that, dear. And I wasn’t talking about the estate, you know what to do. I was talking about the woman who’s squatting in William’s old cabin.’
Rory started.
‘Oh, do close your mouth, you look like you’re trying to catch flies. She must be a relative of his. It stands to reason. That family are always trying to take what isn’t theirs. You can’t keep secrets from me, darling. I know you were entertaining a wild notion you were going to live there, and you’ve been in an absolutely foul mood for the last two days; ergo, this woman. I bet she’s as bad as Mary Laing’
‘What?’
‘William’s niece. You know the sort. Flighty, untrustworthy, agood timegirl if you know what I mean. Before I married your father, she set her cap at him. It was very distasteful. The whole village was relieved when she ran off with that English man.’
Rory sighed.Not this again.‘Dad marriedyou,didn’t he?’
‘And she’ll also have William’s faulty genetics. A kind man I grant you, but not right in the head. And she’s living in that hovel? I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing. She doesn’t belong here. The land belongs to the estate.’
Rory let out a whoosh of air, releasing the pressure valve before he exploded at his mother. ‘Mother, my mood is nothing to do with Zoe. I met with the bank manager and Alastair McCarthy today. The situation is serious.’
His mother stepped gracefully out of her chair and glided to the door. He moved out of her way and she passed through, patting his arm. He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she filled the kettle and switched it on.
‘Darling, they’re bank managers and lawyers. We’ve been here many times before. I have complete faith in you. The plans Colquhoun Asset Management have proposed are exciting, aren’t they?’
She measured out tea leaves into a china teapot. Rory raised his hands, pushing his fists into his temples. ‘Lucy is not the answer to our problems, Mum.’
The kettle came to the boil and Barbara switched it off. She pulled his arms away from his head and stared him down. ‘Lucy and her family’s company are precisely the answer to our problems. The sooner you set this in motion, the sooner we can leave this wretched place and get back to our lives in Edinburgh. The last thing anyone needs is a cheap little distraction veering you off course.’ She dropped his hands and poured the boiling water into the teapot. ‘Why don’t you leave her to me?’
‘Mum, no! Don’t do anything. I’ve given her enough grief. She’ll find out soon enough how hard winter is. She’ll leave. They always leave.’
‘Now, dear, you can’t compare this woman to Lucy.’
‘Her name is Zoe, Mother.’
Barbara fluttered her hand as if the name was irrelevant. ‘Whatever her name is, she’s not cut from the same cloth. Lucy is sophisticated, classy, socially adept, wealthy… The right kind of girl for you.’
‘And she left. Remember?’
Barbara pointed a manicured finger at Rory. ‘That was your doing, not hers. You didn’t make the effort.’ She squeezed the side of his arm, her voice softening. ‘Darling. You didn’t fight hard enough for her. I spoke to her the other day and she’s not dating. You need to visit her, make an effort, tidy yourself up a bit.’
‘Mother.’ Rory’s tone would have stopped a train, but Barbara was relentless and unbowed. She poured out a cup of tea.
‘And whatever you do, don’t get caught up in a web spun by that woman. She’s a bad sort, a troublemaker.’
‘Mother. I have no intention of being caught by Zoe, or anyone else for that matter. My priority right now is trying to keep a roof over our heads. And besides, she hates me.’
‘Whatever do you mean? She’s the type that’s always throwing themselves at men in a very unseemly manner.’
‘Rest assured, the only things she throws at me are tins of baked beans.’ He walked out of the room before his mother could take the astonished look off her face and reply.
