Page 16 of Shy Innocent In The Spotlight

Elspeth tried to ignore the little flutter of excitement in her belly. ‘He’s a very attractive man and, besides, you’re always telling me I need to get out more. This is my chance to live a little.’

‘But I can’t be seen to be cavorting with Mack MacDiarmid right now,’ Elodie insisted.

‘Who’s going to see you, I mean me?’

‘Anyone with a camera phone, that’s who. The media pay enormous sums for those photos these days and they often go viral. It could be very compromising for me.’

‘Because of your financial backer?’

‘That and...other things.’

‘What other things?’

‘Never mind. Just keep a low profile. And whatever you do, don’t tell Mack who you really are. He might not take too kindly to having been hoodwinked by you.’

Elspeth quailed at the thought of revealing her true identity to Mack. While she sensed he had a good sense of humour, somehow she didn’t think he would find her switching places with her twin all that amusing. Especially as it had brought about the cancellation of his brother’s wedding, an event Mack had been determined would go ahead no matter what. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t.’

A short time later, Mack helped Elspeth into a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and then drove, not out through the castle gates, as she was expecting, but deeper into the estate.

She glanced at him in confusion. ‘Where are we going? Is there a back exit to the estate?’

Mack sent her an unreadable look. ‘Not unless we climb over the Highlands on foot. There’s an old crofter’s hut up in the hills. We can hide out there overnight until the press leave. They won’t find us there.’

‘An old crofter’s hut. Wow. That sounds kind of rustic.’

‘It is.’ He sent her another sideways glance. ‘You won’t find the lack of five-star accommodation off-putting?’

‘No, it’ll be like stepping back in time.’ Not to mention right out of her comfort zone. But not because of the lack of creature comforts. Elspeth could barely believe she was agreeing to this—being spirited away to a secluded spot on the estate to be alone with Mack. To draw the attention away from her fluttering nerves she redirected the conversation. ‘Did you speak to your brother? How’s he handling things?’

He let out a deep sigh and adjusted the gears to drive over a deep pothole on the gravel road. She couldn’t stop staring at his hands, so strong and competent on the gear stick and steering wheel as he negotiated the rough passage. No doubt they were just as competent moving over a woman’s body. She suppressed a little shiver at the thought of his hands on her body. ‘He’s blaming you for everything.’

Elspeth bit down on her lower lip and glanced at the deep green forest on the left side of the car. ‘And what about you? Do you blame me too?’

‘Not at all.’ There was something in his tone that made her glance at him but his expression was masklike.

‘You’re not angry the wedding didn’t go ahead? I mean, it must have cost a bomb to host it and all...’

His mouth twisted in a rueful manner. ‘The money isn’t the issue. I’m inclined to agree with you now that I’ve thought about it. Fraser isn’t the right person for Sabine. He’s not the right person for anyone and won’t be until he does some serious work on himself.’ He shifted the gears again and the car rocked from side to side as it went over another deep ridge. ‘And he won’t do the work if I keep stepping in and making things too easy for him.’

‘I’m sure you’ve always done what you thought is best for your brother.’

Mack sent her a grim look. ‘You’re being way too generous. No, I’ve made plenty of mistakes with Fraser.’ His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel and his jaw tightened. ‘I sometimes wonder if our father hadn’t died the way he did, would Fraser have turned out differently?’ A shadow passed across his face like the scudding clouds across the sky.

Elspeth placed a gentle hand on his thigh, compelled to offer her support and comfort. ‘You’re a wonderful older brother, Mack. Anyone can see that. And don’t forget you were only young yourself when your father died. And you lost your mother so soon after that. Sometimes people are the way they are, not so much because of circumstances but because of how they deal with the circumstances. And maybe that has more to do with personality than anything else.’

Mack placed his hand over the top of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. Tingles raced up her arm like lightning, sending a wave of heat to her core. ‘You’re nothing like the press make you out to be. I was expecting a spoilt prima donna.’

Elspeth pulled her hand out from under his and laid it in her lap before she was tempted to let it explore further along his muscled thigh. ‘I—I’ve encouraged a certain view of myself,’ she said, recalling a conversation with her twin about building Elodie’s brand. Smart, sassy, sophisticated, sexy—four words that certainly applied to her twin but not to her. ‘But it’s a public persona, it’s not the real me.’

‘As I’ve found out.’ There was a cryptic quality to his tone that sent a shiver cartwheeling down her spine. She chanced a glance at him but his expression was difficult to read, although she did happen to notice a twinkling light in his eyes.

They travelled a little way further before they came to a fast-running stream coursing across rocks. ‘Hold on,’ Mack said, shifting the gears again.

Elspeth gripped the edges of her seat and held her breath as Mack expertly guided the vehicle across the stream. ‘You’re really making sure no one can follow us, aren’t you?’

He gave her a heart-stopping grin and gunned the engine up the steep slope on the other side. ‘That’s the idea, m’eudail.’

A few minutes later, Mack pulled up outside an old crofter’s hut that was situated at the top of the rise with views across a deep valley. Elspeth was out of the vehicle before he could get to her door. She stood, taking in the spectacular view, the crisp cool air so fresh she could almost taste it. A wedge-tailed eagle freewheeled on the air currents above, the eerie sound of his call echoing across the valley. A stag deer raised its head in the distance, his giant antlers looking too heavy for him to carry. He returned to cropping the grass as if used to seeing Mack show up.

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