The House on the Shore (24 page)

“Unless what?”
Luke asked.

“No, it’s a silly idea.”
Morag looked pointedly at Luke where he lounged casually against the
doorframe
.
When he appeared to ignore her, Morag stared at him.
“
U
nless you move in with Anna, of course.”

Anna and Luke both shouted at once.
“No!
No way.”

“Now, you’re both being silly,”
said
Morag
.

For the space of several breaths Luke’s gaze held Anna’s
in silent question
.
He tried not to think about how much he wanted her, how sharing a house with her would test his resolve to the li
mit.
His conscience wouldn’t—couldn’t
allow him to
let
her
stay on her own
.

“O
kay
,” he said holding up his hands.
“I give in.
I’ll stay here.
But just for a few days, until we’re sure this was just an isolated incident.”

Anna was too stunned to say anything.

Morag smiled knowingly.
“
Good
.
T
hat’s settled then.
I daresay yon wee boat must
feel
a bit cramped, especially if you’ve sailed all the way from America.
Anna’s a great cook, so you’ll
enjoy
some
home-cooked food for a change.
You won’t get under each other’s feet during the day as Anna has her work, and no doub
t you have things to do, so you
’ll
only be spending the evenings together.
There’s ample room as there are two bedrooms.
Don’t you see?
It’s the per
fect solution for both of you.”
Morag picked up her keys and handbag and headed out the door.
“Now, you’ll be needing a lift to the garage to get those tyres replaced.”

Luke jumped in the truck bed of Morag’s
four-by-four.
Anna climbed into the passenger
seat
, her previously threatening headache now a fact.
She gave her friend a sidelong glance
.

“Morag, you had no
right
asking
Luke
to stay
at the croft.”

“
It was his decision
.
”

“Perhaps, but I’ve no doubt it was you who planted the idea in his mind.”

“How could I do that?
I’m not a hypnotist.
As it is, he can’t very well stay on the boat and turn a blind eye to what’s happening under his nose, now can he?”

“If I didn’t know you better, Morag McInnes, I’d say you were a witch.”

Morag smiled.
“Not all who have the
S
ight are witches.
Do you see any warts?”

“No—yes—oh
,
I don’t know!” Anna held her aching head.
“No one can fight
with you
;
you don’t fight fair.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.
Sorry about your head
ache
, my dear, but someone has to take charge of the situation
.
As f
ate brought the man back there sailing into the
loch,
it seemed logical to put his appearance to good use.
It’s as plain as day that you can’t stay on your own, and you know it.
But you’re too stubborn and proud to admit it, so there’s no other option but to
have him move into the croft.”

“But
—
”

“There is no
but
.
He’s a gentleman
, s
o he won’t do anything
improper, either.”

Anna’s cheeks coloured.
“Morag!
For goodness sake, keep your voice down.
Luke might hear you.”

“Now, lass, don’t fret.
I understand
why you’re staying at the croft, but you have to agree that having that fine figure of a man around is no bad thing!”

Anna
was
too wrapped up
thinking about the events of the previous evening
, to
talk to Morag on the return journey.
As if she didn’t have enough problems, the new tyres had taken a huge chunk out of her meagre savings.
If she wasn’t careful, she might have to ask Ewan if she could work extra hours to make up the loss.
The closer she got to home, the more agitated Anna became.
S
he was frightened of staying in the croft on her own, but the thought of Luke staying there too disturbed her even more, but for totally different reasons.
He was too attractive, too virile, and all too male for his own good—correction—for
her
own good, and it would be too easy
to fall for his charms.

The pickup came to a halt in front of the croft. Morag yanked on the handbrake.
“Here we are, lass.”

“Thanks for the lift, Morag.
I don’t know how I would have managed without your help.”

“It’s not just me you ought to be thanking, but that man
,
too.
Now don’t go fretting over last night.
Get some rest, and I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

Anna shook her head in disbelief.
That was typical of Morag, always organi
z
ing folk.
With a wave of her hand, Morag sent the pickup hurtling back down the potholed track,
l
eaving
Anna covered in dust.

Luke rolled the tyres toward the Land Rover.
“I’ll put these on
for you
.
By the way, I bought
this
.”
He handed her a sturdy padlock.
“I th
ought if we cleared out the cow
shed
,
you could use it as a garage.”

“Thank you.
But what’s this ‘we’ bus
iness?”

Luke stopped in front of her.
“I know you’re tired.
Even if you weren’t, you’re not capable of moving all those boxes, not to mention the rusty ironwork on your own.
If you were, you’d have done it already.”

“I suppose you’re right.”
She watched, fascinated, as Luke stripped off his T-shirt and set about
lifting
the first of the heavy wheels
on
to
the axle.
His broad, suntanned chest was ligh
tly covered in crisp dark hair.

Subconsciously she moistened her lips.
“Er…I’ll go and sort something out for dinner first.”
Without waiting for him to respond, she
scooted
off in the direction of the kitchen, hi
s laughter ringing in her ears.

Twenty minutes later
,
Anna recoiled in horror at the number of cobwebs hanging from the rafters in the
cowshed
.
They were the re
ason she’d avoided going inside
.

“Are you going to stand there all day admiring my body, or are you going to give me a hand clearing
out
this place?”

“In a minute,” Anna replied.
She bent down and tucked the legs of her jeans into her socks
.
She
covered her
hair with a scarf and
pulled
on a pair of rubber gloves.
There was no way she was going anywhere near those gossamer threads, and if she saw as much as one big, hairy spider, she’d be out of there faste
r than she could say ‘Ben Nevis.
’

Luke’s mouth quirked with humour.
“Is this the latest fashion?”

“I hope a tarantula crawls into your shorts,” she muttered.

“What?”

She suppressed a giggle.
“I said, when it comes to spider
s, out here you see all sorts.”

His dark eyebrows arched in confusion.
“Huh?”

“Forget it.
It’s just my w
eird Scottish sense of humour.”

Between the two of them
,
they half-carried, half-dragged an assortment of rusting farm implements out of the way and
stacked
the boxes
on one side
.
Anna decided to sort through their contents when she was less tired.
When they finished
,
t
hey were both hot and covered in dust and grime, but the Land Rover was now safely locked inside the
cowshed
.

“O
kay
,” said Luke.
“I’ll go ba
ck to the yacht, get cleaned up and
pack a bag
.
I’ll
be back
within the
hour.
I doubt anyone will return in daylight.
If they do, scream blue murder.
The sound
will carry across the loch, and I’ll hear you.”

Anna pulled off her scarf with a grubby hand
.
“Look, it’s very kind of you
to do all this, but you really don’t have to stay.
Morag was just being
o
ver
-
anxious as usual.
I’ll be perfectly
all right on my own.”

Luke offered her a sudden, arresting smile that had all her objections floating away on the air.
“Concerned that my intentions maybe less than honourable?”

She coloured fiercely.
“O
f course not.”
A
s soon as the words left her
lips
she
realized
that she woul
d have no objection if they were.
She stared wordlessly at her rescuer
. T
here was no point yearning for something that was doomed before it sta
rted.

“
Then l
et’s not get into that argument again.
I volunteered to stay, and that’s all there is to it.
Now
,
please go take a shower and make up the spare bed,
okay
?
I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He planted a kiss on her dirty cheek and was gone.

Anna brushed ineffectively at the dust on her jeans, dumping them along with her T-shirt into the washing machine before
climb
ing
the
stairs to the s
mall bathroom in her underwear.
She turned
on the taps
and add
ed
some of her favourite scented oil
to the water in the bath
.
Three minutes later, she lowered her tired body into the steaming tub, closed her eyes and allowed her mind to drift.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t think of one reason why anyone would want to harm her.
I
f it had been a hillwalker seeking shelter, why did he slash the tyres and sabotage the generator?
It just didn’t add up.
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became.
If only
Morag
hadn’t interfered, Anna would have convinced Luke that she would be all right on her own
.
A
s it was
, it was all such a mess!

A short time later, dressed in a pair of navy chinos and white
V
-necked top
,
she padded downstairs
.
There was still no sign of Luke, so she busied herself laying the kitchen table.
She hoped he liked haggis because tha
t was all there was for dinner.

“Serves him right if he doesn’t,” she said,
plac
ing a
jug of iced water
on
the table.

“
What
serves me right?”
A dee
p voice shattered her thoughts.

“I wish you woul
d sto
p creeping up on me like that!”

“I’m sorry, honey.
I didn’t mean to freak you out.
The front door was open.
I didn’t think I needed
to knock.”