The House on the Shore (7 page)

“But surely someone must have seen him leave?
I don’t remember; did he own a car?
And what of his dogs?
Did he take
them with him?”

“
Sandy didn’t have a car of his own.
He drove one of the estate vehicles, and on the day he vanished
,
it was found outside the factor’s house with the keys in the ignition.
As for the dogs
,
who knows, lass?
They’re a fine pair of working collies, and valuable too.
It saddens me to think anything untoward has befallen them or their master.
I
f Sandy hasn’t gone to his daughter’s, I can’t see what use he’d have for two sheepdogs
.
C
an you?”

Anna shivered.
“Sandy is a sensible man, Morag.
He wouldn’t do anything stupid, nor would he harm his dogs.
They mean the world to him.
But I agree with you, this is all very strange.”

“
T
hat’s only half of it.
Just before Christmas the Laird increased the tenants’ rents, and for the old folks like Mrs
.
McPherson, with only her pension, it’s a struggle.
Three families have left the village in the last six weeks, and I daresay others will follow
before much longer
.
The only wo
rk for the men is on the estate
or in the forestry, and neither pays particularly well, but you know that.
There’s hardly a family in the area that doesn’t rely on the big house for housing or employment, and if the estate is sold it will signal the end of the community.”

“Are things really that bad
, Morag
?”

“Aye, lass, they are.
It’s one of the reasons Lachlan is determined to buy a farm.”

Anna rubbed her chin.
There was no doubt Morag was telling the truth.
More and more small communities such as theirs were dying out.
Once the young folk left to go to school and university, very few ever returned
.
Most
preferr
ed
to take well-paid city jobs, rather than face unemploy
ment in
isolated villages.
W
hile city folk clamoured for the country life, few could take the isolation or lack of modern day conveniences places
such as Kinloch Hourn afforded.

It was close to midnight when Anna left Morag’s cottage.
Driving back to the croft she found it hard to put their conversation out of her mind.
The Monymusk Arms Hotel, while owned by the estate, was let on a
long-term
lease.
Ewan
Abercrombie
, the manager, rel
ied heavily on the summer trade
for the winter months brought few visitors, just the odd climber looking for the thrill of an ice climb.
The road from Fort William
was often
blocked by snow for days on end, making
driving
in and out of the glen impossible.
Morag’s prediction that the community would die could easily become a reality.
W
hen that happened, Anna reali
z
ed, she woul
d no longer be able to stay at the croft, despite all the happy memories it held.

She pulled
on the brake
and climbed out into the brilliance of a starry night.
Out on the loch, through the faint mist that rose off the still, dark water, she could see Luke’s yacht bobbing up and down on its mooring.
In the tall pines, an owl hooted.
A lump rose in her throat.
God forbid she would ever have to part with the croft in its spectacular wilderness.
Abruptly, she turned, walked up the path to the door, and inserted the heavy key in
to
the lock.

Although the promised change
in the weather hadn’t materializ
ed by the time Anna finished breakfast, she decided to tackle lighting the old iron stove
.

The Aga, a huge cream coloured
range that stood in the inglenook fireplace,
h
ad been in the croft for as long as she could remember.
Her grandparents had relied on it for hot water, heat
ing
and cooking until the electricity board brought power to this part of the glen.

She tried to light it
, b
ut smoke filled the kitchen.
She sighed; she knew
that meant a
trip to the roof.
She had
watched
her grandfather clean the chimney
many years ago.
She could do it.
After all, she
owned the croft
now.

Dressed in
her oldest clothes and a pair of overalls she found in a chest in the spare room, she piled her hair
into
a careless knot and surveyed her project.
She dragged a weathered wooden ladder from the
cowshed
and rested it against the
gable end
of the croft.
Suddenly, the top of the chimney looked awfully high.
She swallowed nervously.
While accustomed to decorating her
apartment
, climbing up a twenty foot ladder and peering down a chimney wa
s a different thing altogether.

She pulled
a pair of gloves from her pocket
and
placed a foot on the first rung of the ladder.
It creaked noisily and sagged under her weight, but didn’t give way, so she put her foot on to the next
rung
.
It too rebelled, but didn’t break.
She took her time, climbed rung by rung, and eventually
made it halfway up the ladder.

“Do you think it’s smart to be doing that?”

She jerked.
The ladder swayed precariously.
She gasped in panic.
Fearing she was about to fall, she closed her eyes, tightened her grip, and
clung on with all her might.
She lean
ed
against the ladder for support,
and
swivelled her head to look at the man below.

Luke.

“I might have known it was you.
What do you think you’re doing scaring people half to death?”

“People?
I was aiming for ‘person
.
’
And only half to death?
I must be losing my touch,” Luke chuckled.
“I saw you from the yacht and thought you might need some help.”

“That’s kind of you, but unless you have a set of sweep’s brushes stashed away on that boat of yours, there’s nothing you can do.”

“Why don’t you come down and let me do whatever you were doing?”

Anna shook her head vigorously.
“
T
hanks
, but
I can manage.”

“Then at least let me steady the ladder for you.
I wouldn’t want you to fall
,
unless that’s your usual way of getting down.
Forgive me
,
I’m still unclear on the local customs, you see.”

“Ha, ha, ha.
Y
ou’re really funny today, aren’t you?
All right, laughing boy, hold away.”
She removed the torch from her back pocket and peered down the chimney.
A
n old bird’s nest had fallen
inside. S
he reached down and pulled it out.
Apart from that
,
the chimney
appeared to be relatively free of soot
.
She started to climb back down
.
O
ne of the rungs gave way
,
and the next thing she knew, she was f
lying backward through the air.

“Arrrrrrrgh!”

Anna
screwed up her eyes expecting to land on hard Scottish granite, but instead Luke’s strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her roughly, almost violently, to safety.
Without thinking, she buried her face against
the corded muscles of his neck
and clu
ng to him with trembling limbs.
If Luke hadn’t caught her she would have most likely broken her neck.
Slowly the tremors subsided,
and
she beca
me
acutely aware of t
he warmth of his body
.
His nearness was overwhelming and filled
her
with a strange inner excitement.
She tried to ra
tionaliz
e her feelings by putting them down to the shock of her fall, but failed.
There was no doub
t
that what she’d felt was th
e first flush of sexual desire.

Anna
coloured fiercely and
backed out of his grasp.
“Er…I’m sorry about that.
I guess the rungs weren’t as strong as I thought.”

“That old twig?
I can’t
imagine how you ever thought it woul
d hold you up.
You’re lucky I was here.
Are you
okay
?
No bones broken?”

“I’m fine.
The only
thing that’s dented is my pride.
Thanks for catching me.”

His tawny brown eyes meet her green ones
.
“Trust
me, the pleasure is all mine.”

Keenly aware of his scrutiny,
Anna
willed herself to look away.

Luk
e
bent down and
examined the ladder.
Although old,
it
was in reasonably good condition.
He picked up the remains of the rung and ran his thumb over the wood.
The break should have been jagged and splintered where the wood had given way.
Instead,
part of
i
t
was
smooth, as if someone had taken a hacksaw and sawn part way through th
e rung.

“
You’ve been lucky.
You could have
been seriously hurt
.
It’s about time this old ladder was retired and turned into firewood.
”

Anna
wrapped her arms around her body
, and shivered at the image
his words created
.

He
rested
his hand on her shoulder.
“
Are you sure you’re
all right
?
You look a little pale to me.
Want me to fetch you a glass of water?
”

“
Please s
top fussing.
I’m not about to faint.
”

“I’m glad to hear it.
A
re you
planning any more gymnastics today?”

She grinned mischievously.
“Later, I thought I might try a triple Lutz on the lawn
.
S
eriously, I’ve had enough
aerial acrobatics to last me a
while.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness in offering to help.”

“
In that case,
I’ll be on my way.”
H
e turned and walked back
to his dinghy.

Anna watched Luke stride across the grass towards the beach.
Each time she saw
him
the pull on her senses was stronger.
I
f she were honest, she’d enjoyed the feel of his arms around her.
Yet
,
such an attraction
was
perilous
a
nd would only end in more heart
ache
coming
as it did
so soon after the end of he
r affair with Mark.

She picked up the torch and
returned
to
the kitchen
.
Once inside
,
she
undid the inspection plate on the flue where it entered the chimney and shone her torch around.
Satisfied that everything looked all right, she re-filled the firebox with an old newspaper and some
kindling she’d found in the cow
shed
.
R
ather than set it alight,
she
decided to wait until
she had done her shopping
.