Sealed with a Christmas Kiss (6 page)

‘So.’ Morag leaned forward across the table, hands folded, an expectant expression on her face.

‘I need to get going, really. No chance of winding down for the Christmas holidays round here. I want to have a look at the new website designs Susan’s come up with.’ Kate
stood up, jingling her car keys against her thigh. Morag was regarding her with a look she recognized. She’d worn that same look last year while listening to Kate protest that she had no
interest whatsoever in her new boss, the handsome Laird.

‘All I wondered was whether we might be hearing wedding bells soon enough, and you’re away like a startled faun. Is there something you’re not telling me?’

‘No chance.’ Kate’s voice was decisive. ‘We’re fine just as we are.’ The subject hadn’t ever come up, in any case. She recoiled at the memory of her ex,
Ian, declaring at her best friend’s wedding that he’d no intention of ever marrying her. She’d been glad to be shot of him, quite frankly, but it was a bit humiliating being the
dumpee and not the dumper.

‘Indeed you are.’ Morag smiled, and the subject was closed. Giving her a quick kiss goodbye, Kate left the warmth of Stable Cottage and stepped out into a biting cold wind.

‘Hey, sweetheart.’ Roddy leaned backwards in his chair, offering his face up for a kiss, as she arrived back at Duntarvie House.

He was sitting at his old oak desk in the library, fire burning, the brass desk lamp glowing in the midwinter darkness. Even now, mid-morning, it was dark enough in there in winter to need a
light. His laptop was open, but the keyboard was covered with papers.

‘Where did you get to this morning? I got back from my run and you’d disappeared. I was hoping you’d still be in bed.’

She’d been tempted, watching Roddy climbing into his running kit, to wait for him to get home and shower, and pull him back to bed. But she’d been preoccupied with all the stress of
the other night, and she’d known instinctively that what she needed was the silence and space to think that she always found at Selkie Bay.

‘I thought I’d escape for a bit and clear my head,’ she explained. She twisted her hair up into a knot as she spoke, frowning, aware that she didn’t exactly look a
picture of Zen calm.

‘It didn’t work, I’m guessing?’

‘No. Not helped by my phone yelling at me as soon as I got back in reach of Wi-Fi with about fifteen messages from Sian. She’s got a plan, apparently.’

Roddy looked at her briefly, an expression on his face which Kate couldn’t read. He reached out for her hand, pulling her down into his lap with a laugh. He seemed to be remarkably
unstressed about everything, considering.

‘Go and have a bath.’ He kissed her on the nose, pushed her off the chair gently and spun back to face his desk. ‘You’re freezing cold.’

Kate lay in the bath, bubbles up to her nose, remembering the first night she’d spent in Duntarvie House. It felt like a lifetime ago – she’d fallen badly on
her first day on the island and been rescued by a gruff, not-particularly-friendly Roddy, who had, it turned out, been thinking she was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. She’d
ended up lying in this very bathroom, soaking her aching shoulder in a lavender-scented bath, whilst Jean had prepared dinner and Roddy had tended to a then-tiny Willow. And later on there had been
a huge party for Hogmanay – which he’d admitted afterwards was thrown for her benefit – and the snowy night not long afterwards when they’d ended up stranded in one of the
holiday cottages overlooking Selkie Bay.

Sighing with the delicious memory of it all, Kate looked up at the ornate cornicing on the bathroom ceiling. It was mad to think that this was home now, and that she lived in a castle. Or a big
house, as Roddy would insist on calling it – but with its crenellated roof, ornate turrets and tower complete with flag, it felt like a castle to Kate. Not that life was particularly
princessy, mind you. There was a constant worry about money: things kept falling down, or falling off, or falling apart. And the estate workers had to be paid, and then there was the sagging island
economy, although a regular flow of wedding visitors would help with that . . . and there she was, again. She sank beneath the bubbles, closing her eyes. Was this wedding thing ever going to stop
weighing on her mind?

‘I’ve brought you coffee.’ Kate shoved some books aside, making space for the two mugs. Roddy’s laptop screen was a jumble of open windows, with the
mocked-up new Duntarvie House website taking pride of place.

‘Looks good, don’t you think?’ He stood up, motioning for her to take his place in the battered old leather chair. ‘Sit down.’

For a moment she wondered what he was up to, but then the familiar sound of a Skype call broke through her thoughts.

Sian Patterson
flashed the display.

‘Oh God, not now. I can’t face her,’ said Kate, reaching to click the ‘unavailable’ button, but Roddy got there before her.

‘It’s fine, I’m expecting her to ring. I texted her when I heard you were out of the bath.’

The video call popped into life. Sian was beaming. Kate looked at her own face in the corner of the screen, rearranging her features rapidly. Her scowl was thunderous, but Sian clearly
hadn’t noticed.

‘Kate! Brilliant. Roddy?’ Sian popped sideways on the screen, as if hoping she could peek round the corner and catch sight of him.

Roddy knelt down beside Kate so his face, too, was visible.

‘So, I’ve spoken to Maddy.’ Sian looked surprisingly unruffled by this, considering.

‘Is she okay?’ Kate wasn’t sure if she’d have gone home to string Leo up or cut up all his designer suits.

‘Surprisingly so. She’s chucked him out, and she’s decided to travel round Scotland on her – well, on what would have been her honeymoon. Apparently your mate Finn got
her number. He’s a fast mover.’

Kate shook her head, amazed. ‘I think she’s maybe still in shock, Sian.’

‘Whatever. She seems happy enough.’ Sian’s tone was dismissive. Kate, aware she was on screen, kept her expression neutral. Sian had always had a bit of a hard shell when they
were at university together, and business had clearly added an extra layer of toughness. With Maddy and Leo out of the equation, her priorities lay elsewhere.

‘Anyway,’ said both Roddy and Sian at exactly the same time.

Sian clapped her hands with glee. ‘This is just
too
good.’

Kate turned to Roddy, head cocked to one side slightly, questioning. This was all a bit weird.

‘Honey, I’ve had the best idea. Well – ’ He looked at the screen, where Sian’s face was grinning back at them slightly dementedly.

‘Well –
we
have.’ Sian finished his sentence. ‘We’ve found the
perfect
couple.’

‘You have?’ Kate was beginning to think she was going mad.

‘Kate. I know this is a bit unorthodox . . . but – ’ Roderick paused for a tiny moment, running a hand through his hair in the familiar gesture she’d grown to love so
much. ‘Will you marry me?’

The room spun for a second. Kate jumped up from the chair, pushing it backwards so it twirled round drunkenly.

‘Are you joking?’

This wasn’t – this was all wrong. Roderick was looking at her, confusion in his eyes, and the tinny voice of Sian was echoing in the background, but Kate couldn’t hear her.

‘Um . . . I was expecting a yes. But no, I’m not joking. It seemed like the perfect solution.’ Roderick reached for Kate’s hand, but she pulled away.

‘I can’t. No. Not like this, Roddy. No.’

Sian was motioning furiously from her little box on the screen. Kate reached over, slamming the laptop shut.

‘What do you mean, “not like this”?’ Roddy, shocked, sounded clipped and brusque.

Kate exhaled in temper. The sound was almost a snort.

‘I’m not the solution to Duntarvie’s problems, Roderick.’

He opened his mouth to speak, but Kate, on a roll, continued.

‘Just because it turns out that Leo is a lying
shit
with a mobile phone for every girl he’s got on the side, doesn’t mean you can just shove me in at the last minute
as a substitute.’

‘That’s not what I meant at all—’

‘Looks like it to me. In fact, sometimes it feels like there are three of us in this relationship – you, me, and this bloody house!’

‘You knew what you were getting into, Kate.’ Roddy’s eyes narrowed in temper, his voice icily calm. He could be a complete upper-class shit when he wanted to.

‘Well, maybe I don’t
want
to get into it.’

She could feel her own temper rising. The pressure of trying to juggle everything was too much, and the idea of being nothing more than a convenient solution to Roddy’s problems –
well, it was the final straw. For a big house, Duntarvie could feel bloody claustrophobic at times. She glared at Roddy with fury, and whirled out of the room before he could say another word.
Grabbing her keys from the hook in the hall, she flew out of the huge front door and climbed into her little car. She turned on the ignition and shot down the drive, realizing as she almost hit an
indignant pheasant that she had no idea where she was going. She turned left out of the driveway, onto the single-track road that led to the north end of the island. Passing the tiny hotel which
served the bay, she drove on in silence. It wasn’t until she’d reached the point where the narrow road ended at the top of the island that the red mist cleared, and she realized she
could think about what had just happened. She pulled the car over on the deserted road, elbows on the steering wheel, hands in her hair. She loved Roddy, she loved Auchenmor. She loved everything
about this place. Why was the idea of marrying him so awful?

She fired off a furious text to Emma, but it flashed back at her: ‘Message not sent – try again?’ She hit the screen in a temper. ‘Message not sent.’

‘Oh, bog OFF.’

Bloody, bloody island life. Banging her fist on the steering wheel, she swore a few times. Then, realizing there was nowhere to go but off the end of the island in a rowing boat, she turned the
car around.

‘Shit!’

Foot to the floor, Kate hadn’t expected to drive around a bend and find the road blocked. But there sat a familiar pickup truck painted with the Duntarvie Estate colours, its back end open
and what looked like half a tree sticking out.

‘Easy, tiger.’ It was Finn, of course. He swung round from behind a hedge, chainsaw in hand, sandy hair trapped under a ridiculous bearskin hat. On anyone else it would have looked
insane, but he carried it off.

‘You’ve parked your bloody truck on the road. Any chance of getting it out of my way?’

‘Get you, Lady Muck.’ He gave her a shove, grinning. ‘It’ll be “get orf my land” next.’

Kate deflated slightly, her temper subsiding. He was right, she did sound like a bit of a cow. And he hadn’t done anything wrong, after all.

‘Sorry. It’s bloody Roddy.’

Finn shoved the chainsaw into the back of the pickup, slamming the back closed and locking it. ‘What’s he done?’

‘He proposed.’

‘Right. What an absolute git.’ Finn looked at her and winked. ‘And you’ve realized you made a mistake all that time ago, right?’

One drunken night Kate, like most of the women he met, had fallen for Finn’s easy charms. He was uncomplicated, funny, kind-hearted and easygoing, so it wasn’t exactly difficult. The
next morning, when Kate realized she’d made a terrible mistake, Finn had taken it in his stride. He was a free spirit, and he’d swung off happily, probably heading out for dinner that
night with some other woman. He seemed to have a never-ending supply of them.

‘Shut up, Finn.’ She wasn’t in the mood for his teasing.

‘This
is
serious. Not like you to be in such a strop, darlin’.’

Kate scowled at him.

‘I’m heading back to Kilmannan now for a bit of lunch. D’you fancy following me back and telling me what’s going on?’

‘I dunno. I’ll see how I feel when I get there.’ Kate was suddenly hit by a need to be alone, to have time to think.

Arriving in town, she was decided. Her expression clearly said it all to Finn as he swung out of the cab, having pulled in to park just in front of her on the side street that
led down to the little row of shops.

‘Not in the mood?’

‘I need to think, Finn. Another time. But thanks.’ Shoving her keys into her bag, Kate turned, having decided just what she needed to do. Picking up a basket in the doorway of the
Co-op, she grabbed two bags of tortilla chips, a multi-pack of dips, a packet of strawberry bootlaces, two microwave curries and an elephant-sized bar of Galaxy chocolate. As the pink wine in the
fridge was on offer at three bottles for £12, it seemed rude not to buy that too.

‘Girls’ night in?’ The woman at the counter gave her a knowing smile. Kate threw three bags of jelly beans into the basket, in a last-minute emergency panic.

‘Something like that.’ Manners won over temper and she gave the woman a smile, taking her change and clanking her way out of the shop. Keeping her head down, aware that she’d
be lucky to make it back to the car without bumping into at least one person she knew, she marched along. Bloody Roddy, thinking she could be some kind of stopgap. He was an arrogant nob, he really
was.

‘Whoa, watch yourself there!’

Deep in thought, Kate hadn’t noticed she was marching into the line of the bank machine. She crashed straight into Susan – as predicted, she couldn’t even buy a mountain of
comfort food without someone she knew catching her out. At least it was her best friend on the island, and not one of the local gossips.

Kate lifted the bags in explanation. ‘Day. From. Hell.’

‘Emergency wine?’ Susan nodded, knowingly.

‘Emergency everything.’

‘Anything I can do?’ Susan, always up for an excuse to escape her two gorgeous children, looked hopeful.

‘You can bring me some firelighters and meet me back at Bruar Cottage.’ Shrugging her slipping bag back onto her shoulder, Kate gave a heavy sigh. ‘I’ll explain all down
there.’

Swinging the car left into the entrance of Duntarvie House, Kate found herself looking at the place with a different perspective. The familiar faces of the stone lions looked
down at her, larger than life and pocked with lichen. The driveway was narrow, and she found herself thinking back to the first time she’d driven down, watching the overhanging branches of
the unkempt hawthorn bushes – then huge and untamed, now slightly more restrained – slapping the windows of Roddy’s Land Rover as Jean had driven her into her new life.