The House on the Shore (15 page)

“Personally, I think it was fate.”

“
You don’t really believe that
,
do you?”

He didn’t answer.
His tawny brown eyes held hers.

“Oh, my God
,
you do!
Remind me never to put you and Morag in a room together
,
y
ou’ll
spend all night telling each other that the Loch Ness Monster really does exist and that its cousin lives in Lake Eri
e.
”

Luke stood and offered his hand.
He pulled her to her feet, but his hands took on a will of their own and slipped up her arms, drawing her closer.
When he cupped her chin in his right hand and his mouth covered hers, Anna fo
u
nd herself powerless to resist.
His kiss was slow, thoughtful, and as tender as the breeze.

H
er instinctive response to him was unlike anything she had experienced before.
Before she
knew what was happening
, she was kissing him back with a hunger she didn’t know she possessed.
Within the space of a second
,
their kiss
went
from simple contact to raw passion.
Instinctively, her arms
wrapped
round his neck, her fingers burying in his thi
c
k black hair.
Currents of desire swept through her, filling her with an inner excitement.

Th
en her brain kicked in.
She jumped backwards, pushing him away, too stunned to speak.
It was too soon.
She wasn’t ready for another
relationship
, let alone one with someone who wouldn’t be around for more than a week or two
.

Luke cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry.
Wow…I don’t know what made me do that.
I’m s
orry I let you kiss me.”

Flustered, Anna’s temper flared.
“What?
You
kissed
me
!”

“Well, maybe I did, but you kissed me right back,” he insisted.
“I don’t normally
kiss
girls I don’t know, especially one
s
who
are barely out of their teens
.
”

“
I’m thirty-two.
That’s hardly
a teenager
.
Please don’t try and tell me that it was destined because I won’t believe a word of it.”

He rubbed his forehead with both hands.
“Somehow I’d figured you were younger.
Besides,
I’m
far too old to be behaving like an adolescent
.
Look, this conversation is getting weird very fast.
I’m sorry.
With you, I’m always sorry
.
I
don’t know why, but maybe that means something too.
Once the part gets here, I’ll split.
You won’t be bothered with m
e anymore.”

Her anger evaporated into embarrassment.
“There’s no need to explain.
I made a mistake too.
It was just a kiss.
It meant nothing.
Let’s just drop it and go.
The dogs are getting restless, and I have still have chores to do.”
With that, she straightened her shoulders, called Ensay and Rhona, and set off
towards the croft.

She took a deep breath.
What was wrong with her?
She was a grown woman for goodness sake.
She’d been kissed before, and not acted all prissy.
It wasn’t as if they ha
d made passionate love in the heather
.
I
t was just a kiss
,
but a kiss so intense it s
ent her hormones into overdrive.
S
he found Luke attractive
, b
ut it was more than
physical attraction
. A
tangible bond
was forming
between them.
She took another steadying breath
and tried to
regain her equilibrium.

“Anna!
Wait!
I acted like a jerk and I’ve taken up most of your afternoon.
I really don’t know what made me do that and I apologi
z
e.
I mean it
, r
eally.”

She stopped and turned around.
“I overreacted too.
Anyway, as it’s not likely to happen again, it’s no big deal.
”

“
You sure you’re not mad at me?”

“I am.
I have a strong feeling you have someone back home.”

“I do
,
well sort of.
S
he
’s
just someone I see sometimes.
We aren’t a regular ‘thing’.”

“
H
ow romantic
, I
’m glad I’m not a regular
‘
thing
’
with you
.
Now, if you don’t mind,
I think we should go back
.”

The crack of a gun
shot bounced off the
hillside
.

Anna screamed.

A brace of grouse
called loudly and took
to the air.

Luke pulled her into the bushes
and
cover
ed
her body with his.

“Keep your head down!” he hissed.
“I thought you said the stag hunting season didn’t start until
July.
”

“It doesn’t
.
”
Anna
whispered
. C
onscious of
the weight of
Luke’s
body
where it touched
hers, s
he squirmed and wriggled
against him
trying to get free, finding the contact too intimate
.

“Then why in
h
ell’s name is someone using us as target practice?
And for God’s sake keep still!
”

“I don’t know.
It was probably an accident.
They were most likely aiming at something else.
I’m more concerned about Ensay and Rhona.
They hate loud noises.”

“Yeah?
Well, I’m not too fond of being shot at either!
Any fool knows you don’t fire a rifle without checking to see if
someone is in your line of fire
!”

Anna studied Luke’s face as he scanned the hillside.
Suddenly, he seemed to know an awful lot about guns.

“Luke, I—”

He shifted his weight slightly, and held up a hand to silence her.
“Shush!
On a day like this, the slightest sound can carry a long way.”

Anna did as she was told, but apart from the leaves rustling in the breeze, the only other sound she could he
ar was that of their breathing.

After five minutes of lying in the heather, Luke pulled her to her feet.
“Come on.
I think he left.
Let’s go and find those p
recious dogs of yours.”

They
re-joined
the path and had only gone
short distance
when they found the pr
one body of one of the
dogs
.

Anna screamed and dropped to her knees beside the dog, gently stroking its head and sobbing.

“Oh, Ensay
!
What have they done to you?”

Trembling, the dog raised its head and wagged her tail in response
.

Luke leant down next to
Anna
and ran his hands over the dog’s sleek coat.
When they came away clean, he examined the dog’s l
egs to ensure none were broken.

“Anna,” he said softly.
“
T
here isn’t any blood.
She hasn’t been shot.
She’s just winded and pretty scared.
Give her a few minutes to get her breath back,
o
kay
?”

Anna bit back her tears, and stared at his hands in disbelief.
“Thank God.
I hate to think of any animal
in pain
,
but
one of my dogs—
”

“I know, honey, they mean the world to you.”
His hand closed over hers.
“Don’t think about it.
Be grateful that
the
jackass missed.”

Anna nodded woodenly.
She fished in her pocket for her h
andkerchief
and blew her nose.

“You’re right, I should be grateful.
Everyone, inc
luding the ghillie on Killilan E
state, knows I will not tolerate hunting of any desc
ription on Tigh na Cladach land.
”

“Maybe one of the village kids is out
shooting
rabbit
s
,” he said,
“
and
didn’t account for the recoil.”

Her disbelief showed in the tone of her voice.
“I haven’t seen one rabbit, deer, or fox, since we left the house.
Have you?
”

He put a hand
her shoulder
and turned her round to face him.
He felt her body sag in defeat.
Slowly her tears began to fall.

“Anna, stop.
I know you're
upset
, but nothing happened.
Really.
So, shush.
”
He gathered
her into his arms
and held her snugly.
“
The dog is fine, and I'm sure other one…Rhona, right?
I’m sur
e she’s waiting for you at home,” he whispered against her ear.
Reluctantly, he held her at arm’s length.
“C
ome on, let's take Ensay back to the croft and let her rest.
I don’t know how to make tea the Scottish way, but I’ll try.
And if you're still worried
, I’ll drive you to the neare
st vet to get her checked out.”

She wiped away a tear and regarded him for a moment.
“You—drive me?
On the wrong side of the road?”

“I can try.
T
hink of it this way.
If I have a fender bender in that old rust bucket you call a Land Rover, who the hell
will
ever be able to tell?”

Luke made sure Anna and the dogs were safely settled in the croft before he left
.
O
nce out of sight of the house, he took the path up the hill rather than returning to
his yacht
.
Despite what he told her about the shooting incident being an accident, he didn’t like the fact that some jerk who couldn’t shoot worth a damn was roaming the hills with a loaded shotgun.

He trudged on until he reached the point where
they
had been standing
, and tried to work out the direction the shot
came
from.
The sun had been on his right, so he knew he
must have
been facing
southwest
.
He reckoned that whoever had fired the gun had been standing more than thirty or forty yards away.
The problem was, there were so many boulders and short stubby bushes littering the hillside that it was difficult to be sure w
hich clump they
ha
d sheltered in.

He walked up and down, examining the view from every angle, until he was certain he was in the right spot.
He dropped to his knees and slowly inched forward, searching every clump of heather, every thicket
of bracken
,
with his fingertips.

For a moment, his attention shifted to Kate.
He hadn’t called her,
and
she
probably thought he
’d
died at sea.
She might not even be
at home
.
If she could find some place to surf
or buy designer shoes
,
she could easily forget all about him for weeks at a time.
Before he left, he wondered if he’d been in love with her.
Then he met the redhead.