The House on the Shore (42 page)

“You were listening?”

“Yes, a
nd I’m not apologi
z
ing
for doing so.
Nor
am
I
going to
apologi
z
e for hitting him.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck
,
it’s a duck.
In other words, he’s a jerk
,
not only for putting you in such an untenable position that you resigned, but also for cheating on you.
I’m glad you turned the son-of-a-bitch down—on both counts.”

Anna glanced down at the man on the floor
,
groaning and
clutching his stomach.

“Don’t worry,” Luke told her, “once he gets his breath back, he’ll be fine.
Come here.” He opened his arms to her.
Despite his aching jaw, he kissed
her passionately
.

Mark coughed and winced.
Luke released his hold on Anna and bent do
wn to help Jackson to his feet.

“Get out, and don’t come back.”
Luke pushed him into the hallway.

“
Y
ou’ve
not
heard the last of this
,
Tallantyre,” Mark cautioned
as he stumbled to the door, blood dripping from his nose.
“I’m going to see you’re charged with assault!”

“You started it, asshole.”

“Mark, go,
”
Ann
a said softly.

Mark turned and looked at her, his hand on the knob of the door.
He stopped.
“I can’t believe you prefer this—”

“Don’t go there, Mark,” Anna interrupted.
“You and I are finished.
Accept it.
There’s nothing more to say.”

Mark slunk away, handkerchief held to his bloody nose.
Anna closed the door and turned back to face Luke.
His right eye was beginning to swell.
Blood congea
led at the corner of his mouth.

“Come into the kitchen
,
and let me get some ice for your face.”

“I’m sorry about the mess,” Luke said, righting the kitchen table and stooping
down to gather her manuscript.

She opened the refrigerator door.
“Don’t worry about that now.
You’re going to have a black eye come the morning.”
She held an ice pack to his cheek.
He winced.
“And just look at your hands—you’ll not be
able to paint for a few days.”

“I’ve had worse,” he said pulling her body hard against his.
He brushed her hair back from her face.
“You’re shaking.
Want me to light the fire?”

Anna shook her head.
“
I’m not cold.
I’m shocked by Mark’s behaviour
,
” she said,
and gave
him a smile that ma
de the heat pool in his groin.

“Yeah, well, adrenaline will do that every time.”

“I’m also tired and hungry.”

“Is that so?” Luke replied, taking the ice pack from her hand and dropping it into the sink.
“There’s a casserole in the slow oven.
It won’t be ready for another
couple of
hour
s
.
In the meantime, why don’t you tell me why Morag’s pickup is outside?”
He kissed the soft spo
t just below her right earlobe.

“
Do you want the short or the long version?” she asked,
and wrapped
her arms around him.
No matter how many times Anna told herself that all she and Luke were destined to share was a few weeks of hot sex, she couldn’t
stop herself responding to him.

He gave her a smile as intimate as a kiss.
“The short version.
While the casserole can wait, I can’t.”
The fingers of his left hand skimmed her cheek before settling in her thick hair.
His right hand slipped under her T-shir
t and slowly caressed her back.

“But your face…” Anna said as she felt the now familiar tingling in the pit of her stomach
.
H
er nipples hardened at Luke’s soft caress.
The smouldering passion she
saw in his eyes echoed her own.

“It’s only a few bruises
.
No
thing to stop me from making love
to
you
.”

There was no sign of Morag when Anna entered the hotel kitchen on Sunday morning.
She hung up her coat and
went
through to the bar, pushing open the swing door only to stop and stare at the pale-faced man sitting next to Ewan.

“Lachlan, this is a surprise,” she smiled.
“Is Morag with you?
Only I didn’t see t
he Land Rover in the car park.”

“Anna,
you’d better come and sit down,
”
Ewan said gently.
He rose from his chair and crossed the room to take her arm.

Her smile faded when she saw the sombre expression on Lachlan’s face.
“What’s the matter?
Morag’s all right, isn’t she?”

“Sit down, Anna,” Ewan repeated, giving her a gentle push towards a vacant chair.
He strode over to the
bar
,
poured a measure of brandy into three glasses,
and
carr
ied
them to the table.

Lachlan took a deep breath.
“There’s no easy way for me to say this.
She was supposed to meet me at the railway station, but never arrived.”

“
Morag
is
missing?
”
Anna grew light headed.
“But I don’t understand.
She left immediately after you telephoned.
I saw her drive off.”

“I don’t understand, either.
I waited till
nine o’clock
, but there was no sign of her.
I telephoned the house.
There was no answer, so I hired a car and drove home.
I thought
she might have
broken down on the way
,
and that I’d find her and the pickup on the side of the road
.
B
ut I never saw another vehicle during the whole of the journey.”

“She took my Land Rover,” Anna said, lowering her gaze so Lachlan wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes.
“She’d run out of petrol on the way to work, so I gave her my keys.
We were going to swap vehicles this morning.”

Lachlan lean
ed
forward in his seat, his face visibly tense.
“I see.
Y
ou know Morag as well as anyone.
What sort of mood was she in?
I know she doesn’t like me being away, but was she
depressed.
”

She took his hands in hers.
“
Q
uite the opposite
,
she was delighted at the prospect of having you home.
S
he felt unwell for a while before she left.
In fact
,
I offered to drive her, but she refused, saying she felt fine.
Have you…have you notified the police?”

“N
o one’s reported an accident, a
nd no one fitting Morag’s description has been admitted to hospital in either Fort William or Inverness.
The police
need to know what she was wearing.
Perhaps you could help me with that.”

“Of course.”
Anna dug in her bag for a piece of paper and a pen.

“I must tell them she was driving your Land Rover,
and
not the pickup.”
A powerful and well-built man, with ginger hair, Lachlan stood.
“You’d better write down the registration
number
for me, as well.”

Anna
nodded and scribbled it down.

“You can use the phone in my office,” Ewan offered.
“While you’re doing that, I’ll get one of the girls to make us some coffee.
I
think we’re going to need it.”

When Lachlan left the room, Anna sat quietly, her body stiff with shock.
She took no notice of Ewan, until he thrust a glass of b
randy into her trembling hands.

“Here, lass, drink this.
You’re as white as my great-grandmother’s ghost.
D
on’t
faint
on me, do you hear me?
Coffee is on its way.”

Inclining her head in a gesture of thanks, Anna took a sip.
The amber liquid burned her throat.

“It rained all afternoon
, and t
he glen road can be treacherous in those conditions.
Morag isn’t used to driving the Land Rover.
I knew I should have gone with her.
I’ll never forgive myself if
anything has happened to her.”

“Now, now, lass.
Don’t go blaming yourself.
Morag can be stubborn at times.
There’s bound to be a simple explanation.”

“Do you really think so?”

They both watched Lachlan re-enter the room, his face tight with anxiety.

“Any news?”
Ewan asked.

“No,” Lachlan said, bowing his head in despair.
“The police won’t do anything for forty-eight hours and have suggested I go home and wait.
But I can’t sit here and do nothing.”

Ewan nodded.
“W
e’ll organi
z
e our own search party.
We’ve all helped
with
training exercises for the
m
ountain
r
escue
team
, so we know the drill.
Fortunately,
they store some of their equipment here, although I’m not sure if there are any radios.”

“Ewan, I know the glen as well as anyone.
If you can spare me, I’d like to help,” Anna volunteered.

“Aye, I daresay the hotel can manage without you, lass.
We’ll make this our base,” he said, resting a hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“Lachlan, go home and leave a note for Morag in case she turns up, telling her to contact you here.
I’ll
organize
maps and check what equipment we’ve got.
I’ll round up the villagers and ensure there’s plenty of hot coffee and sandwiches for everyone.
I suggest
we meet back here in an hour.”

“Lachlan?
Is that all right?”
Anna gave
his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Y
es, yes, of course,” he sighed.

“
In that case
,
if I
may
take the pickup
,
I’ll
go home and collect my hiking gear.
I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Anna kissed him on the
cheek and hurried out the door.

Luke was checking the croft’s generator when he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching.
He wiped his hands on an oily rag and strode round to the front of the croft in time to see Anna climbing out of Morag’s pickup.
She rushed headlong towards him.
Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her.

“I thought you and Morag were trading cars th
is morning.”

“We were supposed to,”
Anna cried against his shoulder,
“Morag’s missing.
We’re organi
z
ing a search party.
I came
home to change and collect the dogs
.
I thought they might be useful.”

“Hey, back up.”
He held her at arms’ length.
“What do you mean, Morag i
s missing?
I thought you said she went to pick her husb
and up from the train station.”

Anna took a deep steadying breath.
“She was supposed to, b
ut
she’s not been
seen since she left the hotel yesterday afternoon.”

“I see.
What about the
Land Rover?
Anybody seen it?”