‘I need to get this kilt off,’ he told Jake. ‘Did I ever wolf-whistle a woman for having great legs? Kill me now. I deserve it. Everyone’s staring at my knees.’
‘They’re staring at the whole package,’ Jake said. ‘And you can forget any sympathy from this direction. You’re not wearing size twenty purple and red shoes. My feet are killing me.’
‘Did Susie tell me you were a surgeon in the city before you were married?’ Hamish said curiously. ‘What on earth made you move here?’
‘Life,’ Jake said, and Hamish looked out over the fairground and shuddered.
‘Not my idea of life.’
‘And your idea of life would be…’
‘Control,’ Hamish said forcefully. ‘Knowing what I’m waking up to every morning.’
‘I know what I’m waking up to every morning,’ Jake said peaceably. ‘Chaos. I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
‘Poles apart,’ Hamish said morosely. Then he thought of another issue. ‘And what the hell are you about, giving Susie a dog? Hasn’t she got enough to cope with? She’s got to make her way in America, get a career going. How’s she going to handle a dog?’
‘The heart expands to fit all comers,’ Jake said and grinned. ‘I’m a doctor, you know. That’s a very medical sort of diagnosis.’
‘Sure it does,’ Hamish snapped. ‘Susie’s now been loaded with a mutt who she’ll have to love whether she wants to or not.’
‘Love isn’t the same as provide for,’ Jake said, looking at him curiously. ‘It’s a bit different. Sure, it means more work but to not accept it…’
‘You’re telling me there are any real advantages in her getting a dog?’
‘Kirsty’s her twin,’ Jake said definitely. ‘If Kirsty says she needs a dog, then she needs a dog. She’s lonely as hell.’
‘Dogs don’t fix loneliness.’
‘They do a bit,’ Jake said. ‘Anyway, the dog wasn’t my decision, mate. Kirsty thinks it’s a good idea and getting between the twins is like dividing the Red Sea. It’d take a force bigger than I have at my disposal. They’re inseparable.’
‘But Susie’s going home.’
‘There is that,’ Jake said. He surveyed Hamish thoughtfully and Hamish lifted his beer and studied the dregs.
‘If you look at me like that for any more than two more seconds I’m walking out of here and I’ll keep walking till I reach America,’ he said softly, and Jake grinned.
‘Fair enough. You’ve copped a bit of matchmaking, then.’
‘Just a bit. The whole fairground had gone into
‘Well, it would be great.’
‘Except I like my women self-contained, clever, cool and sassy.’
‘Susie’s clever and sassy.’
‘Four or nothing,’ he said, and drained his beer. ‘I’m engaged to Marcia. She’ll be here the day after tomorrow.’
Jake raised an eyebrow. Sussing him. And grinning. ‘First I’ve heard of it. But it’s no business of mine, mate,’ he added, pushing himself to his size twenty feet. ‘I have two hundred more balloons to disperse before I’m off duty. One more beer and I’ll let the whole lot go skyward. Which might not be such a bad thing, if I didn’t have three womenfolk who’d give me a hard time for the rest of my life. They’d probably make me blow up two hundred more.’
‘Marcia would never give me a hard time over a balloon.’
‘Lucky you,’ Jake said. ‘Or unlucky you. Depending on which way you want to look at it, but I sure as hell know what way I’m looking at it. I’ll leave you to your very important phone call.’
‘My…?’
‘If Marcia’s coming in two days, hadn’t you better let her know?’ Jake suggested. ‘If you’re arming the battlements it’s always a good idea to let the armour know what’s required.’
What was it about this place? He’d landed in some chaotic muddle of people who seemed to think they knew him because his name was Douglas. Who seemed to think they knew more about his life than he did.
Which was clearly ridiculous.
But Jake had said he needed to make a phone call-and Jake was right.
Calculation. Midday here. Eight at night there. Fine.
Marcia answered on the first ring. Still at her desk, then.
‘Hi,’ she said warmly. ‘How’s the valuation going?’
‘I’m a bit distracted,’ he told her. He’d emerged from the hubbub of noise within the beer tent, he’d retreated to the side of the marquee but he could still see the colourful chaos that was the fair. ‘Our pumpkin just won a major prize.’
There was a moment’s silence. Then… ‘Well, hooray for our pumpkin. Hamish, are you feeling well?’
‘Are you absolutely imperatively busy at the moment?’
‘I’m always absolutely imperatively busy.’
‘And if you dropped everything and came here…’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘The widow,’ he said, and his desperation must have sounded down the wire because there was laughter.
‘Oh, darling, I did wonder. You’re the heir and she’s the dowager. So there’s a bit of matchmaking?’
‘Not on our part. I mean…she doesn’t want it any more than I do. But the townspeople do, and it’d make it much easier to keep everything on a business footing if you appeared.’
There was a moment’s silence. He could imagine her scrolling down the screen of her electronic diary, juggling appointments. Figuring out imperatives.
‘I can spare you three days,’ she said at last. ‘There’s a financial review in Hong Kong starting next Friday I was tempted to attend. Hong Kong’s almost your time zone so I could get over jet-lag with you. I have no intention of being in Hong Kong if my mind’s not totally focussed. There’s some heavy stuff going down. Oil futures. It could be really big.’
‘So that means…’
‘I’ll be with you Monday your time. I’ll fly out again on Thursday. Will that solve your problems?’
He stared around him. Oil futures in Hong Kong.
One of Jake’s twins-Alice?-was walking toward him carrying a hot dog. She was leaving a trail of ketchup in her wake. She was beaming and holding it out to him as if it was a truly amazing gift.
Marcia here?
She had to come. He needed grounding. Fast.
‘That’ll be great,’ he said weakly.
‘I’ll let you know the arrangements. Is there anything else you need now? I’m in a rush.’
‘No.’
‘Then ’bye.’ Click.
‘Marcia’s coming,’ he told Alice as he accepted her hot dog, and she gave him a dubious smile.
‘Is Marcia nice?’
‘Very nice.’
‘Does she like hot dogs?’
‘I guess.’
‘My Aunty Susie says you have to come,’ she said. ‘The wood chopping’s about to start and the laird always has first chop.’
‘He’s a bit of all right.’
The woodchopping had seemed just what Hamish had needed. His hands were still a bit sore from digging but he put that aside. The sight of logs, waiting to be chopped, meant that he could vent his spleen in a way that didn’t
