crack. Marcia was on the phone, her laptop on her knees, listening intently to the person at the end of the line and staring at her screen. She looked up briefly, saw it was him and blew him a kiss, using the phone instead of fingers.
He wasn’t wanted. He closed the door and went to his own room.
Bed.
Sleep?
It was nowhere to be found.
Why had he kissed her? It wasn’t as if he could possibly take this any further. It was so unsuitable. Hell, if he married Susie she’d expect…
More than a telephone kiss good-night?
It could never work. He thought of the house he’d grown up in, a house full of hysterical women who had used their emotions to manipulate everyone around them. He’d fought so hard to get away from that. To catapult himself back into it…
Susie wouldn’t try to manipulate him.
No, but she couldn’t help it. He thought of finishing work and heading home as he usually did, exhausted beyond belief. Collapsing into bed before getting up to do some hard gym work before the next day at the office. How would Susie fit into that?
She’d hate it. He’d hate it. He wouldn’t do it.
What would he do instead?
Cut it out, he told himself fiercely into the night. You’ve spent the last thirty years building up the life you want and to toss it all away for one…one…
It wouldn’t be one, he told himself grimly. It’d be more. Susie came with attachments. Rose. Taffy. And more. She’d want more.
And they’d all be emotional. He thought of Taffy sitting on the grass and howling her lungs out because she couldn’t get what she wanted.
He grinned.
No. Be serious. Get up and go see what’s Marcia working on.
She wouldn’t thank him for the interference. She was fiercely independent.
Good. Great.
Life was fine. Go to sleep.
Ha.
He lay for another half-hour or so, listening to the soft hush-hush of the sea. The castle was quiet.
Maybe he could go down and chat to Ernst and Eric.
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. He didn’t have to resort to tin-plated armour, he thought. It’d be Marcia.
‘Come in,’ he called, and wondered why he felt empty. As though Marcia coming in was going to expose something he didn’t want exposed.
But it wasn’t Marcia. It was Susie, peering round the door, her face worried in the moonlight.
‘Sorry to wake you.’
‘You didn’t wake me.’ He was half out of bed. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I just… Is Taffy here?’
‘No.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Sure I’m sure.’ He frowned. ‘My bedroom door was shut when I came upstairs and it’s shut now. She couldn’t have got in.’
‘Oh. Sorry, then.’
‘Is she lost?’ He was out of bed, crossing the floor, concerned.
‘No,’ she said, urgently, stopping him in his tracks. ‘There’s no need for you to come.’
‘But if you can’t find her…’
‘She’ll be somewhere sound asleep,’ she said. ‘This place is too big. We’ll find her when she wakes up.’
‘But you were looking for her now.’
‘I thought I’d take her outside for a piddle before I went to bed. But if she’s curled up somewhere I can’t find her then I’ll have to wait until she wakes up.’
‘But…how will you know?’
‘I’d imagine Taffy is very good at letting us know where she is when she’s hungry,’ she said, and he could tell that she was making a huge effort to keep her voice light. Damn, he shouldn’t have kissed her. It had brought in all these tensions that he didn’t have a clue what to do with. ‘You’ve heard her howl.’
‘So I have,’ he said. ‘But-’
‘Go back to bed, Hamish,’ she told him.
‘Have you checked Marcia’s room?’
‘Yes. She’s been working all the time. She’s still working now. I thought… Anyway, if you hear Taffy raising a riot in the wee small hours you’ll know what it is. I’ve warned Marcia.’
‘Let me help you find her.’
‘No,’ she said flatly. ‘Please, Hamish, go back to bed.’
‘I’d like to help.’
‘I don’t want you helping.’ She hesitated. ‘Hamish, I need to be by myself. For the rest of the time I’m here. I’m not sure why what happened tonight happened, but it was dumb and meaningless and I need to back right off. Good night, Hamish.’
She closed the door before he could respond.
He should follow. He could help her search. The thought of Susie searching for her pup in this vast castle left him uneasy.
The thought of Susie doing anything alone left him uneasy.
What had she said? What happened tonight was dumb and meaningless?
Of course it was. They both knew it. Susie was a woman who was controlled by her emotions, and he…well, he knew where emotions belonged.
They didn’t belong with Susie!
‘Taffy?’
If Hamish heard, he’d come down and help. He mustn’t hear. But where was a little dog out here in this huge garden? And the cliffs so near… Taffy had gone over the road to the beach with them so she knew the way. If she’d tried…
There was only one path down to the beach. If she’d become disoriented and ended up on the rocks…
Should she ask Hamish for help?
No. It was as she’d assured him. The night was calm and still and if Taffy needed anything she only had to howl. She’d be snoozing in some obscure corner, and if Hamish came down and helped her search for a puppy who didn’t need finding then they might…they might…
She daren’t ask Hamish for help. But she needed to find Taffy. She needed to hug her.
She needed to hug someone.
She was bone weary. She had a huge day tomorrow. She should be in bed right now.
Instead, she was just going to walk over the road to the beginning of the path to the beach. Just to check.
‘Taffy?’
Seven a.m. Hamish walked into the kitchen, wanting coffee, and Jake was standing at the kitchen bench. Fully clothed. Pouring coffee.
Maybe it was a guy thing but walking in on a man who was fully dressed and looked ready for business-hard, physical business-when wearing boxer shorts and nothing else made Hamish feel a bit like retreating. Fast. He eyed Jake’s workman-like moleskins and heavy-duty shirt with misgivings.
‘Morning?’ he said cautiously, and Jake swivelled to stare at him.
This wasn’t a stare of ‘Ooh, who’s wearing ancient boxers?’. It was a stare of active dislike.
