‘Leave the squirrel alone, Trev. We don’t have time and he won’t appreciate you being friendly—’
Out of sight, Trevor’s barks became louder and more insistent.
‘Oh no. I hope you haven’t caught one …’ Jay stepped over the hedge into Lottie’s garden. A moment later he heard a man shouting and stopped dead.
‘Can you get him off me!’
Connor was pinned against Lottie’s back door by Trevor. ‘He’s like a wild beast!’ he screeched.
‘Trevor!’ Jay called. ‘Come here now!’
With a final sniff at Connor’s jeans, Trevor slunk back to Jay.
Connor glared at Trevor. ‘Thank feck for that.’ He took a tentative step away from the door. ‘I thought he was going to have me for breakfast.’
‘He wouldn’t have hurt you. He probably only looking out for Lottie, thinking you were an intruder,’ Jay said, as his mind went into overdrive: why would Connor be creeping out of Lottie’s house on the dawn of his wedding day. Or had he only just turned up?
Any rational explanation – apart from one – faded when Lottie emerged onto the porch, wearing only a dressing gown. ‘Connor,’ she said. ‘I told you to leave quietly.’
Her face fell when she saw him. ‘Jay … I didn’t expect to see you so early.’
‘I was taking Trev for a walk. It’s going to be a busy day.’ He directed this at Connor, who was smirking now he was safe. ‘I thought Trevor had scented a squirrel …’
‘No, it was Connor. He had to stay the night here because of the snow …’ Lottie said, clutching her dressing gown tighter. ‘I was going to find a way of getting him home. He turned up after midnight,’ Lottie added, an edge of desperation in her voice. She looked like she’d been awake all night to Jay, the shadows under her eyes contrasting with her pale face. She threw a desperate glance at Connor, as if wanting him to help her out.
‘I had a few too many drinks and ended up here,’ Connor said.
Lottie glared at him.
Jay was still in shock at seeing Connor emerge from Lottie’s cottage, so cocky and blasé. ‘It’s your business, but you won’t get out in your car,’ he said to her alone. No matter what had gone on between her and Connor, Jay could only think of keeping her safe.
‘I realise that now. Connor was going out to check how bad it was.’
‘If you really want to leave, I’ll give you a lift in the truck,’ Jay said to Connor.
‘Thanks, that would be a great idea, if you don’t mind,’ Lottie said, glowering at Connor, as if she was angry with him for being caught creeping out of the cottage. ‘And the sooner the better. Connor has to get ready for the wedding. I think we’re going to need more help with transport for the rest of the bridal party too, if you can.’
Jay hesitated. He didn’t give a monkey’s if Connor made it to his wedding or not. Privately, he thought Keegan was way better off without him, but that wasn’t his business. No matter how broken his trust in Lottie was, no matter what she and Connor might have been up to, he was still prepared to bust a gut to help her.
‘I’ll sort something out. Let me take Trevor for a quick run and I’ll make some calls. I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes?’ He forced himself to speak to Connor. ‘I’ll give you a lift home.’
‘How will Keegan get here?’ Connor whined, without a word of thanks. ‘Lottie mentioned a tractor.’ He pulled a face.
Jay restrained the urge to swear. ‘We’ll think of something.’
‘OK. Connor, come back inside!’ Lottie snapped.
She vanished inside, leaving Jay to wonder exactly what had gone on in the cottage. Once again, he forced himself to consider the possibility that things weren’t as he feared and Lottie was telling the truth. He couldn’t imagine that Lottie would want to rekindle her relationship with an arse like Connor – but he wouldn’t put anything past the man.
Connor lingered a moment after Lottie had shot back indoors, obviously desperate not to be seen by anyone else. ‘Thanks. You know how awkward this could look with Keegan if she found out that I’d – um – spent the night here?’ He smirked. ‘People do jump to conclusions but you know what it’s like. We all do stuff we regret when women are involved. No one’s perfect, are they?’
Connor winked and Jay’s stomach turned over. Surely, surely, Lottie wouldn’t have slept with him? Not after their kiss … The guy had to be winding Jay up?
‘It’s none of my business …’
‘Thanks all the same. You’ve got me out of a hole.’
‘Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for Lottie. No one else. Trevor!’
It was best if he walked away before he told Connor exactly what he thought of him. That would really wake up the Firholme residents. Jay strode off, taking Trevor on a different route than he’d planned. They headed for the lane that led from the estate entrance and out to the public road.
The gritter hadn’t been able to reach the public road yet, so it was thick with a layer of as-yet undisturbed snow. Trevor romped ahead, his black head vanishing and reappearing amid the drifts. No matter how often Jay told himself that Connor had been drunk and simply wandered all that way through the snow to Lottie’s place uninvited, the worst-case scenario that she had invited Connor to the Bothy and wanted him to stay over still couldn’t be magicked away. He tried to force his mind on addressing the immediate problem: transporting Connor home, and then the bridal party back to Firholme.
After a ten-minute outing to enable Trevor to complete his morning ‘ablutions’, Jay took him home, wiped the snow from his coat and dried him. He then settled him in the kitchen with his breakfast before he headed out again. It was now light and he had to admit, under a blue sky,
