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He snaked his way back through to her, a pale pink dress held in a plastic cover in his hands. Her heart started to beat a little faster and she was sure her eyes must have been as wide as saucers. ‘No. You can’t have.’
‘I can.’ He swept the dress past her in pleasure, holding it up under the light. ‘A genuine, replica Liesl dress.’ She’d never seen him look so pleased with himself.
Laurie could hardly contain her excitement. She reached out her hands to touch the dress, then snatched them back again.
Robin lifted his eyebrows; it was almost as if he understood. He slipped the dress out of its protective cover and held the hanger in one hand and let the dress rest on his forearm.
It was the palest pink chiffon, as light as a whisper. Elbow-length chiffon sleeves, a tiny bow in the middle of the gathered bodice, and a knee-length swishy skirt. It was exactly the same as the dress in the film.
There were no sequins. No floor-length glamour. No jewels. But beauty was in the eye of the beholder and it was the most perfect dress she’d ever seen.
The colour was so pale. On so many other women the colour would completely wash them out. But Laurie had slightly sallow skin, and with her dark eyes and long brunette curls there was no doubt it would suit her to perfection.
‘Will it fit me?’ She was almost too scared to ask. She had curves. She certainly wasn’t the tiny frame of the actress who’d played Liesl in the film.
Robin nodded with pride. ‘I promise, it will be a perfect fit.’
She held out her hands. She had to touch it and she couldn’t wait to try it on.
Her feet flew up the stairs even quicker than she’d come down. She slammed the door behind her and stripped off her clothes in an instant, sliding her arms through the delicate material.
It fell over her head as light as a feather. Her eyes were closed and she spun around to where the full-length mirror was, praying inside her head that it would look okay.
She opened her eyes. It looked more than okay. It was more perfect than she could have imagined. It was almost as if it had been made especially for her.
She glanced at her watch. She’d only half an hour to get ready. She pulled the dress over her head again and switched on the shower. It only took her a few minutes to put her long hair in sticky rollers. There was a knock at the door.
She panicked and grabbed a towel to hold in front of herself in her undressed state. She opened the door just a crack. It was Robin, holding two pairs of shoes in his hands.
He rolled his eyes at her. ‘You dashed off so quickly I didn’t have time to give you some shoes. Take your pick.’ He held up the first pair. ‘Nude shoes—’ then held up the other ‘—or gold sparkly sandals. Not strictly Liesl,’ he whispered, ‘but aren’t they gorgeous?’
He set them on the floor just outside her door. ‘I’ll leave them here.’ He sashayed back down the corridor as she clutched at her towel and grabbed the shoes.
She could hear the strains of music downstairs. The string quartet had obviously arrived and was setting up. Robin had also left her a card with her instructions for her character this evening. She hadn’t even glanced at it and it made her feel guilty. He’d obviously just pushed the boat out to give her what she wanted. The least she could do was try and fulfil her duties for this evening.
But the shower was calling and time was ticking onwards. She didn’t want to be late.
She got ready in double-quick time, pulling out her rollers at the last possible second and letting her curls tumble around her shoulders. At the last minute she fastened her gold locket around her neck, giving it a little kiss. ‘You’ve no idea what’s going on, Dad,’ she whispered. ‘I just hope you’d approve.’
She slipped one foot into one of the nude shoes and pulled the straps of one of the gold sandals over the other. A quick glimpse in the full-length mirror told her everything she wanted to know.
The nude shoes were abandoned and the straps on the sandals quickly fastened into place. A little brush of eye shadow and mascara and some rose-coloured lipstick and she was ready.
She read over the instructions on the card once more. She really didn’t have much to do this evening. A simple conversation with one of the other guests, which would obviously lead them to think her a suspect. Robin was planting red herrings all over the place.
She didn’t really care. It wasn’t important. Not to her.
She wanted to enjoy herself. She wanted to enjoy spending the evening in Annick Castle when it would look at its finest. Where she could imagine bygone eras and what the nights had been like for the people who used to be residents here.
Where she could spend some more time with Callan McGregor.
Where she could try and figure out what was going on in her head whenever she was around him.
Tiny pieces were fitting into place. Callan had opened up a little, but after Marion’s telling comments she finally felt as if she could start to appreciate the loyalty he felt towards Angus McLean.
It was exactly the same as the loyalty she felt towards her father. She had one final glance out of the window towards the sea and then walked across the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
She walked along the corridor. How would she feel about going back to her flat in London? Being surrounded by the compressed air of the city again instead of the fresh coastal winds of the Scottish Highlands?
Her feet carried her along the corridor. One foot in front of the other.
One foot in front of the other. Much as her life had been for the last eight years. But was that enough? Didn’t she want more out of life?
Her eyes had been opened in the last few days to a whole host of possibilities—both personal and professional.
How would it feel to get up every morning feeling excited about going to work? How would it feel to be doing something else entirely?
She reached the top of the curved stairways and looked down to the magnificent hallway. Which set of stairs, one or the other? And how did you choose?
She glanced at the red-dressed woman in the portrait at the top of the stairs. Her haughty expression hadn’t changed. But there was more. Something else when you looked a little closer. Something in her eyes. Something pleading. Was it desperation?
There was a shift in her peripheral vision.
Callan. He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her. It didn’t matter which set of stairs she walked down. The outcome would be the same.
It was almost as if someone had turned on a glistening chandelier in her head.
The last few days had been the oddest of her life.
Relief. That was what she’d felt as soon as she’d set foot in Annick Castle.
No tension headaches. No aching joints or sleepless nights. Her stomach coiled at the realisation that was coming over her.
She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t go back to Bertram and Bain. No matter what happened here.
Just the recognition in her brain felt like a huge weight off her shoulders. The logistics of how she might do that were too complicated for her to figure out herself. She had ongoing cases—responsibilities to clients. It was only fair that she work a period of notice.
The fear of stepping outside her ordered life was terrifying. She really needed to speak to someone about it. But who? Most of her friends were in the profession, and they would be horrified and try to talk her out of it.
Callan. He was the only person she could talk to about it.
He was the only person she wanted to talk to about this.
And there he was—waiting for her. Everything about this just seemed right.
She took the first step.
CHAPTER NINE
CALLAN WAS AGITATED. He’d spent the last five minutes walking about the drawing room, dining room and kitchen. Searc
hing everywhere for Laurie, but she wasn’t here yet.
Everyone else seemed to be accounted for. Most were sipping drinks and listening to the string quartet—who were surprisingly good. Marion was a blur in the kitchen; service would begin shortly. So where was Laurie?
For a horrible fleeting second he wondered if she’d decided to leave. To get away from Annick Castle and to get away from him.
She’d left that question hanging in the air between them. She’d been disappointed he couldn’t acknowledge what was happening between them. And he’d been disappointed too.
