Page 55 of A Scottish Highland Surprise

Xander lifted his eyes to Jake after a moment. “Very rewarding. Well, it is when you’re confronted by beautiful work that is genuine and heartfelt.” Xander let his gaze travel across the bobbing heads of the customers admiring the crockery-filled shelves and settle on Jake’s painting. “Still, we can’t be fortunate all the time, can we?”

Ouch! Dear me! If the temperature plummeted any more in here, there would be polar bears and penguins arriving.

I remained standing between the two of them, my head turning as though I was at a tennis match. My diminutive stature was dwarfed by their towering frames. What on earth was going on between them?

Xander straightened his silky black waistcoat and snatched his mobile out of his back trouser pocket. He ignored Jake again and trained all his attention on me. “Thank you for the invitation, Sophie. Your shop looks terrific and I wish you every success.”

I felt a pang of something that I could have sworn was disappointment. “You’re leaving already?”

“I’m going to the opening of a new artist’s gallery exhibition in Edinburgh.”

He stalked past Jake, his mouth carrying a disapproving flicker and ignored him. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Jake’s face broke into a self-satisfied grin. “Bye, Xander. Good to see you again.”

I noticed Xander’s retreating shoulders tense under his shirt as he departed.

I turned to a smug Jake. “How have things been? Busy?”

“Very, lots of commissions,” he answered airily. “Sorry I haven’t been in touch the last couple of weeks but you know how it is.”

I frowned up at him. That was a vague explanation. I gestured over my shoulder after Xander. “What was all that about?”

Jake’s eyes widened with faux innocence. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The cash register let out a series of satisfying rings and dings behind me. I studied him. “Please don’t think I’m being nosey, but the atmosphere between you two was dreadful. What’s going on?”

Jake leant against the corner of the counter as if he owned the place. He furnished himself with a fresh cup of tea from the nearby trestle table, then glinted at me as he took a languid sip. “I didn’t know you knew Frozen North.”

“I have got to know Xander through an acquaintance of my late grandmother’s. And what did you just call him?”

Jake’s mouth was twitching with scorn. “Frozen North. The guy is incapable of showing any emotion. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”

I surprised myself by rallying to Xander’s defence. “I think that’s unfair. I mean … okay … he can be a bit guarded but…”

Jake let out a bark of laughter that made a couple of ladies hovering by the Wedgwood spin round in surprise. “That’s an understatement.” He moved in a little closer to me. “The guy is an emotional vacuum.” A loaded smile appeared on his face. “So, what’s the story with you two?”

“There is no story,” I insisted in a crisp tone. “Xander and I have been working on a—” I drew myself up. I didn’t want to tell Jake about the peacock tea set or the letter. It seemed private somehow. The fewer people who knew about it, the better.

I gave what I hoped was a casual shrug. “Xander was helping me with a couple of old tea sets of my Gran’s. You know, getting them valued.”

“Oh, right.” Jake accepted my hurried explanation. He shot me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Just be careful of old Frozen, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Jake dragged a pensive hand over the top of his cropped haircut, which shone like spun gold in the sunshine sliding through the shop window. “Oh, just forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

An unsettling sensation quivered through me. “No, come on. Please tell me. What is it?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Jake, you can’t say something out of the blue like that and then not explain.”

He rubbed at his shaved chin. “Look, we can’t talk properly here. What are you doing this evening?”

“This evening?” I repeated like a parrot, as Mum eased past me, clutching a box containing one of the sunflower-sprigged teapots for a young mum and her baby in a pushchair.

“Yes. I thought we could go out to dinner. I can tell you all about old Northy boy.”