Page 93 of A Scottish Highland Surprise

The office phone rang and so I excused myself to slip away and answer it, but it turned out to be a cold call for double glazing. “That’s the third time in the last few days that lot have called,” I moaned, making my way back out to the shop at the sound of the dinging doorbell.

Oh good. Another customer.

I drew up. My heart somersaulted.

It wasn’t another customer.

It was Xander.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Cass and Ophelia lingered behind Xander.

Ophelia had guilt scrawled all over her face.

Xander remained by the counter, regarding me out of his hypnotic eyes. “Hi there.”

I realised my mouth had flopped open. It must have looked attractive. I clamped it shut again. “Hello.”

What the hell was going on? Why was Xander here? And why was Ophelia looking like a child caught stealing biscuits from a cookie jar? She was shuffling towards the door in her snazzy trainers.

“I had better be off,” she blurted, her hand shooting out for the handle. “Things to do; people to see. You know, you think you’re going to take things easier when you retire…”

Her odd behaviour and constant vigilance at the window were beginning to make sense. I crossed my arms. “Wait a moment, Ophelia. What have you been up to?”

But she fluttered her fingers in a breezy goodbye wave and darted off into the village.

Cass let out a self- conscious cough. “I’ll just be in the store room.” She slithered past me.

Xander glanced down at his desert boots and then back up at me. A lock of black hair tumbled forwards onto his brow and he pushed it back. “Well, I’m so glad this is in no way awkward.”

I was doing my best to control the swirling sensations in my stomach. “How can I help you?” I asked in a strangulated voice that didn’t sound like me. I cringed. Good grief! I sounded like a sales assistant from the 1950s. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Look, Xander, I don’t know what Ophelia told you.” I found myself looking past his shoulder, wondering if Nadia was with him.

“She said a lot actually,” he confessed, taking a step towards me. “She’s a very wise lady.”

I found myself lacing and unlacing my fingers in front of me. When I did it for what felt like the twentieth time, I thrust my hands behind my back like I was Prince Charles. “Oh?”

I indicated the array of crockery set out on the shelves. “So why are you here, Xander? Is it to buy a gift for Nadia? Because we have just had a delivery of gorgeous Portmeirion porcelain…”

Xander moved closer still. His thick, dark brows gathered in confusion. “Nadia? Why would I be buying something for her?”

Before I could answer, Xander’s expression cleared. “Ah. Of course. That’s because she answered my phone when you rang the other night. Ophelia mentioned it.” A small, hesitant smile tugged at the corners of his generous mouth.

Ophelia had mentioned it?

I wrapped my arms around myself again for something to do. My cheeks were stinging from what felt like forty-degree sunburn. “Look, I have no idea what Ophelia has and hasn’t told you. She probably meant well, but she shouldn’t have said anything.”

Xander towered over me in my little shop. “Oh, Ophelia told me rather a lot.”

I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.

I tightened my grip around myself, worried that at one point I might restrict my own breathing. He wasn’t making this easy for me. I hoped my expression didn’t reveal the tumult inside me. I felt as if I was riding the world’s most thrilling rollercoaster. “And what exactly did Ophelia say?”

Xander flicked me a look from under his blueberry-black lashes. “That you thought, because Nadia answered my mobile, we were back together.”

Oh, Ophelia! What did you think you were doing? “It’s none of my business,” I answered, my face flaming.

“Isn’t it?” he asked, moving closer.