Page 78 of The Christmas Highland Lodge

I flashed her an embarrassed look and pulled my hands away from the keyboard. ‘Oh, bloody hell. Not you as well.’ I slumped backwards in the dining room chair. ‘And I was congratulating myself about how discreet I had been.’

‘What do you mean?’ She clicked the dining room door closed behind her and took up a chair opposite me. ‘Has someone else guessed too? That you have feelings for Blake, I mean?’

‘My mum rang me after hearing about Blake and the couple not returning yet from their hike.’ I allowed my hands to splay on the gleaming wood dining room table.

‘Ah.’ Kim played with her huge emerald dress ring. ‘So, she noticed it too?’ She shook her head. ‘It’s obvious to the world and his dog that you and Blake are attracted to one another.’

I rubbed my face. ‘You can’t keep anything quiet in Craig Brae.’

‘Nope. Well, not from me anyway. I have a sixth sense about these things.’ She gave me a small smile. ‘You two both need your heads banging together.’

My phone let out a ping to signal I had received a text message. I snatched it up, willing it to be from Blake, telling me that he and his two companions were frozen, exhausted but otherwise all right. It wasn’t. It was from Mum.

Just been told by Mrs Crill that the rescue team members, led by Malcolm, met at their rendezvous point of Loch Strathe over an hour ago and were on their way to conduct their search.

Thought you would want to know.

Love you and remember what I said.

Carpe Diem and all that!

Mum XXX

I raised my eyes from my phone screen and relayed the message to Kim.

‘See?’ she twinkled out of her sky-blue eyes. ‘It’s not just me telling you that. Your mum is a very wise woman.’

I was about to reply when a flicker of movement out of the dining room window caught my eye. There were still swirls of snow being caught by the breeze, but I was able to make out three weary figures making their way through it.

As they approached Rowan Moore House, I realised the three individuals were dressed in waterproof trousers, climbing boots and insulated jackets. Rucksacks bobbed up and down on their backs.

Behind them followed several people dressed in the same way.

I rose from my chair and gestured out of the window. Kim followed my hand. My heart jumped. Was it them? Was it Blake and the young couple? I was scared to get too optimistic.

But as they grew nearer, I could make out Blake’s silhouette through the snow.

Relief whirled through me. ‘Thank goodness for that,’ I blurted. ‘It’s them. They’re back with the rescue team.’

I raced out of the dining room, almost colliding with Max in the hallway. ‘It’s Blake. They’re all ok!’

And I bolted down the steps of Rowan Moore House without thinking to throw my coat on.

Chapter Nineteen

‘We found them sheltering halfway up Ben Linn,’ explained Malcolm from under his waterproof hood. He batted snowflakes out of his grey, crinkly eyes. ‘In Looter’s Cave.’

Malcolm gave his head a shake, making his hood crackle. ‘We told them we would take them to get checked out at the hospital, but all three of them refused, the stubborn buggers.’ Malcolm jerked his head back, indicating to a young blond man. ‘Luckily, young Campbell here is a locum GP, so he checked them over instead.’ He narrowed his eyes at Blake and his two companions. ‘They’re cold and knackered, but fine apart from that.’

My head snapped from Malcolm to Blake and then to the embracing couple, Caitlyn and Dylan. My emotions were tearing through me like a hurricane.

I noticed there were smudges of weariness under Blake’s dark eyes.

‘It was too bad up there to start making our way back, so we stayed in the cave, hoping that the snow would start to ease off,’ said Blake. He surveyed me with concern from under his woolly hat. ‘You’re not wearing a coat, Lottie.’

I was too preoccupied to process what Blake was saying. My thoughts were scrambling around, drinking in the sight of him and the relief that he and his companions were safe and well.

My imagination had placed Blake down a rock face, incapacitated with a broken leg or blundering around, weak and confused in a snowstorm.