Page 32 of A Scottish Highland Hideaway

Ezra looked awkward. “What’s your point, Bailey?”

“What are you running away from?”

His jaw hardened and he looked away, an odd expression charging across his craggy features. “I’m not running away from anything.”

He wasn’t telling me the whole story. Zach’s reference to some sort of scandal that Ezra was supposedly caught up in, nudged at the corners of my mind again. “I think you’re running away to escape having to take responsibility for whatever it is that you’ve done.”

Ezra’s Adam Apple bobbed up and down. He blinked back at me, his features thunderous. He jutted out his chin. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, believe me, I do.”

There was an icy silence for a few moments.

Ezra closed off. He stood up. “On reflection, I don’t know if I should go ahead with having you supply your floristry services.”

I stared up at him, wounded.

He thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “Under the circumstances, I feel it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Bubbles of hurt exploded inside me. I’d expected Ezra to be stunned about what I’d just told him but to be so cruel. So dismissive. I struggled to maintain a level of dignified calm in my voice. I got to my feet.

“Well, that’s your prerogative, of course.”

I made a noise that was a cross between a grunt and a sigh. It was all I could manage.

“I apologise if you think I’ve overstepped the mark, but those women asked me for my help and I did what I thought was best at the time.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice. “I wanted to tell you straight away. That’s why I came here.” I buried a ball of upset rising up in my throat. I steadied myself and carried on. “The funny thing is that Caroline and Laura reminded me a bit of myself.”

Ezra cast his light gaze downwards for a few seconds towards his cream carpet. Then he scanned my face.

“If I hadn’t been trustworthy or if I’d been a fraud, I wouldn’t be standing talking to you like this right now. I’d be blabbing everything to the media.”

I began to march out of his panelled sitting room, but then stopped, swung round and strode back towards him. “If you stopped for just one moment to think about this, you might just realise that you can trust me, but I do understand how difficult it is to take that step, when you’ve been let down so often.”

I pushed out my chin, trying to stop the swell of hurt. “Must be such a shock for you, that the world doesn’t solely revolve around Ezra King after all.”

Ezra’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he set his jaw. “Please cancel my booking with you. I won’t be requiring your floristry services for the house or my party. I’ll make alternative arrangements. Oh, and I can deal with Zach Stern myself. No need for dramatics with Joshua. It was doomed to failure anyway.”

“Fine.” I gritted my teeth. “You do what you think is best.”

Ezra drew himself up.

He looked as if he were debating whether to speak again, but then a shadow passed over his face.

I marched out across the tiled hall. Jackson was glancing at his mobile as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He darted forward and opened the front door for me.

My hurt and anger burned white hot as I drove back to my shop.

Chapter Eight

That evening, I closed my curtains and fired on my table lamps.

I wanted to call Marcus back. It was only just after 10pm and I felt guilty I hadn’t taken his call earlier but I had been preoccupied making dinner. I’d also still been stewing over what had happened with Ezra. At least Zach hadn’t appeared today, but that in itself was troubling me. I wondered what on earth he might be up to.

Marcus answered after a few rings.

I sank down onto my sofa and stretched out my legs. My toes uncurled themselves and I sighed under my breath.

“So, what’s your latest news?” I let out a snort. “Tell me something funny. Mum hasn’t roped you into baking again for the Women’s Institute, has she?”