Page 80 of A Scottish Highland Hideaway

He raised his eyes to mine. My breathing quickened as he took a couple of steps towards me. I could make out the sexy planes of his full mouth, the long sweep of his nose and the high angles of his cheekbones.

Zach towered over me, his eyes drifting to my mouth. My heart pummelled my ribs. Then he drew back. A defeated expression took him over. “Look, I’m sorry, Bailey. I can’t do this.”

I felt like I’d been knifed in the chest.

There was nothing more to be said. If he couldn’t get past this, if he couldn’t open up, then there was no point.

It took me a few moments to compose myself.

“I’m sorry too.” I stumbled over the words, blinking back the pain. “I’m sorry that you feel you can’t talk to me. Still, no worries. Take yourself off to Glasgow and I’ll help Ezra. You don’t need to bother yourself with that.” I couldn’t help the bitterness that crept into my tone.

Zach reacted as though I’d just thrown off my clothes and danced around Heather Moore to the sound of “I’m Too Sexy”.

“But you can’t,” he protested. “Not on your own.”

“Who says I can’t?”

Zach’s dark brows knitted together.

“Bailey, this isn’t a good idea. It could be dangerous.”

My emotions felt like they’d been stomped over and shattered into pieces. “Yes, it could be, but I’m not going to abandon my friend. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be careful.”

Zach moved to say something else, but I turned on my heel, biting back tears, and marched back inside my shop.

When I glanced over my shoulder, Zach was gone.

Chapter Seventeen

Christmas was now just a few days away, which meant that Ezra’s party was rushing towards us at an alarming speed.

Mum made a few flapping phone calls to me. “And don’t forget that you’re coming home with your brother to have Christmas with us.”

Marcus. We’d exchanged a couple of brief calls and texts recently, but nothing more. He’d been really busy with work, as had I. And I still felt complicit in a lie because I knew why Jacob had left him and about Mum’s part in it, so talking to him now was an uncomfortable and guilt-inducing experience. God, it didn’t bear thinking about if Marcus discovered what Mum had done, even though Samuel asked her for the money in the first place.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” asked Ezra.

I glanced across at him in the passenger seat of my car. “I’ve already told you as much as I know. My mother called last night and suggested I take you over to Bannock House. It’s so she can meet you – she’s very excited.”

Ezra cocked a cynical brow. “I understand that, and it’s a very good idea. But what I’m referring to is the sudden disappearance of your journalist friend.”

I focused on the road ahead and the banks of hedgerows sprigged with frost. My fingers dug into the steering wheel. “We’re not friends. And anyway, Zach had to return to Glasgow. He’s been tipped off about another big story.”

Ezra switched his attention to his passenger side window. “All very sudden, isn’t it?” He slid me a sideways glance. “You reveal your true identity and he announces he’s leaving?”

My cheeks zinged. “Well, I suppose that’s how the media world works. Fast moving.”

Ezra’s expression was pensive. After a pause he said, “It’s very kind of your mother to invite me over, especially with it being so close to Christmas.”

I was relieved Ezra had changed the subject. I tried to smile. “Oh, she couldn’t wait to meet you. I’m sorry if this is interrupting any of your pre-Christmas plans.”

Ezra grinned and assured me there was no need for an apology. “It’s giving me a chance to take a look around your gorgeous family home anyway.”

“What with you visiting today and the prospect of her having me and my brother back for Christmas, my mother can barely contain herself.”

I nudged my car down a country lane, the Sunday afternoon sky churning up blobs of moody clouds. The past couple of weeks had been manic in Flower Power, with more wreath orders and festive table decoration orders, not to mention Amber and Rowan and I throwing ourselves into sorting blooms for Ezra’s party and planning the first arrangements for his home.

We arrived at the sweeping private road. I got out and entered in the security code, and the gates swept inwards.