Page 108 of A Scottish Island Summer

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I shuffled to answer my door the next morning.

Someone was giving it a good old knock.

I creaked it open, huddled in one of The Gorse’s fluffy white dressing gowns.

It was Campbell.

He examined me through the narrow crack. ‘Good morning. Bloody hell! You look awful.’

I stared back at him. ‘Thank you for that confidence boost.’ I hesitated. ‘I’m surprised you’re still talking to me.’

He didn’t say anything. He just angled his head to one side. ‘I take it you haven’t been down for breakfast yet?’

‘No. I’m not hungry. Think I’ll go back to bed.’

Campbell gestured to the door. ‘Well, before you decide to hide from the world, do you think I could come in?’

I didn’t feel like company or talking to anyone. All I wanted to do was curl up under that duvet and sleep away images of Logan and what I did.

I stared at Campbell out of teary eyes.

He didn’t move to leave. ‘Please?’

I let out a defeated sigh and stepped to one side to let him in.

He yanked his mobile out of the back pocket of his jeans. ‘Darcie, do you mind explaining to me why you recorded this video?’

I tightened the belt of my dressing gown. ‘I didn’t know you were a social media fan.’

‘I’m not. Julie just drew my attention to it, as I was about to come and see you.’

I shrugged, fighting to look Campbell in the face. ‘It had to be done. I feel wretched about what happened.’

‘Wretched enough to wreck your career and pretend you’re a liar?’

‘Yep.’

Campbell’s brows lifted. ‘There’s far more to this than deterring hordes of amateur treasure seekers from invading Skye and upsetting the local tourist information.’ He eyed me. ‘What the hell’s going on between you and Logan?’

My head insisted on pulling up pictures of the two of us rescuing that stranded dolphin; me laughing at his corny jokes; the way Logan had looked out for me when we were fossil hunting, catching me before I slipped and hurt myself; his arms cradled around me as we’d danced under the fireworks the other night; the way his lips had almost taken mine. I couldn’t stand it. Emotion balled up inside of me. I chewed my lip. ‘I’ve let both of you down.’

‘You aren’t falling in love with me though…’ Campbell’s lips flickered with a small smile. ‘Although I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I’m still quite the catch.’

Despite tears banking up in my eyes, I managed a snotty laugh. ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said a word to Justine about what we were doing. It was one of those stupid, spur of the moment decisions.’

Hot flashes of red lit up my damp cheeks.

I heard myself talking to Campbell, the words running away from me. ‘There was this envious mist that came down and I didn’t think about the implications of what I was doing.’ I closed my eyes shut for a few moments, wishing the embarrassment and guilt would evaporate. ‘As soon as I mentioned to Justine what we were doing, I knew it was a mistake. I should never have done it.’

I dug my fingernails into my palms as I stood there, trying to explain myself to Campbell. ‘I asked her to forget the whole thing and not to mention it to anyone. I asked her to promise me. But she didn’t; she just made this sort of conciliatory noise and ordered me to stop stressing over it, and I convinced myself that was enough.’

Campbell turned over what I’d just told him as he studied my room. ‘Do you know Logan’s left Skye for a few days?’

My heart stilled. ‘Where’s he gone?’

‘To Rum in the western isles. Camping. Texted me last night.’ Campbell gave me a loaded look. ‘Said he fancied getting away.’