Page 56 of A Scottish Island Summer

I stood up. ‘I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve been drenched; I’ve been getting up at the crack of dawn; I ended up rescuing a stranded dolphin at five in the morning and I’m now on the Titanic.’

‘Good. Good,’ she oozed, not listening to a word I was saying. ‘That’s my girl. I just wanted to check that our Scottish cousins were treating you well.’

My eyes drifted over to Logan. He was laughing at something Robbie was telling him but he must have sensed me watching him because he angled his head round and glanced in my direction.

I discovered a chipped bit of paintwork down by my feet and focused on that instead. ‘Yes, fine, thanks. I’m just counting down the days till I get back to London.’ The words contained a hollower sound this time around. I decided not to dwell on it.

‘Ever the city girl,’ remarked Justine with a sigh. ‘Just like me.’ Then she asked, ‘So, what are you up to today? Research for this best-selling travel guide going well?’

There was a sudden roar from the boat engine and a lurch. My feet felt like they were too big for my walking boots and I began to stagger.

‘Hey! Be careful there.’

Logan was over in a flash, steadying me by placing both his hands on my upper arms.

For a few moments, I forgot Justine was still babbling away at me through my mobile.

Logan’s attention stayed locked on my face, before I realised his hands were still holding onto me. His eyes trailed down to my mouth. ‘Don’t want you falling in.’

‘No. Er. No. Of course not.’

I thrust my mobile back up to my right ear. My voice was squeaky. ‘Hi. Sorry about that, Justine. Logan and I are just about to be taken out on a wildlife boat trip.’

‘Excellent. Get as much good material on that camera of yours as you can, OK? We want this book to blow River’s exploits out of the water.’ She chuckled to herself. ‘Ha! See what I did there? Out of the water?’

I buried a sigh. ‘Yes. Alright. Will do.’

I rung off and panned around to take in the swell of the mountain ranges and the rippling expanse of water. It reminded me of a polished mirror.

Robbie grinned out at me from the cabin, from where he was steering the boat. He popped his head out. He had a sliver of a gap between his front teeth. ‘I bet London doesn’t have anything like this.’

I noticed the gulls, fluttering like white and grey kites above our heads and stopped taking pictures for a moment. ‘No, it doesn’t,’ I conceded. ‘But it has shops, art galleries, museums…’

‘The rat race; people bustling everywhere, looking exhausted; endless streams of traffic,’ supplied Logan with a gleam in his eyes as he appreciated the skyline. ‘I couldn’t cope with all that.’

‘Me neither,’ agreed Robbie’s booming voice over the bellow of the boat engine. ‘At least here, you can pause, breathe, take a moment. Oh, look folks. Out to your right!’

I turned to see the glossy, mink grey arch of a seal rising and falling through the water.

I raised my camera and quickly started taking a few photos and some videos.

‘You can also see Atlantic Grey Seals in these parts, although they tend to appear further up the coast,’ explained Logan, materialising at my shoulder.

I was aware of how close he was to me again, his breath caressing the nape of my neck. Shivers of excitement raced up and down my spine.

Oh, this was ridiculous! I’d only known Logan five minutes. Was this deliberate, the way he was shadowing me?

I kept my face trained on the bobbing seal. ‘How can you tell the difference? Between the seals?’

‘You can tell by their length and size,’ hollered Robbie over the churning racket of the boat engine. ‘There are two types of seals in the waters off Skye. There’s the common seal, also known as the harbour seal, and the grey seal, which is this one here.’ He lifted one gnarled hand from the boat wheel and pointed. ‘Common seals tend to be smaller and grow to about six feet in length, whereas these fellas are bigger and can get up to eleven feet in length.’

Robbie slowed down the boat so that we were now caressing the top of the waves, instead of chugging through them. The seal twisted and turned in the water, as though putting on a display just for us. ‘The biggest colony of seals is on the island near Loch Coruisk.’ He revealed his gap-toothed grin again. ‘They lie there across the rocks like big, fat sausages.’

Dua Lipa pushed on again, cutting more of a swathe through the water in a frothy V shape.

‘Stand by,’ advised Logan. ‘We’ll hopefully spot some sea eagles, dolphins and puffins, if we’re lucky.’

Robbie leant his head out the side window of his cabin. ‘Aye. Can’t always guarantee them, but there’s a good chance.’