Page 37 of Journey to the Scottish Highlands

Chapter Eight

I was about to get ready for bed when my mobile trilled in my jeans pocket.

It was Jade.

‘I’ve just seen the news,’ she gabbled into my ear. ‘Christ, unexploded bombs?! Are you alright? Where are you?’

‘I’m fine,’ I reassured her, sinking down onto the corner of the four-poster bed. It was almost nine o’clock, and the May night outside my bedroom window was slipping into darkness.

I got up and closed the long, silky curtains, clicked on the ornate bedside lamp and flopped back down again on the bed. ‘I’m staying at someone’s until all this blows over. Oops, wrong choice of word.’

Jade immediately jumped on this. ‘Someone?’

‘A guy,’ I faltered. ‘Someone I met at the cream tea. I drove us back to Scotland.’

Jade let out a shocked gasp. ‘You gave this guy a lift all the way back up to Scotland?’ She didn’t give me time to answer. ‘I hope he’s ok. He’s not a creep, is he? What’s going on? Where are you?’

I sighed. ‘Jade, if you’ll just give me a chance, I’ll explain.’

‘Ok. Sorry.’

‘Right. So, because of the bomb situation, and it all taking place by Loch Crawe, I couldn’t get back to Strath Ross, so Evan insisted I stay with him at his parents’ place in Forrest Bank until it’s sorted. That’s only about half an hour away from Strath Ross.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Her voice was loaded, teasing.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘It doesn’t mean anything.’

‘Lady Jacintha, you’re a terrible liar.’

‘Oh, please don’t call me that.’

There was a pause. ‘So come on then, Madden, what’s he like?’

‘Who?’

‘Sir Keir Starmer. Who do you think I’m talking about?! This Evan.’

My mind drifted through my closed door and across the hallway, with its heavy-framed paintings and vases of flowers, to Evan’s room.

‘He’s ok.’

There was a triumphant snort. ‘You like him.’

‘How old are you? Eight?’

She pushed on and ignored me. ‘You think he’s attractive.’

The image of Sacha, with her swishy blonde hair, grinning up from Evan’s mobile phone screen lodged itself in my head. ‘Like I said, he’s ok,’ I dismissed. ‘Anyway, how’s things with you?’

‘There she is. The Daisy Madden I know and love. Avoiding the personal questions and changing the subject. Too scared to open up.’

I prickled on the bed. ‘I’m not scared. I just don’t want to talk about Evan, that’s all.’

‘Why not?’

I knew why I didn’t want to talk about him with Jade. I refused to answer the questions that were prodding at the corners of my mind. It had been as though we were on the verge of another connection just now, and then Sacha had called, and that brought back all the tumbling thoughts about Leon’s deceit; the hurt, the betrayal, the way he’d seen me as a temporary distraction before he could trade me in for a better model and elevate his chances of a successful acting career at the same time.