Page 38 of The Secret Castle in the Highlands

The air was sucked out of my chest. It took me a moment to find my voice. ‘A redhead?’

‘Oh aye. They were going into the Starr Bar together. Chatting away they were too.’

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ apologised Katie, materialising at my shoulder, ‘but the reporter and photographer from the local paper have just arrived.’

‘Thank you,’ I managed, hurt pricking me. I inched away and whispered to Katie, ‘You’ve just rescued me. Mrs Archibald was telling me about Mason’s latest girlfriend.’

‘Who?’

‘Don’t know. Some redhead.’

Katie’s dolly features detected the pain in my voice. ‘What?’

I made what I hoped was a dismissive noise, but my insides were knotted with resentment. This was becoming far too reminiscent of Nick and how he had behaved. I swallowed. ‘Caleb said he saw Mason down on the beach looking cosy with a dark-haired woman recently. And now he’s been spotted with a different woman – a redhead this time.’

Katie tried to look unfazed. ‘I’m sure there’s some innocent explanation. Neither of them is here now with him. Mason seems to be seen with his dog all the time, anyway.’

I gave her a doubtful look, but the local newspaper reporter interrupted by bounding over. ‘Poppy Summers?’ he enquired, peering at me through a pair of small circular spectacles. ‘Hi, I’m Tom Henderson from the Port Starr Press and this is our photographer, Alicia Reilly.’

A pretty and unnaturally healthy-looking young woman with a camera slung around her neck thrust out her hand. ‘Congratulations,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’ve just had a quick browse through your brochure. The cottages look gorgeous.’

‘Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. I’ve had a lot of help.’ I smiled at Katie, who blushed and flapped away my praise.

Tom plucked his notebook from the inside pocket of his crumpled suit jacket.

A woman boasting a gold chiffon scarf draped around her neck had picked up one of Katie’s honeycomb-textured fruit bowls from the table to examine, while her friend, her red hair secured in an elegant chignon, was deliberating over my McKerron Castle chalk sketches. After a few more moments’ consideration, she opted for the one depicting the castle overlooking a churning night sea and angry sky, rather than the more sedate morning scene.

I thought Katie was about to spontaneously combust with joy beside me. ‘I’ll deal with these customers,’ she said, barrelling towards them with a winning smile.

Something made me turn around and look over my shoulder.

George McCrimmon, one of my dad’s golfing buddies, was trying to persuade Mason to join the Port Starr Golf Club, but Mason wasn’t listening. He was staring right at me.

I was suddenly rooted to the cobbles, my shirt dress billowing around my knees in the May breeze. Mason continued to study me from under his gathered brows, before breaking into an irresistible smile that lit up his face. My heart spun in my chest and I found myself reddening.

Then my thoughts dragged up the two women he’d been seen with recently and I swung away from him, burying a ball of misery. So, not content with the dark-haired woman and the redhead, he was trying to add me to his list of conquests?

Tom’s voice made me start.

‘Poppy?’

‘Oh, sorry,’ I stammered, gathering myself together. ‘There’s so much going on at the moment.’

‘No worries.’ He clarified the spelling of our names while Alicia took a couple of informal shots of our milling guests.

I focused on Tom again, sensing Mason was still glancing over at me.

He asked me where I’d got my inspiration from for the rebranding of the cottages; what made me want to take them over; what my hopes and dreams were for the family business and his last question was a brilliant one.

‘Poppy, if you could have anyone stay as a guest in one of your cottages, who would you choose and why?’

‘The Scarlet Highwayman,’ I said without missing a beat. ‘I’d love to speak to him face to face and find out about his life before he became who he was.’

‘Great answer. Right,’ he exclaimed with a final flick of his pen, ‘that’s great. If I think of anything else to ask you, I’ll give you a call.’

Katie plucked one of our new blue-and-yellow business cards from the top of the trestle table and handed it to him.

Tom slid it into his pocket. ‘Thanks for that. My write-up should be in this Thursday’s edition.’