Page 62 of The Secret Castle in the Highlands

My cheeks flamed. ‘Don’t be daft.’

‘Oh, yes?’ questioned Katie. ‘May I ask what painting you’re working on right now?’

I opened my mouth and then clamped it shut. Did she have a hidden camera in here somewhere?

‘I thought as much,’ travelled her triumphant voice.

‘I just wanted to get on with it,’ I explained with a guilty edge. ‘I was working flat out the other evening completing a Port Starr funfair chalk drawing to exhibit in one of the cottages to replace the one that’s already been sold, and I needed a distraction.’

‘Right.’

I cradled my feet on the crossbar of my stool. ‘I don’t need all this,’ I concluded with irritation.

‘All what?’

‘Complicated men.’

I toyed with the wooden handle of my paintbrush. ‘One minute we’re kissing, and the next he’s acting as though nothing happened.’

‘Whoa!’ Katie squealed. ‘Back up there. When did that happen?’

I waggled my toes. ‘A couple of days ago.’

She was incredulous. ‘And you didn’t think to tell me? I’m supposed to be your best friend – and your sister-in-law.’

Before she could protest again, I got in first. ‘It all happened so fast, I think I was still struggling to get my head around it.’

Katie’s voice sounded dreamy. ‘I bet it would have been incredible. His type always is.’

‘What type?’

‘You know,’ she prompted, ‘a bit arrogant and intelligent. When he gets going, I bet he just erupts … like a volcano…’

‘Well, volcano or not, he won’t be erupting anywhere near me,’ I answered a little too fiercely.

‘He can’t help it if he’s deep.’

‘There’s deep and then there’s an endless pit,’ I grumbled. ‘The most sensible thing for me to do is to keep things professional, especially after what happened with Nick.’

‘Ugh!’ groaned Katie in my ear. ‘What fun is there in being sensible?’

‘So, did you make much progress with your portrait last night?’ asked Katie as I entered the office the next morning.

‘I did. I felt like I was able to concentrate on that and nothing else.’

Katie’s brows rose. ‘And the nothing else being…?’

I focused on placing the two new sketches I’d done in our front office window. One showed a misty scene of the harbour with the boats drifting like idle ghosts on the water. The other piece depicted two elderly ladies shielding themselves from a spring shower underneath a lime-green umbrella.

I smoothed some of the purple satin cloth we used to place our pieces on.

Katie pattered over the wooden floor and studied our combined art. ‘It’s great we’re securing sales of our artworks now. Putting bits and pieces on show in the cottages has worked wonders. The tourists can’t get enough of anything connected to the castle.’

‘Good morning.’

My head snapped around to see Alex Lapley oozing through the door.

Katie stiffened. ‘Can I help you?’