Page 79 of The Secret Castle in the Highlands

My skin reacted to his touch. ‘What?’

‘I think we should kiss again. You know, just in case Mum and Dad are watching us from behind the curtains.’

I straightened my back, trying to suppress the excited fizzing sensation in my chest. ‘Oh, do you now?’

‘Uh-huh,’ murmured Mason, a hungry glint in his eyes.

Slowly, I reached up to him, my mouth moving towards his. I hovered there for a few seconds, appreciating the scent of his citrus aftershave.

‘Nah,’ I answered after a dramatic pause. ‘For me, it has to be the real deal.’ I put emphasis into my voice. ‘You know, one hundred per cent exclusivity.’ Take that how you will, Mr Cooper.

And with that, I marched off across the damp tarmac, leaving a kiss-less Mason in my wake.

Chapter Thirty-Five

‘Are you having a hot flush?’ Katie grinned as I burst through the office door. ‘Unless…’

I shrugged off my cardigan. ‘Unless what?’

She afforded me one of her saucy winks.

‘I’m sorry I’m a bit late,’ I apologised, re-fastening the band at the end of my plait, ‘but Mason’s parents…’ Oh, good grief. I would be hopeless working in espionage. ‘I mean … I bumped into Mason and his parents.’

Katie strolled over. ‘Oh, yes? Over from Oz, then?’

‘It would appear so. I just got held up saying hello to them.’

Katie tipped her riot of curls to one side. ‘That must have been a long hello.’

‘Maybe you don’t believe me, Katie, because you’re a suspicious individual?’

She slid me a jokey frown before sallying off in her tie-dyed skirt to read some correspondence.

A couple of weekenders decided to drop in for a mooch around at that point, so I waited until they were debating over my chalk drawing of a rainy Port Starr main street, before speaking to Katie again. ‘I know I’m later in, but I need to take a slightly longer lunch break today. I’ll make sure you get a long lunch tomorrow, to make up for it.’

Katie dismissed it. ‘You go when you need to go. Don’t worry about me. If things get a bit heavy, Caleb can come and give me a hand.’

‘Thanks. I’ll leave just before twelve and will be back as soon as I can.’

Her mouth drooped at the corners. ‘I thought I was your best friend.’

I squeezed her arm. ‘Of course you are. You always will be.’

‘Then why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?’

I steered Katie by the elbow towards the back of the office, where our kitchen area was. ‘The only reason I wasn’t going to say anything to you was because the more people that know, the more complicated it could be.’

‘Now you’re scaring me.’

I shook my plait. ‘No, it’s nothing terrible, just me being an utter idiot.’

Katie was doubtful. ‘Well, what is it?’

I bit my bottom lip. ‘Mason and I are pretending that we’re a couple.’

Her pale-pink mouth moulded into a suggestive smile. ‘Oh. I see. Is this some sort of kinky thing?’

‘What? No! It most certainly isn’t!’ I said that much louder than I meant to, drawing curious stares from the weekender couple. I told her about Mason’s brief marriage to Geri.