Page 98 of The Secret Castle in the Highlands

‘What do you mean?’

Mason angled his head at me. ‘I’m looking right at her.’

Chapter Forty-Two

Isat stunned in Mason’s armchair while he explained that the land on which White Willow Cottages stood had belonged at the time to Amelia Dunmore, a successful milliner.

‘Georgina had confided in her journal that Amelia detested Augustus Lapley with a passion and knew how unhappy Georgina was in her marriage.’

Mason’s enthusiasm ramped up. ‘Amelia allowed her friend and her lover to have their secret trysts in the hat shop late of an evening and to spend precious time together in the small, manicured gardens at the rear of the shop.’

He smiled, looking animated. ‘I took photos on my phone of a couple of the maps for you to see, and also of a couple of the adverts Amelia placed in the local paper at the time. I thought you’d want to see the slice of history you own.’ He gave me a knowing smile. ‘That little shop kept so many secrets for such a long time.’

A wave of emotion crashed over me as I looked at him. He wasn’t concerned about his book proposal or his TV show. All he cared about was helping me save my cottages and find out the truth about a man who had been branded a common criminal. What he’d done – all this – he’d done for me.

‘I asked the local library to do a bit of legwork for me too. I didn’t want to ask you in case my initial investigations were wrong, and the last thing I wanted was for you to get your hopes up, only for them to be dashed.’

A longing for this caring, gorgeous and thoughtful man stole over me. All this time, he’d been trying to help his brother and me. What was I going to do? Was I going to live in fear for the rest of my life, frightened to take a chance on someone else, in case they let me down? Was I going to allow Nick to control me, even now? Could I do this? Could I move on?

‘Mason,’ I said in a small whisper, my eyes refusing to leave his handsome face.

He got to his feet, as did I. ‘What is it, Poppy?’

I stood still for a moment, drinking him in. I was facing him, his shoulders and height swallowing me. Life wasn’t a trial run. We were here once and that was it.

Refusing to overthink, I reached up and kissed him. His lips tasted of momentary surprise, before realisation flooded through him.

He gazed down at me, before his hands possessively drew me into him, his kisses becoming hungry.

I arched my back as a sigh escaped from my chest. This only seemed to excite Mason further. He murmured my name, his tongue teasing my lips. His fingers reached for my hair. ‘I like it loose,’ he whispered. ‘Can I?’

I nodded while his fevered fingers freed my hair from its band and raked their way through, making my plait dissolve in waves. Then he took my mouth with his again.

I eased back a little, lifting one hand to stroke his face and marvel at his arrogant cheekbones.

‘If that’s your way of saying thank you, I’ll have to be a good boy more often.’

I grinned against his smiling lips. ‘What did you mean when you said Garrett helped you realise a few things about yourself as well?’

Mason stared down at me. ‘My baby brother is very perceptive. That first day he was here and we met you down on the beach, he knew straightaway how I felt about you.’ He lifted his hand and caressed my hair. ‘If I’m being honest, I fell for you the first time I saw you.’

I gawped up at him. ‘You have got to be kidding me? Well, you must have taken acting lessons!’

Mason gave me a withering look that made me laugh. ‘I was stunned that I felt that way so quickly about you, but I did. Then when I realised how hard and fast I’d fallen, I didn’t know how to act around you.’ He gave a shy smile. ‘You were all prickly with that Rapunzel hair of yours and I was smitten, but I thought I couldn’t risk being let down by anyone again after Geri.’

‘Prickly?’

Mason broke into his megawatt grin. ‘Prickly in a sexy, I-know-my-own-mind sort of way.’

I flicked him a look from under my lashes. ‘And let me guess. I upset your well-ordered plans.’

‘Oh, you certainly did that. I thought coming to Port Starr to investigate the Scarlet Highwayman would bolster my career, as well as be a change of scene.’

‘And then?’

Mason’s eyes twinkled under his dark brows. ‘And then I met a beautiful artist who believes the ghosts of young lovers haunt McKerron Castle and has a crush on a dead highwayman.’

‘You make me sound a bit kooky.’