Page 60 of Snowy Surprises in the Highlands

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Bella had no way of contacting Harris, seeing as he had left his phone behind, so all she could do was wait for his return. She glanced at the clock on the microwave just as it ticked over to 5 p.m. He had been gone such a long time, and she wasn’t sure whether to be angry or worried. He’s an adult, and he’s a police inspector, he’s very sensible, she told herself. He doesn’t speed, and he doesn’t take silly chances. He’ll be absolutely fine. If only she was as convincing to herself as she could be to other people.

She fed Bertie and watched as he wolfed down his food as if it would be stolen at any second. Then she looked through the fridge and cupboards, figuring Harris would be hungry when he got back from wherever the heck he’d been, and she had no way of telling him to pick up a takeaway. She gathered potatoes, onions and some leftover roast beef and was standing at the cooker making a pan of stovies when she heard Harris’s motorbike pull into the driveway.

‘Finally,’ she said to Bertie, who tilted his head and wagged his tail as if he completely understood every word.

Harris walked into the kitchen with his crash helmet under his arm. There was something innately sexy about a man in a leather biker jacket, but there was something even better about her man in a leather biker jacket.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ she asked, wiping her hands on a towel as he put his crash helmet on the table and walked towards her. ‘You’ve been gone ages.’

He didn’t speak. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and held her close, the familiar, earthy smell of the leather and the heat of his body making her relax a little.

He kissed the top of her head. ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have gone off like that. And I shouldn’t have left my phone behind. You’ve every right to be angry and upset with me.’

She pulled away and gazed up at him. ‘I’m not angry or upset. I was just worried about you. You seemed so sad when you left, and I wanted to help but you rode away before I had a chance.’

He kissed her tenderly. ‘I’m all good. And I have something I need to tell you. Come and sit down.’ He took off his leather jacket and placed it on the countertop. She turned the stove down to a simmer and then allowed him to lead her to the table where they sat down facing each other. She wasn’t sure whether to be worried or not, as his expressionless face gave nothing away.

He took a deep breath and released it. ‘Okay… I don’t want you to be mad at me but…’

Ah, so she should maybe be a little worried because no good conversation started with those words. ‘But what?’ Her heart skipped.

‘I rode for a bit and then I ended up at the Quiraing viewpoint. It’s a crisp day so the view was clear. And I was just alone with my thoughts and memories for a bit.’ This wasn’t an explanation so far and that concerned Bella further. What was he building up to say? ‘The situation with Alba…’ He shook his head and frowned. ‘It’s really made me think about everything, us… the wedding… the future.’

Her stomach lurched and for a moment she thought she might throw up. He was going to say they maybe should delay, or maybe shouldn’t get married at all, wasn’t he?

‘And?’ she asked, in almost mortal dread for the answer.

He pulled his lips between his teeth and nodded. ‘Okay, so I’ve sort of done a thing.’

Her nostrils flared and her eyes began to sting. She covered her mouth with her hands as her heart tried to escape through her chest. ‘You’ve cancelled the wedding,’ she said. He stared at her blankly, or was he shocked that she had guessed? Either way, it confirmed her fear. ‘Look, I know you’re scared of losing me, Harris, I feel the exact same way about you, but this isn’t the way to handle things. I understand your grief, of course I do, but⁠—’

He shook his head. ‘Why is it that your mind always goes straight there, Bella? That that’s always your immediate thought? That I’m going to call things off? What have I ever done to make you jump straight to that conclusion? Bella, sweetheart, I’m not Kerr. And I have no intentions of cancelling the wedding. You’re stuck with me until death us do part, Bella Douglas, soon to be Donaldson.’ He smiled.

Relief flooded her veins, and she relaxed a little more. ‘I don’t know… I suppose what you said about being scared of losing me and now Alba’s gone, and what the email said… I just—’ Shit. She clamped her mouth closed.

‘You read it then.’

She nodded. ‘I’m sorry, Harris, it was there, and I didn’t know what was going on. I shouldn’t have⁠—’

He smiled. ‘It’s fine. I have nothing to hide from you. You can read all my emails. I don’t mind at all.’

She shook her head. ‘Then you disappeared, and I didn’t know what to think. You have to realise that I’m scared of losing you, too, but I don’t go running off without explanation.’

He nodded slowly. ‘You are mad at me. And I totally understand. But the thing is, Bella, Alba’s death felt like a call to action. I had to do something immediately, and, no disrespect, without you having a chance to talk me out of it.’

No wiser, Bella shrugged. ‘Okay… But what was so urgent? What have you done?’ Oh God, has he gone and got a commemorative tattoo for another woman?

He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. He paused a moment, evidently trying to weigh up his decision and trying to pre-empt her reaction to it. He slid the envelope across the table to her. ‘Open it.’

With shaking hands, she opened the envelope and pulled out several folded pieces of A4 paper. She flattened them out and stared at the information before her. She couldn’t quite believe her eyes. Was this really happening? Had he really done this?

She peered at the paper and then at Harris. ‘What have you done?’

A wide smile spread across his face. ‘Hear me out, Bella. I know how much you’ve wanted to visit Tuscany. And Alba’s death has made me realise that we shouldn’t be putting off making special memories at all. We should be grabbing each opportunity for happiness that we can, with both hands. And it would make me so happy to take you to Tuscany for our honeymoon. So… we’re going,’ he stated matter-of-factly. ‘We fly on 29 December and we’re there for ten days. It’s all booked. I’ve spoken to Olivia and okayed it for us to stay at the castle until we fly, and she said absolutely no problem. I was going to leave it as a surprise for the wedding day but I’m so bloody excited I had to tell you straightaway. There’s no way I could’ve held onto it. We’ll be there in time to see the Cavalcade of the Three Wise Men in Florence on the 6th, something I know you’ve always wanted to see. We’re going to visit a vineyard and have a wine tasting by a roaring fireplace. We’re going to see the Duomo in Florence, the Uffizi Gallery, all open in January, we checked. The travel agent up in Portree was so helpful. We planned the whole trip. I know the weather won’t be sunbathing temperatures, but you love winter, and I figured this was going to be amazing, regardless of the cold. And we’ll have each other to keep us warm.’

Tears welled in Bella’s eyes and spilled over. ‘But… your savings, Harris. And what about the station?’