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Alastair was running after her before he even realised his feet were moving. He sucked in a lungful of icy air, tucked his aching wrist against his ribs and raced to get ahead of her. If there was someone in there, she wasn’t equipped to deal with them. A niggle at the back of his mind reminded him he was injured and asked if he was in any better state to fight someone off. He squashed it down. At least he knew how to fight. Plus, he had at about a foot of height and at least eighty pounds of bulk on Rainne. At the very least, he could stand in front of her and form a wall between her and whatever came at her.
The frustrating woman had been back in town all of five minutes and already he was going insane from worry. And it didn’t matter how many times he told himself she was someone else’s problem. There wasn’t anyone else around. He was it.
???
Rainne tiptoed, as much as was possible in knee-deep snow, to the door of the guardhouse. Really it was a one-room building built in a hexagonal shape that sat beside the huge ornate iron gates. The previous owners of the castle had put a small en suite in the old building and planned to rent the place out to tourists. The main problems with their plan were that the room was tiny, the location isolated and Invertary didn’t get many tourists.
Rainne turned the door handle. Not locked. She pushed it open and stepped into the darkened room. It was so small, if someone had been in there, she’d have seen them straight away. Definitely empty.
Then a hand clasped over her mouth.
She sucked in air through her nose and screamed and screamed and screamed.
She kicked out against her assailant. Her muffled screams useless.
“Calm down. You’re going to make yourself sick.”
The voice penetrated. Alastair. The idiot. She sagged back against him as he slowly removed his hand from her mouth.
“Are you trying to kill me?” she asked, in what she thought was a completely reasonable tone for a woman who’d almost passed out from fright.
On unsteady legs, she turned to glare up at him.
He stepped away from her. “It would serve you right. That was a stupid thing to do. You had no idea if someone was in here and you walked right in. What the hell were you thinking, Rainbow?”
“I was thinking you looked like you might collapse in the snow. I was thinking one of us had to do something. And since I was the only one standing, I did it.”
“I told you to wait for me.” Alastair snapped the door closed, making her jump.
“And as you pointed out, I no longer do what people tell me to do.”
“This is a fine time to get all independent. Couldn’t it wait until after we’re out of this mess?” He put the flashlight on the desk and flicked a switch that lit up another part of the torch. It gave off a diffused light, like a lantern.
“Yes. I’ll get right on that. I forgot you’re only interested in me when I’m meek, confused and easily malleable.”
He spun towards her. “What the hell, Rainne? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” she snapped.
He took a step towards her. His bulk intimidating in the tiny space. “Not nothing. If you have something to say, spit it out.”
“Fine.” She glared up at him. “You chased me over half of Scotland when you thought I was a weak woman who would do your bidding. You wanted someone to protect. To cosset. It’s no wonder you don’t want me now. You obviously aren’t interested in a woman who can think and act independently.”
His lips tightened. “You are so far off the mark it’s laughable. I don’t want you because I don’t trust you. When things get tough, you run. You abandon people. Why the hell should I give you another chance? So you can walk out again when the feeling takes you? Aye, that would make me all kinds of a fool. You women are all the same. I should have known better than to trust one of you. Can’t make up your mind what you want, discarding people as though they were yesterday’s paper. I don’t need that. I don’t need you.”
Rainne took a step back from the sharp attack. The fury emanating from Alastair made her own anger crumble. This wasn’t normal rage; this was something else. She stared into his darkened eyes and saw it. He was hurt. She’d really hurt him. And maybe not just her. She’d obviously stumbled on a deeper pain. One she’d helped to magnify by her thoughtless actions years earlier.
Before she could say anything, Alastair turned away. Everything about him screamed he was done talking. He pulled down the blinds on the small windows with sharp, angry movements. Rainne let out a sigh then looked around. There were a couple of office chairs, a desk with a huge computer monitor, another table with a coffee maker and microwave. A small fridge, a set of lockers and some shelves. The floor was wooden but had a thick rug. And there was a phone on the desk.
Rainne fell on it. No tone. It was a cordless phone and needed a power supply to work. What she wouldn’t have given for an old rotary phone plugged into a regular old landline socket.
“It isn’t working,” she told Alastair.
“But this is.” He hit the ignition button on the gas fire and it came to life.
Rainne almost cried with relief. They could get warm. She couldn’t feel her toes any longer, even with the padded boots. And she wasn’t entirely sure if her nose was still attached to her face.
Once Alastair had the fire going, he wedged one of the chairs under the handle of the door he’d already locked. He was moving slowly, favouring his right side. His teeth were clenched with what she assumed was pain, although it could have been irritation. Still, he didn’t complain. Rainne doubted he would even if he was dying.
