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‘I would, but do you trust me?’ Did she trust him?
With a sigh, he released the belt. ‘In principle, I trust your offer as genuine.’ He toyed with the edge of a gold wristwatch, then tapped it. ‘But if I find out this is a trick it will not go well for your career.’
‘I swear it isn’t.’
With another sweeping glance, his jaw set and he flexed his fingers. ‘Ok.’ He opened his door and stepped out. Rhona followed, half stumbling over the rocky ground. What was happening? He was letting her do it? Not only would she get to investigate a site she’d loved since she was a child but this could do wonders for her career – her own dig.
‘I don’t have the plans here.’ Calum pulled the collar of his blazer up against the driving rain. ‘But the house is roughly positioned around the old bothy.’
‘You won’t need to survey the whole thing, just the area where the house is going. I see some fascinating ridges over there. It’s impossible to tell without digging but that could be the remains of an enclosure or a homestead. Before you do anything, you need a field walk to plot the lie of the land.’
‘That’ll be your job.’ His voice was carried away in the wind.
Rhona pressed her lips together to hold back the smile she desperately wanted to unleash. ‘You’re letting me do it?’
‘Uh-huh.’ He pinned his collar to his cheeks. Rain soaked his neat haircut.
Oh my god!She wanted to squeal and dance and sing and throw her arms about him for giving her this chance. Though she wouldn’t actually do it. She was a hugger, he definitely wasn’t – one look and she could tell. Too stiff.
‘Why don’t you draw up the necessities, price it and email it to me. I’ll check it out against the going rate and see if we can come up with a package that suits both of us,’ he said.
‘Ok.’
She edged forward and stuck out her hand. His lips curled up; the effect was transformative. Her eyes travelled over the wedge of skin exposed by the open top button of his shirt and she sank her teeth into her lower lip, her heart missing several beats. He slipped his long fingers around hers and a tingle of pleasure leapt up her arm, warming her to the core. She held eye contact, painfully aware she was smiling so widely it probably looked fake. His palm burned against hers. He let go first, squinting into the rain.
‘Do you want a lift back?’
‘Yes, please. But can you drop me off not too close to the house? I’d prefer if my family didn’t know about this.’
‘Fine by me. I don’t want them to know either. In fact, we should make it part of the deal not to shout about this. I don’t want any complications and I’m sorry to say it to your face, but your parents like causing complications for me.’
‘Yeah.’ Some of the magic ebbed away. Following a lifelong dream she had to keep secret from her family didn’t sit right. This was something she wanted to shout from the rooftops, not hide away in her bottom drawer. ‘I’ll treat it with strict confidence.’
He nodded and they started back to the car. Rhona met his eyes. A flicker of understanding passed between them. This was going to be ok. His arm was a millimetre from hers; the sleeve of his blazer blotched with rain stains, almost brushing against her purple waterproof. The proximity wasn’t scary anymore, in fact, it was quite pleasant. How odd to be casually strolling across the machair with Calum Matheson.
Five minutes later, he pulled up on the verge a safe distance from her parents’ house. Rhona’s stomach fluttered; thoughts darted in and out her head.I got the job.The dig was hers. What might she find? And Calum… was, well, an ok guy. Wasn’t he?
‘I look forward to your email, Miss Lamond.’ His eyes glinted and the corner of his lip twitched.
She pressed her fingers to her mouth, barely holding back her giggle. ‘You’ll be hearing from me, Mr Matheson.’
With a brief wave, he drove off. What he’d been sixteen years ago didn’t tally with what he was now. Rhona kept her head down as she went inside. Where she’d been or what she was planning was now her little secret. She darted straight to her room and opened her laptop. She had work to do.
Chapter 8
Calum
The baby’s cries brought a smile to Calum’s face. He pressed the phone to his ear and his heart filled to the brim. ‘He has a good pair of lungs.’
Sometimes his body was as cold as his lonely soul but Will’s chortle broke through the ice, spread down the phone, across the island and warmed Calum to the tips of his fingers.
‘Yes, he certainly has,’ Will agreed. ‘Do you want to come and meet him?’
‘Of course, I do.’ Calum hopped off his desk and strolled to the door of his office. The trees swayed and branches gusted around, splitting enough to reveal glimpses of the brightly painted village below. ‘You just tell me when.’
‘I know how busy you are.’
‘But this is important, I’ll make time.’
