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‘How’s the work at Kilnarkie?’ Rebekah asked. ‘Are you any further forward?’
‘Yes and no,’ Calum said. ‘It doesn’t look like it’ll be suitable for the housing project. I’ve been working with an archaeologist and she’s already made discoveries on the current plot. If I reapply to build more houses, there’ll be further conditions and who knows what might turn up. It’s too costly and time-consuming.’
‘It sounds it,’ Rebekah said. ‘But I’m sure we’ll find another site.’
‘Yes, things will come up and…’ He trailed off. His eyes detoured. Rhona was crossing the field. Her floaty pink dress was even better than the one he’d imagined. The neckline scooped low and was tied with a string bow. The skirt cascaded over her hips and swished around her knees as she strolled along chatting to friends. Her long hair fell around her shoulders and, though she didn’t have the crown of flowers, two clips held it back from her forehead. Her rosy cheeks glowed. A picture of perfection. Calum’s mouth opened but no words came out. She zeroed in on him and the corners of her peachy lips quirked up. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she fluttered her lashes. Calum blinked back at Rebekah and Blair. Did they know about the issues with the Lamonds? Blair was an islander, so it was likely.
‘And what?’ Blair cocked his head.
‘Hmm?’ Calum rubbed his chin. ‘I, erm. Can you excuse me a minute? I remembered something I need to do.’
Leave.That was what he had to do. Find his parents, say goodbye and go. Seeing Rhona wafting about like a princess was tormenting. And really that was the reason he was here. He wanted to see her. But seeing her and being with her were two different things. The first was just creepy and stalkerish.
Head bowed, he strode around the edge of the field, close to the verge which led down a hill towards the sea.
‘Calum.’
He recognised her voice before he turned.
‘Am I allowed to talk to you?’ Rhona asked.
‘About what?’
‘I mean in general, or will people put two and two together and make fifty-six?’
‘Exactly that.’ Fire licked his insides. ‘So, no. You shouldn’t talk to me here. My parents are already getting curious about the dig and you being back. I don’t want them making any connection between us or doing anything that might jeopardise my family. We can talk on Monday. At the dig.’
She tilted her head and her blue eyes dulled. ‘Ok. It’s such a shame it has to be like this.’
Calum shoved his hands in his pockets, shifted his feet and glanced down. A persistent thud in his chest urged him to look back. He mustn’t. Looking was like holding the key to the forbidden door. ‘Let’s not start anything we’ll end up regretting.’ A warning to himself as much as her. A fine line was all that remained between them. Crossing it would be easy and maybe the only way to satisfy his cravings. But oh so risky.
‘Ok. Well, see you at the dig then.’
‘Yeah. See you.’ Her dress swished as she trotted away.
If she could be anyone else. Anyone at all. Just not a Lamond.
Chapter 13
Rhona
The spark had hit. The one Rhona had been waiting for forever. Every guy she’d ever dated had undergone her sparkometer test and most of them had barely registered. Until Calum. He’d spiked the dial the day she’d seen him marching towards her across his land and since then it had revved irrevocably upward. When he’d kissed her wrist on Friday the readings had been off the scale. Then he’d left. His coldness at the fair spoke volumes. And he was right, they shouldn’t do anything in the heat of the moment that could lead to regrets later on.
But would a few minutes of stolen pleasure be so bad? One day in the near future she’d be off on a job somewhere and would have to leave him behind anyway. Would settling for a clandestine fling satisfy her in the short term? Did Calum do things like that? Unlikely. He seemed to want to return to a professional relationship.
‘Why can’t I feel the same?’ Rhona asked Nelson as he flexed his claws into her duvet. He’d taken to lying on her bed while she worked on her laptop at the dressing table – probably so he could keep his beady eye on her. ‘I shouldn’t be hoping for anything else. I need to be professional.’ Easier said than done. The sparkometer urged her to seek more. ‘It’s worse than a crush. For all I know it could still be the nonsense from school.’ Maybe it was a latent rebellion to her family’s mollycoddling over the years. Good little Rhona, the peacekeeper, had grown horns.
Must get over this now.She stayed away from the dig that morning to test out some software. Keying in as much data as she could, she came up with a basic site reconstruction. As the software was only for her use while she was ad hoc working for the research company, she wouldn’t be able to keep the work, but it fascinated her. This was exactly what she wanted to do but she couldn’t afford the outlay if she wanted to do this independently.
‘Calum would like to see this,’ she informed Nelson, jumping to her feet and grabbing her phone from the windowsill. Her fingers hovered over the screen. This was purely professional, right? She wanted to show him the reconstruction. Nothing else. The lightness in her head said otherwise. But if she didn’t show him this, she’d regret it. ‘It’s work, just work.’ She keyed in his number.
He answered on the second ring, taking her by surprise. Sometimes he was impossible to get hold of. Had he been waiting for her to call? ‘Hi. What’s up? Have you discovered treasure?’
‘No.’ She grinned at the mix of cheer and panic in his voice. ‘I’ve been trying out some software I have on loan and I’ve made a reconstruction of the dig. I’d love you to see it. Can you come over? Or are you mega busy as usual?’
‘I am, yes. Come over where? Are you at Kilnarkie?’
‘No, I’m—’
