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‘Will you stop? I’m not staying. I’ll be back… in time for everything.’
Just the thought makes me want to hurl. The holiday season isn’t going to last forever and, come the new year, I’ll have no excuse to stay.
*
As if I wasn’t physically strained enough by my house duties, I’ve now got into the habit of taking lovely walks across the coastal path during my breaks. But this is a good kind of exertion – a breath of fresh air to throw Heatherton Hall behind me.
Call it what you want – paranoia, PTSD or simply wimpiness – but after my attack only two weeks ago, I haven’t felt safe in London. I was hoping I’d feel safe here, but now a sense of panic is welling inside me. Oh my God, isn’t there a safe spot anywhere?
I turn to look over my shoulder, but of course there’s no one behind me. All the same, for no reason, I feel compelled to break into a run to shake off this uneasiness. What’s happening to me? I used to be so brave. A streetwise girl, living on her own in a metropolis. And now, because of a lowlife mugger, I’m frightened by the mere rustle of the marram grass above an idyllic village… Is this what I’ve become?
But it’s not only the rustle of grass – someoneisfollowing me!
The wind up here is so loud that I can’t discern any specific sounds, but I sense someone is there. I can’t even hear my own breathing soughing in and out of me, and before I can stop myself, I break into a run against the wind, too afraid to look over my shoulder.
And soon I hear someone pounding the ground behind me, closer and closer. Any second and he’ll have caught up with me!
Before I know it, a loud explosion erupts behind me and I instinctively throw myself on the ground and protect my head, listening as the noise gets louder and louder. Any second now he’ll reach me – and there’s not a thing I can do but cower in fear.
A rasping sound suddenly fills my ears as someone yanks me and throws me around on my back and I’m faced with a huge dog. Jago Moon’s dog. And then bloody Jago, who’s staring down at me in fury.
‘What the hell iswrongwith you?’ he shouts, shaking me. ‘Never, ever run from a dog!’
I try to sit up as he pulls the beast back.
‘Max!’ he shouts. ‘Heel!’
‘He was chasing me…’ I pant, trying to pull myself together.
‘Of course he was. He’s a dog!’
‘You should put him on a leash.’
‘They should putyouon a leash. Don’t you know better than to traipse around the countryside all alone if you’re afraid of dogs?’
I get to my knees, noticing how he doesn’t even offer to help me up, the monster.
‘I’m not afraid of dogs. I just wasn’t expecting to be ambushed by one.’
‘Ambushed? This isn’t London, you know. Or a war.’
‘Yeah, well it is to me,’ I mutter, rolling over until I can find a way to get to my feet without looking ridiculous. ‘Why does my grandmother hate you?’ I blurt.
He stares at me for a moment, then laughs. ‘She hates everyone.’
‘But you in particular. Why were you not fit to attend my grandfather’s funeral?’
His mouth turns into a grim line. ‘Go home, city slicker. You’ll only get hurt if you stay.’
‘I want to know the truth.’
‘The truth is none of your business. You think you’re special, just because you’re the granddaughter of Lady Mary? She doesn’t give a crap about you. She never has and never will. No one wants you here. So save yourself the heartache and get out while you still can.’
He’s right. No one gives a crap about me. Neither here nor in London. I don’t belong anywhere. I’ll never fit in anywhere. If a metropolis hasn’t got room for me, how can a one-horse town like Starry Cove welcome me? I’m an outsider wherever I go. Not even my own blood loved me. My parents never did, and now my only living relative doesn’t, either. What was I expecting? For blood ties to open doors to me?
And Stephen – how much can I count on his love? Where is he now? Why doesn’t he call? Why doesn’t absolutely anyone care about me?
‘Wait a minute, what’sthat?’ Jago demands, his eyes widening at the sight of my throat.
