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‘Yes, Son. I will come. I must speak to Mr Warren first, but take the horses back to the stable and meet me at the top of the cliff path.’
Jamie grinned and nudged his pony forward.
* * *
Jamie clambered over the large stones and stood poised, hand outstretched like a captain of a ship sighting land. Benneit stood a little to the side, his hands on his hips as he looked out over the waves. Jo probably should have left Jamie with him at the top of the cliff path, but now that her resolve was weakening, all she wanted was the opportunity to tell him she had changed her mind. If he was still interested...
‘See, Jo?’ Jamie prompted and she focused back on him. ‘That’s the cave where I went with Angus before London and we found the great big log washed in by the tide. I think it came all the way from the Amazon. Maybe it is still there.’
He ran ahead even as Benneit turned and reached out for him. It was a peculiar gesture, a grasping of the air, and she looked up to Benneit’s face. He looked dazed and very pale beneath his sun-warmed skin. Her own agony forgotten, she turned to him, touching his sleeve.
‘Benneit?’
He didn’t appear to hear her, but then his gaze focused again. He glanced down at her hand and in a convulsive gesture he grasped it and moved forward, pulling her with him.
‘Jamie, come back!’
Jamie stopped at the mouth of the cave.
‘I want to see if the log is still there, Papa!’
‘No. Come back here now.’
‘I’ll only look...’
‘I said no!’
‘But, Papa...’
‘Jamie! Come back now or you’ll spend the rest of the day in the nursery!’
‘Benneit...’ Jo began tentatively, but his hand tightened on hers, his voice a snarl.
‘Stay out of this.’
Jamie stood unmoving, staring back at his father, his smile gone, his face as stony as Benneit’s. They looked remarkably alike now, all trace of Bella’s beauty wiped away by the obdurate glare they shared.
‘Jamie.’ Benneit’s voice was low, but there was such menace in it Jo was not in the least surprised when Jamie continued towards the cave. Benneit dropped her hand and bounded forward as if stung. He reached Jamie in seconds, picking him up, and Jamie squirmed in his arms, his fists flailing in a silent battle. Benneit just shifted him, hauling him on to his shoulder, his arm pinioning his legs as he turned and strode back to the path. Jamie fought and cursed, his tantrum in full bloom, but Benneit ignored him, his long legs eating up the distance all the way to the castle.
* * *
When they reached the nursery he lowered him gently, but Jamie immediately kicked out, catching Benneit in the shin, before retreating to the corner by his shelves.
‘Blas—You will stay here for the rest of the day, James Hamish Lochmore.’
‘I hate you,’ Jamie spat, flinging himself on his bed.
Benneit turned and, seeing Jo, herded her out of the room.
‘You will not go to him today. I will not have him disobeying me like that.’
‘I don’t think...’
‘Good. Don’t. For once don’t think and just do as you are told. He is my son and I am telling you as clearly as possible so not even you can misunderstand my meaning. You will not go into the nursery today. Just...stay away!’
He strode off down the hallway, a column of fury and something else she could not understand. She glanced at the closed door, so tempted to defy him, but instead she went to her room. She might think him mistaken, but it was not her role to make that judgement. Had she been Jamie’s mother she might perhaps...
She closed her door, each beat of her heart a palpable ache. She had not expected to fall in love with Lochmore and his son.
How would she survive leaving?
* * *
She heard the cough in the corridor but it did not immediately draw her out of her brown study. The second one did, though. It was deliberate, fake and Jamie’s.
She opened the door and the light spread out into the darkened corridor like a fan. At its tip was a rounded bundle. She inspected Jamie’s hunched back, his arms hugging his legs.
‘What are you doing out there, Jamie?’
One shoulder rose and fell.
‘Won’t you come inside? It is cold in the corridor.’
