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‘I’m looking forward to it more than you can imagine,’ he said, tilting his head to the side and kissing her gently on the cheek, before turning around and continuing towards the castle. ‘Until Wednesday, Barker. Until Wednesday.’

38

As Bex opened the front door to the castle, she let out a breath – she’d actually agreed to go on a date with Duncan. She’d done it. But it was just one date, she reasoned with herself. There was no reason for hearts to get involved. Yet the way hers was thudding against her ribs, it was hard to believe that.

She clicked the door shut behind her, only to startle as a shadow moved in the hallway.

‘Ruby,’ she said as the dog trotted towards her. ‘What are you still doing up? I thought you’d be in bed with Fergus by now.’

‘Aye, she would be, but we’ve been waiting up for you,’ came a voice from the drawing room.

Bex followed Ruby to find Fergus sitting in his armchair, the blanket over his lap and a fire burning brightly. As she stood there, she couldn’t help but think how he seemed older whenever she saw him in this room. It was so different to when he was out on the grounds or walking up to the village. Then he appeared so sprightly, pacing about with his dogs. Tonight he had even got the fire burning, despite it being summer. Of course she knew that older people felt the cold more, but this was close to stifling.

‘I didn’t expect you to wait up for me,’ she said, perching on the edge of the sofa.

‘Well, she was haverin’,’ he said, with a nod down to Ruby. ‘Could nae settle, so I thought I’d come down for a bit and ended up trying one of those coffees you brought. No idea what’s in them, but I’m fair buzzing now. Probably won’t sleep for a week, so thank you for that.’

Bex felt a smile rise to her lips. Everyone was right – Fergus really was all bark, no bite, and since their drink, or rather drinks, the other weekend, the bark had all but gone.

‘I take it you had a good night?’ Fergus asked.

‘I did, thank you,’ she replied. ‘Really… braw? Is that how you say it?’

‘Kind o’, lass. You’ll get there.’ The old man let out a laugh that turned into a coughing fit. As he leaned forward, Bex moved to fetch him some water, but he lifted his hand and waved for her to stop. ‘I’ll be ’right. Just give me a wee minute.’

Just as he said, a moment later, his throat had cleared, and he was taking another sip of his whisky.

‘I thought I heard young Duncan’s voice just now,’ he said.

‘Yes.’ Bex tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. It was one thing to have Lorna keeping an eye on her; having Fergus do it too was quite another. ‘We just walked back together. We were out with some friends – Eilidh and Niall. Lorna couldn’t make it, unfortunately, but she was supposed to be there, too.’

‘Ah, you’ve made yourself a good group there,’ he said, nodding. ‘You seem to have settled in well.’

It was Bex’s turn to nod. It was strange to think of herself as ‘settling in’ to the village. That had been the last thing she’d planned on doing when she’d come up here. But now she had been here a little under two weeks and still had well over a month of work left to do. She was grateful those weeks wouldn’t be spent just missing home. If anything, she might actually find herself missing a few people when she returned. And not just people, she thought as she looked down at the red mound by her feet.

‘You’re a good lass,’ Fergus continued. ‘Hard worker, that’s for sure. But when folk around here let someone in, well, it’s no’ always easy if things go wrong.’

By folk, Bex got the feeling that Fergus was talking about one person in particular. The one she would miss most of all when it was time for her to go. Still, she offered the laird a relaxed smile.

‘I’ve got that,’ she said. ‘I know how good the people here are.’

Again, all the subtext was hidden beneath her words.

‘Aye, I’m sure you do. And it’s you I’m thinking of here, not just them, you know. Take care of yourself, that’s all I’ll say.’

‘Of course, of course,’ she replied. ‘Besides, I’m pretty tough. You don’t need to worry about me.’

Rather than replying, Fergus’s gaze shifted to the fireplace and a long sigh billowed from his lips.

‘That’s what they all say here,’ he replied quietly. ‘But sometimes it’s the toughest one that breaks the hardest.’

Bex got the feeling he was no longer talking about her and Duncan.

39

Bex knew she’d have to tell Claire and Daisy about the date eventually, but when Sunday evening rolled around and they had their normal weekend catch-up, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she filled them in on everything else she could think of.

‘So, Eilidh is a textile artist,’ she said, directing the comment to Daisy. ‘I haven’t seen anything she’s done yet, but Niall and Lorna say it’s incredible. And I’ve shown her your paintings. You know, I really think you should come up here before I leave, so you can do some watercolours of the place. There are loads of rooms. I’m sure I could ask Fergus. They have lots of people here when his nephew Kieron runs shoots.’