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‘Well, if we do come up, it would mean we’d get a chance to meet this burly groundskeeper of yours, so I’m all for it,’ Claire replied.

Bex tried to look as casual as possible.

‘Sure, I mean, Duncan’ll more than likely be at the pub one evening,’ she said, trying to sound offhand. ‘You’ll probably get to meet him then.’

‘You’re honestly telling us that’s it?’ Daisy said, her eyebrows raised. ‘This is the guy who even had lunch delivered to you when he couldn’t make it. You can’t tell me you’ve grown bored of him already?’

A flutter of hope lit in Bex. Apparently, some good came from being the woman who always grew bored with guys at a record pace; she could use it to her advantage now.

‘I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I ever envision myself with someone who spends their entire time outside,’ she said. ‘I mean, he’s hot and everything. But he literally smells like the forest.’

The way she said that, like it was a bad thing, made her chest hurt. She loved the way Duncan smelled of the woods, of nature. Just thinking about it reminded her of the way he had held her on Friday night, with his hand at the base of her spine as he had tucked that strand of hair behind her ear. How was she making out to her best friends in the world that this was nothing, when it was pretty much all she could think about?

‘Well, I’m sure there are plenty of other hot Scottish men out there,’ Daisy said. ‘Maybe we’ll see if we can find you one if we come up.’

‘That sounds like a plan,’ Bex replied, grateful that they had bought her act, even if she was going to have to confess she had kept things about Duncan hidden at a later date.

As Wednesday night drew closer, Bex found herself a mess of thoughts. She already knew Duncan was feeling the same things towards her as she was to him, and the date would likely cement that, but then again, maybe it would be better if the evening was a disaster – if everything went badly, she’d never have the desire to spend any more one-on-one time with him, which in some respects would be ideal. But somehow, she didn’t expect that to happen.

The first thing she had to do was work out where the hell The Haven was. A quick google showed her that it was a very fancy hotel around a half a mile outside of the village, which led to the second question of how she was going to get there. Not drinking was out of the question. She was going to need at least two glasses of wine to quash the nerves, but she wouldn’t want to drive back, which meant finding a taxi.

After discovering that LochDarroch had nothing in the way of a taxi service, she decided that was probably something a posh hotel would be able to sort, which meant the only thing she had to figure out was her outfit.

More than once, she considered sending her options to the girls, but then that would mean having to admit what was going on, and she wasn’t ready to do that. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have a couple of nice – date-like – outfits, but they were London dates. Swanky cocktail bars. Dinner and a show. They weren’t LochDarroch dates.

Still, after trying on every single item from her wardrobe, she decided on a low-back black mini dress that was utterly unsuitable for life in the Highlands. But Duncan had said he liked her as she was, so why shouldn’t he see what a date with Rebecca Barker would be like south of the border?

‘Sorry, girl, no belly rubs in this,’ Bex said as she came down the stairs before her date to find Ruby sitting there, having just been fed. ‘You’ll rub up against me like you always do, and I know how tricky your fur is to get out of things.’

‘You’re lookin’ very fancy. Off somewhere nice?’

She looked up from Ruby to find Fergus looking directly at her. A lump filled her throat. She didn’t have to tell him where she was going. He was her employer-slash-temporary landlord, that was it. But she didn’t want to lie to him either.

‘Duncan’s taking me for dinner at The Haven.’

‘Is that right?’ His lips twisted together, and Bex couldn’t ignore the tension that was weaving its way around between them. ‘Well, I’ll no’ keep you, but any chance you’ll take a wee more advice fae an old man?’

Bex nodded, suddenly unable to speak.

‘That lad wears his heart on his sleeves. There’s no’ a bad bone in him, and for one who’s been through what he’s been through, that says a lot. Just make sure you don’t hurt him. That’s all I’m asking. He deserves more than that.’

‘I know,’ she said, then before she realised what she was doing, she walked forward and kissed the old man gently on his cheek. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not planning on breaking anyone’s heart.’

And that included her own.

40

As Bex stepped outside, she pulled her car keys from her bag, only to stop in her tracks. There, on the driveway, was a sleek black sports car, and standing in front of it, dressed in a light green-blue shirt that perfectly matched the colour of his eyes, was Duncan.

‘You didn’t think you were going to have to drive yourself, did you?’ he said, stepping forward and kissing her on the cheek. Somehow, he felt broader than normal. Like if he would wrap his arms around her, she would simply disappear. And yet before there was any chance of that happening, he stepped back and cast her a much longer gaze.

‘You look incredible,’ he said.

‘You don’t look bad yourself.’

‘Maybe… but you…’ It was as though he couldn’t hear her. Like he was totally absorbed by what he had seen. Totally absorbed by her. For a moment the pair of them stood there in silence, the weight of his gaze causing her to shudder as her pulse continued to rise.

‘I thought we had a reservation we needed to get to,’ she said, breaking the tension as she moved towards the car. A moment later, Duncan had regained his focus and was opening the door for her.