Page 43 of A Scottish Lighthouse Escape (Scottish Escapes #9)

The prospect of that, made my heart shrivel. Don’t Rosie. Just, don’t.

‘Aye. Good, thanks,’ answered Mitch, oblivious to my emotions throwing themselves around. ‘Can we join you on your walk?’

‘We?’ I asked, glancing around for shiny-haired brunettes with piercing navy-blue eyes, but trying to look like I was just taking in the scenery.

‘Kane and me.’

‘Oh. Right. Yes, of course.’ Where was Romilly?

I swallowed the question, even though it was burning the tip of my tongue. Mitch slid me a prolonged look from under his black brows. Was he psychic? ‘Romilly’s gone back to London. She set off this morning for her flight.’

I pushed my hands into my coat pockets. ‘Oh?’

I refused to entertain any glimmer of optimism. What did that mean? Had she gone back to sort everything out before moving back to Rowan Bay? Was she going back to London to say goodbye to family and friends, and share the good news that she was back with Mitch?

I didn’t want to ask Mitch, but not knowing what was happening was eating away at me. Oh, sod it. I couldn’t carry on dancing around the topic like this. It was agonising. ‘I suppose there’s a lot for her to sort out.’ There. I’d said it.

‘Sorry?’

‘If she’s moving up here.’

Mitch stared at me, as though I’d just confessed to an armed robbery. ‘Why would she do that?’

Was he going to make this any harder for me than it already was? I tried to gather myself. ‘Well… you know… if you two have got back together…’

Mitch shook his head and let out a shout of laughter. ‘Good God, no!’

I blinked across at him. ‘No?’

‘No. One hundred percent no.’

The rain-tossed sky shifted behind him. ‘Romilly only came up here to tell me she’s met someone else and wants to get married again. Some financier in the city. She wants a divorce, which is fine by me.’

A strange sensation whipped through me. Was that happiness? Relief?

‘She’s always been a drama queen. She could’ve told me all this on the phone, but I think she used it as an excuse to come up and have a nosey at Rowan Bay and see what sort of life her oddball soon-to-be-ex-husband has up here.’

I gazed up at him, admiring his profile. ‘You’re not an oddball, Mitch.’

He laughed, showing off his white teeth. ‘Some may disagree with you on that one.’ He hesitated. There was meaning radiating out of his gaze as he drank me in. My heart was fluttering like a wild bird. My attention kept straying to his lips.

‘Romilly said you were very pretty.’

It took a few moments for me to realise who Mitch was talking about. ‘Me?’

‘Well, she wasn’t talking about Kane.’

I laughed it off, but my insides were turning to water. This was ridiculous. I’d come here to lick my wounds and vanish into myself. And how is that working out for you, Rosie?

We studied each other, oblivious to the fresh squall of winter rain picking up again.

I huddled deeper into my coat. ‘I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, Mitch.’

Mitch’s eyes widened. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

Bronte and Kane were jumping over branches and letting out barks of happiness.

I tugged my gloved hands out of my coat pockets. They flailed around as I spoke. ‘Joe, me desperate to make Tilda’s dream a reality, me deciding not to write any more books.’

Mitch took me by surprise by moving even closer to me. I could make out the flecks of mint in his eyes. ‘You’re something else, Rosie.’

‘Gee, thanks. I think.’

His attention rested on my mouth. ‘When you get nervous, you talk a lot.’

‘No, I don’t. I just feel like I have to explain the situation and make it clear that…’

‘You’re doing it now.’

I pulled a face at him. ‘Well, what do you want me to do about it?’

Mitch gave me a long, hot look that turned my insides to butter. ‘I don’t expect you to do anything about it.’ He laced his fingers through my hair. ‘I’m just going to have to kiss you to shut you up.’

Mitch lowered his mouth onto mine. The realisation that I was being kissed by another man and not Joe made my heart give an odd jump.

But Mitch was gentle at first, tasting my lips, caressing them.

Then his kisses deepened. I moulded my body against his.

I had to. My nerve endings were giving me no choice.

I became oblivious to the fresh, darting rain that was splatting against the woodland floor.

I clung to him, kissing him back. We pushed ourselves against one another.

I felt like all our contours aligned. Excitement raced through me. I didn’t want him to stop.

After what seemed like forever, we reluctantly took a step back and clutched each other’s hands. The rain continued to come down in sharp, silver arrows, but we didn’t care.

The swish of the harbour water in the distance was like a faint lullaby.

‘You, okay?’ he asked, picking up my hand and caressing it.

I drank him in. ‘Yes. I think I am.’

Mitch’s gaze was soft. ‘Take a chance on me, Rosie. Please. Give romance another go.’

Tears nudged the corners of my eyes.

‘I’m not perfect. I talk in my sleep and dump my loose change in the kitchen.’ I noticed him lacing and unlacing his gloved hands.

‘I’m glad you’re you,’ I managed, my voice wavering. ‘But I’m scared.’

His face adopted a more serious edge. ‘Give me a chance, Rosie. I promise that I’d never cheat on you.

’ He rubbed at his strong chin. ‘If I’ve learnt anything from what happened to Noah and losing my business, it’s that we have to be happy when and while we can and not to take anything for granted.

’ He took my hands in his again and stroked them.

‘If someone had said to me two months ago that I’d fall for a widowed, titian-haired romance writer, I’d have laughed. ’

He shook his dark head in wonder. ‘I came to Rowan Bay to escape from everyone and everything. I thought that if I could be the local lighthouse keeper and save people– give something back for what happened to Noah– then that would be more than enough for me.’

My stomach rocked. ‘I’ve seen first-hand you saving people, remember? When you rescued Rhea?’

Mitch grinned and gave me a sexy wink. Then his expression became more pensive again. ‘You’re kind, funny, beautiful and thoughtful. Stop putting everyone else first for a change.’ He forced a hand through his tangle of curls. ‘Let me prove to you that you were wrong about love and being loved.’

I was struggling to speak. My throat was clogged with emotion.

‘You deserve to be loved again after Joe. You need to know that you weren’t writing about something that doesn’t last.’ His expression was appealing. ‘You know what I think? I think your heart is ready for someone else. And I want that someone else to be me.’

I let out a little sob.

My stomach fluttered at the sight of him standing there, oblivious to the wind and the rain. I was losing myself in his eyes as they swept my face.

‘You just have to find the right person, someone who genuinely loves and appreciates you for who you are and what you stand for.’

Mitch’s expression was earnest. ‘Remember how I gave you a definition before, of what a lighthouse is? Well, I have another one that I read just recently. A lighthouse is a powerful beacon that illuminates a path through darkness and uncertainty, towards the light.’ He raised a hand and traced my jaw. ‘Let’s do that for each other.’

I couldn’t speak. I pressed my lips together, not able to swallow back a gulp of emotion.

Mitch threw his hands up in the air. ‘And I know you’re not Romilly. I got hurt too. But maybe we were meant to find each other.’ He grinned. ‘Two sarcastic, grumpy, dog-loving lost souls who could make feeling guilty an Olympic sport.’

‘Grumpy?!’ I struggled, my chest threatening to brim over with happiness. ‘You speak for yourself.’

Mitch let out a jokey gasp. ‘Oh, come on. When you first arrived here, nobody could say the right thing to you.’

I pulled an agonised face. ‘Yeah, you’re right.

When I got here, I was angry at everyone and everything.

I was hurting over Joe’s betrayal and missing my grandparents and my parents so much.

I didn’t think I deserved to be happy.’ I gave him a coy glance from under my lashes.

‘But you were so patient with me, so kind and helpful, not to mention gorgeous.’

Mitch arched a brow and laughed. ‘I’m glad you added gorgeous.’

I laughed again, through some threatening tears. ‘I kept telling myself not to fall for you and that it was wrong.’

‘And now?’ he asked, pulling me towards him.

I lost myself in those captivating ocean-like eyes of his. ‘And now, I’m going to grab happiness with both hands.’ A watery smile spread across my face.

Mitch tapped the end of my nose with his finger. ‘I’m glad to hear it. Me too. I was convinced I didn’t need anyone in my life, but then you came along and I knew I’d been lying to myself.’ He gave a shy smile.

Oh God. This man. This wonderful, caring man.

His bashful smile deepened. ‘I was working up in that lighthouse or sitting in the bothy and finding myself thinking about you non-stop.’ He hesitated. ‘And while I’m at it, I have another confession to make.’ He pulled an embarrassed face. ‘I was jealous.’

‘Jealous of what? When?’

Mitch cringed at the memory. ‘When I thought you had a male visitor to the cottage. Reece.’

I started to laugh through a gauze of tears.

‘Please don’t tell Reece this, but I imagined him to be some suave, city slicker type in his late thirties. You’ve no idea how relieved I was when I clapped eyes on him and found out he was over eighty and a retired furniture designer.’

This time, we both laughed together before drawing closer again. I knew now that I’d been trying to fight the inevitable.

And as we kissed over and over, huddled together under the twisted, soaked canopy of trees, I knew that Mitch was my here and now– and my future.