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CHAPTER FORTY

N ina clutched the seat belt strapped across her chest. ‘What the hell is this place?’

‘What does it say on the board there?’

She didn’t care what it said on the board. ‘A fancy honeymoon location for couples who like spooky stories. The last time I checked, we were neither a couple, nor are we on holiday. Hell, we’re still in Glasgow’s city centre!’

Robert cut the car’s engine. ‘This is an inn. As in a place to rest our heads for the night. I’m not taking you back to the flat. And before you say it, I have your backpack and a set of clothes for both of us for a couple of days.’

Nina tilted her head. If they were married and he planned a secret break away and packed up her things for her, she’d have jumped him in the car, bandages be damned. But… ‘We’re in the middle of a case.’

‘Where you saw someone blow up our chief suspect’s head.’

She rolled her eyes. At least this time he believed it wasn’t her. ‘In case you forgot, I haven’t had a job for a while now. And neither have you.’

Robert stuck a thumb at himself. ‘Paid leave. And I know you want to stay in the area. They take cash. And they don’t ask questions. If someone is looking for you, chances are they’re staking out transport hubs and big hotels in the city centre.’

None of which were located here. Nina turned in her seat to stare at the view from the inn. Glasgow’s Necropolis lay sprawled on a hill. Unlike that cold reminder of the dead, the inn appeared cosy, the sort of place you could snuggle up with your loved ones by the fire. Nina sighed, remembering her stay at Dachaigh in the Highlands a few months ago. Robert was right. They needed to lie low, and after the ordeal she’d been through, who was she to refuse a free treat? ‘I’m not taking my foot off the investigation wagon.’

‘Never asked you to,’ Robert said, getting out of the car.

No, he hadn’t. In fact, he’d never asked her to stop pushing, stop trying to get answers. Why would Anne have held this man back? He had a heart, aye, but the man also had a smart head that would’ve served the police well.

Relationships were complicated and hard to understand. But the more she came to know Robert, the more she couldn’t understand how a man like him had met and fallen for a woman like Anne. It was none of her business, though. She had enough on her plate. Three of the four people who’d been at the crime scene that night were dead. And now they had someone entirely new involved in all this.

Things weren’t going well. Not by a long shot.

When Nina tried to reach for the bags, Robert steered her towards the inn’s entrance. ‘Check us in. We’re under Mr and Mrs MacLeod. Joshua MacLeod.’

He turned before Nina could raise her eyebrows at him. Knowing the importance of secrecy, she ordered the wee flutterings in her heart to stop. This was not a romantic getaway.

The woman behind the counter smiled at Nina then widened her eyes when she took in the state Nina was in. Nina shrugged. ‘I was in an accident. My h-husband thought it would be a great idea to take a little R it should have sent her running to the door and as far away from Robert as possible. Nina loved her independence. She loved being by herself… And he wasn’t saying he’d stick by her after this was over.

Calm down!

But mere team members or even casual lovers didn’t usually just snuggle up in bed like this. Or have jealousies or fierce urges to protect the other.

If she were in her right mind, she’d run.

Nina tightened her grip on Robert’s hand and dropped her head to his shoulder. What the hell was this man doing to her?

She looked up at him and found his eyes on her. Then his hand cupped her face. ‘I have one more confession to make. A bad one.’

Nina kissed his shoulder, still holding on. A small part of her itched to flee still. It had been her de facto response for more than a decade. This man though… Nina sighed. ‘I can keep a secret.’

Robert’s Adam’s apple bobbed when he nodded. She saw his resolve waver, then he whispered, ‘When I met Anne, I was naive. I mean, I didn’t know much about love. And I loved her, in a way. Wanted the happy family with her. But I wasn’t prepared, not by a long shot. I never understood what people meant when they said love wasn’t enough.’

Once again, he swallowed. ‘I’m not… shit… I… What I feel for you, whatever it is, has been deep, primal, all-consuming from the first moment I met you. You make me burn. While the emotions behind those feelings have shifted over the time I’ve known you… if I lost you, like I lost Anne, I don’t think I’d survive. I mean, I don’t think I’d make it without you driving me on.’

Nina didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t said the L word; hadn’t made a grand confession, or…

Robert’s lips found hers. ‘When times were tough, finding you was what got me going. And now I want to keep you safe. Nina…’

This time, she straddled him, held him. And somewhere between their kisses and the loss of her clothing, she found the courage not to parrot the sentiment back to him but to show him how his gentleness buoyed her from the flood of loneliness she’d been drowning in.