Page 32 of Snowy Surprises in the Highlands (Scottish Highland #5)

He rolled his eyes and huffed. ‘ An officer of the law, yeah, yeah,’ he mocked in a childish tone. ‘I’m no criminal so that’s your word against mine. Jeez, you sound just like Helena.’

‘Yeah, well, I know who he’ll agree with, because I’m not the conceited arse forcing himself on someone!’ Her chest heaved, partly in fear and partly in anger. How dare he? Realising he had mentioned, potentially, another of his prey, she scowled. ‘Hang on, who’s Helena?’

His smile disappeared and he appeared shocked. ‘What?’ He clearly hadn’t meant to say her name out loud.

‘You said I sound just like Helena . Who is Helena?’

He sighed like an errant teenager. ‘Ugh, the makeup artist that accused me of sexual harassment back in the States. The reason I’m no longer modelling and why I’ve been exiled here to this shithole, and the reason I have to go home next week for a meeting with my folks’ lawyers to sign the settlement,’ he barked.

‘You’re just like her. Can’t take a damn joke and let your eyes say one thing while your mouth says another. ’

She backed herself to the wall of the lift, knowing full well that her eyes and her mouth had definitely been on the same page all along. ‘Can you not read body language? Because mine was telling you to eff off from the start.’

He tilted his head. ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. But we both know the truth.’

A thought dawned on her. ‘I don’t suppose I should be shocked that I’m not your first victim.’

He curled his lip. ‘ Victim ? Seriously?’ He laughed without any shred of humour.

‘My God, you’re all the damn same. And the Oscar for overreacting goes to…

’ he said into an imaginary microphone. ‘Well, don’t expect any money, because Helena’s getting it all.

My folks are having to pay her off. Bitch threatened to go to the police just because I slapped her ass when she bent over in a tight skirt to supposedly pick somethin’ up.

’ He made inverted commas in the air. ‘As if it wasn’t a damned invitation. ’

Guessing that that particular action couldn’t have been the only thing to cause his parents to send him away, Bella widened her eyes.

‘I can assure you it won’t have been a bloody invitation.

You can’t do things like that! What else did you do to her?

I’m not surprised she threatened to report you.

’ She curled her lip. ‘Your parents must be so proud.’

Ignoring her, Carlton stared at the door, his eyes now wide and filled with what looked like fear. ‘Why isn’t that door opening?’ he said suddenly, jabbing a finger towards the exit. ‘We stopped so the doors should’ve opened. Why haven’t they opened?’

Bella scoffed with incredulity. ‘Because we’re stuck between floors, you absolute walloper,’ she exclaimed what she had presumed was blatantly obvious. ‘What did you think that loud crunching noise was?’

His eyes flitted from her to the door and back again. ‘What? We can’t be stuck. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. It’s been working fine.’ This time his laughter verged on maniacal as he took two steps over to the panel and banged his finger on each button in turn. ‘We can’t be stuck.’

Bella held out her arms and let them flop to her sides in exasperation. ‘I did warn you that it needed servicing… or condemning.’

‘No. No. It can’t be stuck,’ he repeated. He then bashed at the door with his fists and shouted, ‘Help!’

Bella almost jumped out of her skin as she flung herself back against the wood panelling, heart racing and chest heaving. ‘Bloody hell, Carlton, there’s no need for that. You terrified me.’

‘Hello, anybody!’ His voice was high-pitched and sounded wrong coming from his body. ‘We need some help in here!’ Only a short time ago he had been flexing his muscles, trying to be the big man, and now he was squealing like a wounded animal.

The pounding, combined with his screeches, echoed around the 4ft-by-4ft container and Bella covered her ears. ‘Well, you just carry on doing that, it’s bound to help,’ she shouted, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

He turned to her; the colour had drained from his usually tanned face, leaving him rather grey and pallid. ‘No, no, I can’t be in here, Bella. I can’t. I can’t breathe.’ He pulled at the neck of his T-shirt, but it wasn’t even tight.

She shook her head. ‘It’s fine. I’ll call someone.’ She reached into her bag. ‘Shit, where’s my phone?’ She frantically rummaged around the contents, but her phone wasn’t there.

Carlton gripped his hair with his hands. ‘It’s on the floor under the table in the dining room.’

Slowly Bella lifted her chin and glared at him. ‘What?’

‘It fell out of your bag, and I slid it away with my foot.’

Bella crumpled her face in disgust. ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ And then she felt the colour drain from her own face. ‘What were you planning to do to me when we got upstairs?’

He chewed on his thumb. ‘Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just messing around. I was annoyed when your fiancé messaged so I slid it away so he couldn’t bother you for a while. We were getting on fine until he messaged you.’

‘You really are quite delusional, aren’t you?’ A voice in her head was screaming at her to be nicer, seeing as she was in such a vulnerable position, but anger was getting the better of her fear. ‘Were you planning on telling me where my phone was?’

He was staring at the door, wide-eyed, and he was visibly shaking. ‘I… I thought I could pretend to help you look for it later, and you’d think I was sweet when I found it.’

She clenched her jaw and hissed, ‘I can assure you that I will never think you’re sweet, you absolute idiot.’ Steady on, Bella, too far, you can’t escape, remember .

‘Wait a minute. You can call someone on your iPad,’ he said, pointing at her bag.

‘It’s not SIM enabled, so no, I can’t. I suggest you call someone because I don’t want to spend a second longer than I have to trapped in here with you .’

He slid down the wood-panelled wall until his bottom hit the floor. ‘I would call someone— I really would— if I had my phone.’

‘What? Where’s your phone?’ Bella asked as anger turned her cheeks hot.

‘I left it in my room. I didn’t want any distractions today.

’ He stared at the floor for a few silent moments but then Bella watched as his shoulders began to move up and down rapidly.

He began rocking back and forth and when he eventually lifted his chin his eyes had welled with tears, and he stared pleadingly up at her as his breathing became more and more erratic.

‘I can’t be in here, Bella, we have to get out.

We— have— to. I’m— I’m really— badly— claust— claustrophobic. ’