Page 31 of Summer in the Scottish Highlands (The Scottish Highlands #5)

He would rather she hadn’t reminded him.

He wanted to spend all his time, every second, with the woman he loved.

All he wanted to think about was arriving in Aviemore and booking a table at a restaurant for their first date.

He said, ‘Look, in all honesty, I don’t want to see Martha this week.

It’s not as though I’d have any news to give her regarding her son. ’

‘That’s understandable,’ replied Faye. ‘You know, you could still approach Aubrey. I know you’ve been holding off doing that in case he doesn’t know that his sister had a baby years ago and that her son would now be in his thirties.

But what if he does know, and not only that, but he can also tell you, and Martha, her son’s whereabouts?

Or at least help in the search. I’m sure Aubrey has … ’

Jake had stopped the car at a junction, indicating he was turning left. There were no cars behind him. He paused to look at Faye when she didn’t finish her sentence. ‘You were saying …?’

Faye scratched her head. ‘I was going to say that I bet Aubrey has ways of finding out things.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. I’m probably being silly again. I was just thinking back to when I first met him.’

‘Oh, right.’ Jake would rather not revisit that episode when he’d discovered Marcus had been on a bender.

Instead of returning home to his fiancée, Lydia, he’d tried to crash at Jake’s house.

Except Jake hadn’t been in that night. He stayed over on the sofa at Faye’s after babysitting.

When he’d got a frantic call at work saying Marcus hadn’t returned home, Faye had given him a lift home.

That was when she’d met Aubrey and discovered he’d been keeping an eye on Jake.

The conversation wasn’t doing Jake any good, especially when he knew he’d succumbed to switching off his mobile phone, afraid he’d get another one of those calls from Lydia to say Marcus was missing.

What could he do about that scenario when he was hundreds of miles away in Scotland?

Even so, as he turned left and continued along the next stretch of road, he still had to ask, ‘Silly how?’

‘Aubrey. He’s a bit of an enigma, isn’t he? I get the feeling there’s more to him than meets the eye. In fact, it’s more than just a feeling. What exactly is his job at the Ross Corporation?’

That was a good question, and one Jake wanted to avoid. ‘Why is that relevant?’ he said. He could feel himself getting defensive. He had a soft spot for Aubrey, and the feeling was mutual.

Faye sighed. ‘I don’t know, but I can just imagine he might play it a bit hard and fast when it comes to the law. The fact that he uses a false name …’ She tr ailed off.

‘I hope you’re not suggesting he’s some sort of criminal, because I can tell you now that William Ross would not hire someone like that to work for him in the Ross Corporation.’

Jake expected Faye to remonstrate with him, saying it was not what she was suggesting. She didn’t. ‘But you said yourself that William and Aubrey go way back.’

‘That doesn’t mean—’

‘And do you know that he carries a gun?’

Jake pursed his lips. Of course he knew.

And he knew where Aubrey kept it too – or at least his spare.

Jake had borrowed it and taken it with him to confront Patrick after Natty had gone missing.

He’d assumed Patrick, who’d been estranged from Faye, had taken Natty, and that it had had something to do with Natty’s father, Yousaf.

Of course, that hadn’t turned out to be the case.

Natty had gone AWOL from school. She hadn’t been kidnapped, and her going missing had had nothing to do with Patrick or Yousaf.

In hindsight, Jake had no idea what he had been thinking at the time, taking a loaded weapon with him to confront Patrick, apart from the fact that he’d have done anything to get Natty back.

But anything could have happened. He didn’t know the first thing about guns.

It could have gone off and killed somebody.

He cringed at the memory that it had gone off accidentally, and thanked his lucky stars that Patrick had not mentioned to Faye the gun that had been in Jake’s possession.

‘You do know – about Aubrey’s gun, don’t you?’

Guns, plural, thought Jake. But he didn’t let on about that. Instead, he asked, ‘How do you know he carries one?’

‘Because he got one out of his briefcase that time he appeared at your front door after that commotion when we were at your house and discovered Marcus was there. That’s when I realised that he must be following you, keeping an eye out for one of his employers.’

And his dear friend , thought Jake. He could feel himself getting defensive again. ‘Look, you don’t know anything about my past life with the Rosses – and you certainly should not be judging Aubrey.’

‘Why don’t you fill me in about your past life? You never talk about it.’

‘Let’s just drop it – can we?’

It was true that Jake never talked about it, and he certainly had no intention of raising the subject this week, of all weeks, when he knew he should be back in London, doing as he’d promised and heading up the Ross Corporation while Marcus checked into rehab.

It was the last thing he intended to talk about.

He stared at Faye, thinking, just tell her what’s on your mind.

The he thought, no . If he could have folded his arms and stamped his foot like a child, he would have.

But he couldn’t. Instead, he set his jaw forward and just frowned at the road ahead.

He could feel Faye’s eyes on him and hoped she realised it was the end of the conversation.

They had a little under fifteen minutes to go until they arrived in Aviemore.

Jake nudged the accelerator. He couldn’t get there fast enough to get out from under Faye’s gaze.

‘Fine!’

Jake glanced at Faye. ‘What do you mean – fine?’

‘You don’t really want us to stay at The Lake House. I was rather hoping we would, and was a little surprised, not to mention disappointed, when we first arrived in Aviemore and it turned out we weren’t staying in your house, but a guesthouse.’

Jake had to tear his eyes away from Faye to keep an eye on the road, but he couldn’t help but think how did this conversation turn to The Lake House and Lark Lodge?

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ continued Faye. ‘I love Lark Lodge, along with the people I’ve met there, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

But I don’t see how this, us , is going to work if we can’t talk about your past.’ She lowered her voice.

‘I’m afraid that you’ll walk out any moment, and back to your old life. ’

‘What are you talking about?’ He’d thought the conversation was about Aubrey.

‘What do you think I’m talking about? That promise you made to Marcus.’

‘It was only going to be temporary, and besides, I’m here, aren’t I?’

‘That’s only because Natty went missing.’

Jake was about to protest when he realised this was an argument he wasn’t going to win.

‘Is date night off?’ Jake asked in a small voice, even though he already knew the answer.

‘What do you think?’