her ribcage as he lifted her down with ease, as though she was as light as a feather.
When her feet touched the ground his hands stayed on her, as though he would steady her, and she realised with a slight sense of shock that her own fingers still lay on his shoulders. Her whole body responded as though he had triggered an electric current.
Coming to her senses, she drew back her fingers, her mind skittering with uncertainty.
‘So that’s why you were lying in bed this morning,’ she murmured. ‘I have to take back all the bad things I was thinking.’ She frowned. ‘Only, who was watching over the children last night if you were out working?’
‘You were thinking bad things?’ His mouth made a flattened shape. ‘I thought as much.’ He straightened, letting his hands fall away from her. ‘You don’t trust me at all, do you?’
‘Put it down to the fall out from times gone by,’ she murmured.
He gave a faint smile. ‘As always. Actually, I did have things all in hand. I arranged for Maggie to stay and watch over them until I returned home. She was pleased enough to do it. Of course I’ll have to organise things a little better if I’m to stay for a while. Molly and Cameron need some kind of stability, and getting them enrolled in school is going to be one of the first things I must do.’
‘Yes, that’s probably best.’ Izzy stepped away from the vehicle. ‘I should let you go,’ she said softly. This was neither the time nor the place to be holding a conversation about his future plans, much as her curiosity was pricked. Wind from the helicopter’s rotors tousled her hair, and she lifted a hand to hold the strands away from her face. ‘If you get the chance, let me know how our patient progresses, will you?’
He nodded. ‘I will. You can count on it.’
She moved away, and he slid the door of the helicopter shut. Within moments the aircraft rose skywards and zoomed away.
Watching the helicopter move out of sight, Izzy was assailed by a strange notion of unfinished business. Seeing Ross at work had given her a tremendous jolt, and along with it had come the realisation that their paths might cross much more often than she had ever expected.
Today had not been a good start. Why hadn’t she guarded her tongue instead of alerting him to all her doubts and criticisms? He was simply doing a job, making the best of things just as she was, and it was wrong of her to find fault with everything he did. It was in his favour that he was taking care of the children at all. Perhaps she should leave it to her father to cast aspersions on his motives.
Her father, as things turned out, was in a highly charged mood when she visited him later that day.
‘You’re working with Ross Buchanan?’ His tone was grim. ‘As if it isn’t bad enough that he’s back among us. Why do we have to rub shoulders with him, too?’
Izzy’s mother came into the living room, setting down the tea tray on a low coffee table. She glanced at Izzy. ‘Sit yourself down, love. You’ve had a trying day by all accounts. You should relax with a cup of tea and some cake. I had a baking session this morning—fruitcake. Help yourself.’ She shook her head, making the soft brown tendrils of hair quiver as she lifted the teapot. ‘You wouldn’t think so many people would manage to get themselves into difficulties up in the hills, would you?’
Izzy sat down on the sofa and leaned forward to slide a wedge of cake on to a plate. ‘I’m more surprised that there are so many people who still want to walk the hills in December,’ she murmured. She glanced at her father. ‘As to Ross, he is at least doing a worthwhile job. You have to grant him that, surely?’
‘I’ll not grant him anything,’ her father said gruffly. ‘I’ve heard that he’s brought builders in to go on with that log cabin project his father started on the estate some six years back. I don’t know how on earth he managed to get planning permission. A lot of people objected to the development, and from my point of view it’ll be certain to draw away the tourists. I’m sure that’s his grand plan.’
‘But you’ll be all right, won’t you?’ Izzy said. ‘You have the regular people who come every year for the fishing. That’s more than a lot of the villagers have.’
‘That’s only because I kept hold of this land and my father and his father before him fought to stay on it. There were no thanks due to the old Laird and the generations that followed him for that. Their land borders ours, and if they’d had their way they’d have long since moved the boundaries and made it their own.’
Izzy bit into her cake and tried to keep exasperation from getting the better of her. She had learnt long ago that there was no point in arguing with her father when he was in this frame of mind.
Her mother’s gaze met hers across the table. ‘Your father’s upset because the salmon fishing went awry this year. There’s something wrong with the stretch of the river that flows across our land. He reckons it’s to do with some changes the Laird made higher up, at a point before the river reaches us.’
‘But Ross wasn’t here when all that went on, was he?’ Izzy murmured. ‘I don’t see how he can be to blame for everything that goes wrong around here.’
Her father’s brows shot up. ‘So who do you think gave Jake his instructions? And that log cabin has been a sore point for a long time. Not just the cabin, but the lodges that go along with it. He said it was just for living accommodation for the family, but what does he need with that when he has the castle? Draughty it might be, and in need of repair, but they’ve lived there for generations without needing any cabins or lodges. It’s just an excuse. He’ll lure away the tourists to line his own pockets and take away any chance we have of making a living.’
‘He may not be here for all that long,’ Izzy said, accepting a cup of tea from her mother and taking slow sips of the hot liquid. ‘He said something about his job being kept open for him back in the Lake District. I have the feeling that he’s here to make sure Alice is going to be all right and to allow the children to be with her. Perhaps he’s planning on taking them all home once she’s well again.’
She frowned, thinking things over. Ross had always had a soft spot for Alice. If his brother hadn’t swept her away from him, who knew what might have come of their relationship? Perhaps Alice was bound to turn to him now more than ever. How would Ross react to that? Would he be pleased? Why else was he staying around to look after her when she had her older sister, Jess, to care for her?
It wasn’t something that she wanted to dwell on. Thinking about Ross and Alice as a couple always had the power to upset her. Her own feelings towards him were unsettling, and had caused her many a sleepless night. She put down her cup and brushed crumbs from her lap.
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