Love Without Reason. Alison Fraser

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СКАЧАТЬ can, but I’m not going to,’ was his answer, as he turned up the hill track and drove right to the door of the croft.

      The moment the car stopped, Riona scrambled out with a perfunctory, ‘Thanks for the lift.’

      But he climbed out, too, coming round to her side of the car. ‘You’re right about it being lonely up here. I’ll see you inside, check you have no intruders.’

      ‘There’s no need.’ She wanted him gone. He made her more nervous than any potential intruder.

      He sensed it, saying, ‘Relax, this isn’t move one in a grand seduction plan. Even assuming I like my women hard to get along with—which I don’t—you’re far too young for me.’

      In theory Riona should have been relieved at this announcement. In practice, she was stung into replying, ‘Or maybe you’re just too old for me.’

      But if she’d wanted to offend him, she didn’t succeed. He gave a short laugh before drawling, ‘Strike that “hard to get along with”; make it “damn nigh impossible”.’ Then he grabbed hold of her arm and steered her towards the door of her cottage.

      He breathed down her neck while she unlocked the door and didn’t give her a chance to shut it on him. Resigned, she led the way through the small front hall to the living-room, switching on lights as she went.

      She turned to find him surveying the room with an expression of disbelief on his face. Riona understood well enough. Poverty was reflected in the threadbare furniture and carpets, the shabbiness of her home, but she refused to be ashamed of it.

      She tilted her head and dared him to comment.

      Instead he said simply, ‘If you’d like to make us a cup of coffee, I promise not to take it as an invitation.’

      ‘To what?’ she asked rather foolishly.

      He smiled at her naïveté. ‘To outstay my welcome, let’s say.’

      Riona continued to frown. As far as she was concerned, he already had.

      ‘I only have tea,’ she said ungraciously.

      ‘That’ll do.’ He shrugged in reply.

      Left with no choice, Riona went through to the kitchen at the back, where her grandfather’s collie greeted her with much tail-wagging before taking an alert stance as the American appeared behind her.

      If he’d thought the living-room bad, Riona knew he’d find the kitchen worse. The linoleum was peeling, the table and chairs rickety, and the cooking range large, ugly and ancient.

      He looked round with a critical eye, but again refrained from commenting, nodding towards the collie instead.

      ‘Jo, I presume.’ He bent to offer the collie a hand to sniff.

      ‘Yes, but he doesn’t much take to strangers,’ she responded, as the collie backed away to his basket in the corner.

      ‘Like dog, like mistress,’ the American drawled in an undertone intended to be heard.

      Riona refused to justify herself. No, she didn’t like strangers. Not over-familiar ones, at any rate, she thought, as he leaned his considerable length against her granny’s old dresser.

      ‘Jo’s my grandfather’s dog, actually,’ she replied coolly.

      ‘Your grandfather,’ he echoed. ‘Yes, Dr Macnab said he’d died recently.’

      Busy with the tea things, Riona gave a brief nod that discouraged further interest in her private life.

      Or would have done, if Cameron Adams hadn’t been so thick-skinned. ‘It must be difficult, running this place on your own,’ he continued, oblivious.

      ‘I manage,’ she countered, wondering what he was getting at. Perhaps it wasn’t just casual conversation. ‘I won’t fall behind in my rent, Mr Adams, if that’s what’s worrying you.’

      ‘Cameron,’ he insisted, ‘and no, I wasn’t worrying about your rent. From what I’ve seen of the accounts, I doubt it’s worth worrying about,’ he added with a short laugh.

      Riona did not laugh back. What did he mean? Did he consider the rents too low? She could barely pay the present amount.

      Her face revealed her thoughts, as Cameron Adams drawled, ‘Relax, kid. Whatever you pay for this place, it’s probably too much.’

      He cast a disparaging glance round the kitchen.

      Riona was caught between reactions: relief there’d be no rent rise versus anger at the insult to her home.

      Powerless to argue, she confined herself to asking how he liked his tea, before placing it unceremoniously on the dresser beside him. She didn’t invite him to sit, and didn’t sit herself, instead taking a stance by the sink, as far from him as possible. Being a small kitchen, it wasn’t very far, and she felt overly conscious of him.

      He stared back at her, without any attempt to pretend he was doing otherwise, and she dropped her eyes to the worn linoleum.

      ‘Does the boyfriend help?’ he suddenly asked.

      ‘What?’ She looked at him blankly.

      He repeated, ‘The boyfriend. Does he help with the croft?’

      She narrowed her eyes. How much did he know of her life?

      ‘Who says I have a boyfriend?’

      ‘It’s not a secret, is it?’

      He smiled at her caginess. She frowned in response.

      ‘He’s in the Navy, isn’t he?’ he said, as if her memory might need jogging.

      Of course she’d realised whom he meant. Fergus Ross. But who had told him? Surely not Dr Hamish?

      ‘So how serious is it?’ he asked, when she remained silent.

      ‘I...I...’ His directness was unbelievable. ‘Why do you want to know?’

      He shrugged, before saying, ‘I guess I’m interested, after all.’

      ‘In what?’ Riona genuinely didn’t understand.

      ‘In you,’ the American replied simply.

      He was joking. He had to be, Riona decided, as she gave him a disgruntled look and he flashed her a brilliant smile in return. He was just trying to disconcert her.

      ‘It’s against my better judgement, of course,’ he continued in the same vein. ‘I mean you’re really not my type. That’s not to say you aren’t beautiful. You are. Very.’

      He paused to give her a look that made Riona wish she’d kept her coat on. ‘Do you expect me to be flattered?’

      ‘Hell, no,’ he said, clearly amused by the conversation, ‘I expect the boys have СКАЧАТЬ