The Forbidden Promise. Lorna Cook

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СКАЧАТЬ crash. And you’ve not eaten anything. And you’ve got no money, I assume. Or papers. Where will you go? And although it’s summer, it’s terribly cold at night so you’ll probably freeze to death.’ She knew this last bit wasn’t true but she pressed on regardless. ‘And we’re miles from anywhere—’

      ‘Which will probably work in my favour,’ he interrupted.

      ‘Well, no,’ Constance said. ‘I don’t think it would. There’s Invermoray village a few miles down the road but that’s it. What will you do? Hide out in a village for the remainder of the war? A stranger of fighting age suddenly turning up in a Highland village would be hard to overlook. Or were you hoping for a passing car to catch you on the road somewhere? I warn you, there are almost no cars at the moment, and anyone official passing will want to see your papers. Most of the Highlands have been cordoned off. We can’t go anywhere without being stopped in our tracks by the army these days. There are so many houses being requisitioned up here and heaven knows what’s happening, but it’s all terribly hush-hush. So you won’t get very far on foot. I could lend you my bicycle but the same problem applies. You’ll be stopped. You could always wait for the bus,’ she said, ‘which is unpredictable in its timing at best. But for that you’ll need money. Do you have any?’

      The corners of his mouth twitched. ‘Well, I must say, you’ve thought about this a great deal more than I have.’

      ‘I’ve been thinking about you all night,’ she said and then screamed at herself inside her own head.

      ‘Have you now?’ he asked. An eyebrow lifted and the smile deepened.

      ‘Not like that,’ she flustered and she faced the humiliation of watching him laugh at her.

      ‘Well I should hope not,’ he said, teasingly. ‘A nice girl like you.’

      She flushed. ‘I felt horribly guilty,’ she said quietly. ‘That I’d just left you. That I’d abandoned you.’

      He tilted his head to one side. ‘I shouldn’t have asked you to help me,’ he said seriously. ‘It was unfair. Perhaps you’re right.’ He raked his hand through his wet hair, sending droplets of water flying. ‘Perhaps it was the shock. I wasn’t thinking straight, asking a young woman to go out of her way to house a man who, well, who shouldn’t really be here.’

      ‘I don’t mind, not now, not now that I’ve thought about it. And I have, a great deal. You should stay at the cottage. Stay as long as you like, as long as you need. There’s plenty of clothes and I’ll bring you food from the house.’

      A snapping sound emanated from far behind him and Constance started. Matthew swung round. ‘What was that?’ he said quickly.

      ‘I think just a doe or a stag perhaps. Since the ghillie left to fight they’ve been allowed to repopulate in droves. Father’s done nothing about culling their numbers,’ she babbled.

      He continued staring into the depths of the forest as if he didn’t trust her appraisal of the situation. When he turned back his jaw was set. He breathed deeply.

      ‘If you mean what you say … if I can stay at the cottage, just for a while, then yes, I’m very grateful indeed that you’re helping me. Completely indebted in fact.’

      His smile disarmed her and she struggled to gather her thoughts, looking at the ground, as they walked back to the cottage.

      ‘Stay,’ she said softly, her eyes still cast down. ‘I promise I won’t tell anyone and I promise faithfully I’ll keep you safe. Stay until you come to a decision. Until you feel ready to hand yourself in or return to your squadron or …’

      ‘Do you really mean it? You promise not to tell a soul?’

      Constance nodded.

      ‘Thank you,’ he said as they arrived at the cottage door. He held it open for her. ‘It’s not as simple as you think. It’s not that I won’t return to my squadron. It’s that I can’t.’

       CHAPTER 11

       August 2020

      The interior of the cottage was in good condition. ‘It’s very … brown,’ Kate offered as she looked at the solid wooden furniture and somewhat battered kitchen cupboards.

      ‘Built to last,’ James said. Illustrating his point, he gave the leg of the dining table a small kick as if it were a car tyre. The stone walls were their natural grey and Kate wondered whether painting them would be sacrilege. It would be tricky to put it back the way it was, should they not like the result. The sofa and armchair were so faded that she had no idea what colour they were originally. How long had it been since the war? Over seventy years of sunlight had faded the fabric, the dust probably ingrained within the fibres.

      ‘There’s one big bedroom upstairs but I thought I’d partition it and make it an en suite,’ James said.

      Kate nodded and asked, ‘Where’s the bathroom now then?’

      ‘Outside.’

      ‘What?’ She was open-mouthed.

      ‘The ghillie would have used a tin bath in front of the fire. The loo is in an outhouse attached to the cottage.’

      ‘There goes the idea of toshing this place up quickly then,’ Kate said with disappointment. ‘Installing upstairs plumbing isn’t going to be a five-minute job.’

      James shrugged. ‘Might be. For a plumber.’

      ‘Hmmm.’ She clicked her pen and made a note in her book.

      ‘Dear Diary,’ James quipped, ‘James is such a nightmare.’

      Kate looked up and laughed, but he had turned and was examining the old cupboards. She moved over to the large fireplace, where an old whisky bottle of Macallan Glenlivet, marked 1926 but ten-year-aged, sat on the mantelpiece. Who had left it there? The ghillie, or someone else? And had it been there, on that mantel, ever since the war?

      ‘I missed that when I cleaned the general rubbish out,’ James said with a grimace. ‘Although now I wonder if we could leave it as a piece of the cottage’s history, among some other knick-knacks. Tourists like those, don’t they? Although not too many, as we’re the ones who’ll have to dust them on changeover days.’

      Kate nodded. ‘Other than the plumbing and some new sofas, a lick of paint’s all that’s needed down here,’ she said. ‘Along with some mod cons such as a dishwasher, some pictures for the walls, maybe some moody landscapes of the Highlands, the loch, that kind of thing.’

      ‘Repaint the dining chairs and table, make them … less brown?’ James offered.

      Kate agreed. ‘Cream? Nice and neutral?’

      James nodded and she realised she was slowly warming to him. Maybe they could work together after all.

      They drove around the periphery of the estate in the rattling Land Rover. James seemed unfazed when, after a few minutes, СКАЧАТЬ