We fell into silence as he cautiously followed the road.
However, fifteen minutes later, as we came over the brow of a hill, we saw the light.
“That’s the bothy,” Donal told me. “Looks like she found it and the solar lamps.”
Something in me eased. “Good.”
“We’ve got another five minutes of track and then I’ll need to drop you off at the path. From there you’re probably another ten minutes by foot.”
“Thanks.”
A few minutes later, Donal stopped the SUV and I got out. He stayed there, lighting my way with the headlights until the footpath took me downhill out of sight. I couldn’t hear him drive off over the crash of water against the coastline and I could barely see through the rain battering down around me.
At the sight of the bothy and that light shining in the small side window, I felt the sudden urge to throttle Tierney Silver.
Not so much for dragging me out here in this fucking weather …
But for making me worry that I might not find her.
Or worse, I’d find her and be too late.
16.Tierney
Living the kind of privileged life I’d led, I’d seen more than most people in my twenty-seven years. I’d traveled the world and considered myself an adventurous person. London and I had once joined a camping tour in the Amazon Rainforest where the guide taught us survival skills.
Despite the deadly plants and insects there, I’d felt empowered by the experience.
Now I realized it was because I wasn’t alone. I’d had my best friend and two badass guides leading our small group.
Moreover, I was free of any threats six years ago when we did that tour.
Sitting on the double bed in the bothy, my arms wrapped around my legs, listening to the weather crash around me, I was afraid. I was alone and afraid and I hated it. There were moments when the loss of my parents’ hit me harder than others. Like when I bought the B and B and I forgot for a second and I picked up my phone to call my mom and then remembered I couldn’t. The grief had hit me then like a crushing weight. Losing two people who were that intrinsically tied to my happiness had made me feel so unanchored, I felt like I was losing my mind. Now and then, I’d get hit with flashes of that intense grief and have to meditate my way through it.
Right then, I missed my mom and dad so much I could cry like a baby.
I wanted to call my dad and ask him to come get me, knowing he’d send the freaking coast guard and Royal Navy to do it.
“I miss you so much,” I whispered hoarsely, tears stinging my nose.
I wasn’t going to sleep a wink tonight.
And crying wouldn’t help my situation, so I sucked back the tears. Blood rushed in my ears as I strained to hear anything over the sound of the storm.
My mind kept conjuring sounds. Like a door creaking open. A tap on the window.
Maybe the bothy was haunted.
“Oh, fuck a duck,” I muttered, pulling my legs tighter against me. “Survived a week in the rainforest. Can’t even survive a night in a haunted bothy.”
A loud creak sounded, and I held my breath, my eyes trying to detect movement in the darkened front room. Shadows moved and my heart raced at the definite sight of the bothy’s door opening.
I froze in terror as a huge figure stepped inside and the door slammed shut.
The scream rushed up my throat as the figure turned and then stepped into the doorway. The dim light of my solar lamp cast shadows over his face.
I sagged in utter relief. “Ramsay.”
He strode into the room, the light now illuminating his expression.
