‘Where?’
‘How did you find them?’
‘When did you find them?’
Ross held up a hand. ‘Why don’t you all come into the hall?’
With puzzled frowns everyone rose to their feet and followed Izzy and Ross into the hall. The two of them stood in front of the fireplace, beneath the Claymore.
‘So, lassie, where are they?’ asked Duncan, a slight touch of challenge in his voice, as if he didn’t believe her.
Izzy held back a smirk. ‘In plain sight.’
‘What do you mean?’ Xanthe’s plaintive voice asked.
‘Where’s the best place to hide something?’
‘In plain sight,’ said Graham, scanning the walls of the hall. Izzy nodded and everyone began looking around the room while she and Ross exchanged a private smile.
‘So where are they?’ Xanthe yelled, her impatience escaping her. ‘Put us out of our misery.’
Ross turned and lifted the Claymore down from the wall. ‘I wondered what that idiot Gregory was blathering on about when he talked about the knobs on the handle. I assumed he was spouting his usual rubbish.’ He lay the sword down on the oak sideboard and beckoned everyone over, pointing to the small oval lumps adhered to the handle.
‘Those are the sapphires?’ Xanthe wrinkled her nose.
‘They’ve been disguised,’ explained Ross. ‘Someone’s glued them on and painted over them.’
‘Bill. The sneaky beggar,’ said Duncan. ‘He always said he kent where they were. I thought it were pride talking.’
‘It explains why he said the Claymore shouldn’t ever pass out of the family,’ said Izzy.
‘Well, they’re not as pretty as Isabella’s necklace,’ said Xanthe with a pout. ‘Sorry, Izzy. I thought they were going to be fabulous jewels. I’m quite disappointed.’
‘I’m not. I’m looking at a new roof.’
‘Tsk, tsk.’ Xanthe’s fascinator bobbed in disapproval. ‘I don’t know where you get it from. Always so practical.’
Ross slipped an arm around Izzy’s waist and whispered in her ear, ‘Thank goodness,’ before kissing her softly on her neck. ‘With our gene pool, we’re going to need all the help we can get. I’m not sure we’ll ever have a quiet life but somehow I think I can cope.’
‘Oh, this is typical,’ Hattie’s voice suddenly rang out. ‘You’ll never believe it, my aunt and uncle want to know if they can come here for Hogmanay, arriving the day after tomorrow.’
Izzy began to laugh. ‘Of course, they can. The more the merrier.’
She was pretty sure she’d be able to show them the finest Scottish hospitality. After all, how could she fail? She had her family and friends around her.
Six months later…
Hattie gulped as she watched Luc strip off his T-shirt. OMG, he had abs – real life abs. A six-pack instead of a six-pound bag of potatoes. She couldn’t take her eyes off them. He looked like a flipping male model in all his six-foot-three gorgeous glory.
Thank goodness she was wearing sunglasses and could pretend that she wasn’t looking at him.
With one quick fluid movement he dived into the cool blue water, swimming like a sleek seal for a good half length of the pool before surfacing with a shake of his head. Should she acknowledge him, she wondered? The last thing she wanted was to engage in conversation with him when she was sitting here in her matronly, baggy Marks and Spencer swimming costume. She looked down and tugged at the faded orange and pink pattern. When had she stopped caring? When had she stopped wearing a bikini for goodness’ sake?
Hattie watched Luc swimming with an easy front crawl, his biceps bunching with each stroke. She indulged in a little heartfelt sigh to herself. He really was an absolute Adonis and he probably knew it. What’s more she could bet that his girlfriends would wear fabulous, tiny bikinis and sport nearly all-over-body golden tans not manky old swimsuits like this one where the lycra had given up the ghost in strategic regions.
She closed her eyes and tried to block out the vision of Luc, which worked just fine until everything went quiet. When she opened her eyes, he was hauling himself out of the pool, lifting that awesome body up over the edge in a definite show of very masculine strength.
With water running off him, the droplets glistening in the sunshine like crystals, he walked straight towards her, with that confident easy swagger and roll of the hips that made her think of cowboys.
