Izzy shrugged. ‘Like I said, it wasn’t a problem. What are you going to do now? Go home?’
Jeanette and Jim exchanged a guarded glance. ‘What can I do?’ Jeanette asked, changing the subject.
‘You could lay the table. Cutlery’s there.’ She nodded to a nearby drawer.
‘It’s dried out nice,’ said Jim, crossing to the kitchen window. ‘Do you want me to take a look at the roof?’
‘That would be amazing. Are you sure?’
‘Let him, he’s very good with his… He’s very practical,’ she amended quickly with a slight blush.
Jim sent her an intimate, sweet smile that made Izzy unexpectedly envious. What would it be like to have that wholehearted connection with another person? To have someone that cared that much about you? Was it weak to want someone to look out for you occasionally?
‘If you wait a minute, Duncan will be in. He knows the castle inside and out and he’ll be able to take you up to the battlements.’
Right on cue, Duncan came through the back door and Izzy made quick introductions.
‘I’ll take you up now,’ he said. ‘And hopefully my coffee will be waiting for me when I get back.’
Izzy grinned at him. ‘Right you are.’
‘You’ll be all right, love?’ Jim asked, addressing Jeanette and suddenly sounding wary. ‘I won’t be long.’ He snagged his fleece from the drying rack by the Rayburn and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, followed by a reassuring hug as if fortifying both of them before he left.
‘Okay,’ she said, watching him go, sighing a little, a dreamy expression in her eyes that made Izzy hide her smile.
‘How long have you two been married?’ she asked.
Jeanette’s face sharpened and she stiffened, her mouth pinching tightly closed before she said, ‘Not long.’ She turned her back as Izzy broke the eggs into the frying pan and Izzy frowned to herself, wondering why the younger woman was so uncomfortable.
‘It’s here!’ Xanthe’s voice trilled and Izzy turned to find her mother waving a long, slender parcel, almost taking out a row of plates on the dresser in the process.
‘What’s here?’ Izzy asked, confused.
‘The wallpaper, darling!’ Xanthe exclaimed.
‘The world’s most expensive wallpaper? But you only showed it to me last night! You … you’d already ordered it days ago, hadn’t you?’ commented Izzy dryly as she realised her mother had not actually been seeking her approval when they discussed the wallpaper yesterday.
‘Don’t be like that, darling. Besides, people like the Carter-Joneses expect the best, if they’re going to pay twenty-five grand for a week in a Scottish Castle.’
‘That’s what I’m worried about,’ said Izzy quite truthfully.
‘Twenty-five grand,’ echoed Jeanette, her eyes so wide they’d exceeded saucers.
‘Mmm.’ Izzy nodded wishing her mother knew the meaning of discretion.
‘That’s a lot of money.’
‘We need a lot of money,’ sang Xanthe, turning to beam at Jeanette. ‘You must be one of our lost puppies.’
‘Xanthe,’ Izzy ground out as she gritted her teeth.
‘Sorry?’ Jeanette looked understandably confused.
‘Ignore her, most sensible people do,’ said Izzy. ‘This is Xanthe.’
Xanthe sniffed and bestowed a tight smile on Jeanette before turning to Izzy. ‘Don’t you want to see the wallpaper?’ She was already tearing into the brown paper wrapping.
A gust of wind announced the arrival of Jim as he slammed the door behind him.
