Page 35 of Chasing a Highland Dream

Harris fiddled with the menu and raised his eyebrows for a split second. ‘No, he passed away around ten years ago.’

Bella thankfully still had her parents and couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to lose either of them. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Harris shook his head. ‘Don’t be. He was a hard man to love. In fact, I’ve spent my life striving to be nothing at all like him, hence my career choice. But that’s a whole other story.’

Bella didn’t want to pry further and was wondering how to change the subject but luckily, Mrs Pettifer placed a tray on their table, complete with a cafetière, a jug of cream, a sugar bowl, cups and two huge, fluffy pieces of Victoria sponge cake filled to bursting with fresh cream and jam.

‘Wow, thank you. This looks delicious,’ Bella said as the earthy aroma of coffee and the fruity sweetness of the jam tantalised her senses, making her mouth water. She sliced the corner of the cake and placed a forkful in her mouth. The sponge was light as air and melted on her tongue, and she closed her eyes for a moment to revel in its deliciousness. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘You were right,’ she mumbled in between chewing. ‘Best Victoria sponge ever! Just don’t tell Mirren at the castle I said so.’

Harris chuckled. ‘Told you, didn’t I? Right, my turn. So, how did you end up working at the castle?’

She took a sip of her coffee. ‘Nothing as inspiring as your story. I’d had a run of bad luck with jobs, and like you said, that’s a story for another time. But anyway, Olivia inherited the castle unexpectedly and decided the best way to keep it going was to open it to the public. But that was going to take loads of work and she was still designing for Nina Picarro, a fashion house in New York, so she needed someone to help with the day-to-day running of things. I was between jobs, so she asked me to be her PA and I snatched her hand off for the chance. I mean, what’s not to love? I get to work in the most stunning location and with my best friend; it’s a win-win situation.’

‘So how did you come to design the apartments? That’s not really something you would expect a PA to do. Although I have to say you did a grand job from what I’ve seen.’

‘How did you know about that?’ She immediately knew the answer and they both said ‘Isla,’ in unison.

‘It was a bit of a happy accident, really. Olivia knows how much I love interior design. It was what I wanted to do for a career but it didn’t work out unfortunately.’

‘How come? You’ve definitely got a flair for it.’

Bella’s stomach fluttered and for some reason she was happy he liked what she’d done. ‘Thank you. Life got in the way. I dropped out of my art and design degree in the first year because my mum got ill. I couldn’t focus. And I wanted to be there for my dad and my kid brother. She eventually got the all-clear but I’d already got a job by then and I’d got used to the money. I do regret it sometimes.’

‘You should look at doing a part-time course online.’

‘You sound like my granny.’ She smiled.

‘She’s dead proud of you,’ Harris told her. ‘She talks about you non-stop.’

Bella cringed. ‘Yikes, how boring for everyone.’

His mouth tilted up at one corner. ‘It’s really not.’ He was kind of sweet in the way he tried to make her feel at ease.

‘Do you spend a lot of time at the day centre?’ she asked, wondering how he knew Isla so well.

Harris took a mouthful of cake and chewed for a moment. ‘Aye, especially with it being connected to the residential home where Mum lives. But I tend to go in under the capacity of work if needed, and we like to be a presence around the older folks, so they’re not worried about asking for help if they need it. Lots of them live alone, the ones that don’t live at Sunnyside like my mum, and it’s good for them to be able to put a face to a name if ever we’re called out. And, of course, I do tend to drop my mum in sometimes if she’s been visiting me, so I hang around for a bit. They’re a lovely bunch up there. Very sweet. I’ve a lot of time for them. I could listen to their stories for hours, and often do.’

Bella allowed herself to like him a little bit more. ‘That’s very kind of you.’

He shrugged. ‘I’m a good guy.’ He winked playfully. ‘But seriously, community policing is very important to me.’

She was realising she had got him rather wrong from the start. ‘It’s clear you love your job.’

‘I do. It’s good to feel like I’m being useful, you know? It feels like more than a job, though. It’s an honour to help people get justice, and it feels good to give back.’

‘You’re a very compassionate man and people clearly think a lot of you. You seem to know everyone in Inverness if our walk here is anything to go by.’

He held out his hands. ‘I did say I’m a good guy.’ He laughed and his eyes crinkled at the corners.

Bella couldn’t help laughing along. ‘You did say that, more than once.’

She ate another mouthful of cake to distract attention from her flushed cheeks. ‘Hmm, anyway, changing the subject, when I saw you at the bar you said you were going birdwatching, is that something you do regularly?’

Harris tilted his head and squinted. ‘I gather from your expression it’s not something that interests you?’

Bella touched her face with her hands, self-conscious at how well he seemed to read her. ‘My expression? I mean… I can’t say I’ve ever been interested in birds, really, so I don’t understand why people find them so fascinating they’d want to sit all quiet and spy on them. But each to their own.’

Harris laughed. ‘Spy on them? I’ve never looked at it that way before.’