Page 67

‘I was a civilian outdoor activities instructor and in the reserves before I took over running the house.’

‘It sounds fascinating,’ Athene said from her footstool by the fire.

‘And dangerous,’ Wanda added.

Jess leaned forward. ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking.’

‘It could be sometimes.’

‘Tell us more, Arlo,’ Wanda said. ‘If you don’t mind.’

Ned settled back in his chair and reached for his port. ‘Yes, do tell. I want to hear this.’

‘I’d been working for a couple of outdoor centres in Scotland and a friend suggested I might also like to join the reservists as an instructor. You got to travel to some pretty incredible places and pass on your skills at the same time.’

‘Just caving?’ Katie asked.

‘No. We also taught abseiling, climbing and kayaking.’

Jess let out a breath of admiration. ‘Wow. Sounds full-on Tom Cruise stuff. You’ll be climbing the Burj Khalifa next.’

Arlo smiled briefly. ‘Nothing as exciting as that, I’m afraid. And those days are over.’

‘I think it sounds thrilling,’ Athene said. ‘So do you go climbing up here in the Lakes?’

‘No, I’m too busy running this place. That’s enough adventure for me.’

‘I can see it would be after a horde of layabouts like us have trashed your beautiful mansion,’ Ned said.

‘We haven’t trashed it,’ Wanda protested. ‘And you’re top of the washing-up rota, Ned Zanetti!’

‘Aye, aye, Cap’n.’ Ned saluted her and Arlo smiled but only Katie seemed to have noticed Arlo clenching his fist by the side of his chair.

Despite Wanda’s attempt at humour, Arlo’s revelation about his job proved far too exciting to suppress. The questions tumbled out like water spilling over. What incredible places had Arlo been to? Was it really as exciting as it sounded? What was his favourite sport? The most extreme location? How had he got into such a thrilling career?

Katie knew some of his background but she sat back and listened, hoping Arlo would withstand the onslaught.

‘So out of all these extreme sports, what do you think is the most dangerous?’ Ned asked, his eyes gleaming with a fanatical thirst for knowledge that Katie had seen before.

He was like a real vampire, trying to extract every drop of experience from Arlo – and emotion if he could. Katie had seen Ned do it before. She’d been guilty of it herself. There truly is a chip of ice in every writer’s heart, she’d decided long ago. She too had had an insatiable thirst to mine other people’s experiences for her stories. Know a writer long enough, and they really will ‘put you in a book’ – somehow, somewhere.

Ned’s body was taut with interest, his port abandoned. ‘So, have you ever been in any sticky situations?’

Arlo stared at him. ‘What do you mean, “sticky situations”?’

‘A moment where you thought: This is it. I’m not coming back from this.’

Jess grimaced. ‘Ned. That’s a horrible thing to ask.’

Athene had steepled her fingers, clearly enjoying her role as spectator.

Katie shifted in her seat with discomfort, wondering whether to intervene.

‘It’s OK,’ Arlo said with a brief smile for Jess before fixing a steely gaze to Ned. ‘Do you want me to have been in that kind of situation?’

‘Well, no. Of course not,’ Ned said, his charm slipping briefly. ‘But if you’ve done that kind of extreme stuff for years, you must have had some near misses. Ones that keep you awake at night.’

Katie tensed. Ned had no idea about her nightmares. Why would he? They hadn’t spent a night together since the accident and her episodes were now few and far between. She suppressed a shiver – the last one was only a few days ago, though, and if this conversation triggered another …