Stopping too, Sophia asked, ‘What is it?’
But whatever it was that John Moray had seen, I decided, would just have to wait until later. With reluctance I depressed the keys to save my work, and switched off my computer.
I was nearly late for lunch.
CHAPTER 11
ANGUS SET UP AN alarm at my first knock, and went on barking steadily till someone came to answer. Jimmy held the door wide with a smile of welcome. ‘Aye-aye, quine. Come in, and dinna fash yersel aboot the dog, it’s only Angus. He’ll nae bite. Here, gie us yer coat and umbrella, I’ll hang them tae dry.’
It was good to step in from the grey mist and rain to the warmth of the bright narrow hall with its yellowing wallpaper. Today the smells of cooking were not lingering, but fresh and strong. He’d kept his promise, so it seemed, to do a roast of beef, and the richly brown aroma of it met me where I stood, reminding me that I’d been so absorbed in writing that I had forgotten to eat breakfast, and was starving.
Angus, seeing it was me, had stopped his barking and came forward now, tail wagging, to nose round my legs in search of some attention. I bent down to scratch his ears and said, ‘Hi, Angus.’ Then I caught myself, and ran the conversation back a few lines in my mind to reassure myself that Jimmy had made mention of the dog’s name. And he had, but I would have to be more careful, I thought, if I was supposed to be pretending that this was the first time I was meeting Graham.
‘Will ye have a bittie sherry?’ Jimmy offered. ‘My wife aye liked a wee bittie sherry afore Sunday lunch.’
‘Yes, please.’
Following him through into the sitting-room, I felt a clutching of anticipation at my ribcage, so I had to draw my breath in deeper, to prepare myself. It might not be the first time I was setting eyes on Graham, but it would be the first time that I’d seen him since he’d kissed me, and I found that I was nervous.
If I hadn’t been so occupied with writing last night, I’d have likely analyzed that kiss to death. I’d know today if he had meant it, or if he was having second thoughts about the change of course we had just made in our relationship.
He had his father’s manners. As I came into the sitting-room, he stood, and when his eyes met mine they laid my doubts to rest. We might have been the only people in the room.
Except we weren’t.
I hadn’t seen the other person standing to my left until a hand reached out to claim my shoulder, and I felt the brush of Stuart’s breath against my cheek as he bent down to greet me with a smiling kiss that faintly smelled of beer. ‘You see? I told you I’d not be away too long.’ With the hand still on my shoulder, he said, ‘Graham, this is Carrie. Carrie, meet my brother, Graham.’
Thrown off balance by this new turn of events, I went through the motions of the introduction by pure reflex, till the firm electric warmth of Graham’s handshake steadied me. Politely but deliberately, I took a step forward that brought me out of Stuart’s hold, and chose the armchair closest to the one where Graham sat. I then aimed my smile beyond both brothers to their father, who had crossed to offer me the glass he’d filled with care from what appeared to be a newly purchased bottle of dry sherry on the sideboard.
‘Thanks,’ I said, to Jimmy. ‘Lunch smells wonderful.’
‘Ye’ll nae be filled wi’ sic praise efter ye’ve aeten it.’
‘That’s why he’s got us drinking first,’ said Stuart, holding up his own half-finished glass of ale as evidence. Oblivious to my maneuver with the chairs, he took the one that faced me, stretching out his legs and shifting Angus to the side. The dog moved grumpily.
‘So,’ Stuart asked me, cheerfully, ‘how did you get along this week, without me?’
‘Oh, I managed.’
Jimmy said, ‘She’s been tae Edinburgh.’
I felt the brush of Graham’s gaze beside me, before Stuart said, ‘To Edinburgh?’ His eyebrows lifted, curious. ‘What for?’
‘Just research.’
‘Aye,’ said Jimmy, ‘awa a’ the wik she wis, and she didna get hame till late on Friday. Had me fair worriet. I nivver like tae see a quinie travel on her ain at nicht. Fit wye didna ye wait and come up in the morning?’ he asked me.
‘I was ready to come home,’ was all the explanation I could give without revealing that I’d only wanted to get back in time to keep my date with Graham for our driving tour on Saturday.
If he suspected it himself, he kept it hidden. ‘Did you find what you were after?’ Graham asked, and as my head came round he added calmly, ‘With your research?’