‘That’s all right,’ Mary answered. ‘Perhaps they might like to run around out back for a while and let off a bit of steam? There’s a patch of grass and some wooden benches where they could sit and eat, and there are some swings. We don’t have the café operating now, since the tourist season has finished, but the facilities are available for them to use, and they can take a snack out there with them if you like.’ She looked fondly at the children, who were optimistically replacing glowers with cautious, expectant glances.
‘Thanks, Mary. I appreciate that. I’m sure that will be just the thing.’ He studied her, a brief, all-encompassing look that took in her neat skirt and blouse and the softly styled hair that framed her face. ‘It’s good to see you again. You’re looking well.’
‘Thank you. And the same goes for you…Though we were just saying that we were surprised to see you back here after all this time. But perhaps you’re here to see Alice, now that she’s been brought up to Inverness?’
‘We?’ Ross glanced around, but Izzy had already moved forward, pausing to crouch down and say hello to the children.
‘Molly, Cameron—it’s so lovely to see you again.’ She hugged them both, and they in turn smiled a bright-eyed welcome.
‘Auntie Izzy, you came to my birthday party, do you remember?’ Molly’s eyes were shining with happiness. ‘You bought me a dolly, and you and Mummy baked cakes for tea. And then the next day we went down to the lake for a picnic.’
‘I remember it well,’ Izzy said. ‘We had such a lot of fun, didn’t we?’
Molly nodded, her expression gleeful.
‘Mum’s in hospital now,’ Cameron said, his gaze solemn. His hair was dark, like his father’s, and his eyes were grey. ‘She hurt her head and her leg and her arm, and she can’t walk very well. We’re going to see her tomorrow.’
‘I know, sweetheart. Your mother’s been very poorly, hasn’t she?’
He nodded. ‘We’ve been to see her a lot in hospital where we live, but now they’ve moved her.’
‘But it’s all right,’ Molly put in, ‘because she needs to learn to walk about and do things, and they have a place at the new hospital where they can help her.’
‘That’s good, isn’t it? I’m sure the doctors will look after her very well.’ Izzy stood up and waited as Mary shepherded the children towards the garden area at the back of the shop.
‘Your uncle says you can have these buns to eat, and you’re to share the crisps,’ Mary told them as they eagerly walked with her. ‘I’ll bring the drinks, and maybe you can have ice creams a little later, once you’re settled.’
She left the shop, and Izzy realised the moment could not be put off any longer. She straightened her shoulders and forced herself to take a good look at the man who had played havoc with her feelings over a good stretch of time. Tall, striking in appearance, with black hair dark as midnight, he was the devil incarnate, sent to try her with his powerful presence and his innate authority descending over everyone and everything.
She looked into Ross’s eyes and found herself trapped, submerged in those blue-grey depths, only to falter as she had always done when he was anywhere around.
‘We had no idea that you were planning on coming here,’ she murmured. ‘It’s been such a long time since your father’s funeral that we felt sure you had decided to stay away for good.’
‘And now my coming back here will well and truly set the cat among the pigeons, I dare say.’ There was a glint in his eye that told how he relished that thought. ‘I know there are those who would much prefer never to set eyes on me again, but sadly they’re in for a disappointment. Your father will most likely be sharpening his axe at the first whisper of my return…The battle between the Buchanans and the McKinnons is set to run and run, isn’t it?’
She wasn’t going to let him get away with that. ‘From what I’ve seen, you seem to thrive on any skirmishes that come your way. You’ve never been one to back down from a fight, have you?’ Her chin lifted. ‘That’s why you and your own father were at loggerheads the whole time. Two stubborn men coming face to face will always clash, and it’s the same with you and my father. Neither one of you will ever consider taking a different course. That would be too simple, wouldn’t it? It would reek too much of losing face.’
He raised a dark brow. ‘Why should I want to change my ways? I’ve done nothing wrong—and, more to the point, I’m the only one left to uphold the Buchanan name.’ He stood before her, his long legs taut, his back ramrod-straight, as though daring her to deny it. ‘That might not seem important to you, but it’s something that lays heavily on me.’
‘Of course it does,’ she retorted, her grey eyes smoky with mocking amusement. ‘That’s why you left it to Jake to do what was necessary. Do you think any of us here care a jot about the Buchanan name? Whether the landlord is a Buchanan or not, he’s still going to look after himself first.’
He laughed. ‘You haven’t lost any of your straighttalking ways, have you, Izzy? That’s what I always liked about you. You could be relied on to put me right if I looked to be veering off course.’ He reached out to gently cup her face in his palm. ‘As I often did. But then I was young and foolhardy, and reckless was my middle name.’ His voice softened to a whisper. ‘It’s good to see you again, sweet Isabel McKinnon.’
Izzy’s skin heated where his hand lightly trailed over her cheek. The lightest touch of his fingers was enough to fire her blood, and she didn’t know why he had the power to do this to her—to make her senses quicken and her heart pump faster.
It was frustrating, and above all it wasn’t fair, this hold he had over her. He was the enemy, he was everything she should rebel against, and yet…And yet her body ignored every warning, flouted common sense and instead abandoned her to the powerful onslaught of his devil-may-care charm whenever he came near.
It wasn’t to be borne, and out of desperation she decided that attack was the best form of defence. ‘You might not be so pleased once you settle in at the castle and see how many complaints I’ve lodged with your estate manager. Or perhaps you aren’t planning on staying around all that long?’
‘Long enough to take the scowl from your mouth, perhaps,’ he said, tucking his hand under her jaw and swooping to drop a fleeting, fierce kiss on her soft lips.
She gasped as the imprint of his mouth registered on her, leaving a tingling explosion of sensation in its wake. Her whole body responded in a surge of fizzing excitement. ‘You…you kissed me,’ she said in shocked wonder.
Heat shimmered in his gaze, laughter dancing in the blue-grey depths of his eyes. ‘I couldn’t resist,’ he said, letting his hand fall from her. ‘But I was right, wasn’t I? It certainly lifted the scowl from your lips, and it only took…what…all of two seconds?’
She waited a moment or two while she battled to bring her emotions under control once more. ‘I wonder if you should have more pressing things to do with your time?’ she said finally, for want of any more cutting response. ‘I think the children may well need your attention. Or perhaps you’d forgotten all about them?’
‘I would never do that. But far be it from me to give you cause to find me wanting,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll go right away and find out what they’re up to.’ He paused, though, to study her slender figure, letting his glance sweep over her from head to toe, taking in the clinging cut of her jeans and the soft cashmere of her top. ‘Still as beautiful as ever, my lovely Izzy. But a sight more feisty than when last we met, I dare say, and with way more delicious curves.’ His mouth curved. ‘Yum.’
Her grey gaze narrowed on him. ‘You should watch your step, Buchanan,’ she said in a low, controlled tone. ‘You’re not so big you can’t take a tumble.’
He