Secrets at the Loch (Loch Lannick #5) - Hannah Ellis Page 0,43

He took a breath but kept his cold stare on her. “And I was a complete idiot.”

“I’m sorry,” she called as he set off again.

He turned back. “If you came to apologise it’s not because you actually care. You just want me to say it’s okay so you don’t have to feel guilty. Well guess what? It’s not okay. You knew how I felt and you hurt me on purpose.”

All Lexie could do was watch him walk away. There wasn’t anything she could say. He was right; she’d been fully aware of how much it would hurt him to treat him like a meaningless one-night stand, but she’d done it anyway.

It would’ve been a lot easier if it had been meaningless.

Chapter Twenty

Lexie spent most of the night replaying her encounter with Nick. The hurt in his eyes haunted her. It occurred to her that she should probably be upset by what he’d said, but it was hard to worry about him saying she wasn’t a good person. He was right. What was amazing was that he’d taken so long to realise it.

Staying in Fort William felt a little odd, but she couldn’t face a visit to her grandad either, and she didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Since she had to pay for the apartment anyway, she decided she’d stay one more night and then go home.

Late in the morning her stomach forced her to go out in search of food. She was pushing her arms into her coat as she opened the door. With a gasp, she put a hand to her chest and stumbled back a couple of steps.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Daphne said, standing squarely in the doorway with a slightly disturbing grin on her face. “Did I startle you?”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing?”

“Just checking to see if you needed anything.”

“Why didn’t you knock?”

“I was just about to!”

Lexie curled her lip. She had a feeling that Daphne had been lurking outside the door for a while.

“I’ve got everything I need,” she said as she moved past Daphne, pulling the door closed behind her.

“It’s a shame about the weather,” Daphne said. “You won’t make it up the mountain today. That low cloud can be hazardous.”

“I won’t be going up the mountain. I’m leaving in the morning.”

“That’s a shame. A brisk hike up the mountain would help your heartache no end.”

Lexie frowned. “I’m not heartbroken.”

“You have a lot of negative energy,” she said, pushing her glasses up her nose and squinting at Lexie.

“I have a hostile personality,” Lexie said, backing away.

There was a short pause before Daphne spluttered a laugh. “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

“Not really, no.” She turned and set off down the road. Next time she made a last-minute trip she was definitely opting for a hotel.

The drizzle started as Lexie approached the cafe where she’d had lunch the previous day. She ducked inside and spent as long as possible over her sandwich and cup of tea. There were only a few customers. She kept her head down to avoid anyone striking up conversation. Keeping her attention on her phone helped, and she scrolled through the tourism websites looking for something to do for the afternoon. After reading reviews about the tourist path up Ben Nevis she was actually a little annoyed that the weather was so miserable. Hiking felt suddenly appealing.

In the end, she headed along the main street when she left the cafe, hurrying to reach the West Highland Museum. It was free to look around and seemed as good a place as any to shelter from the rain. From the online reviews, she gathered it wasn’t going to kill the whole afternoon, but if she managed to pass half an hour it was better than nothing. Wandering aimlessly in the rain wasn’t appealing, nor was hanging around the apartment wondering if Daphne was listening at the door.

Museums had never really held much interest for Lexie. She hadn’t minded history at school – hearing about the past was interesting enough – but reading information from a plaque on the wall felt quite flat. She didn’t have much patience for it and mostly just skimmed over things. Some of the artefacts were interesting, but as she suspected, she’d seen everything in under half an hour.

“Hello!” a smiley man said to her as she made her way through the gift shop towards the exit. From his crisp shirt and name badge she deduced that he worked there. He probably