McGillivray's Mistress - By Anne McAllister Page 0,55

writing, gloried at his words.

It had been the best day and night of her life, too.

And “Love, Lachlan,” he had written.

Love.

Fiona grinned and hugged herself. He might not have said it yet, but he had written the word.

Then she sighed and stretched and felt her body protest, aching as it did in mysterious intimate ways in which her body was not accustomed to aching. She ran her hands over her nakedness. Then sat up, energized, excited, and bounded out of bed. She laughed as she dressed, picked up Sparks and danced around the room with him.

He muttered a very offended feline protest.

But Fiona just smiled and danced on.

She didn’t exactly dance and sing as she waited on her lunchtime customers. But she was obviously a little ray of sunshine because Tony said, “You should smile like that more often,” and she got extraordinarily big tips.

She charmed all the tourists who came into Carin’s shop that afternoon, too. She sold several sand castles, two cutout metal surfers and one fisherman, several wooden fish mobiles, a children’s puzzle, a watercolor seascape of Carin’s and several of Nathan’s books.

By the time Carin and Nathan stopped in at the end of the day, the shelves were looking a little bare.

Carin raised her brows. “Were we ransacked?”

Fiona shook her head, still smiling broadly. “We just had a bunch of tourists with lots of discretionary income today.”

“It be on account of her smilin’ so much,” Miss Saffron said. She had brought over some straw hats she’d made, and now she regarded Fiona with a satisfied smile of her own. “My Letitia, she say she see this one walking hip to hip with that McGillivray boy las’ night.”

Carin’s brows went even higher. “Ah. So you did have a good time then?” she said to Fiona.

Miss Saffron snickered. “Oh my, did she!”

Fiona flushed. “We had a good time.”

“And got the net?” Carin said.

“And got the net,” Fiona affirmed. “I’m putting it up as soon as I get finished here.”

“Well, don’t let us keep you,” Carin said, making shooing motions with her hands. “You’ll want to have it up by the time Lachlan gets back.”

The soccer team was out practicing on the field when Fiona arrived. She could see her nephews, Peter and Tom, passing a ball back and forth, dribbling down the field. Lacey Wolfe was practicing with them, too. And Lorenzo Sawyer was crouched, Lachlan-like, in goal.

Lachlan, of course, wasn’t there. But she could certainly see his influence. The kids worked purposefully, kicking and passing, heading and blocking, encouraging each other. They were so much better at the game now, so much more skillful than they ever used to be.

Hitching the net and float over her shoulder, she clambered up The King. Then, straddling one of the spars, she attached the float to a fish line and hung it, then began to arrange the net.

“Hey, lookin’ good,” came a voice from below.

And Fiona glanced down to see Hugh grinning her way. He wore flip-flops and shorts and a disreputable T-shirt, and his dark hair, so like his brother’s, lifted in the breeze.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were with Lachlan.”

“I had to use the chopper to take Wilson to Governor’s Harbour for a meeting. Molly took Lachlan in the plane. They ought to be back before dusk. She radioed in an hour or so ago.” He winked. “Bet you can hardly wait.”

Fiona flushed, but didn’t deny it.

“Glad you and Lachlan are working things out,” Hugh went on.

“Me, too,” she agreed, and continued to hang the net. “Isn’t this perfect?”

“Yep. Looks great.” Hugh shaded his eyes and watched her work. “Trust Lachlan to find a use for his old net.”

Fiona went suddenly still. Her fingers tightened in the mesh and slowly she turned to look down at Hugh. “What did you say? What do you mean, his old net?”

Hugh shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t his originally, but he caught it the first year we came here. Maurice took us fishing off Lubbock Point. Lachlan didn’t want to go. Too busy sulking. But Dad insisted. It was part of his ‘getting to love the island’ scheme. Dad caught a shark, I caught a barracuda, and Lachlan caught that old net.” Hugh laughed at the memory. “He was furious. Said it figured. That it was just an example of what a dead-end place this was.” He shook his head. “Reckon he doesn’t think so anymore.” He grinned and looked up at Fiona for agreement.

Fiona couldn’t manage a word.

“Wondered why