Page 98 of Just Say Yes
To give Lorcan his due, it truly was worth the effort. The view was spectacular, even though the cloud had come in now, and was sitting low on some of the hills further round the coastline. The mist of the sea and lowering cloud dampened my face, chilling the skin, but the magical atmosphere of the ruined building and its surroundings was a stronger force. I pulled my scarf further up in an attempt to keep my nose warm – assuming it was still there: I’d lost all feeling in that some time ago – then lifted the hood on my coat, wedging it over my woolly hat, and began exploring.
‘Just be careful where you step.’ Lorcan’s voice drifted on the wind towards me and I turned.
‘I thought you said it was “grand”?’
‘It is. But we’re still on a cliff edge on a damp day with a rising wind and I cannot face telling Peyton that I lost her wedding planner in the sea. Not this late in the game.’
‘But earlier would have been fine?’ I asked, hands on hips.
He actually took a moment to pretend to think this over so I turned away and ignored the soft echo of deep, rumbling laughter that followed me.
‘Come here,’ he said, catching up with me in a few steady strides as I navigated some fallen masonry. I took his hand, one, because it was definitely easier to manage with someone else balancing me, and two, I figured if I did slip, having some ballast on one side gave me a better chance of not going too far. Obviously, if he slipped first I’d be letting go.
‘If I go, you’re coming too.’
I snapped my head around. ‘What?’
He cocked his head at the jagged edge of the cliff, about ten feet away from us now that we had moved inland a little.
‘Well, that’s not very gentlemanly.’
‘And not very ladylike to plan to let go if I went.’
‘How did you know what I was thinking? And for that matter,’ I said, letting go of his hand and turning to face him, ‘how do you always know what I’m thinking? You keep doing it and, frankly, it’s quite unsettling. Brighid did it a few times when I was over but you keep doing it. Is it some trick you’re born with here or something?’
‘Maybe you’re just easy to read.’
‘I’ve told you before, I’m not.’
‘And I say you are. Why do you think you aren’t?’
‘I’ve… been told.’ Not always in the most flattering way either, but I wasn’t about to mention that and just had to hope my companion’s magical powers didn’t pick up on that particular nugget.
‘I see.’
‘Seriously, if you carry on with the mind-reading stuff, I’m going to push you off this cliff myself!’
Movement close by made us turn to see an elderly gentleman watching us with a hesitant expression.
‘She doesn’t mean it,’ Lorcan called, laughing, holding his hand up.
‘I really don’t. I mean, he can be super annoying but his mum’s lovely and she’d be really upset.’
The man nodded, and called his spaniel, who had been rootling around, sniffing merrily away throughout the exchange. We stepped back onto the grass, allowing them more of the path on which to pass us. As they did, the man stopped level with Lorcan. ‘Lesson one of marriage. Don’t upset the wife when you’re near a bloody great drop.’ He patted him twice on the arm and then headed off inland and down what I now saw was a shallower climb.
‘Probably good advice.’
‘With age comes wisdom,’ I replied, sitting on a large, square boulder, likely once part of a wall, its edges now softened by centuries of wind and rain. ‘Even if he was wrong about us being married.’
‘Understandable considering the conversation.’ He grinned before taking a seat next to me on the rock. ‘You all right? We can go back if you’re cold. I noticed there’s a flask of tea in the car. We were obviously going to be turfed out of the house whether we wanted to be or not.’
‘I’m glad your mum suggested it,’ I said, staring out past the faded pomp and glory of the castle to the ocean beyond, the wildness of it completely suited to this rugged, but somehow serene landscape.
‘Me too.’
‘I wouldn’t really have let go.’
‘You wouldn’t have been much help.’
