Page 75 of Scotlander

‘Outer space. It’s the fucking dog’s bollocks.’

‘And if you follow the bright star, the yellowish one?’

‘Sirius?’

‘Well done, Alastair. You’ve been improving.’

‘I didn’t realise there were so many named after Harry Potter characters.’

‘I think it’s the other way round, actually.’

‘Pay attention! ChiChi’s trying to— Ooo! Blair, you minx. That tickles.’

‘If you follow it a bit to the right . . .’

‘Orion’s belt!’

‘Sexy Orion and his big, long sword.’

‘Amazing isn’t it, Jeff? That we can live five thousand miles away and see the exact same sky.’

‘We see ours through some god-awful pollution, truth be told. Nothing like LA, though. No offence, Willa.’

She reached out and met Jeff’s apology fist bump. ‘None taken.’

‘Come down to Oz and you can see a whole different sky. Trevor! You’re hogging the bloody rug, mate. Shift your arse.’

‘I can’t believe your laser reaches all the way up to the heavens, ChiChi.’

Willa shivered. It was beautiful up here. But it was also freaking cold. Time to head back to her hayloft and start making phone calls. Bryony had sparked off Victoria Beckham divorce rumours when she’d called her publicist and asked which ‘hot date’ David would be bringing to fashion week. This, when she’d been specifically asked to hunt down David Duchovny’s latest girlfriend. Little bit different.

Just as she was about to get up and make her excuses, Finn, who’d been keeping a wary eye on her ever since she’d received her latest deluge of texts from Bryony, fetched a blanket for her. He’d been such a hero today, really wearing his heart on his sleeve in front of the villagers, it didn’t seem fair to blow him off. Especially now that he was kneeling down behind her to wrap the blanket around her shoulders. It was proper romantic-hero behaviour and she had to admit . . . she liked it.

God, he smelt good. All warm hay and marshmallow. He stayed there, kneeling behind her, looking up at the sky, as ChiChi worked her way round the constellations. Willa shivered again. In a move she didn’t see coming, Finn edged himself closer so that he could serve as a sort of warm-blooded back support.

‘Is this okay?’

It was more than okay. Which made it a problem. She was going to have to leave. Soon. Bryony was making too many fuck-ups and still somehow managing to come out smelling of roses. It was only a matter of time before one of them blew up in somebody’s face and Willa needed to make sure it wasn’t hers.

When she shivered again, Finn overruled her lack of an answer. He sat down and budged up close until his chest met her back and his thighs flanked hers. He made a show of tucking the blanket tight round her but then left his hands where they were. On her thighs.

It felt like a proper boyfriend-girlfriend moment.

‘You know how the stars are twinkling?’ Finn’s voice rumbled against her back. Her body, taken with the warm timbre of it, snuggled in closer. So much for the this-is-all-perfectly-fine-and-sensible-considering-it’s-freezing vibe she was trying to emit.

‘It’s called stellar scintillation.’

‘I like that,’ she whispered back.

‘I like you.’

Willa stiffened. She liked him too. A lot. She also knew saying something like that was big for Finn.

‘That’s sweet.’

The instant the words were out she regretted them. Her mouth was an idiot! Why had it spoken before she’d had a chance to properly think of the right response? She’d just given him the verbal equivalent of a puppy pat on the head.

They’d not discussed their feelings. Past, present or, more pressingly, future. Whispering his feelings for her, here, amongst the rest of the stargazing Jacobeans was . . . was . . . Her heart skipped a beat as it came to her. It was something Jamie would’ve said to Claire to make her feel safe. Cared for.