by Lucy Gillen
CHAPTER NINE
DESPITE (he fact that it had been a fairly showery day, the evening was fine and bright, with only small feathery clouds to be seen, although beyond the huls it looked darker and more menacing, as if there was still a promise of rain to come by nightfall. Laurie thought she could afford to ignore it, however, for she would be back long before it reached the lower ground. She was riding alone this evening, because Rod had come to tell her that he would be busy with some chore that Quin had found for him at the last minute. Not that she really minded, for she could enjoy her own company quite often. Rod had ridden with her every evening since she had been allowed the use of Brownie again, and she strongly suspected that Quin had thought it time he pulled a little more weight. She smiled in sympathy with Rod, but would not allow it to spoil her own pleasure, no matter how selfish it might make her seem. A light wind had cleared the air of the day's sultriness, and blew refreshingly on her face as she took Brownie down the slope towards the loch. The water looked darker and deeper than it sometimes did in summer, and its surface was ruffled with the light wind, so that its character was quite different from the , 151 smooth, placid mirror it had been the last time she had seen it. She kept Brownie to a slow enough pace for her to enjoy the scenery, relaxing in the stillness and the peace that surrounded her. The distant hills were girdled with mist this evening and appeared to shift slightly with every breath of wind that stirred the trailing mist. The sky, a pale greeny-blue, seemed to hang low and spattered little shadows over the surface of the loch when the clouds drifted by. It had a smooth, painted look that changed colour with every second. It was evenings Like this, Laurie thought, Aat made her thankful to be still -at Clach Aros, even in her present circumstances. Just back from the bank of the loch she dismounted and left the patient Brownie standing with her head bowed contentedly to the cool touch of the turf on her sensitive nose. Even Brownie enjoyed such moments as this in her own way, and would wait patiently enough. Laurie walked right to the water's edge and stood on the flat grey stones that formed a rim round the sides, a tiny figure in the vastness of her surroundings. She bent and picked up a handful of white pebbles from near her feet and began, languidly, to throw them one after the other into the deep, rippling water. She found satisfaction and complete absorbtion in watching the concentric circles that spread out towards her, and noticed nothing else until she heard the sound of someone approaching someone on horseback. There was no mistaking the sound the occasional 152 click of iron shoes on the flinty stones, and she frowned her dislike at the prospect of being disturbed. Even Rod would be unwelcome at the moment, for she was enjoying her peaceful solitude and had no wish to have it broken into. She feigned ignorance of the impending arrival for as long as she could by keeping her back turned and carrying on with her stone-throwing. But she could not hope to get away with such obvious tactics for very long, and she sighed almost audibly when someone spoke from just behind her. 'Hello, Laurie.' She turned reluctantly and was not altogether surprised to discover that it was Quin and not Rod who had joined her. He had left the big grey standing beside his stablemate and stood beside her at the water's edge, smiling at her. He was curious, she could see that, but in the brief look she ventured at him she saw the inevitable gleam of amusement in his eyes too. 'Hello; she said, not very encouragingly, and turned back to send more pebbles plopping into the water. If she did not particularly want to see Rod at this moment, she certainly did not want a verbal battle with Quin, and inevitably it would come to that if he stayed. 'Something wrong?' he asked, confirming her guess that he was curious. 'No; 'Somebody upset you?' 'No.' He laughed shortly. 'I see, just feeling unsociable, huh?' He bent and gathered himself a handful of pebbles. 'You haven't fallen out with Rod, have you?' 153 he asked. 'No;He sighed, then sent a pebble skimming across the surface of the water. 'You seem to be stuck in a monosylabic rut; he told her. 'And it isn't Rod's fault you had to come out alone tonight, you know; 'I know that; she told turn shortly. 'I had to give him a last-minute job to do, I'm afraid;'Of course you did; Laurie said. 'Sarky!'She glanced at him briefly. 'Well, I'd have known it was you who found him a last-minute job to do, even if Rod hadn't told me, because Russ doesn't do things Like that;'Oh no, of course he doesn't; he agreed wryly. 'Anyway, I don't mind being alone sometimes; she told him. 'In fact I quite enjoy being alone; It was as broad a hint as it was possible to make and he chuckled deeply when he recognised it. 'Well, if you don't mind being alone, and you re not out with Rod,' he said, 'what is causing the sulks?' 'I am not sulking!' She turned an indignant gaze on him, her blue eyes sparkling. 'You would think that, wouldn't you?''Oh, inevitably; he agreed, but sounded very unconcerned about it. 'I automatically think the worst about you, as you do about me; It was a jibe she could not argue with, but she pouted her disLike of it. 'We're a bit Like chalk and cheese, aren't we, Laurie?' 'Yes, we are; she agreed, and could not imagine why she sounded so much as if she regretted it. 154 'Never a dull moment,' he went on. 'It isn't my fault,' Laurie denied hastily, and he ; chuckled again. ; 'You're not standing where I am!' ; 'Well, it isn't,' she insisted, seeing her peace well and ; truly shattered now. 'We we just never see eye to eye, that's all; 'Does it bother you?' She glanced up hastily at him, puzzled by something in his voice, and saw that strange, disturbing look in his eyes again, so that she quickly looked away. 'Not really; she told-him, her eyes following the progress of another pebble as he hurled it far out over the water. He said nothing for a moment, then a hand slid under her arm and half turned her towards him. 'We could call a truce,' he suggested. Laurie gave it a moment's thought. He had come down to the cottage to see her, prepared to lay down the law, but then he had said she could have Brownie again, just when she had thought he was absolutely adamant about stopping her from riding. He was a difficult man to understand, and she was not at all sure that she would ever understand him, but there seemed no real reason why she was being so unfriendly towards him at the moment. 'I I rather thought we had a truce,' she ventured then, and looked up again briefly. She felt a shudder of something course down her -spine Like icy water when she met his eyes, and saw ; that same curiously intent look she had seen in them just before he had so nearly kissed her at the cottage i 155 I the other night before her grandfather interrupted. 'So we have,' he said softly, as if he too was remembering. 'I I'm sorry, Quin.' He tightened the hold he still had on her arm, and shook his head. 'What for?' he asked. 'For snapping at you.' He smiled slowly. 'I've already forgotten; he told her. 'I just felt Like being alone for a while, that's all.' 'We all do at times; he said quiedy. 'You too?' She looked up at him and the fingers on her arm squeezed gently. 'Me too. Shall I go away again, or may I stay and enjoy some of your peace?' She nodded, reallsing as she spoke that what she was saying was only too true. 'It's your'peace really, isn't it?' she said, looking round at the loch and the familiar beauty of the moor. 'It's all yours now.' 'And it still hurts?' She nodded. 'Sometimes more than others,' she admitted, and he smiled understanding. 'And that's when you hate me most,' he guessed. 'I don't ' she began, and looked up swiftly to deny it, but then just as hastily looked away again, shrugging off the mood of self-pity that was fast catching up with her, and the fingers squeezed her arm again. 'I'm glad,' he said softly. She sought rapidly for a safer subject, her mind whirling crazily in all directions at once. 'I I was thinking of going a bit further afield, if I had time,' she told him. 156 'As far as the river, for instance?' he suggested, and smiled when she looked at him in a way that betrayed how accurately he had guessed. 'I had thought of the river, yes.' 'Then let's go, shall we?' She had not anticipated having his company, but she could not very well refuse it, and she was not even sure that she wanted to, so she nodded, moving over to the two waiting horses. The river was quite a bit further on and away to the west, but there was plenty of time before it became too dark. It seemed she was not the .only one given to acting impulsively that evening either, for he too seemed to be acting on impulse. He helped her to mount, and then swun
g himself up into the saddle, bringing the grey alongside her, so close that they almost touched, and Hamish tossed his head at the proximity of his stablemate. 'O.K.?' Quin asked, and for answer Laurie merely nodded and put her heels to Brownie. The big grey was much more difficult to hold at the pace set by the more easy-going Brownie. He tossed his head and snorted impatiently, and only the firm hand on the rein stopped him from taking matters into his own hands. 'Hold it, Hamish!' his rider admonished him. 'Behave yourself when you're with a lady!' Laurie could not resist a smile at the reprimand, and he grinned at her amiably. 'Hamish is a man's horse,' he told her. 'He hasn't very good manners in mixed company, but he's a good mount, and a stayer, which is what I need.' 157 'He's enormous,' Laurie observed. 'And much too strong for me, I expect.' He glanced at her sharply. 'He most certainly is, and don't you get trying to prove otherwise!' Laurie lowered her eyes in mock humility. 'I wouldn't dream of doing so, without your permission; she told him. 'No,' he observed dryly, T'll bet you wouldn't, given half a chance.' She looked at him-from under her lashes, judging his reaction to her next statement. 'I'm going to ride Suli one day,' she told him. 'Rod says I can.' He laughed shortly- 'Rod'll let you do anything if you open your big blue eyes at him,' he said. Laurie stuck out her chin, on the defensive again. 'I can manage him,' she retorted, and Quin smiled dryly. 'Rod or the horse?' She raised her chin and tossed back her hair, both gestures of defiance. It looked as if they were drifting back on to familiar ground again. 'Both, if necessary,' she told him, and he shook his head in warning. 'You might wind Rod round your little finger,' he told her, 'but if I ever catch you trying to ride anything but Brownie or something equally manageable by somebody your half-pint size, I'll personally see that you don't feel Like sitting a horse again for several weeks!' 'You ' He ignored the attempted objection and went on relentlessly. 'Your grandpa's too old to keep you in order, but he trusts me to keep an eye on you.' Laurie's face was flushed a bright rosy pink and her ~ 158 eyes sparkled like jewels. So much for their truce, she thought bitterly. He could not resist treating hefLike a child that was incapable of taking care of itself. It was obviously no use at all trying to meet him on equal terms, he- just would not relinquish his big brother attitude, and no matter what right he thought he had to treat Rod that way, it certainly did not apply to her. With or without her grandfather's approval. 'Will you stop talking down to me?' she said shortly. 'If you don't, I shall do something drastic to you, Quin, I swear I will!' It did nothing for her dignity when he took in her flushed face and slight figure in one brief, swift appraising glance, then,grinned.'Oh yes?'he said. 'Don't think that just because you can bully Rod into being scared of you, that you can do the same to me. No matter what Grandpa says or thinks, I'm a grown woman and I'll not be treated Like a a baby by you or anyone else!' 'No?' 'No!' 'That was quite a little speech,' he remarked blithely. 'Do you often get on your soapbox Like that?' 'It's not funny, Quin!' Funny or not, he laughed softly to himself, and Laurie glared at him. 'Calling a truce with you is a complete waste of time,' she informed turn, and put her nose in the air haughtily, determined to ignore him. She was so exasperated with him that she did not even take much notice of the familiar and breath' catching scenery around them, but rode with her face >