The House on the Shore

by Victoria Howard

  If only she could do the same.

  Head bowed, her face pale and pinched, she turned and walked back along the sand.

  The scream of a seagull pierced the air.

  Lifting her head, she squinted into the late afternoon sun. Without warning, memories of Luke, as she’d seen him that first day, came pouring back. His easy stride, his tall, athletic body. His smile. His laugh.

  A lone figure walked towards her. With the sun behind him, he was no more than a tall silhouette.

  “Luke!”

  She ran then, her feet scarcely leaving footprints in the sand. When she reached him, she was breathless. All she could do was stand and stare, her emerald eyes full of love, longing, and hope.

  “You’re here,” she finally said. “I thought…I knocked and there was no answer.”

  His smile was glorious. “I was out painting. What are you doing here?”

  “I came to return your painting, the one you bought in Bar Harbor.”

  “There was no need to go to all that trouble.”

  “I disagree. I’ve…” Anna’s breath caught in her throat.

  “You’ve what?”

  She could bring herself to say it, instead she told him. “I finished the book. It’s going to be published early next year. I’ve signed a contract for a three book deal.”

  “So you’ve realized your ambition.”

  “Yes.”

  “Was it worth all the effort and pain?”

  “Pain?”

  “Yes. You gave up your home, your job, and your boyfriend. Remember? What was his name?”

  “Mark. You mean, Mark?”

  “Yeah. That guy. Seen him lately?”

  “Not since I told him to leave that day at the croft. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. You must be tired if you drove down from New York today. Especially on the wrong side of the road.”

  “I figured it out as I went along.”

  “You look really good, Anna”

  She winced. “So do you. This place suits you.”

  His hair was longer than she remembered, and slightly greyer. The wind tossed it around. He brushed it out of his eyes. “Where are you staying?”

  “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”

  “You don’t have a lot of choices round here. There’s the Wayside Inn or The Captain’s House. Both are okay. Would you like to come up to house? I’ll make coffee.”

  “If it’s no trouble.”

  “It’s not. How’s Morag? Is she better?”

  “Yes. She walks with a slight limp, but doesn’t need crutches. What’s more, she’s pregnant! I’m going to be a Godmother.”

  They turned and walked side-by-side towards the house. He nodded heartily. “That’s great. I’m happy for her and Lachlan. And how are the dogs?”

  “They’re fine. They’re staying with Morag and Lachlan. They purchased Home Farm from the bank with the compensation they received for Morag’s accident.”

  “The dogs would love it here.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. “Yes, I imagine they would.”

  Luke held open the porch door. “Come on in. I think you’ll like the place, but I’m biased.”

  The interior of the house was decorated in the same pastel shades of cream, white and sea-green. Two leather sofas stood at right angles to the huge stone fireplace. Anna followed him through to the brightly lit modern kitchen.

  “You have a beautiful home, Luke.” She took at seat at the breakfast bar.

  “Thanks. You still take your coffee with cream, no sugar?”

  “Yes, thank you. How’s Kate?”

  He stopped stirring her coffee. “Kate? Man. I hadn’t thought about her in ages. She’s long gone. She ran off with a surfer from California while I was away. Got fed up of calling and finding no one here. No patience at all, that girl.”

  “I see.”

  “Is the painting the only reason you dropped by?”

  Anna blushed. “No. Yes. I mean—”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He came round to her side of the counter and took her hands in his. “You’re all I care about. I’ve missed you so much. Climbing aboard Sandpiper and sailing out of Loch Hourn was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I knew if I’d forced you to come with me, you would hate me for it. I couldn’t have that on my conscience.”

  “Oh, Luke, I’ve missed you too.” Shocked by her own driving need, she clung to him.

  “I’ve wanted to call and write, but I wasn’t sure where to send the letters, or if you were still living at the croft.”

  “I am.”

  “Later, when I got your letter—well, just let’s say my pride got in the way.”

  “I was wrong to send you away, Luke. But don’t you understand? The book wasn’t my only reason for turning you down.”

  “I know, but you finished it, all the same. And you’re happy about it?”

  “I am.”

  “I have to tell you, for a while I wondered whether our age difference had something to do with why you found it so easy to let me go.”

  “It wasn’t easy, Luke. I just told you that.”

  “I’m forty-three, Anna. Ten years older than you. Is that too much?”

  “Age has nothing to do with it.”

  “But you had more concerns than the book, didn’t you?”

  “I had to be sure Kate meant nothing to you. That you weren’t like Mark—that I could trust you. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “I never stopped loving you, Anna.” His kiss was slow, thoughtful, and full of passion.

  “I love you too, Luke. I have since the first day you knocked at my door.”

  “I can’t live without you. Tell me you’re here to stay.”

  “If you want me to.”

  Luke pulled her against him, his strong arms encircling her waist. “Anna, will you marry me?”

  The woman in his arms smiled radiantly. “Yes.”

  “In that case, love, I have an idea.”

  “Which is?”

  “What do you think about spending your honeymoon sailing back to Scotland on Sandpiper to collect those dogs of yours?”

  “Good idea,” she said. “But first you need to give me a proper tour of this wonderful house. It’s going to be my home too, after all.”

  “Makes sense. Where would you like to start?”

  She laughed and kissed the base of his throat. “Why, the master bedroom, of course.”

  “I think that can be arranged. Just bear in mind, if we start our tour there, you might not see much of the house for a while.”

  “Quite a while, I should hope.”

  “Quite a while,” he smiled.

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  As a writer, I’m often asked where I get my ideas. When I set out to write this, my second novel, I knew, having spent twenty years living on a croft in the Highlands, that I had to set it in Scotland.

  While undertaking some research, I came across some photographs of Loch Hourn, which is technically a fjord. It was many years since I’d driven down the 22-mile single-track road to the head of the loch, but I recalled how isolated and beautiful the area was.

  At the time, I was working as an administrator on a Scottish Sporting estate and managing my husband’s company involved in the offshore oil industry. In 1975 Howard Doris had opened a fabrication yard for the construction of oil platforms on the north shore of Loch Kishorn, in Wester Ross.

  Mindful of this intrusion into the otherwise peaceful communities and their idyllic surroundings, the local council made it a condition of the planning permission that the yard had to be treated as an island, and all deliveries had to arrive by sea.

  Thus, the idea for The House on the Shore was born.

  Victoria Howard’s Novels

  Ring of Lies

  When English accountant Daniel Elliott dies in a car accident one rainy night, his widow, Grace, is overcome with grief…and panic. Daniel was controllin
g and their marriage loveless, but he always took care of the sheltered Grace.

  Or so she thought.

  She soon discovers Daniel kept secrets: an alias, mob ties, a list of numbers, a mysterious beach house in Florida…and a girlfriend who looks like Grace.

  Swallowing her fear, she flies to Miami to claim the house Daniel left her. The price of her curiosity is peril. Underworld figures stalk her. The other woman has left a damning trail of evidence pointing her way. Handsome, troubled FBI agent Jack West has crossed precarious paths with Grace before. He could be her saviour or her damnation. All she knows for certain is that she longs to be in his arms.

  With little to go on and danger at every turn, Grace must depend on Jack to help her navigate the criminal world of south Florida, and find the truth behind the Ring of Lies.

  Three Weeks Last Spring

  Skye Dunbar needs to get away from London to put a disastrous affair behind her. When she rents a cabin in Washington State’s San Juan Islands, the last thing she expects is to be accused of computer hacking.

  Jedediah Walker is investigating the dead marine life washed up on the islands beaches. Walker he has another problem – an unexpected, beautiful and suspicious new tenant renting his cabin. When he discovers that the fish contain a high concentration of toxic chemicals, he suspects they are being deliberately dumped in Puget Sound. Later, when someone hacks into his computer, he realises it is no coincidence and sets out to find out more about his mysterious new tenant.

  However, Skye doesn’t like Walker from the moment she sees him. He feels the same. But that’s about to change.