“Not going to happen,” Magenta said.
“Kiss Harry, kiss Harry, kiss Harry…” The twins changed their chant.
Magenta’s cheeks began to flush pink, and for a moment Harry wondered if she was going to kiss him. Suddenly the day was perking up. He felt almost ashamed that he’d thought coming out of the mine would go badly. For one glorious moment, he thought he would get away with his scheming.
Then Betty pushed her way through the crowd. One look at the evil smile on her face and Harry saw his life flash before his eyes.
It all happened in slow motion. Betty opened her mouth as her eyes narrowed. Harry shouted “no” and lunged for Betty. Magenta stumbled to the side. The camera flashed. There was a shocked silence. Then Betty’s voice rang out.
“Before you kiss him, you might want to know that you could have gotten out of the mine last night. Genius here paid off the engineer to wait till this morning.”
Time stopped. The only sound was Betty’s evil cackle.
Slowly, Magenta turned to Harry. Her eyes turned red and sparks flashed around her head.
“Harry?” Her voice was soft and deadly. “What’s she talking about?”
“Oh crap, Harry’s dead,” someone in the crowd muttered.
They were not wrong.
“Harry?” Magenta’s voice was tight.
Harry ran a hand through his hair. His big brain was blank. Bloody blank. Nothing. No excuses. No fabrications. No explanations. Nothing. He felt the crowd lean in towards them.
“I might have arranged for us to spend the night together.”
The autumn air turned frigid.
“Did you know they could hear us?”
He leaned towards her and gave a small smile, hoping it might soothe her. It didn’t. “Baby, I tried to get you alone. You were avoiding me. I was desperate.”
His mistake was watching her eyes instead of her feet. Her eyes turned black. Her brow furrowed and then stars burst in Harry’s vision. Pain shot through him. His knees crumpled beneath him and he writhed on the ground, unable to breathe, unable to do anything but whimper. His hands clutched his now, no doubt, pulverised balls. Too little, too late. Why hadn’t he watched her feet?
Calmly, Magenta picked up her pack, stepped over him and started the long walk back to town.
“Somebody get ice,” Matt shouted.
“I think I’m going to die.” Harry strained to get the words out.
“You deserve to die, you bloody idiot,” his cousin helpfully said.
An icepack was thrust at his groin.
“My work here is done,” Betty said before trotting off down the hill.
A shadow covered Harry’s face, and he looked up to find Rachel glaring down at him. “Can we go back to London now?” she said.
Harry closed his eyes and groaned.
14
To say Magenta was angry would be like saying the Incredible Hulk had muscles. She was way past angry. She was livid. Furious. Murderous. And she knew exactly whom she wanted to kill. No, maim. Maybe torture first.
The twins fell into step beside her. Sandwiching her between them.
“Notice that we picked you over our cousin,” Megan said.
“Even though he’s no doubt lying there maimed, unable to father any children and crying for his mummy,” Claire added helpfully.
Magenta rolled her eyes. “I didn’t kick him full force. Just enough to make a point.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he noticed the difference,” Megan said.
“He deserved it.”
There was silence. Magenta stopped on the rocky path, making her friends stop along with her.
“What?” she said. “You don’t think he deserved that?”
They shared one of their telepathic looks, and Magenta felt her hackles rise.
“What we think is that he went to all that trouble to get you alone. He was clearly worried about rats in there, but didn’t let it stop him from spending time with you,” Megan said.
“He gave you a superhot orgasm. Selflessly. We didn’t hear him say, ‘Hey, babe, now it’s my turn,’” Claire said.
Magenta growled at them. They shared another look.
“We think it’s kind of romantic,” Megan said.
“Urgh!” Magenta stomped away from them, heading back down to town.
“Come on.” Claire elbowed her. “You have to admit, it was kind of romantic. He went to all that trouble to get you alone, and then he took care of you.” She paused. “As in took care of your sexual needs.”
“I know what you meant,” Magenta said through clenched teeth.
“I wish someone would do that for me,” Megan said, sighing.
“Seriously? You wish a guy would lie to you to get you to spend the night with him, then let the town listen in while you get physical? Really? You think that would be super romantic? Pair of bubble heads.”
“Hey,” Claire said. “No name-calling.”
“Fine. Sorry. I’m furious. And embarrassed. The whole town heard me. It’s humiliating. I gave in to his charms. I fell for his tricks. Argh. I want to march back up there and kick him again.”
“Honey.” Claire threaded her arm through Magenta’s, and Megan immediately did the same on the other side. Magenta suddenly felt like Dorothy on the yellow brick road. All she needed was some skipping and singing. And a yappy, annoying dog. No, wait. Betty was behind them. They had yappy and annoying covered.
“You don’t want to waste precious time and energy being angry,” Megan said.
“Yes, I do. I really, really do,” Magenta told them. Because as soon as the anger calmed down, she’d have to deal with the humiliation, and that was not something she was looking forward to.
“No, you don’t. What you need to do is get even.” Claire grinned. “When we were kids and the boys did something that was mean or embarrassing to us, we’d hit them harder. They soon learned that they couldn’t mess with the girls. You need to teach this lesson to Harry. Sure, he was sexy and unselfish in the mine, and it was kind of romantic—although I can totally see why you don’t think so. I do get that he manipulated you and then publically humiliated you. What you need to do is repay that favour. A swift kick is great, but you aren’t thinking big enough.”
“Or being creative enough,” Megan added.
“Don’t worry,” Claire said. “We’ll help you turn this situation on its head so that people won’t be talking about the time Harry conned Magenta into getting naked in the mine. No, they’ll be talking about what Magenta did to Harry afterwards.”
“He’ll be a lesson to all the men of Invertary,” Megan said.
“Yes,” Claire said. “You can’t mess with the women of this town.”
Magenta found herself smiling at the twins. They were right. She shouldn’t get mad. She should get even.
“I’m in.” She was relieved to find the embarrassment wasn’t as overwhelming now she had a plan.
Harry was going to seriously regret messing with Magenta.
15
“Have you seen this?” Rachel slammed the paper down in front of Harry.
He was perched on a chair at the table in Lake’s office, wishing he still had a bag of frozen peas wedged against his crotch. It had been two days since the mine incident, but he still ached. “Black and blue” did not cover it. Thankfully, everything was still in working order. He knew because thinking about Magenta still had the same effect it’d always had. Seemed there was nothing that woman could do to put him off.
He looked at the front page of the Invertary Standard. There he was, lying on the ground writhing in pain while Magenta glared down at him. The heading said: Mayhem at Magenta’s Mine.
“That’s a rubbish headline,” Harry said. “It doesn’t tell you anything about the story under it.”
Rachel glared at him, so he smiled sweetly. It had no effect.
“‘Millionaire programming genius Harry Boyle,’” Rachel read, “‘bit off more than he could che
w this week when he conned his current crush into spending a night with him in the local mine. Unfortunately for the pair, the mine acts like an echo chamber, making it easy for the town to hear every word, gasp and moan they made during their night together. Magenta Fraser did not take the news of the town witnessing their liaison well. After kicking Harry in the groin, she stormed off, leaving their relationship in the dust, along with her man. She has been unavailable for comment.’”
Rachel slapped the paper down. “It goes on to say that the town’s men are taking notes on your seduction technique because you talked your way into Magenta’s knickers in record time.”
Was it wrong he felt proud? Probably.
“This has gone viral on the web. Someone shot footage of the spat and put it on YouTube. It’s going to affect business.”
“I don’t see how,” Harry said. “Most of people we deal with are geeks. They can’t get near a woman. This will impress them.”
Rachel smacked him on the back of his head.
“We also deal with the government. Lots of governments. Do you think this makes you look mature? Respectable? Reliable? We deal with people who don’t like attention, and you’re on YouTube.” She folded her arms over a form-fitting black suit. “Now do you see how it affects business?”
“Fine. You’re the business guru, tell me how we sort this.”
She fixed him with a glare. “We move back to London, you wear a suit, you keep your head down and we quietly take meetings where you act like a grown-up.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to go back to London. I want to close the deal on the office space we found here. I need to stay in Invertary. I need to sort this out with Magenta.”
She slapped the table in front of her. “Are you out of your freaking mind? The girl doesn’t want anything to do with you. Most men who get kicked in the balls figure that out for themselves.”
“Nuh-uh, she’s interested. You weren’t in there with us. Trust me, she’s interested. I just need to figure out what’s holding her back. There has to be something.”
“For the love of all things chocolate,” Rachel wailed. “Listen to yourself. You’re screwing up the business we worked hard to build so you can chase a woman who does not want you.” She turned to Lake, who had been sitting silently at his desk through all of this. “Tell him, will you?”
Lake stared at Harry for a minute. Harry almost squirmed. He could believe Lake used to be an interrogation specialist.
“You want her. Get her,” Lake said.
Harry grinned. Rachel threw up her hands in disgust. “I’m surrounded by cavemen. Is it the effect of the Highlands? Does everyone who comes up here get the urge to go all Braveheart? Is that what this is?”
“You can take my life, but you can never take my freedom,” Harry said solemnly.
“I give up. I need chocolate.” With that, Rachel stormed out of the room.
Harry turned to Lake. “Any ideas on how to fix this?”
“Well, for one, I wouldn’t take any more advice from Betty.”
Yeah, Harry had already figured that part out for himself. “Anything else?”
“Man up. Don’t retreat. Be strategic. Strategy wins the war.”
“Okay,” Harry said slowly. He had no idea what any of that meant.
Lake grunted and went back to work.
“I’m not sure I like this plan,” Magenta said.
“This plan is awesome,” Claire told her.
“Harry’s going to freak out.”
“That’s why it’s awesome.”
“We could traumatise him for life.” Although she’d been avoiding Harry in the week since the mine moaning incident—as the twins were calling it—she still wasn’t sure she wanted him to suffer. Her anger had worn off, and she was left feeling oddly protective of the man. Even though he was the reason for the stream of people who’d come through the shop purely to gawk at her. “He really seems to have some sort of phobia. I’m not sure this is the best way to get back at him. We should think of something else.”
“Stop being a big chicken.” Megan dragged the last two bags from the car.
Magenta straightened her shoulders. Megan was right. She was being pathetic. The fallout from Harry’s trickery would last for months. Long after he got fed up with Invertary and crawled back to London.
She ignored the part of her that balked at the thought of upsetting Harry, and narrowed her eyes. “Let’s get to it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Claire pulled out a key to her brother’s police-issue house and opened the door. “Had to steal the key from Mum. Matt won’t let us have a key because he doesn’t trust us.”
“Because he thinks we’re still ten years old and up to no good.” Megan rolled her eyes.
Magenta gaped at them. “You are up to no good, you pair of bubble heads.”
“Name-calling, Magenta—remember we talked about that.” Megan smothered a giggle as Claire used her kindergarten teacher voice.
They let themselves into Matt’s house, which was a standard 1970s box with no personality whatsoever. It even had orange glass in half the windows. Magenta shuddered. Inside it was pristine. So much so that she wondered if Matt actually lived there.
“Harry’s staying in the spare room,” Claire told them as they made their way up the stairs. The twins were carrying several large bags and Magenta was carrying a cage.
“Here it is.” Megan threw open the door at the end of the short hallway.
The room was pin neat, like the rest of the house.
“Are we sure he’s staying here?”
Megan opened the closet and pulled out a T-shirt with Einstein’s head on it. “Yep, this is his room.”
“Okay.” Magenta took a deep breath. “I guess we better get on with it, then.”
The twins upended the bags they’d carried from the car and about a hundred toy rats fell out. They giggled as they threw them around the room.
“Unscrew the overhead light,” Claire ordered. “That way he’ll have to walk into the room to put the lamp on.”
Megan pulled a chair over from the desk and removed the light bulb. “You got the camera?” she said to her sister.
Claire dug around in the messenger bag that was slung across her body and came out with a webcam. She stuck it above the door, facing the room. A minute later, she dug out her iPad and connected to the camera. “Perfect. We can see most of the room.” She pointed at the camera. “Motion and sound sensors. It will activate when Harry comes in the room.” She grinned widely. “Our cousin isn’t the only one with mad computer skills.” The twins high-fived with glee.
“Hold on a minute,” Magenta said. “Where did you get the camera?”
“Lake’s security shop,” Megan said.
Magenta smacked her palm to her forehead. “Then Harry knows all about this.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Do we look stupid? We waited until Betty was manning the shop and bought it then.”
“Yeah, let’s trust Betty. That always goes well,” Magenta said.
The twins ignored her. Instead they spent a few minutes arranging the rats around the room to make them look more realistic. They seemed pleased with the result. Magenta had to admit: in the dim light, the toys looked pretty real.
“Your turn,” Claire told Magenta.
Magenta walked to the bed carrying the cage. She pulled two balls of tightly wrapped fat, seeds and meat from a plastic bag in her pocket. She put one on top of the bed covers and one under the covers. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered as she opened the cage.
Three large rats, straight from a pet store in Fort William, ran for the ball of food.
“Quick. Out of the room,” Megan said. “We don’t want them to escape.”
The girls ran for the door, slammed it shut behind them and sprinted down the stairs. Only when they were far away from Matt’s house did they stop to talk.
“Do you think anyone saw us?” Claire was wide-eyed with worry
.
“Does it really matter?” Magenta said. “As soon as they see what’s in there, they’ll know it’s us.”
“Good point,” Claire said.
Megan linked her arms with her friend and sister. “I guess all we can do now is find a spot to watch and wait.”
“You’re sure he’s coming home after seeing Lake?” Magenta uncharacteristically gnawed her lip.
“Yep, he arranged to meet Matt there. I heard them set it up.”
Magenta let out a breath.
“Pub for dinner?” Claire said.
There was a nod of agreement. Still holding each other, the girls headed the short distance to the high street and Invertary’s only pub.
16
“Let me get changed,” Harry shouted to his cousin as he entered the house. “Then we can go get something to eat.”
“Why bother? You’re only going to swap one inane T-shirt for another.”
Harry ignored Matt, who was watching CNN on the widescreen in the living room. He didn’t have time to deal with him. His hands were full coping with Magenta. He’d left her alone long enough to calm down. She got one more night. Then he planned to hunt her down and make her talk to him. Even if it meant tying her to a chair to do it. Or the bed. Mmm, yeah, tying her to the bed was a way better idea.
He swung open his room door and flicked on the light. Darkness prevailed. “Bring me a light bulb, will you?” he shouted to Matt. “The one in my room has blown.”
He heard grumbling, but assumed Matt was digging out a bulb.
His mind on Magenta, Harry strode into the room, reached for the bedside lamp and was about to press the switch when he heard it. Scraping. Gnawing. His hand stilled. His body froze. Slowly, he turned his head towards the bed. Something moved. His heart shot to his mouth. Moving nothing but his finger, Harry switched on the lamp. The blood drained from his body.
Sitting in the middle of his bed was a huge white rat. It stopped nibbling on whatever the hell it was nibbling on, and its beady pink eyes stared at Harry. Evil eyes. Red like the devil. Harry couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Then he saw movement under his duvet. He sucked in a breath. His eyes shot to his pillow, where yet another tail twitched. His heart stopped beating altogether. He caught sight of something on the floor. His eyes flicked to it. Huge grey rats, under the furniture, peeking out from behind the chair. His heart restarted. His feet shuffled towards the door. He felt something squish under them, and looked down to see a rat’s tail poking out from beside his boot.
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