‘Friend! Not foe!’ a male voice called up, mere feet away now and a moment later, a golden-haired head appeared above the ridge like a second sun.

‘Miss Gillies, you are a very fast walker,’ Sholto panted, placing his hands on his thighs as he tried to get his breath back.

She stared at him, aghast. ‘What are you doing here?’

He sighed and smiled in the same motion, his head tipping to the side. ‘I was swimming in the bay when I saw you creep out from your house.’

She stared at him in disbelief. It wasn’t even dawn! Did he never sleep?

‘. . . I wasn’t creeping,’ she said defensively, seeing that his hair was wet and his clothes dishevelled, the buttons on his shirt mismatched so that the tails sat at different lengths. He had dressed in haste and it had the effect of making him look boyish. Less lordly.

‘Well, I assumed you were trying not to disturb your father,’ he shrugged. ‘But as you wish.’ He stared down at her. The look on his face to have found her suggested he had absolutely no idea he was the one she was trying to escape.

‘. . . Why would you be swimming at such a time?’ She hadn’t seen him as she’d looked over from the Street, but then she hadn’t been looking either. Her only focus had been on leaving.

He missed a beat, his smile faltering a little. ‘Trouble sleeping.’

Oh.

He sank onto the ground beside her. ‘. . . You? Should you be alone out here, in the half-light?’

‘There’s no danger here.’

‘No? You looked like a wild rabbit just now.’ His eyes burned into her. ‘Why are you out walking at this time?’

It was her turn to miss a beat. ‘I’m going over to Glen Bay.’

A flicker of a frown crossed his face. ‘To be with your friend?’

She nodded. ‘She needs help . . . with the sheep.’

He looked like he didn’t believe her. ‘It’s an early start.’ Scepticism rang through his words. ‘Lucky I was swimming then or I might not have seen you.’

‘Aye, sir.’

He winced. ‘Please . . . none of the “sir” nonsense.’

She looked away. There was little point in arguing about it now.

There was a short silence.

‘Our captain says we must leave on the tide tonight.’ He ran a hand through his damp hair. ‘Apparently a storm is coming.’

She pulled at a tuft of grass. It gave her something to do, somewhere to look. ‘Aye, I know.’

‘You know?’ His eyes narrowed, the intimation clear. ‘And yet still you went? Without a goodbye?’

‘I didn’t think you would worry one way or another about my goodbyes, sir.’

A small laugh of disbelief escaped him, followed by a studying pause. ‘. . . But we are friends, are we not?’

‘. . . If you say so, sir.’ There was a tremor in her voice.

He looked pained now. ‘Effie, don’t call me that.’