Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Pippa
I t was well into the afternoon by the time we crossed the Scottish border at Gretna. The sausage rolls we’d grabbed from a takeaway for lunch were a distant memory, and I was already contemplating having Zeke dig into our already diminished snack stores. What was it about driving that made me so hungry?
“Would you elope?”
At the question, I whipped my head toward Zeke. “What?”
He nodded toward a sign for Gretna Green. “That’s what they’re all about, right? My mama is a big fan of historical romance novels. She loves the ones where the characters sneak off in the dead of night to go elope at Gretna Green. I assume folks still get married there.”
“Oh.” Now why did I feel a vague sense of disappointment at that more than logical question? Of course, he wasn’t asking me to elope. That would be absolute madness. Shaking off the thought, I pulled my brain back to the conversation. “I dinna ken. I suppose they do.”
“I kinda wondered why Raleigh and Kyla chose Gibraltar instead of here. Not that I’m complainin’ at gettin’ to see the Mediterranean.”
“You were there?”
“Oh yeah. Best man. He had me bring his mama’s ring from home. I’d have come anyway, though. Needed to see for myself that he hadn’t lost his ever lovin’ mind.”
My lips twitched. “Fulfilling a three-hundred-year-old marriage pact didn’t qualify?”
Zeke huffed a laugh. “I mean, sure it did. But it was equally obvious that Kyla wasn’t puttin’ one over on him. Which was my bigger concern. I know what it meant to him to lose his ranch. When the estate landed in his lap—debts, problems, and all—he’d have done just about anything to keep it. Even marry a virtual stranger.”
“It seems to have worked out all right in the end.”
“Can’t argue with that. Kyla suits him down to the ground. And I’m tickled as can be seeing my best friend as a daddy. That little girl of theirs is cute as a button.”
“Do you like children, then?” It wasn’t something we’d ever discussed. Why would we? It hadn’t ever come up.
“Right now I’m in the love-other-people’s-and-happy-to-give-them-back stage. But sure. I expect to have some one of these days. When I find the right partner.”
In all the conversation and correspondence we’d had, he’d never once mentioned a girlfriend or even a date. I hadn’t let myself ask, because the answer really wouldn’t change anything. My life was in Scotland, and I wasn’t prepared to change that on a whim for any man. Not even one as appealing as this one.
“What about you?” he asked.
I blinked. “What about me?”
“Kids. You want ’em?”
“Oh, I suppose, eventually. Right now, I’m perfectly fine being a favorite auntie to my sister’s children.”
“How old are they?”
“Six and eight. Old enough to think the farm is fun rather than work.”
“You think the farm is fun rather than work.”
My lips twitched. “Aye, true enough, but I’m unusual.”
“Not that unusual. I feel the same.”
Feeling his gaze on me, I took mine off the road for just a moment, feeling a pulse of… something between us before I dragged my focus back in time to see traffic in front of us braking.
“What’s this?” I muttered.
“Construction looks like.”
Following the flow of traffic, I left the A74 on the suggested diversion. “I wonder how far off schedule this is going to knock us.”
The answer, it turned out, was at least a couple of hours. I had no idea what the problem was that necessitated such a large rerouting of traffic, but we were rapidly losing daylight. Not a commodity in great supply this time of year in Scotland. The sun set before four in the afternoon. I worried about the added time in the trailer for Zodiac, but I couldn’t deny I appreciated the extra time with Zeke.
As if reading my mind, he peered out the window. “We might ought to start looking for somewhere to stop for a bit. Let our boy back there stretch his legs and eat a bit before we get going.”
Since we’d been forced to leave our planned route, I had no idea where we were or where we’d find to stop that would be appropriate for taking out a horse. This clearly wasn’t normally a heavily travelled road, so there weren’t exactly frequent lay-bys for pulling over. But at least we seemed to be mostly in rolling farmland, broken up by stone fences and the occasional patch of woodland.
“That spot up ahead looks wide enough to pull off.”
The narrow expanse of what appeared to be mostly gravel in the shade of a curve of trees was as good an option as any.
Braking as quickly as I dared, I came into the make-shift lay-by quicker than I meant. The van shuddered and bounced as we hit a series of massive potholes I hadn’t been able to see in the shadows. With a little scream, I gripped the wheel tighter and struggled to bring the vehicle to a stop. With a teeth-rattling crunch, we finally jerked to a halt.
“Are you okay?” I gasped.
“Yeah. Are you?”
“Fine. Shite. Go check on Zodiac.”
I could hear him making a right fuss from the back, and I was terrified he’d been injured.
We both clambered out of the vehicle and circled around. Zeke opened the door and lowered it. Inside, Zodiac continued to make his displeasure known, tossing his head to yank at the ties keeping him in place.
“Easy. Easy there, fella. You gotta calm down before I can take you outta the box.”
I watched as Zeke eased toward the horse, crooning in a low, comforting voice. The gelding’s ears pricked toward him, and he stopped struggling. I held my breath as Zeke visually inspected him.
“I don’t see any blood.”
That was a start, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t strained something.
Once assured he wouldn’t bolt, Zeke untied the animal and led him out of the box. Anxiously, I watched every step, searching for any sign of a limp or twinge. But there seemed to be nothing more than annoyance communicated the irritated swish of his tail and the swivel of his ears. Once he’d walked Zodiac for a bit, Zeke paused, running his hands over every inch.
“He’s okay. No cuts. No pulled muscles. No limp.”
Only then did I finally let loose the breath I was holding. “Thank God. I’m so sorry.”
“Not your fault. I didn’t see the hole either. We’ll walk him a bit, get him some hay and water, then get back on the road.”
I turned toward the vehicle to go get the bucket for water and groaned at what I found. “No, we won’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We have a puncture.”
In fact, the front passenger side tire was a total pancake. Closer inspection showed an outright gouge in the rubber.
“It’s fine. We’ll just put on the spare,” Zeke announced.
Except there was no spare. We hunted high and low, over every inch of the horsebox. The rental company hadn’t provided any kind of spare. Only a repair kit that absolutely wouldn’t cut it with this level of damage and a number plastered to the inside of the windshield saying who to call in the event of an incident.
“Well, I guess I’m doing that, since the rental’s in my name.”
I offered Zeke my mobile. “Here, use my phone. At least I’m in country.”
He accepted it, handing me Zodiac’s lead.
I walked the gelding up and down the stretch of what could questionably be called a shoulder, listening while Zeke spoke to the van hire company. Given the number of times he had to say, “Can you repeat that?” we didn’t have a great signal. It sounded like he was having to practically give his life story just to report the accident.
“Well, I don’t know where we are.” Irritation bled through the easy tone he’d kept through this whole ordeal. “It’s not like there are mile markers or road signs nearby.”
I gave him the road name. “We’re about forty-five miles into the diversion off of A74, heading north.”
He repeated the information, along with the last landmark we’d seen, some kind of road-side memorial from one of the world wars. The company put him on hold again. Zeke dropped his head to the dash.
Feeling utterly wretched, I took care of feeding and watering Zodiac, who seemed perfectly content to finally be free of his confinement.
After about twenty minutes, someone finally came back. Zeke exchanged a few more words with them before muttering, “Thank you,” and hanging up. “Well, they’re sending a recovery team, whatever that means.”
“How long?”
“Two hours.”
This was a disaster. “Oh God. I’m so sorry, Zeke. I canna believe we got a puncture.”
“The pothole is hardly your fault.”
“Aye, but?—”
Stepping into my space, he cut me off, running his big, warm hands from my shoulders down my arms. “It’s fine. Zodiac is fine. We’re obviously not gonna make it back tonight, but it’ll be okay. We’ll have to figure out what the plan is once they get here with the truck.”
I nodded.
“Do you need to call somebody about your ladies? I know you weren’t planning on being gone overnight again.”
“Aye, I should do that.”
Knowing she’d cackle with glee, I elected to text Saoirse instead of calling.
Me: We got a puncture. It’s two hours for the recovery team. We aren’t going to make it back tonight.
Saoirse: Everybody okay?
Me: No injuries.
Saoirse: I’ve got your ladies. Take advantage of your situation!
I could well imagine what she meant by that and ignored it, too. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I turned to Zeke. “Well, he’s all sorted for food and water. What about us?”