Chapter Thirty-Seven
She hadn’t seen Rory since she had tried to kiss him after the wedding and she felt awkward. Plus, she wondered what he was doing here; she hadn’t invited him. Still, it would be great to have his insight. Maybe he could make some helpful suggestions?
‘Mr McKenzie, any idea why Rory’s here?’
‘Well, he was one of the people that complained about the scheme. Or rather his father did.’
He took a step closer to Clem and spoke softly. ‘There may be some fireworks. This scheme raised a lot of bad feelings when it was first proposed.’
Clem gulped. Helpful suggestions were probably off the table then. Forewarned was forearmed.
Rory pulled up alongside them and threw open the door.
‘Lady Clementine, gentlemen. Sorry I’m late; I wasn’t aware there was a scheduled site meeting. I only just got the message patched through to me. I’ve been up on the hills.’
It was clear that he had been in the midst of work, as his jeans had patches of mud on them and his work boots were dirty with flecks of straw caught up in the laces. His faded T-shirt was filthy, and there were more bits of straw in his hair.
‘We’re moving the cattle. Excuse any smell; I’d have had a shower but I didn’t get the message until just now. So what the hell is going on?’
Everyone fell silent until Clem realised that they were waiting for her to speak. After all, she was the one in charge.
‘I’m thinking of putting in an electricity-making scheme.’
‘No.’
‘What?’
‘I said, no. We’ve been through this once before. It was a nonstarter then and it is a nonstarter now.’
‘Jesus, give it some thought, why don’t you?’ snapped Clem. The wind was whipping around her hair and she was utterly fed up. ‘You haven’t even listened to the new proposal.’
‘Don’t need to. Any alteration to this river will jeopardise my farm.’
‘Well now that’s not a certainty,’ interrupted Michael. He stepped forward and stretched out his hand, which Rory shook quickly and reluctantly.
‘Michael Jones. Development Manager for Highland Renewables. How do you do? I was just talking to Lady Clementine about compensation packages, and she suggested a profit share scheme with anyone affected. That certainly sound like an interesting idea?’
‘So says someone that doesn’t understand what the land means to a person.’
‘So says someone that doesn’t understand what money means to a person,’ shot back Clem. She didn’t have time to be getting into a row with Rory. The last time she had seen him it had been full of laughter; now she wanted to throw something at him. There were a few good rocks around.
‘It’s not all about money though, is it? Something you Londoners don’t seem to understand.’
Wow, Clem was surprised by this level of hostility. Did he really think all Londoners were stuck-up, money-grabbing tossers? Quite frankly, there was only one person here acting like a tosser and she was looking at him.
‘Only someone who has never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from can say money doesn’t matter. Who invited you anyway?’
Clem could feel her temper rising fully out of control and she wanted to know who had forced her into this shouting match. She wasn’t about to justify her upbringing in front of four men who all seemed to know what they were doing and were all judging her. She was particularly hurt by Mr McKenzie, who knew what her actual history had been; oddly, she felt betrayed.
‘Iain. Did you call him behind my back!?’
Mr McKenzie was about to reply when Rory’s voice cracked out like a whip.
‘Enough.’ His voice was intimidating enough but Clem could see that he was now also angry at her accusation. ‘No one did anything behind your back. You owe Iain here an apology for using that tone of voice on him.’
‘An apology? Who the hell do you think you are?’
‘I’m someone teaching you some manners. And around these parts we don’t think swearing is big or clever, nor is defacing children’s wellingtons.’
Clem was mortified. Of course she owed Mr McKenzie an apology and had been on the verge of saying so when Rory had continued his tirade.
Now the surveyor cleared his throat.
‘I called him,’ said John. ‘It’s in the details of the consultation document that with any further investigations all parties are to be informed.’
It was the most he had said all morning and his words fell into a surprised silence. Michael looked livid, John had returned to silently measure taking and Iain McKenzie nodded appreciatively. Clem and Rory glared at each other.
Clem took a deep breath and turned to Iain.
‘Of course I’m sorry, you know that. I let my mouth run away with me. I’m tired and I spoke without thinking.’
‘Aye hen, I know. No offence was taken,’ said Iain with a soft voice.
Clem let out a sigh of relief. Thank God she hadn’t upset him, but now she was feeling angry and mortified and wanted to leave as quickly as possible. She wanted to put as much distance as she could between herself and Rory.
‘I’m heading back to work. You two,’ she said gesturing towards the energy staff, ‘continue taking whatever measurements you need and don’t allow this man to stop or interfere with anything you do.’
If Rory could have looked angrier he would have. ‘I have no intention of interfering. I am merely here—’
‘Oh can it,’ snarled Clem. ‘I couldn’t give a rats arse what you “merely” do.’
Flinging open the door of her car, she pulled herself up to the seat and, roaring the engine, she accelerated away, bouncing down the track, throwing dust over the men.
‘You’ll break your suspension driving like that,’ shouted Rory after the departing car. ‘And next time don’t flounce off in a huff!’
***
Iain came to stand alongside Rory. He liked the lad, well man now, he revised. Old Alasdair had seven fine sons and Rory was the best of them in Iain’s eyes.
‘I don’t think she can hear you.’
Rory turned and looked at him in surprise and then laughed self-consciously.
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘She’s spirited, isn’t she? Nice to shake things up now and then, wouldn’t you agree?’
Rory watched the car drive out of sight and then turned back to Iain.
‘Spirited? I was thinking obnoxious. Did you see her boots?’
Iain nodded. ‘Yes, but she means well, even if she’s a bit…’ He stopped. Talking ill of someone when they weren’t here to defend themselves was not on, plus he felt quite protective of Clem. He had discovered she had trouble with her letters when they had gone over the estate ledgers. She had explained that, after a while, reading brought on huge headaches. After that he would make sure he found an hour a week when she wasn’t immersed in fabrics to talk through the previous week’s estate report.
She had great recall and would interrogate him about tiny details from the previous week and he found he enjoyed chatting with her. Even if occasionally her language would make a sailor faint.
Now he changed the conversation.
‘You’re more than welcome to stay but this was just a site visit to see what had been previously proposed. Lady Clementine only found out about the local opposition yesterday and she did try to cancel the meeting. Mind you, the profit share is an interesting idea. Maybe raise it with your father?’
It was touch and go. Alasdair had a valid concern about altering the river flow, but income was income and highlanders knew all about eking out an income from the land.
Rory shook his head, still staring at the spot where Clem had driven out of sight and took his hands out of his pockets.
‘Thanks, Iain. I’ll mention it for all the good it will do but I won’t stay. I’d better get back and see how the cattle have settled in.’
As he got back to the Land Rover, he sent out a few text messages and then sat and wondered about Clem. The last time he had seen her had been special. He thought he might be an old man and still remember her standing on a chair in the emergency department singing about goats and rattling trees. He had never seen someone look so alive. Janet would have never sung in public, let alone been the very centre of everyone’s attention. Clem stood there like it was the most normal thing in the world, as though she was amongst her closest friends and relatives. Throughout the evening people had been chatting to her, and Rory had realised that she had already made an incredible impact on the community in a very short space of time.
Now if she introduced the hydro scheme she could have an even bigger one, and instead of trying to explain the problems to her, he had just dismissed her. He owed her another apology, but when he had seen her nodding along to that smarmy, blond salesman he forgot himself. There was something about Clem that was really beginning to get under his skin and he didn’t know how to resolve it.