Chapter 35 #2
“I suppose so,” he said. “Come up to the distillery and I’ll give you the tour of that first, then we can go over to Craigard. So how about coming for a drive with me now?”
“Where?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Around. There’s a good viewpoint not far away.”
“It’s awfully misty tonight. I doubt we’ll see anything at a viewpoint.”
“You never know. Come on. If we sit here any longer all the football blokes are going to be coming out, and I assure you, you don’t want to see that drunken mob.”
Emma hesitated. Jock’s words echoed in her head. “A bit of a lad.” Still, it was just a drive in a car, and she did want to get into that castle.
“All right,” she said.
“Drink up then,” Andrew said. “You can’t waste good single malt.”
Although she wasn’t at all sure that she liked it, she did as she was told, gasping again as the liquid went down her throat. Then she stood up. “I’ll go and get my coat,” she said.
Emma climbed up beside Andrew in his Land Rover. It was still quite misty, with eerie halos around streetlights and buildings hovering as indistinct shapes. There would be no views tonight, she thought.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked, hearing the tremble in her voice.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” He gave her a grin as he started the motor and drove off, rather fast. They went along the one lighted street and then up the hill until suddenly they were in a world of mist and darkness.
Am I being na?ve again, going off with a strange bloke in his car? she asked herself. But then she thought, Why not? A good-looking chap from a rich family is attracted to me. I mustn’t think every bloke has bad intentions just because I’ve met a dud or two.
“So where are we going?” she asked.
“You sound nervous. You don’t have to be. I’m a good driver and I know this road like the back of my hand.”
She didn’t say any more until he pulled off the tarmac onto a gravel area.
She only knew this from the scrunch of tires.
The Land Rover came to a halt. Andrew switched off the motor.
“This is the viewpoint,” he said. “Not much of a view after all, I’m afraid.
Still never mind. I’m sure there’s something we can do to keep warm, isn’t there? ”
He put one finger under her chin, drew her towards him and kissed her.
The kiss was warm and gentle. The Scotch, following a generous glass of wine, had dulled her inhibitions, and Andrew was an expert.
She found herself melting into the kiss.
His hand came inside her jacket and felt for her breast. It was all very nice until a faint alarm started to ring in her head. She sat up suddenly.
“I know,” he said. “It’s rather cramped in here, but it will be okay if we move to the back seat.”
The desire to see the castle wrestled with her moral compass. She grabbed his hand. “Andrew, no. Look, I’m sorry, but I hardly know you. I’m not the sort of girl who . . .” She broke off, unwilling to finish the sentence.
“Oh, come on. Relax. I assure you I’m quite good at—”
“Andrew no. Stop.” She grabbed at his hand again and attempted to move away. “Please take me back now, or I’ll get out and walk. I’m sure I’m horribly old-fashioned, but I don’t . . . I mean, I’m probably one of those girls meeting in the Sydney telephone box.”
“You mean you’re still a virgin?”
“Afraid so.”
“You haven’t had boyfriends who wanted to?”
“Well yes, at least I had this boyfriend in London and we dated for quite a while.” A vision of Simon swam into her head.
Simon’s flat. Simon saying, “We’ve finally got the place to ourselves.
” And Simon expertly guiding her through to the bedroom and her not resisting.
She wanted to move to the next step, to seal their relationship as it were.
But something had stopped her. And soon after that Simon had broken it off.
If she hadn’t said no, might he have stayed?
“What happened to him?” Andrew asked.
“He found someone more desirable,” she said bitterly.
“I find you quite desirable,” Andrew said, starting to stroke her thigh. “So if you wanted to have a go now . . .”
“You’re very tempting,” she said, “but I’d want to know and love a man before . . . I am sorry. I do find myself attracted to you, but I’m only here for a few days. I’ll go home and never see you again and I’d never forgive myself.”
“And leave me broken-hearted?”
Now she laughed. “I’m sure you’ve never been broken-hearted in your life, and you’ll soon find another tourist for the back seat.”
“Not in the off-season,” he said, but he was smiling, too. “Oh well. I suppose I’ll drive you back. Pity, you were a good kisser. I bet you’d like it if you tried.”
“I probably would,” she said. “And later I’ll probably tell myself I’m stupid to have turned you down.
But I’m far from home and trying to behave the way I was raised.
” This wasn’t quite true, as her mother was so self-absorbed that the subject hadn’t really come up, but it seemed to work.
Andrew started the motor again, and they drove back down the hill in silence.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Andrew said as he dropped her off at the hotel.
“You’re sure it’s all right still?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to ravish you in a castle bedroom,” he said, laughing. “I too have a family that is horribly old-fashioned and strict. Come to the distillery.”
“Thank you. I will.”
As she headed for her room she wondered if she had been an idiot to stop him. Would Jilly have done so?