Covet (Sinful Secrets 3)

“You thought I was full of shit.”

“I simply didn’t want to see your face again.”

I bark a laugh.

“In any event, your work is done.” She waves out toward the ocean, gleaming beyond the patchwork expanse of fields and pastures. I realize what she’s really gesturing to is the road that runs along the cliffs, bridging the Patches and the village. Then she waves over her shoulder at me and starts up the hillside.

I give her a minute before following.

I was right—exertion helps. Being in this valley, in a stream-striped bowl of grass between the foothills—that helps, too. The fog at my feet, the mist on my skin—I feel…relief.

But I know it’s temporary. I can’t leave here, not until I get something worked out with her. Clonidine, if nothing else. I don’t want to offer her much in the way of why, but somehow I’ve got to win her over.

The slope she’s hiking up is steeper than the one we just came down. At its peak is an arc-shaped rock formation, rising up alongside several steeple-like spires. Off-the-cuff, I’d put this peak at maybe two thousand feet. Behind it and back some distance is the infamous volcano—formally known as Queen Mary’s Peak. I can’t see it for the clouds.

I shield my eyes from the rain and squint up at her. What’s she doing anyway? Trying to escape me, or looking for more straggling sheep? I wonder what’s on the other side of this peak; I don’t know the landscape yet.

I decide she’s probably heading to the high ground to have one more look around before she heads in for the night. Does she know more rain is coming?

I don’t want to spook her, so I hang back as she climbs, keeping maybe forty yards between us. And I watch her. I watch the way she gathers her hair, braiding the loose strands even as she weaves around boulders and navigates the river-like runoff that’s flowing down around the deeper gulches. I watch the way she hefts her pack up higher on her back, stopping for a second to do something with the strap.

When she reaches the top of the grassy slope and the bottom of the rockface that marks the peak, she leans her head back, as if tasting raindrops. Then she turns slightly to look over her shoulder, her face turned toward the Patches.

Looking for me?

Maybe.

I pull out the infrared binoculars Mac sent with me and watch as she flares red and yellow. That’ll be my cover story when I catch her: I forgot to hand these off as promised. Hopefully I’ll get to offer more apologies, maybe help her herd a few more sheep. As we walk back toward the Patches, I can broach my dark topic.

It’s not a solid plan, but it’s the best I can come up with. Of all fucking people, why does she have to be the stand-in for the doctor?

Serves you right for being a dickwad.

I follow her until she slows at the spot where the cliffside goes sharply vertical, pointing toward the archway and the spires. Then I close the distance between us, coming up on her as she pauses to shift her pack again.

“Hey…just me.”

Finley whirls on me with wide eyes, wobbling back as she holds up her hands. “Why are you here?” Her voice is shrill and very English.

“Sorry.” I hold out the binoculars. “Mac sent these with me. I forgot to pass them off down there.” I wave down the hill as Finley reaches for them slowly. She grabs the binoculars and takes a hasty step back.

“You’re not— Are you afraid of me?”

In the moonlight peeking through the clouds, I see her lips purse. Her pretty eyes are wide and wary. “Oh, of course not. I’m completely at ease. I have known you since we were wee ones in our nappies, after all.”

Fuck. “I’m sorry.” I run my hand back through my wet hair. “I…” I shake my head. “That was thoughtless.”

“I always find it reassuring when someone follows me silently up a mountain after dark. So it’s lovely you did that. Thanks for these.” She holds up the binoculars. “Have a nice hike back now.”

“Actually, I want to see the rocks up there. Is that a natural arch?” I point to the rock formation fifteen or twenty yards above us.

“It only looks that way. It is, in fact, a hologram.”

I grin. “Someone’s a smartass.”

“Don’t slip on the way down.” She turns to go, and I move with her. “Wait.”

She turns back to me. Rain starts falling harder again, and I watch her tighten her hood. “Yes?”