“Seat belt,” he grunted.
She pulled it on and waited for him to drive.
Instead, he turned to her, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “Dinnae even think about using this as an excuse to leave me.”
Thea was silent a minute, her stomach churning. “You’re choosing me over a woman you’ve known your whole life.”
The four-by-four jerked as Conall drove away. The silence was thick and heavy and horrible as they drove along the single-track road toward Inveralligin. There was the Coach House, a grocery store, and a camping site in Torridon, but beyond that nothing much else but little white cottages dotted along the coastline.
When they reached a fork in the road, Conall took the left, the one that spiraled down toward the water, and the trees gave way to reveal a modern-looking home that sat back from the rocky beach of the loch.
It was all gray and clean lines, at complete odds with the traditional white crofters’ cottages she’d seen.
Conall parked in the empty driveway.
The entrance to the house was a wide white door set in between gray brick. There were two long shallow windows on either side. It was masculine and a little cold for Thea’s liking.
“I cannae keep doing this.”
Thea’s heart stuttered as she turned to look at Conall.
He glared at her. “I cannae keep reassuring you I need you above all else.”
She sighed and shook her head. “It’s not that I don’t believe that, Conall. I believe it because it’s what I feel for you. Do you think I would have bared myself to a room full of strangers for just anyone? No. So I believe you feel what I feel. But I have nothing but you. You have a family and a pack that depend upon you … and you can tell me until you’re blue in the face you’d choose me over them, but you cannot tell me that choice wouldn’t chip away at the core of who you are. That abandoning your pack wouldn’t fester inside you.”
The muscle in his jaw flexed, and he looked away, glowering.
They both knew what she said was true.
“We need to sleep,” he bit out. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
Weary beyond weary, Thea got out of the car and followed Conall into the house. Surprise rocked her back on her feet when she stepped inside. In front of her was a staircase that led upstairs to a mezzanine. Downstairs was wide-open space, light flowing in from the other side of the house, which was just wall-to-wall glass.
To Thea’s left was a small wood-burning stove set between two large bookshelves filled with books. There was a massive leather armchair and stool, big enough for someone of Conall’s dimensions, and opposite it a sofa with a chaise longue. In between was a coffee table. It was a snug little area, despite the lack of walls.
Beyond it, Thea could see the modern gray and white kitchen. It seemed to wrap around the entire back of the house, moving into the space to her right. At the top of the long length of the room sat the dining table with a bench fitted into the wall. Directly to Thea’s right was a humongous seven-seater corner sofa; opposite that was a huge flat-screen television mounted to the wall.
His place was clutter-free.
Conall gestured for her to follow him.
He led her through the TV room. In the corner where the wall jutted out slightly as a partition between the TV room and the dining room, there was a much larger wood-burning stove with baskets of logs stacked beside it.
However, what really made the house special was the rolling glass doors that took up the entire back wall of the kitchen. They led out onto a deck where Conall had a table and chairs set up for alfresco dining. From there, a small garden led onto the rocky beach and the loch beyond.
Views of tranquil Loch Torridon surrounded them.
Despite the turmoil between them, Thea felt soothed by the sight.
“Conall,” she whispered, staring out at the glass-like water and surrounding mountains. She could see little white dots of the houses that sat along the opposite coastline.
“You like it?”
She felt strangely emotional. “How could I not?”
He led her upstairs and pointed to their left. “There’s a guest bedroom down there. I use it as my office.”
The bedroom he took her into was on the right, and even more awe-inspiring than downstairs. It too had a sliding glass door that led out onto a balcony overlooking the loch.
Thea gazed out, unable to tear her eyes away when the view gave her so much peace. She couldn’t explain it. It just ... it felt like they were at the end of the world, a place that had been left untouched, unspoiled. And in living there they too would be safe from harm.