Free Sealed With a Kiss by Rachael Lucas Page A

was utterly gorgeous, and she hadn’t realized how hungry she was. It was a long time since
she’d eaten anything proper. She’d arrived on the island and had survived on soup, coffee and tea. Added to the mixture, the whisky had warmed her stomach, but had left her distinctly
light-headed.
    Talking of which, Roderick was topping up her drink, unasked. At this rate she’d be unconscious soon. She scooped in another few mouthfuls of dinner, as ballast. In her post-university
attempts to find a decent job, Kate had been subjected to some pretty odd new-girl inductions, but none of them had featured dinner in pyjamas with the boss in the first week.
    Roderick was looking at her, his jaw set and his eyes narrowed. If he hadn’t been so stern, Kate thought, he’d probably be quite nice-looking. Not in the same league as Tom, the
film-star gamekeeper, mind you.
    ‘The last girl we took on lasted a couple of weeks before she headed back down south – she couldn’t cope. We have no end of southern softies turning up here on the island,
hoping to “find themselves”, or some nonsense like that.’ His tone was cool.
    Kate felt herself flushing. Leaning forward and gritting her teeth against the pain, she placed her tray carefully on the table in front of her. ‘Well, I haven’t come here to find
myself, don’t worry. And as it happens, I went to university in Edinburgh, so I’m used to the cold.’
    The truth – which Roderick didn’t need to hear right now, or ever – was that it had been far harder than she’d anticipated to find a decent job after university, and
while she’d gathered a certain amount of useful skills doing telephone sales, inputting data for endless weeks for employment agencies, and performing countless other mind-numbing admin jobs,
she was bored stiff. The thought of life on an island had been far preferable to the alternative. And didn’t
everyone
secretly want to float around, discovering their inner artist
and finding themselves? He clearly had no sense of adventure.
    ‘Glad to hear it. The last thing we need is another one here today, gone tomorrow.’ Roderick raked his fingers through his hair, frowning. The strain of running an estate showed on
his face for a moment, and he gazed into the fire for a while before speaking. ‘This place needs – well, I don’t know what exactly. But if you’re planning on making a run
for it, I’d rather you just said now.’
    ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Kate’s voice was steady. She didn’t have anywhere to go to, in reality, but that wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
    ‘Good.’ Roderick poured some more whisky into their glasses. The effects of two hefty measures of malt were now making themselves felt. ‘Here’s to Duntarvie House.’
He passed her the glass. ‘You might just be the good-luck charm we need.’
    Kate looked at him, confused.
    ‘We’ve been given a grant – first time something has gone right for I don’t know how long. D’you know anything about doing up houses?’
    Kate contemplated lying, but decided that she’d already done enough of that. She’d been a bit vague about her experience when she’d applied for the post, not really knowing
what a Girl Friday position entailed, and her CV had been so disastrous that she’d been known in the past to do more editing and stretching of jobs than was strictly acceptable. There was
something about Roderick – an old-before-his-time air – that made her admit the truth.
    ‘Nothing at all.’
    ‘Great! Me neither.’ Bending down, he pulled out a leather-bound book from underneath the coffee table. He flipped open the pages, revealing beautiful pencil sketches of some island
cottages, surrounded by tiny illustrations of seabirds, seals and eagles.
    ‘Let me show you what I’m planning.’
    His fingers were long, his hands broad and tanned from working outside. He pulled a pencil from his pocket, illustrating his point as he talked, drawing arrows,