Read Online The Last of the Kintyres by Catherine Airlie - Free Book Online Page B

with frank affection into his tired, set face. “Don’t worry too much,” she advised quickly. “There is not any great trouble. We have them safely upstairs and in bed. Doctor McTaggart has had a look at both of them and he’ll be back in an hour’s time to give us his final verdict.” She hesitated a moment and then added: “He’ll have to report the accident to the police, of course.”
    Hew’s lips tightened, but he made no comment as he turned to introduce Elizabeth.
    “You’re Tony’s sister,” Shona Lorimer said right away. “How amazingly alike you are! Don’t worry about your brother, my dear,” she urged. “Doctor Mac has been all over him and he says there’s no bones broken. He took a nasty bump on the head and that would account for the concussion. ”
    The swift sense of relief which the words brought made Elizabeth feel weak for a moment, and unexpectedly Hew put a firm hand under her elbow to propel her into the room which Mrs. Lorimer had just left.
    It was a warm, friendly, untidy room, with books and mending and half-finished models of this and that everywhere. A family room, with two collies and a white cat lying languorously on a worn hearthrug in front of the fire, and a deep sense of being lived in permeating every inch of it.
    Hew stooped to fondle the dogs and Shona Lorimer gave Elizabeth a brief, searching scrutiny across his bowed head, apparently liking what she saw.
    “I’m sorry you had to come on an errand like this,” she said directly, “but it has let us meet. Sooner than we might have done, as a matter of fact. Hew wouldn’t have been able to spare the time to bring you up for quite a while yet, and I’m beginning to think my own visiting days are over! I’ve still got a full house of fishermen and bookings right into October.”
    “It’s time you had a husband,” Hew suggested jokingly. “What about all your old regulars? The Brigadier, for instance?”
    “Och, now be quiet, will you!” Shona laughed. “Can you see me playing second fiddle to a fish?”
    “Indeed I can’t, Shona!” He put an arm affectionately about her shoulders. “But you should have a man to protect you, especially from this sort of thing.”
    The smile had left his eyes and his mouth was hard again. It was plain to be seen that this friendly contact had done little to dispel his irritation now that he knew that neither Tony nor Caroline had suffered any serious injury.
    To Elizabeth it had been something of a revelation to see him with Shona Lorimer. Their easy friendship went deep. Each respected the other, and Shona had been quite genuine in her expression of relief at sight of him. She had been more than glad that he had arrived to take command, although she looked the practical, competent type who could very well deal with most situations single-handed. Life, no doubt, had made it imperative that she should do so, although her experiences did not seem to have hardened her in any way or detracted from a very definite feminine appeal.
    Shona was probably in her late thirties and looked several years younger because of an utter lack of sophistication and nature’s generous gifts of a flawless complexion and dark, wavy hair which clustered youthfully about her small, shapely head. There were so many laughter-lines at the corner of her blue eyes that she must have faced life with a perpetually challenging smile, and all her movements were quick and decisive.
    “I sent Jenny to phone you,” she explained, as she led the way back into the hall. “I hope she didn’t give you a garbled story.”
    “Not really,” Hew answered, pausing at the foot of the stairs. “She was a bit breathless and incoherent at first and I guessed she had run all the way to the call - box at the road junction.”
    Before Shona could answer there was a movement on the half-landing above them and Caroline Hayler came down the remaining stairs towards them.
    “Hew!” she cried. “Thank heaven you’ve