The House on the Shore

Authors: Victoria Howard

Victoria Howard

Vanilla Heart Publishing (2012)

ALL NEW EDITION

This visually magical tale takes the reader on a journey from the remote shores of Loch Hourn in the Scottish Highlands to the singular beauty of Cape Cod. When Anna MacDonald leaves Edinburgh to find peace in the Scottish Highlands, she gets a twofold surprise: a lost sailor teaches her to love again...while a mysterious stranger has plans to kill her. Passed over for promotion by her boss-and boyfriend, Anna walks off the job in anger. But being reactionary has its price. Now she can no longer afford the rent on her Edinburgh apartment. So she retreats to the only place she has ever felt happy - her grandmother's croft on the edge of a Highland loch.

With no phone or neighbors, and only two border collies for company, Anna sets out to finally achieve her lifelong dream; to write-and sell-the novel that has burned within her for years. Luke Tallantyre, a renowned Cape Cod artist, has sailed across the Atlantic to escape an artistic dry spell, and come to terms with his dangerous past. When his yacht develops a problem he drops anchor in Loch Hourn. He rows ashore, and knocking on the door of the croft, asks to use the telephone, but the reception he receives is less than welcoming - in fact it's downright frosty. Anna resents the cranky American's intrusion to her seemingly idyllic life. Luke thinks she's an ill-mannered hermit. But an unseen assassin is after one of them. So they unwillingly join forces and embark on an adventure neither ever imagined, including a chance at true love.

About the Author

Victoria Howard is the author of three romantic suspense novels, The House on the Shore, which was a contender for the 2009 Joan Hessayon Award, Three Weeks Last Spring, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and Ring of Lies. Born in Liverpool, Victoria trained as a medical secretary, and subsequently worked for the National Health Service. She spent twenty years living on a croft in the Highlands of Scotland, and while there managed a company involved in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. When not working on a manuscript, Victoria can be found curled up with a book, gardening, designing knitwear, traveling the world or walking her Border collie, Rosie. A member of Romantic Novelists' Association since 2009, Victoria currently resides in South Yorkshire.

The House on the Shore

By
Victoria Howard

First Published as a Kindle e-book in 2011

2
nd
Edition December 2012

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to places, events, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

E-book cover design by Mae Phillips at

www.Babyfreshdesigns.com

For more information about Victoria Howard’s books please visit:
www.victoriahoward.co.uk

Acknowledgements

I
am indebted to Julian Carradice
and Richard Warren of
the
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team
,
and Andy Simpson, Press Officer for Mountain Rescue (England and Wales) for their technical assistance in
writing
this novel.
This group of brave (and unpaid!) men and women save hundreds of lives each year in dangerous mountain terrain, and depend on our donations to keep doing their fine work.

I would also like to thank Chris Dalton of South Ayrshire Stalking for providing information on the types of firearms used in deerstalking.

Any mistakes are mine, not theirs.

To fellow
writer
s, Brenda Hill and Daphne Rose, and my dear friend, Dorothy Roughley, my heartfelt thanks for their encouragement and support.

My final thanks go to
Stephen,
for his continued
encouragement
and for all the hours he
’s
spent walking the dog!

Chapter One

Anna MacDonald never felt so betrayed.

Not only had Mark, the Head of the English Department, given the job he’d promised her to someone else, but he hadn’t the nerve to tell her himself.
But that was just like him.
He’d do anything to avoid confrontation.

Everyone in the department knew they’d been seeing each other, and would hear on the university grapevine that she’d been passed over for promotion.
How could she face the humiliation and the knowing stares?
H
ow could she wor
k with Mark each day knowing he ha
d betrayed her?

Anna leaned back in her chair and considered her options.
Could she continue to work with someone she couldn’t trust?
The answer had to be no.
Bu
t lecturing posts in Scotland w
ere hard to come by, especially in
creative writing
,
the
subject she taught.
And
what about
their personal relationship
?
Mark had destroyed her trust in him, not only as a colleague, but as
her
lover too.
Did she really want to
carry on
dating someone she couldn’t trust?

The more Anna thought about her situation, the more she
realized
she had only one option.
She crumpled the letter into a ball and toss
ed it into the waste paper bin.

Straightening her shoulders
,
she
marched down the university’s
wide corridor to Mark’s office.
She took a
deep
breath
and pushed open the door.
Mark
sat at his desk,
a pile
of term paper
s in front of him
.
He must have sensed her presence because he looke
d up
,
and paled when he saw her.

“Anna—”

“A letter, Mark?
After telling me the job was as good as mine, you send me a
letter
saying you’ve given it to someone else.
Couldn’t you have told me face to face?
I
’m not just your work colleague.
I’m your girlfriend
. O
r have you con
veniently forgotten that fact?”

Mark held out his hands as if offering an apology.
“I was only following procedure.”
A lock of blond hair fell into his blue eyes and he br
ushed it away without thinking.

“I see.”
Anna swallowed her hurt a
nd rage.
She didn’t want to leave on a sour note.
“Well, you can’t complain about my letter of resignation,
then
can you?
Either you accept it, or I go over your head and give it to the
vice chancellor
.”

“Anna, darling, I thought you enjoyed your job.
Sit down and let’s discuss this.”

“I don’t want to sit down, thank you
, and
I did enjoy my job.”

“Then I don’t understand why you want to leave
.
Isn’t this a bit
impulsive?
You should take some time
to
think about it.
”

“I think I’m being very reasonable under the circumstances.
You expect me to carry on working in the department while…while your new blonde bimbo sits in what should have been my office, doing what should have been my job!”
Anna felt her blood pressure rising.
She took a deep breath
.

“We only went to dinner
.
”
Mark
shuffled
the papers on his desk.

“Don’t lie to me, Mark.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. A
nd
you ha
d better advertis
e
for a new lecturer because I’m leaving at the end of the term whether you like it or not!”

“
But term finishes on Thursday—”

“So it does.
That gives you three days and all of the summer vacation to find a replacement for me.
I’ve marked and returned the end of term papers to my students.
I have no more classes scheduled, so this is my last working day.”

“
I’ve a mountain of paperwork to get through.
C
an we talk about this tonight?
I’ll stop at the supermarket on my way home
and
pick up a bottle of that red wine you like
,
and a
Chinese
take-a-way.”

She studied him for
a moment before replying.
“You don’t really expect
to continue our relationship.
”

Mark
stood and
stepped out from behind his desk
.
He
rested his hands on her shoulders, his face devoid of expression.
“Anna, please, this is business.
Just because you were passed over for promotion, doesn’t mean our relationship is over.
You love me.”

Anna stared at him and wondered why she had ever co
nsidered him husband material.

“No, Mark, I don’t.
I don’t trust you.
”

“I see.
”
He thrust his hands in
to
his pockets.
“
Have you found another job?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Let me guess.
You’re going to write a book.
Lecturers who give up academia usually pick that vocation because they love books but lack the talent to write them
.
”

The arrow hit its mark, but she wasn’t going to allow Mark’s derisive comments dissuade her.
“I’ve made my decision.
There i
s nothing more to be said on the subject.”

“Then I
have to accept your
decision
.
In which case,
would you mind if I dropped by your
apartment
now and again
f
or old times’ sake?”

“I doubt very much if the new
tenant would appreciate that.”

“New tenant?
You’re not giving up your apartment too
,
a
re you?”

Anna ignored the question.
“Goodbye, Mark.”
Without saying another word s
he turned,
and left his office.

L
ater that
week
as she boxed up the contents of her home she began to wonder if
she ha
d made the right decision.

Her
doubt
s
started with the picture.