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“Have you seen this?” Rachel slammed the paper down in front of Harry.
He was perched on a chair at the table in Lake’s office, wishing he still had a bag of frozen peas wedged against his crotch. It had been two days since the mine incident, but he still ached. “Black and blue” did not cover it. Thankfully, everything was still in working order. He knew because thinking about Magenta still had the same effect it’d always had. Seemed there was nothing that woman could do to put him off.
He looked at the front page of the Invertary Standard. There he was, lying on the ground writhing in pain while Magenta glared down at him. The heading said: Mayhem at Magenta’s Mine.
“That’s a rubbish headline,” Harry said. “It doesn’t tell you anything about the story under it.”
Rachel glared at him, so he smiled sweetly. It had no effect.
“‘Millionaire programming genius Harry Boyle,’” Rachel read, “‘bit off more than he could chew this week when he conned his current crush into spending a night with him in the local mine. Unfortunately for the pair, the mine acts like an echo chamber, making it easy for the town to hear every word, gasp and moan they made during their night together. Magenta Fraser did not take the news of the town witnessing their liaison well. After kicking Harry in the groin, she stormed off, leaving their relationship in the dust, along with her man. She has been unavailable for comment.’”
Rachel slapped the paper down. “It goes on to say that the town’s men are taking notes on your seduction technique because you talked your way into Magenta’s knickers in record time.”
Was it wrong he felt proud? Probably.
“This has gone viral on the web. Someone shot footage of the spat and put it on YouTube. It’s going to affect business.”
“I don’t see how,” Harry said. “Most of people we deal with are geeks. They can’t get near a woman. This will impress them.”
Rachel smacked him on the back of his head.
“We also deal with the government. Lots of governments. Do you think this makes you look mature? Respectable? Reliable? We deal with people who don’t like attention, and you’re on YouTube.” She folded her arms over a form-fitting black suit. “Now do you see how it affects business?”
“Fine. You’re the business guru, tell me how we sort this.”
She fixed him with a glare. “We move back to London, you wear a suit, you keep your head down and we quietly take meetings where you act like a grown-up.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to go back to London. I want to close the deal on the office space we found here. I need to stay in Invertary. I need to sort this out with Magenta.”
She slapped the table in front of her. “Are you out of your freaking mind? The girl doesn’t want anything to do with you. Most men who get kicked in the balls figure that out for themselves.”
“Nuh-uh, she’s interested. You weren’t in there with us. Trust me, she’s interested. I just need to figure out what’s holding her back. There has to be something.”
“For the love of all things chocolate,” Rachel wailed. “Listen to yourself. You’re screwing up the business we worked hard to build so you can chase a woman who does not want you.” She turned to Lake, who had been sitting silently at his desk through all of this. “Tell him, will you?”
Lake stared at Harry for a minute. Harry almost squirmed. He could believe Lake used to be an interrogation specialist.
“You want her. Get her,” Lake said.
Harry grinned. Rachel threw up her hands in disgust. “I’m surrounded by cavemen. Is it the effect of the Highlands? Does everyone who comes up here get the urge to go all Braveheart? Is that what this is?”
“You can take my life, but you can never take my freedom,” Harry said solemnly.
“I give up. I need chocolate.” With that, Rachel stormed out of the room.
Harry turned to Lake. “Any ideas on how to fix this?”
“Well, for one, I wouldn’t take any more advice from Betty.”
Yeah, Harry had already figured that part out for himself. “Anything else?”
“Man up. Don’t retreat. Be strategic. Strategy wins the war.”
“Okay,” Harry said slowly. He had no idea what any of that meant.
Lake grunted and went back to work.
“I’m not sure I like this plan,” Magenta said.
“This plan is awesome,” Claire told her.
“Harry’s going to freak out.”
“That’s why it’s awesome.”
“We could traumatise him for life.” Although she’d been avoiding Harry in the week since the mine moaning incident—as the twins were calling it—she still wasn’t sure she wanted him to suffer. Her anger had worn off, and she was left feeling oddly protective of the man. Even though he was the reason for the stream of people who’d come through the shop purely to gawk at her. “He really seems to have some sort of phobia. I’m not sure this is the best way to get back at him. We should think of something else.”
“Stop being a big chicken.” Megan dragged the last two bags from the car.
Magenta straightened her shoulders. Megan was right. She was being pathetic. The fallout from Harry’s trickery would last for months. Long after he got fed up with Invertary and crawled back to London.
She ignored the part of her that balked at the thought of upsetting Harry, and narrowed her eyes. “Let’s get to it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Claire pulled out a key to her brother’s police-issue house and opened the door. “Had to steal the key from Mum. Matt won’t let us have a key because he doesn’t trust us.”
“Because he thinks we’re still ten years old and up to no good.” Megan rolled her eyes.
Magenta gaped at them. “You are up to no good, you pair of bubble heads.”
“Name-calling, Magenta—remember we talked about that.” Megan smothered a giggle as Claire used her kindergarten teacher voice.
They let themselves into Matt’s house, which was a standard 1970s box with no personality whatsoever. It even had orange glass in half the windows. Magenta shuddered. Inside it was pristine. So much so that she wondered if Matt actually lived there.
“Harry’s staying in the spare room,” Claire told them as they made their way up the stairs. The twins were carrying several large bags and Magenta was carrying a cage.
“Here it is.” Megan threw open the door at the end of the short hallway.
The room was pin neat, like the rest of the house.
“Are we sure he’s staying here?”
Megan opened the closet and pulled out a T-shirt with Einstein’s head on it. “Yep, this is his room.”
“Okay.” Magenta took a deep breath. “I guess we better get on with it, then.”
The twins upended the bags they’d carried from the car and about a hundred toy rats fell out. They giggled as they threw them around the room.
“Unscrew the overhead light,” Claire ordered. “That way he’ll have to walk into the room to put the lamp on.”
Megan pulled a chair over from the desk and removed the light bulb. “You got the camera?” she said to her sister.
Claire dug around in the messenger bag that was slung across her body and came out with a webcam. She stuck it above the door, facing the room. A minute later, she dug out her iPad and connected to the camera. “Perfect. We can see most of the room.” She pointed at the camera. “Motion and sound sensors. It will activate when Harry comes in the room.” She grinned widely. “Our cousin isn’t the only one with mad computer skills.” The twins high-fived with glee.
“Hold on a minute,” Magenta said. “Where did you get the camera?”
“Lake’s security shop,” Megan said.
Magenta smacked her palm to her forehead. “Then Harry knows all about this.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Do we look stupid? We waited until Betty was manning the shop and bought it then.”
“Yeah, let’s trust Betty. That always goes well,” Magenta said.
The twins ignored her. Instead they spent a few minutes arranging the rats around the room to make them look more realistic. They seemed pleased with the result. Magenta had to admit: in the dim light, the toys looked pretty real.
“Your turn,” Claire told Magenta.
Magenta walked to the bed carrying the cage. She pulled two balls of tightly wrapped fat, seeds and meat from a plastic bag in her pocket. She put one on top of the bed covers and one under the covers. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered as she opened the cage.
Three large rats, straight from a pet store in Fort William, ran for the ball of food.
“Quick. Out of the room,” Megan said. “We don’t want them to escape.”
The girls ran for the door, slammed it shut behind them and sprinted down the stairs. Only when they were far away from Matt’s house did they stop to talk.
“Do you think anyone saw us?” Claire was wide-eyed with worry.
“Does it really matter?” Magenta said. “As soon as they see what’s in there, they’ll know it’s us.”
“Good point,” Claire said.
Megan linked her arms with her friend and sister. “I guess all we can do now is find a spot to watch and wait.”
“You’re sure he’s coming home after seeing Lake?” Magenta uncharacteristically gnawed her lip.
“Yep, he arranged to meet Matt there. I heard them set it up.”
Magenta let out a breath.
“Pub for dinner?” Claire said.
There was a nod of agreement. Still holding each other, the girls headed the short distance to the high street and Invertary’s only pub.