Up in his room, Robbie took off his tie and shoes and then flopped onto the hotel bed, tucking his hands behind his head. He sighed to himself with fatigue and irritation. He'd worn a suit and tie for the drinks reception and he'd felt a bit out of place. He'd also realised, not long after seeing the other participants, that he was the oldest there. This fact was compounded further when he had realised that all the other men had worn casual clothes. McLeod included. Robbie frowned to himself. Again, there was that now familiar bitterness that crept through him when he thought of Laura and McLeod.

As the evening had progressed, and the snooker game played out, Robbie had noticed, between shots, that Laura and her fellow pathologist were chatting closely. Several times he saw her smile and laugh in the same way she looked at him when they had been chatting before McLeod appeared.

He'd thought that those looks she gave him were reserved for him alone. Again, he felt the rising of jealousy within. For a while he distracted himself and sent a few texts to his daughter and checked his work emails which had already been deflected by his out-of-office auto reply.

Eventually, when he couldn't find any other distraction, he went for a shower. Sitting on the train all day had stiffened his back and he knew a hot shower would help ease it up before the following day's activities. After he'd dried off and changed for bed, he opened the bedroom window. The room was stuffy and he took a deep breath of the night air. It smelt good; fresh and full of the scent of the country. There was a dewy coolness rising from the earth and the sunshine of the day had released the aromatic scents of the freshly opened tree leaves. The delicious heavy green fragrance seemed to perfume the cool night air as darkness fell further. Somewhere a fox barked and in the distance the headlights of a car travelling on a far-away road flared briefly before vanishing from sight. A scattering of stars accompanied the moon which was almost full and shone, high above Stone Edge House Hotel like a silver penny in the rich dark blue sky.

The hotel had three floors and Robbie was up on the third floor at the top. Although not a tall building, there were beautiful views of the area from all of the rooms and the moonlight illuminated the landscape in silver blues and greens. Robbie took in another lungful of the fresh air and for a moment felt the benefit of being in the country with less traffic fumes in the atmosphere. As he slowly exhaled, he heard the crunching of footsteps on gravel and he glanced down to the area in front of the hotel that opened out onto the car park.

He saw Laura walking to her car. She was with Iain.

Robbie felt his stomach twist. He felt jealous again and then foolish for feeling such emotion. Here he was, suddenly and finally realising his feelings for Laura and already the opportunity and even just the chance for anything even remotely potential looked like it had gone, snatched away from him by a turn of fate.

Below, in the car park, McLeod and Laura had reached her car. Robbie watched on. He saw how close Iain got to her. He would never stand that close to Laura without invitation. Then Robbie glowered to himself again. Suddenly he realised all those times he'd felt Laura gaze at him, stand close with that sweet almost shy smile she sometimes gave him. He saw now that she had been inviting him, waiting for his answer to her call. You bloody fool he thought to himself. All those times, in the pub after work, on cases in the field, late at night over fish and chips in his office, when they'd been waiting for results from the lab. All those times she'd invited him to make a move and still she had been so patient with him and not once had she pushed him or crowded him. No wonder she might be on the brink of giving up on thinking she might get anything other than friendship from him he thought.

Robbie continued to watch Laura and McLeod, feeling it was almost wrong to do so, as if he was intruding into Laura's private life. He felt he should just go away from the window and close the curtains instead of watching what might or might not unfold in front of him. But Robbie couldn't draw himself away from watching. He frowned, it felt like something was already going on with her and this McLeod bloke, if not going on, then continuing perhaps. He'd only briefly met McLeod but already Robbie didn't trust him. It was a gut feeling at first; an intuition that he had right from the start and one that he had dismissed at first. But when he had seen McLeod again, later on in the lounge, he had discovered something else about him.

The realisation of what he had discovered had left him cold and more than a little worried for Laura. But Robbie knew from experience that it was probably wise to not jump the gun to any conclusions especially when he didn't have all the facts. It was an important part of his training, to watch and note things and observe and be more than certain about the facts before forming a conclusion. Not only that, but Laura was involved. He wasn't sure if she was "involved" in any sort of emotional sense with Iain, from what he had gathered the two of them hadn't seen each other for years. But the body language he had seen and the fact that she and McLeod had been at college together made Robbie assume things he really didn't want to think about. The jealousy rose up again in him and he realised he was scowling to himself.

Down below, Robbie saw that Laura and Iain were still talking. It was quite late now, the sun had long been set but in the brightness of the moonlight and the twilight, he could still see the pair were close. Finally, he saw Laura get into her car and drive away. At this point he moved away from his window but he left it open and for a while, like McLeod below him in the car park, Robbie listened for the sound of Laura's car engine slowly fade away into the night.

Hello Folks! I hope you are all well and thanks for your continued readership - it is much appreciated and I hope you are continuing to enjoy this story. I've been busy so haven't had chance to write as much as I would like, but I am slowly chipping away as and when I can, so thank you for sticking with it! Robson action is slow at the moment but rest assured, I have some lovely chapters ahead. . .

ML x