Black Mountain by Kate Loveday Page A

the lights changed the car sped away.
    Elly felt Greg touch her arm and realised she’d been ignoring the green light, and the other pedestrians who had been waiting to cross, were going around them.
    â€˜Sorry,’ she muttered, coming to her senses and walking across the street with him.
    â€˜Is something the matter?’ he asked, looking at her curiously when they reached the other side.
    â€˜No, I just felt giddy for a second. Must have been coming out into the fresh air.’ She uttered a short laugh that sounded false to her ears. ‘I’m fine now.’
    â€˜I hope so. I’ll see you to your door. Make sure you get inside all right.’
    â€˜Really, I’m quite all right,’ she protested. ‘It’s only a short way from here.’
    Nevertheless, he insisted on accompanying her and waiting until she fished her keys from her bag. As she thanked him and turned to go inside, he put his hand on her arm.
    â€˜Look, as I said, I’m here for a few days more. I wonder if you would consider having dinner with me one night,’ he asked her.
    Looking at him, she thought he was pleasant enough, but she didn’t want to have dinner with him alone.
    â€˜I don’t really want to leave Mum alone for another night on her own while the mango harvest is on,’ she temporised. ‘Why don’t you come up home and have dinner with both of us? In fact, why not come for lunch on Sunday, if you’re free, and have a look around up there?’
    Greg looked happy enough with that. ‘That would be great. You’re sure Beth won’t mind?’
    â€˜She’ll be delighted.’
    After making the arrangements, they said goodnight, and Greg sauntered away whistling.
    As Elly went inside, her mind was on Mitchell. Obviously his kiss had been merely a friendly gesture, designed to comfort her, and nothing more. For him, the earth hadn’t moved. And it looked as if he was back with Fancy Pants. Well, from now on she would make sure their relationship was on a strictly business level.

Chapter 16
    The next morning Elly was at her mother’s side, carrying her laptop, as Beth unlocked the door and entered the laboratory. She had always enjoyed being in here, loved the subtle aromas that permeated the room, right back to the time when she’d been a small child, and first watched her mother mixing the essential oils that were the foundation of her healing and beautifying potions.
    As an aromatherapist, Beth had always eschewed the commercial preparations so readily available in favour of nature’s gifts, and Elly remembered watching her measuring and mixing the precious oils, with her nose telling her when the mix was just right. Often the very last drop to be added was a drop of rose oil. It was Elly’s favourite, and the one that Beth used in her own body oil, so that a hint of that fragrance was always with her.
    â€˜Why do you always do that?’ she’d asked one day, after watching Beth add that last drop of rose.
    â€˜Not always,’ Beth corrected her, ‘but in many cases just one drop of rose oil pulls everything else together. It’s the queen of all fragrances, and very, very expensive. But it’s very powerful, so you only need a tiny amount to be effective.’
    Today Elly sniffed appreciatively. It was whenever she returned to the laboratory after an absence that she noticed the aroma most.
    Placing her laptop on the desk she opened it and fired it up, while Beth went to the cool safe and took out the jars labelled twenty to twenty-three.
    â€˜Now, it’s just as well you copied most of Dad’s notes of the experiments into your laptop. Thank heavens we didn’t lose all those with the journal.’
    â€˜Yes, indeed.’ Elly clicked on the file marked Experiments. ‘The last one, number twenty-three. Here it is.’
    Beth came over and looked at the screen.
    â€˜Yes, it’s all coming