Something was up. For weeks, I’d suspected Elise to be plotting with my kin. She led people aside for sneaky conversations. Knowing looks were thrown my way after.
Then, a couple of days ago, she’d had a hefty package delivered from Guy, her design artist friend.
I’d accepted it from the delivery driver, but Elise had thundered down the stairs, snatched it from me, and staggered away under the weight.
Now, she was up there with Viola, Cait, and Casey, laughter filtering down. I’d been banned from our bedroom, so I sat at my laptop in the lounge, studying data Gordain had sent me with my dog at my feet.
In my job working within my uncle’s security business, I’d started picking up planning tasks and risk assessments. I loved it as much as I did the mountain rescue. Both rewarded me in different ways.
Early next year, Elise would travel to the States for a few weeks of filming. She’d taken a role with a huge movie star and was doing it all for charity. It was a test to see if she enjoyed the experience and wanted to take on more, though she’d firmly ruled out sex scenes ever again.
I’d go with her for the whole trip, as both her boyfriend and her security. We’d stop in at the storage facility to grab her da’s things, now her ma’s housekeeper had located the keys. It had all worked out perfectly.
Alongside considering a return to acting, she’d been writing songs with Leo, the two of them pulling in an audience of family members to test out their creations of crazy-good, upbeat tunes.
Whatever the future held, it was bright for my lass.
For us.
We’d settled into a happy way of living together. Sharing tasks around the house, cooking for each other. We’d even watched a couple of her oldest films one evening, and I’d finally made the leap from not believing she was real to accepting the lass of my dreams, the fairy tale princess, was now in my life. I never wanted it to change.
The sad fact of it was we’d need to move from the crofthouse and get our own place.
We couldn’t lean on my parents forever, sharing their territory. They’d come and gone on working trips, but even if it worked for now, eventually we’d have to make the leap. Better to do it sooner than later.
My phone buzzed, my father calling. I jumped up and strode out of the open patio doors into the early evening air, answering while I put distance between me and the house for privacy.
“Hey, Da. Thanks for calling.”
“Hey to ye, too. What’s this about ye moving out? We’re gone for a few weeks and you’re doing a flit?”
I huffed a laugh. “Something like that. We’ll need our own place, so I was—”
“No, ye don’t. Stay there.”
I’d called them yesterday and only managed a quick chat with Ma, but this wasn’t the response I’d expected.
At the gate, I swung around and peered at the house. In the bedroom window, someone jerked then swished the curtain closed.
What the hell were the lasses up to?
“That’s kind,” I told my father, “but four adults under the same roof will be stressful, so it makes sense to plan it out now. There’s a flat in the village up for rent. It’s tiny, but it’ll work until we can buy. Low pressure, too, in case Elise chooses a new career.”
“No, Cameron. Listen up. A few months ago, your uncle Callum offered Castle McRae to Lennox and Isobel. Lennox will inherit it anyway, and now they have two bairns, he suggested they swap homes so the kids could grow up there.”
Isobel had given birth to a daughter earlier in the year, a tiny dark-haired beauty they’d named Jaime-Beth for Isobel’s parents. The family lived in a house Lennox had built on the estate.
I wished I could do the same, but house building wasn’t cheap. Nor would I ask my parents for the cash.
“Did they agree?”
“They kindly refused. They love their home, and it’s a lot safer for wee ones. Their boy Archie is into everything and a mini whirlwind of trouble.”
I remembered bumbling about the two castles on the estate as a child, frequently injuring myself on uneven floors or deep steps. I saw Lennox’s point.
“That gave Callum another idea,” Da continued. “The castle is too big for just him and Mathilda, now all their kids have aged up. They have so much space. He asked me about putting a couple of apartments in there.”
“Ah, right.” I saw where the conversation was going, but living with my uncle and aunt, even in a castle, wasn’t that different to living in the crofthouse with my folks. “I’m naw sure that would fit us either.”
“It would your ma and me. I grew up there, so it’s home. We plan to do much more travelling now, and keeping a big place like the crofthouse empty is a crime.” He cleared his throat.
I swayed on my feet. Surely he couldn’t mean what I thought he meant.
“There’s no rush to make a decision on it. We willnae be back for a while, then we’ll be heading out again in the new year. Callum and I will start construction work in the spring. So if ye and your lass can hold out until next summer, it’s yours.”
My mouth moved slowly. “The crofthouse. You’re giving us the crofthouse.”
“It needs a family to enjoy it. Bairns running around. If that’s in your future, then the option’s there. There’s no obligation. If like your cousin ye turn it down, that’s fine with us. We’ll sell the house and give ye the cash to buy something yourself.”
“No,” I blurted. “Ye cannae sell it. I want it. Of course I do. But—”
The line fuzzed, and Da’s voice crackled. “I’m halfway up a mountain so we might cut out. Talk to Lise about it. Call us—”
The line dropped altogether. I stared at the phone.
My parents just offered me their home. The place my father built for my mother.
And…they’d given Elise a nickname? Lise. I loved it.
My collie gave a bark from the door, then a car pulled down the road, the thrum of the engine loud in the quiet afternoon.
Still stunned, I twisted to see who’d arrived.
Car was the wrong word. Supercar better described the matte black Ferrari F12 on the potholed road. There was only one person I knew who drove a car like that.
Leo hopped out and leaned on the bonnet, his expression amused. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Magical mystery tour.” He tipped his head at his very nice car. Since he’d moved here, I’d seen him drive it a handful of times. Not once since becoming a father. Apparently he couldn’t get a baby car seat to fit.
“Elise’s orders,” he added.
Sudden awareness caught me by the throat.
The something Elise had been planning…this was it.
In the past few minutes, I’d been shaken up, but I had the distinct feeling there was greater excitement to come.
I eyed Leo. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“Just yourself.”
But there was something I needed. I held up a finger to pause him and darted into the house, securing Ellie inside then returning with the item hidden in my pocket.
We climbed into his insanely comfortable ride and took off into the estate. Leo drove onto the loch road and past the town I’d briefly considered living in. At the junction with the motorway, he opened up the engine, and we roared away.
For five minutes.
At the next roundabout, Leo turned the car, and we headed back towards home.
“I guess it would be pointless of me to ask what’s going on?” I said.
Leo raised his eyebrows over his sunglasses. “Wait and see, big boy.”
Another short ride, and we were back on home ground, but Leo took a left on the track that led to Braithar.
So the drive had been a distraction, keeping me away.
Outside the castle, we exited the car. Leo pulled a clothes bag I hadn’t noticed from the back seat.
“Strip,” he ordered.
“Seriously? Ye want me to take my clothes off here in the car park?” I flapped a hand at the damp gravel.
“Elise’s—”
“Orders,” I interrupted with a sigh. “Fine. Give that here.”
With a gleam in his eye, Leo drew down the zip of the clothing bag and revealed the contents.
A suit. But brilliant white with gold braiding decorating the seams.
My heart hammered, and recognition came fast.
“I know that suit.”
“She thought you might.”
“It’s from the film where Elise is a princess. She has a wee suitor who wears it.” I switched my stunned gaze to the castle. “We watched that the other night and I said how fucking cute they were. Are ye telling me…?”
“Dress up and the rest will become clear.”
My resistance snapped, and I dragged off my jeans, jumper, and t-shirt, kicking my boots away, too. Leo removed each layer of the spectacular costume and handed them to me.
First, I shrugged on a silk shirt, then stepped into the crisp trousers. Finally, I buttoned up the smart jacket then flexed my limbs within the material. It was a perfect fit.
Leo finished my outfit with a shiny black pair of shoes.
Then he moved to the castle entrance, reached inside, and collected a small musical instrument.
I squinted at it. “Is that a lute?”
He plucked a tune and grinned, then tipped his head at the castle. Holding my breath, I followed him inside.
The theme tune to the movie accompanied me. Thankfully Leo didn’t sing, and we emerged into Braithar’s darkened hall. Candles glowed, smartly dressed people mingled, glasses in hand, and in the centre of the scene, a vision waited.
Lifting her gaze to mine, Elise gave a beautiful smile. She stood, her white-and-gold dress shifting with her, glimmering in the low lights. Like my outfit, it was a replica from the film, though adapted for an adult. Sexy as hell.
Vaguely, I noted Cait, Viola, and Casey around her, dressed up in their own fancy gowns.
Leo stopped playing his tune, and the room fell silent.
Elise was waiting on me. I hesitated over what to do. Then it came to me. The line from the film.
“May I request an audience with the princess?”
Her smile grew. Around us, people chuckled. I thought I heard my mother amidst the sound, but that couldn’t be right.
“You may. Follow me.”
A very pregnant Cait guided her away from the seats, and Elise held out an arm for me. I took it, pressing my fingertips into her soft skin, and we left the room for the den.
Inside, she spun around and closed the door, practically vibrating with excitement. She gestured to the couch.
“Please, take a seat.”
Need for her surged, but I swallowed and did as she asked.
Then Elise knelt in front of me, her gown billowing around her. Those incredible violet-blue eyes sparkled. “Cameron. From the moment I ran in front of your car, we were on a collision course. I’ve never met a person so good and kind as you. You’re patient, generous, so beautiful, and you see past all my faults—”
“Don’t have any,” I chided.
“…and you lift me up every day. You mean the world to me. I’ve fallen so hard in love with you, I know I’ll never find the words to get it right. So I’ll settle for these. Marry me, please.”
My heart ached, and I reached for Elise’s hands. “It has always been ye. Since I was a tiny lad. Yes, princess, I’ll marry ye. I’ll be yours forever if you’ll be mine.”
From my pocket, I extracted the ring box I’d kept with me through my clothing change. Then I opened it, displaying my mother’s engagement ring.
Elise uttered a soft cry and held out her hand for me to slide on the ring.
“Ma gave this to me last time they were home. She loves ye almost as much as I do. But it comes from me. I consider myself the luckiest man alive that you’re mine, and I’ll do everything in my power to make ye happy. Now come here.”
I dragged her up and onto my lap, and Elise found my mouth with her lips. A tear overspilled her eye and dampened our cheeks, but we didn’t stop. Engaged.
Heat followed the kiss, and I gripped her waist over the dress’s corset.
“How long do we have before people come looking for us?”
Elise giggled, wonder in the way she regarded me, then she kissed me again. “It’s our engagement party. They are all going to be waiting outside the door, ready to cheer.”
“Fuck them. Let them wait.”
I cupped her face and lost another minute on her perfect mouth.
“I love you,” she said, pulling back to breathe. Then my excited, happy lass jumped to her feet. “You are my happily ever after. I want everyone to know.”
I tipped my head back on the couch cushion, dizzy with love, lust, and everything in between. We had all the time in the world to celebrate our engagement alone together. An hour spent with my family—our family—wouldn’t hurt.
“Your parents need to go back to the airport by ten PM, so on your feet, husband-to-be.”
I stared. “My parents are here? Wait, I need to tell you something. They want to give us the crofthouse as our home. They’ll move out and it’ll be ours.”
Elise clapped her hands to her mouth, then she sank against me in a tight hug.
For a long moment, we just stayed there.
“Come on, Cameron,” one of my cousins yelled from outside the door. “Put that lass down and let’s party.”
We only hugged harder. Life together had started with a trial, but I welcomed every minute of it. I’d walk through hell for my lass. I knew she would for me, too.
At long last, my hunt for happiness was over.
