At three, the picture of Rory hit the press. As Elise had pre-prepared with Rory and Kessler, a series of family photos followed fast. Her and Rory, displaying identical smiles. Her with her da.
The rumour mills devoured that first photo then cooed over the next set, most coming up with the truth.
Rory, however, hadn’t got on a plane.
Max messaged her, growling over her replies. She couldn’t leave her ma to face her father alone, so had called in an aunt and uncle to stay with them and sent him the news herself.
I jumped every time Elise’s phone made a peep.
The castle thrummed with activity, everyone tense and waiting, stress levels high. Multiple family members found reasons to stop by. Viola monitored Elise’s social media accounts, reporting a frantic buzz from her fans.
At four, an email alert hit Elise’s phone. She read the screen.
“Super fan. How nice to hear from you again.”
“What does it say?” I balled my fists up tight.
She sighed. “That I have to do a live video for the premiere in support of the movie.”
“Or?”
“Or next up is nude pictures of my father. That is desperate.”
She glowered and tapped out a reply, speaking the words as she wrote them. “Sorry, Mom. This is over. It was the minute you sought to control me, hurt my sister, then burned Dad’s house down.”
She tapped her chin. “How do I end this eloquently? Ah. Fuck off.”
She hit send then grinned. “Was that wrong of me? It doesn’t feel wrong. All I’m picturing is her in her house, alone, watching her empire crash down around her. She’s lost, right? No matter how today goes for me, I’m free of her.”
I rolled my shoulders then brought her in for a hug. “Anyone ever tell ye you’re amazing?”
Her fingers drifted over my tight arm muscles. “You’re the amazing one. You’re also incredibly tense. Why don’t you do something for a couple of hours to unwind?”
My insides heated, and I gazed at her, only one thing on my mind.
Her gaze flared in response.
Viola poked her head in the den door. “Elise? Leo and my mum are in the music room and requesting your presence. I volunteered to fetch ye because I’m going to take a nap. I’m staying up all night so need the rest now.”
Elise acknowledged her then leaned in and gave me one sexy kiss. “Hold that thought for later. Now go work it off in a different way.”
She left me, and I groaned before hauling myself to my feet.
I could go for a run, though it would be in circles around the castle. Or maybe find Maddock for a catch up.
In the hall’s open entrance, Lochie talked with Max. I strode their way, but my mother waved, interrupting my progress.
“Hey.” I joined her and gave her a hug.
Earlier, she and Da had brought Ellie over, though my dog had quickly been appropriated by other family members and taken for a walk.
“Thank ye for taking care of Elise when she arrived,” I said. “Can I ask ye something?”
Ma tucked her fair hair behind her ear. “Of course, but I have something to tell you I don’t think you’ll like.”
“What?”
“My dad called me. He knows you were in the US and is grouchy that you didn’t go to see him.”
I rolled my eyes. Despite him being a shite parent to Ma, he’d made an effort with me and was a passable grandfather. “I’ll call him. If I’d been there longer, I would’ve arranged a visit.”
“Only if you want to. Now, what did you want to ask me?”
“Elise and I…”
For fuck’s sake. I was a grown man. How was talking about my relationship an embarrassing subject?
“She’s lovely,” Ma added for me. “I knew in a heartbeat when she showed up that there was something significant between you. She apologised for coming to the house unannounced and was clearly fighting tears. We fed her, and she told us some of what had happened. She was falling asleep on the sofa, so I gave her your bedroom.”
“How did ye know she was special?”
“You fed her, and food is our love language. When have you ever invited a woman over to dinner? You never introduced us to girlfriends or had them stay over. After Elise was here in the spring, both your father and I could see the distraction in you. When you said you were going with Gordain, your father asked him if this particular young lady would be there. He confirmed the fact.”
“I barely knew her in the spring. Even now, we’ve only been together a matter of days.”
“Are you unsure about her?”
At whatever expression took over my features, Ma smiled.
“Has one person been surprised that you’re seeing Elise?” she asked.
I got the point. No one had batted an eyelid. Viola and Leo acted like it was a foregone conclusion. Max had teased me about how crazy she made me. Gordain had accepted my wanting to stay with her without argument.
“No one,” I confessed.
“Because the two of you fit together. Once you’ve lived through falling in love, you can see it in others. Usually far better than they can themselves. If you want, she’s more than welcome to stay at ours.”
Relief washed over me. “Exactly what I was going to ask. Thank ye. It could be for a while until we work out what we’re doing.”
Ma took up my hand and gripped my fingers. “That’s fine. It will make me feel better about leaving you for long stretches. I’ve always worried about that, and your father often turned down work so you weren’t lonely for long.”
I stared at her. “I had no idea.”
“We just want you to be happy.” Her gaze leapt to the corridor where faint music echoed.
“I am. Beyond that.”
“Good.”
She patted my arm and let me carry on to Lochie.
“How goes it?” the burly mountain rescue leader asked, Max no longer in sight.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, a beautiful late summer afternoon bringing a softness to the rugged landscape of my home. “Nothing to do but wait now. I’m going insane. All that training we did in defence and assault, and I cannae use any of it. I’m wound up and ready for the fight, but this battle is operating on a different level.”
He stroked his beard. “What is Elise’s goal?”
“That the truth is out there. People believe her. That no one is trying to hurt her anymore.”
He gestured behind to the busy hall. “Ye have given that lass a support network. People who have her back. No matter what happens back home, her life from now on is a happier one.”
His radio bleeped, snagging our attention.
Lochie lifted it and listened to the report—an injured hiker, hurt from a fall on a scree slope beside a loch to the east. A tricky spot with no road access. Instantly, my adrenaline flowed, readying me for the rescue.
Except…
“Ye aren’t coming.” Lochie confirmed what I’d told him yesterday.
“No. Until this is over, my place is here.”
His lips quirked in a smile. “Then I’d say that defence training worked out perfectly. Oh, and before I go, that lad ye saved, Tam, he’ll make a full recovery. I thought you’d like to know. See ye on the other side.”
With that, he left, taking a crew of family and friends with him.
Maddock returned an hour later. “Lochie doesnae need me but thinks ye might.”
“Thank fuck. Elise has got caught up with writing a song with Leo so I’m going out of my mind. Fancy a run?”
“Aye, let’s do it. I’ve been hearing all this chat about car chases and shite, so I’m applying for the job of bodyguard’s bodyguard for the next however long. Dinna want to lose my gaming buddy.”
From the front of the castle, we took a left down the gravel track and out onto the grass. A river ran at the front of Braithar, trails leading into the woods and up into a glen, but I was serious about sticking close.
For the first lap, we tussled for the lead.
“How’s heli training?” I asked.
“Grand. Getting my pilot hours in. I’ll be flying rescue before ye know it.”
“What about things between ye and Max? Any better?”
Maddock grunted. “I wouldnae say that. But after what happened, I’m naw sure I blame him. I’d be pissed off with me, too.”
“This was about a lass, aye?” I’d heard hints of the story, though I didn’t know exactly what had happened. The two of them had never got along, so I figured it was more of a personality clash than a real issue.
Maddock reached the corner of the castle and spun around, his cocksure expression shifting to stricken. “I slept with Max’s girlfriend.”
At my horrified jaw drop, he hurried on.
“Don’t look at me like that. I didnae know. It was the worst fucking mistake of my life.”
“How could ye not know?”
“I had no clue about the lass, only knowing from Ma he’d been seeing someone but it had ended badly. Being away at uni meant I missed all of it. That summer, I was home and drunk in a bar in town. This woman approached me, and it’s a little fuzzy but we hung out and had a few drinks more. Somehow, we ended up in bed together.”
I stared at him. “Ah, shite.”
“Right? Had I been sober, my reasoning would have been better, but it is what it is. I was single, the lass told me how she was leaving with her family, forever. It was a one-night thing that should have meant nothing. She didnae say a word about my fucking twin brother.”
“How did Max find out?”
He winced. “When I said she and I went to bed together, there was no bed involved. It was around the back of the bar. After she left, this other woman came out and yelled at me for hurting Max like that. I sobered up pretty fast and got her to tell me what the hell she was talking about. She identified my hookup partner as Max’s girlfriend. Or very recent ex. I figured she was using me for some kind of revenge, but who the fuck knows what went on there. Next morning, I told him. I couldnae have lived with myself otherwise. We all make mistakes.”
I could only imagine how that conversation had gone down. “I bet he smacked you in the face.”
“Worse. He went cold and has barely spoken to me since. If I’d known what she meant to him, what her leaving Scotland meant… I still don’t know what happened between them, and I cannae ask. There’s nothing I can do to make this better.”
I extended an arm and half-heartedly punched his shoulder. “I can see his point. Even if ye were drunk. Even if she targeted ye.”
“I know. I do, too. I’ll make it up to him one way or another. Maybe one day on the rescue I’ll save his life. Perhaps then he’ll forgive me.”
We reached the front of the castle, and Elise appeared in the entranceway.
“It’s gone live,” she said, her eyes wide in alarm. “Oh shit, I’ve done it. No changing my mind now.”
Maddock gave her a cocky grin and continued on without me.
I moved in on my woman. “Proud of ye.”
“I couldn’t have done any of it without you.”
“And I couldn’t breathe until I had ye in my life.”
One step up from me, she was almost equal to my height, and she used the advantage to steal a kiss.
Then we entered the castle to see how the cards fell.
