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‘I don’t think that’s going to work,’ Bex whispered back. ‘She’s heading this way.’ And it was more than heading – Katty was striding directly towards Lorna, her eyes locked, as if she had a mission.

‘Crap. Crap!’ Lorna muttered under her breath.

‘Lorna, I was hoping to see you,’ Katty said, utterly ignoring Bex. Bex didn’t mind; whatever was going on here, she was glad not to be a part of it. Lorna’s entire body was tense, a bulging vein visible on her neck.

‘Katty,’ she said, turning slowly around. ‘What an unpleasant surprise this is.’

Katty’s smile faltered and her lips twisted tightly together. Bex assumed the woman would hold her ground. Perhaps send a scathing remark back in Lorna’s direction, but instead, her face dropped into a deep scowl as a heavy sigh blew from her lips.

‘Look, I get it, I messed up. But I need your help. If you could just ask Duncan to listen to my messages – or to sit down and talk to me?—’

‘Okay, stop right there,’ Lorna said, raising her hands in front of her. ‘Let’s make two things clear. One, you’re a grown adult, and I am nobody’s messenger. You want to speak to someone, then you speak to him yourself.’

‘But he won’t?—’

‘And two,’ Lorna continued, cutting Katty off, ‘you cheated on my brother. You screwed this up – literally – when you made a not-at-all-metaphorical bed with Archie Campbell. There is nothing you could say to make me help you speak to my brother again. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, his life would be a thousand times better if he never crossed paths with you again. Do I make myself clear?’

Bex felt her breath catch in her lungs and she didn’t dare exhale. Katty didn’t look like the kind of person who would be happy about being spoken to like that, especially not now that half the pub had gone silent and was staring at them. But Bex didn’t need to know Lorna well to sense that she wasn’t going to back down. At least now Bex knew that Lorna’s warning about Duncan wasn’t personal. She had very good reason to want to protect her stepbrother’s heart.

With the tension growing tighter and tighter by the second, Bex watched the two women, locked in a silent battle of wills, until finally, Katty flicked her hair back.

‘Well, I think I might stay for a drink anyway,’ she said, forcing a smile. ‘Since I’m here and all.’

‘Do whatever you like,’ Lorna replied. ‘Just do it away from me – and my brother.’

18

Bex had to give it to Katty. That woman had guts. She wasn’t sure she’d have had the courage to stay in the pub and have a drink after being spoken to like that. Certainly not when it was clear that every single person had heard the altercation. But with a smile plastered firmly on her face, Katty pushed her shoulders back and marched to the other end of the bar.

‘So, that’s Duncan’s ex-girlfriend?’ Bex said quietly to herself. As much as she hated it, she was unable to take her eyes off Katty as she strode away from them. It made sense – she was strikingly beautiful. Bex could easily imagine the pair of them attending a fancy ball at the castle, turning everyone’s heads as they strode in arm and arm. Would Duncan wear a kilt to such events? she wondered. He would definitely look good in a kilt, and if he did, did he wear anything underneath?

‘Bitch,’ Lorna muttered. Bex felt her cheeks flush with heat as for a split second she feared she might have said her thoughts aloud, but with a flutter of relief, she saw that Lorna was glaring down at the end of the bar, all her animosity aimed at Katty.

Pushing thoughts of what may or may not be hidden under Duncan’s kilt, Bex cleared her throat.

‘So, that’s Duncan’s ex-girlfriend?’ she repeated, this time loud enough for Lorna to hear.

‘No, not ex-girlfriend. Ex-fiancée.’

‘What?’ Bex didn’t bother hiding her surprise. ‘She was engaged to Duncan – and she cheated on him?’

A slight smile flickered across Lorna’s lips, like she knew Bex had been imagining her brother in a kilt.

‘It gets worse.’

From the sinking feeling in Bex’s stomach, she already suspected why.

‘Please don’t tell me it was with his best friend,’ Bex said.

Lorna grimaced. ‘Yup. They’d been best friends since playgroup. Tight as a drum. And not just Duncan and Archie, the three of them. Katty too. Course, Duncan and Archie’ve always been chalk and cheese. Archie’s all about making money, bigger houses, flashier cars, you know, that kind of thing. Duncan doesn’t care a bit about stuff like that. Everyone knew they both loved her, but no one was surprised when she chose Duncan. He’s just… better.’ She chuckled lightly at her own remark. ‘I know you’re probably thinking it’s just ’cause I’m his little sister that I’m saying that, but I can tell you there’s not a sane woman who would pick that prick Archie over Duncan. But I guess it’s true, good guys finish last. Which sucks, because it feels like good women finish last too a lot of the time, and I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work.’

There was something in Lorna’s wistful tone that made Bex think she was speaking from her own experience as well, but their first drink out didn’t seem the time to bring up their own dating histories. Particularly not when Bex was still keen to know more of what had happened with Duncan.

‘So I take it she’s not with Archie now?’ Bex asked, hoping she wasn’t coming across as nosy or prying.

‘Who knows?’ Lorna shrugged. ‘She insisted it was a one-time drunken mistake, but we all called bull on that. For starters, when Duncan caught them, it was three in the afternoon. Hardly the time for a drunken slip-up, is it?’

‘Duncan caught them?’ Bex let out a low whistle. ‘Wow. This really is as bad as it gets.’