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6

Bex tried to stay on Fergus’s heels as he made his way up to the second floor and into the maze of corridors that weaved through the castle, but it was hard not to get distracted. There was just so much to look at.

Massive oil paintings depicting images of the rugged Scottish Highlands were interspersed with ornately gilded mirrors, small portraits and countless vases stacked on intricately carved wooden tables. Fingers crossed he had an inventory of all this stuff for the insurers somewhere that she could use for the accounts, because she had no idea what all this would be worth.

They were a third of the way down the corridor when Fergus stopped by one of the large wooden doors.

‘This’ll be you,’ he said gruffly. ‘There’s an electric shower in there. Nae point having the water heating on for the whole place when it’s just us here. If it gets a bit driech, there’s an electric blanket. I know how you southern folk struggle.’

Bex was only half listening and even from the parts she’d heard, she wasn’t sure she understood. Dreich? Cold, maybe. That would make sense in the context. Still, she didn’t ask for clarification. She was too busy staring at the room Fergus had just told her she would be staying in.

It was difficult not to gawp given that it looked like she had just stepped onto the set ofDownton Abbey. Or maybeThe Tudors. The space alone was as big as the entire kitchen, dining and living area of her London flat, and the windows had to be at least seven feet tall as they let in the orange-hued evening light. There were heavy red curtains, a marble fireplace and, of course, a massive four-poster bed, complete with sheer drapes around it. This wasn’t the type of room you let your accountant sleep in when they were up here on business. This was the type of room royalty stayed in. And given the number of doors they had passed – and the fact that they were on the second floor – it made her think that there were plenty more rooms like this. But Fergus said he lived here alone? That didn’t make sense.

‘Sorry, did you say you lived here on your own?’ Bex asked, sure she must have got the wrong end of the stick.

‘Like I said, sometimes I get the laddie from the lodge who comes up here a bit. Uses this room when his water acts up, and I’ve got a nephew, Kieron. He comes sometimes too. Likes to use the place for his shoot days.’

‘Shoot days?’ Bex said, vaguely recalling Daisy mentioning something like that when she had been driving.

‘Aye. Shoots. Comes up with his friends from London. I hide myself away, but I dinnae suspect you’ll be seeing much of him. I’ve got Nora, too; she comes in an’ does the cleaning for me three times a week, so you’ll probably see her, but it’s best to stay out her way. She’s got enough to do without you making even more mess for her.’

‘So you and the dogs live here alone?’ she said, now certain she had understood that was what he was telling her, just unsure how that was possible. The old man tilted his head to the side.

‘That’s what I said, isn’t it? I ’ope you’re better with numbers than with words.’ Bex wasn’t sure how she was supposed to reply to that, but as it happened, she didn’t need to as Fergus carried on speaking. ‘I’ll ’ave plenty to be gettin’ on with in the morning, so I don’t expect to see you first thing. But the study is down the stairs. You’ll find the paperwork and things in there. Get yourself started.’

With that, he turned around and left, four of his five dogs trotting after him. The one that remained was the same red Labrador as before. Oblivious to Bex until now, said dog had snuck across the room and jumped into the armchair, where she was curled up and feeling most comfortable. Bex was about to tell her that she probably needed to leave, when Fergus reappeared in the room.

‘Seems like Ruby’s taken a liking to you,’ he said before his gaze narrowed on his dog. ‘You can stay if you like, but this one’s got nae idea where your food is. So, you coming?’

The dog looked between Bex and Fergus as if it was genuinely considering her options, before she leisurely climbed down from the seat and strolled towards her owner. Though rather than going directly towards him, she took a slight detour to nudge her nose into Bex’s hand. It was a small moment, but one Bex felt was meant to convey that she would have stayed there with her had it not been for the food issue.

‘Daft animal,’ Fergus muttered, turning to leave for a second time.

‘Go on, Ruby, I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Bex said, offering the dog a quick rub behind the ears before she finally headed out after Fergus and the rest of the pack. As the animal disappeared from view, Bex smiled to herself. Even if the old lord was far from affable, at least she had one friend in the castle.

7

As Bex closed the door, she let out a long sigh before breathing in a lungful of cold, slightly musty air. The entire situation had been completely surreal, and she needed a moment to process it all. One old, bedraggled, and somewhat grumpy man appeared to live in this entire castle by himself. How was that possible? And cleaning three days a week? She had a cleaner once a week for her flat because she despised mopping her floors. Mopping a place like this, especially with five dogs seeming to have free rein, would be a Herculean task. No, she corrected herself. It would be more like that man who had to roll a boulder up a hill every day, wouldn’t it?

And speaking of hills.

Now that she had gathered herself, Bex moved away from the door to the other side of the room and not for the first time that day, she felt her breath become stolen by the scenery. The view out of the window was utterly sublime. Even Daisy’s home, Wildflower Lock, couldn’t compete with this. Rolling hills were covered in constantly changing terrain, from forests to rocky outcrops and lush green fields, and there in the middle of it all was a large, glimmering lake. No, a loch, she corrected herself again. She was definitely looking at a loch.

Birds dipped and dived across the vista as the evening light reflected off the water. She couldn’t draw her eyes away from it. Hopefully, the study would have less of an appealing view, she thought. There was no way she’d be able to focus on work if she kept looking outside at something like this. It was only when she yawned so loudly that her jaw clicked that Bex remembered the reason she had asked Fergus to show her straight up here – she was shattered, and that double bed was calling her name.

After shutting the curtains, she crossed the room and let herself flop down. The springs let out a low creak that Bex reciprocated with a satisfied grin of her own. When she’d moved into her flat, she’d bought herself a top-of-the-line, memory foam internal spring support mattress, but it didn’t feel anywhere near as soft as this. This was amazing. She wiggled further up so that her whole body was on the bed and stretched her arms out wide, only to find several inches of space between her fingertips and the edges. Work hard, sleep hard. That was going to be her motto for the next two months.

As she lay there staring up at the ceiling, which was an entire piece of artwork on its own, Bex considered having a shower. After all, she’d been stuck in the car all day. And there had been that little incident with walking barefoot through the ford, too. But she knew that a shower would wake her up, and that was the last thing she wanted. So instead, she fired off a quick message to the girls, letting them know she’d made it safely, then stripped off and climbed into bed. She was asleep before her head even hit the monstrously soft pillow.

* * *

Bex was the type of person who needed an alarm. It made no difference that she woke up at the same time every single weekday and had done for the last decade. If she didn’t have an alarm, she could almost be guaranteed to sleep in. At least, that was normally the case. It was only when she rolled over in bed, confused by the loud noise that definitely wasn’t coming from her phone, that she realised what had happened.

‘Seriously,’ Bex said, glancing over at the thick curtains, which were absolutely not soundproof. No, she knew that because the entire room was filled with birdsong. Not to mention bird squawks and chirps and any other sound the feathered creatures were capable of making. She thought it was bad at Wildflower Lock, waking up to the dawn chorus, but that felt positively tame compared to the cacophony that was currently drifting through the window.

Bex blinked, stretched out in the bed and rolled over to check the time on her phone. 5.45a.m.?

‘I’m gonna need to get earplugs if you guys are planning on waking me up this early every morning,’ she muttered, though there was clearly no chance of the birds either hearing or understanding her.