Page 15 of Kilts and Kisses at Highland Hall (Kilts and Kisses #1)

Bex continued working for several hours after Duncan left, and it was only when her phone buzzed, showing a message from Lorna saying they were all at the White Hart, that she realised how late it was. Hurriedly, she went upstairs, had a quick shower and changed her clothes.

She reached the bottom of the staircase, ready to head out the door, when a voice boomed out from the room Bex had spotted the whisky and angled armchair in earlier that day.

‘You sound in a right rush, thundering down those stairs,’ Fergus called. ‘Where you off to? Or do I nae wanna know?’

Bex poked her head around the door and found him sitting in the armchair, all five dogs at his feet, although Ruby immediately started wagging her tail.

‘Sorry,’ Bex said. ‘I’m just late in meeting Lorna for a drink.’

‘Lorna, aye, she’s a good lass.’

Bex wondered if this might be the first compliment she had heard Fergus give someone, and she waited, half expecting him to continue. But there was nothing. Just silence. Almost like he wasn’t sure how you were supposed to keep conversation going.

Bex shifted her feet a little. She didn’t want to be rude, but she was well aware that she was already late and this somewhat awkward conversation was only making her later.

‘I should?—’

‘Sorry again?—’

The pair spoke directly over one another, and a flash of embarrassment rolled through Bex.

‘You want to get off,’ Fergus said, waving his hand. ‘Dinnae let me keep you.’

‘It’s fine,’ Bex said, feeling an unexpected surge of guilt at leaving the old man in this massive castle on his own, even though she suspected he’d been living that way for years on end.

‘Aye, well. I also… I also wanted to say sorry again about the mess of things,’ Fergus said.

Sorry again. Bex almost felt her jaw drop. She wasn’t sure she had heard him say sorry once yet. He had warned her it was a state, but that wasn’t exactly the same thing, was it?

She let out a slight chuckle. ‘I’ll just make sure I bill you for every minute worked. And that includes binning old Mars bar wrappers. Seems you rather like those.’

She had meant the comment as a joke and had assumed he would take it as one, but instead, his face hardened.

‘Well, I dinnae wanna keep you any longer.’

‘Right,’ Bex said, feeling unusually guilty. ‘I guess I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘Aye, and early this time please,’ he called.

As she walked out the room, she found herself shaking her head. It was safe to say, no part of her first day working in Scotland had been anything like what she’d expected. And the day wasn’t even over yet.