Page 24 of Kilts and Kisses at Highland Hall (Kilts and Kisses #1)

‘I’m pretty sure we had an agreement that was lunch and help with sorting,’ Duncan said, ‘and considering I’m famished, I’d like to start with the lunch part. Though it doesn’t look like there’s anywhere to sit here. Why don’t we go into the drawing room?’

‘The drawing room?’

‘The room Fergus likes to sit in,’ Duncan clarified. ‘Or we could go into the ante library. Or the solar if you want to go upstairs.’

Bex didn’t even know that a solar was a type of room, although she made an educated guess that it was probably one that captured a lot of sun.

‘How many rooms does this castle have?’ she asked, aware that she hadn’t yet answered Duncan’s question.

‘Thirty-six,’ he said without a moment’s hesitation. ‘I counted them when I was a kid. Come on, the drawing room’s closest and I’d hate to waste time walking upstairs when you’d rather be putting me to work.’

Bex chuckled as she followed him out of the study. At least she had given him an accurate first impression of what she was like.

‘I’m guessing that as you grew up living here, your parents worked in the castle?’ Bex said as she walked beside him.

‘My mum did,’ he said. ‘Before she died.’

‘I’m sorry.’ For some reason she had assumed that Lorna had become his stepsister because his parents had got divorced. It seemed she had got that wrong.

‘Yeah, it was a pretty crappy time,’ Duncan said as he opened the door to the drawing room, with Ruby being the first to slip inside.

‘Fergus let us stay in the lodge anyway, but then when Dad married Carrie – Lorna’s mum – we moved into the village.

I could never really settle there, though.

It felt too busy. So when I turned sixteen, Fergus suggested I move back into the lodge and start working for him. And I’ve been here ever since.’

There was a lot for Bex to take in and unpack. The fact that he found the village busy was pretty amusing, although this didn’t feel like the time to make a joke about it. But before she could say anything, Duncan had pulled a package from his pocket.

‘So, time for lunch?’ he said, taking a seat.

She lingered, still not sure if she should say something more about what he’d just told her. After all, moving in by yourself at sixteen must be pretty dramatic, even if your family were all living nearby. But, she decided, if Duncan wanted to tell her more, he would.

‘What have you brought me?’ Bex said instead as she took a seat on the same sofa, although with a fair gap between them. A gap that was immediately filled by Ruby, who then proceeded to stick her nose in Duncan’s pocket.

‘Hey, these aren’t your treats,’ he said, pushing her nose away. ‘They’re Kenna’s. You know that.’

‘Kenna?’ Bex asked. ‘You have your own dog?’

‘No, I have a cat. Kenna is my number one girl.’ From the smile that beamed on his face, he clearly wasn’t joking.

‘A cat? I didn’t figure you as a cat man.’

His smile quirked. ‘Well, I’m sure there’s lots about me that you haven’t figured out yet, but do you want to talk, or eat?’

She actually wanted to do both. Lots of dates she’d been on the guys had just sat there all night, spouting things about themselves as if the sole purpose of arranging dinner had been so they had a captive audience to listen to them recite their own accolades, most of which were substantially exaggerated – and sometimes completely fabricated.

Not that this was a date. Not at all. Duncan was undateable.

This was more like work colleagues having lunch together.

Although what that lunch was, she wasn’t quite sure.

‘It’s a bridie,’ Duncan said as he noticed Bex staring at the package he was unwrapping. ‘They’re pretty famous around these parts.’

‘A bridie?’ she asked, eyeing it curiously.

‘Yes, and they’re delicious. But just in case, I brought sandwiches too. Ham or cheese – you can have whichever one you want.’

‘Thank you,’ Bex replied with a smile. ‘But I guess I should try the bridie first, shouldn’t I?’

He handed her the item, which appeared to be some kind of pasty, and took a tentative bite.

‘It’s really good,’ she said, immediately taking another bite.

‘Glad you like it.’

‘I do. It’s delicious.’ For a full minute she was silently chewing away. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until now, but with its dense meat filling, this was exactly what she needed. She was almost a third of the way through when she spoke again.

‘I can’t believe Fergus never cooks here,’ she said. ‘That massive kitchen’s just going to waste.’

‘The kitchen gets used. Not a lot, but it’s pretty busy in shoot season when his nephew Kieron comes up,’ Duncan replied. Though she could have been wrong, Bex was sure she saw a muscle twitch along his jaw as he said the nephew’s name.

‘Not a fan of this Kieron, then?’ Bex asked, raising an eyebrow.

Duncan chuckled, shaking his head.

‘Different lifestyles, that’s all. His mum – Fergus’s sister – is a gem of a woman, but Kieron… Well, let’s just say he likes the idea of being a laird far more than any of the responsibilities that come with it. He sees it as a social standing thing, rather than a duty to the folk that live here.’

‘And it’s not a social standing thing?’

‘I dare you to ask Fergus that when he’s having to sort out all the roadworks around the village again.’ Duncan’s smile glinted. He was so charming, it made sense why Lorna had warned her off.

‘So, what’s your relationship with Fergus?’ Bex said, keen to learn more about the situation. ‘You obviously know him well if you’ve got free rein over his house.’

‘I guess I’m as close to Fergus as he lets people get,’ Duncan said.

‘Was it his wife’s death that shut him off from everyone?’ Bex asked gently. ‘I’m guessing that’s when he really pulled away.’

Duncan shook his head slowly. ‘I don’t know. From what my dad said, he was like this even before I knew him. It was a marriage of convenience, so to speak. He was looking to produce an heir, but that didn’t happen.’

‘A marriage of convenience?’ Bex asked, surprised. ‘You mean, Fergus is?—’

‘No, he’s not.’ Duncan chuckled, shaking his head. ‘Not that there’d be anything wrong with it, but no. Fergus was quite the catch back in the day. And then, I guess, something happened. Changed him.’

‘You think it was a woman?’ Bex asked, her curiosity piqued. ‘I’d love to know more.’

Duncan grinned, raising an eyebrow. ‘I’d love to see you ask him about it.’

She laughed. ‘Not happening. But what about you? How come you’re the only one here still working for him full-time? Surely he’s got the means to hire a lot more people?’

‘Oh, I’m not the only one that works for him,’ Duncan said. ‘He employs half the village, but he doesn’t like them around the house. Take Roddy, for instance.’

‘Roddy?’

‘He was serving behind the bar last night. He’s technically the under-butler, but Fergus only wants him around when Kieron’s here or for big events. It’s the same with Roddy’s dad, Horace. He has an all-round butler-slash-steward’s position, but the last thing Fergus wants is to be waited on.’

‘So what do they do the rest of the time?’

‘Horace has plenty to be getting on with behind the scenes. Maintenance on all the buildings mainly, and Roddy’s not workshy either.

He’ll help me out when I need it. We’ve got farmers who handle most of the land, so I tend to deal with whatever crops up around here.

Anything from fixing windows to tree surgery. Whatever’s needed.’

‘Jack of all trades, then?’

‘You could say that.’

Silence swelled between them and Bex found herself thinking about that sixteen-year-old boy again, here all on his own.

At sixteen she wouldn’t have known what to do if her phone ran out of credit.

She couldn’t have imagined being on her own like that.

Just like she couldn’t imagine how she would cope finding her fiancé in bed with her best friend.

‘I’m sorry about what happened with Katty, too,’ she said gently. ‘Lorna told me a bit about it. That must’ve been awful.’

Duncan’s gaze shifted away as he chewed on his bottom lip. ‘Yeah, it wasn’t a highlight of my life, I’ll tell you that… But hey, everything happens for a reason, right?’

‘Do you believe that?’ Bex asked.

He looked back at her, his gaze softening.

‘Not always. You can’t exactly tell a six-year-old who’s lost his mum that everything happens for a reason. I know that. But I think it matters what we do after. We just have to make the best of what life throws our way.’

Bex wasn’t sure when it had happened, but he was closer than she’d realised. She’d still have to lean forward a fraction to kiss him, though.

With a spike in her pulse, Bex jumped up, shifting a full foot away from the sofa, and tried to swallow, though her throat had turned inexplicably dry. Why was she thinking about kissing him? Maybe it was because of the way he was looking at her, even now. With that same brooding intensity.

‘Och, there you are!’

Bex spun around with her heart pounding. Fergus was standing there with the dogs at his side.

‘Been looking for you, Duncan. Got old Gregory McLean on the phone – he says his sheep got out. I need some help. I said you’d go down there. Unless I’m interrupting something, of course.’

Fergus’s lips twitched.

‘No, not at all,’ Bex said quickly, trying to compose herself.

‘Right. Good. Well, we should get going. Don’t want them sheep causing a ruckus.’

‘Right.’ Duncan looked back at Bex, as if he was going to say something, but instead he reached his hand down and ruffled Ruby’s fur.

‘I guess I better get off then,’ he said.

‘Until tomorrow, Rebecca Barker. Ruby.’ A moment later, he was gone and Bex was left holding a half-eaten bridie, wondering why her heart was still beating so fast.