Page 5 of Savage Blooms (Unearthly Delights #1)

“I’m not sure,” Adam admitted. “He never mentioned why he was here, or why he left. He just talked about it like it was something out of a book, like Avalon or something. It was special to him, I guess. He wanted to come back, there at the end, but he was too sick to travel. I promised him I would go see it for him instead.”

“Finley, you’ve lived here as long as I have,” Eileen said. “Does this ring any bells?”

“No, sir,” Finley said, hardly glancing at her. He was chewing on his thumbnail like something was agitating him, like he would rather be anywhere else but here. “I just manage the grounds. The comings and goings of the house have never been my family’s business.”

“When would your grandfather have been at Craigmar?” Eileen went on.

“I’m not sure about that either,” Adam said, face heating as he began to realize just how unprepared he was for this conversation. Had it been stupid, coming all the way out here with nothing but a story, a name, and hope? Was he wasting Eileen’s time? “Decades ago.”

“There aren’t many of us left alive who remember that long ago,” Eileen said cryptically. “I’m barely twenty-seven. So’s Finley.”

Before Adam could press further, a deafening thunderclap boomed above the house, making everyone jump.

Finley strode over to the window to glare outside, no doubt gauging how much rainfall they were in for and how that might affect his job, but Eileen just slapped her hand over her heart and laughed.

“It’s coming down awfully hard,” Finley said, shooting a pointed look to Eileen. There was a half beat of quiet, as though they were silently conferring.

“How hard?” Eileen asked.

“See for yourself.”

Eileen went to the window and began to make a tsking sound. Adam, who felt this boded ill, joined Eileen at the floor-to-ceiling window, along with Nicola.

It wasn’t raining outside; it was absolutely pouring.

Adam had waited for cabs in Berlin rain, and he had hiked through Icelandic blizzards, so he felt quite confident there wasn’t much weather could throw at him that he couldn’t handle.

But this was a gray, cold rain, lashing against the house in sheets.

“Is that your car outside?” Eileen asked.

“Yeah,” Nicola said. “It’s a rental.”

“It’s not exactly built for mud,” Eileen said. “That road you took to get here gets washed out during heavy rains. I’m not sure it’s safe for you to drive.”

“How long is the rain supposed to last?” Adam asked.

“Until tomorrow afternoon,” Finley replied, with the wisdom of someone who knew his way around a farmer’s almanac.

“Tomorrow?” Nicola repeated, voice tight. “It can’t be that bad, right?”

“I’ve flipped one car and bogged another down in mud on that road when it comes down like this,” Finley said, glancing over at Nicola.

If Adam wasn’t mistaken, he was standing a little closer to Nicola than was strictly necessary.

“Doesn’t matter how steady you are behind the wheel, the spring rains have a mind of their own. ”

“You picked a hell of a time to come to the Highlands,” Eileen said. “We’ll have two beds turned down for you, of course. Happy to have you until the rain stops. That will give us more time to get to know each other and chat ancestry anyway, won’t it?”

“Oh, no,” Adam began, loath to impose, “we can’t—”

“You’d let us stay here, in this beautiful house with you?” Nicola said, and oh no, her eyes were soft with wonder. Adam could never deny her anything when she looked like that, enraptured by the mere beauty of being alive. “You just met us.”

“I’m willing to wager that two American tourists aren’t going to throttle me in my sleep, but if you get murder on your mind, remember I keep a rifle in my room.”

Finley let out an exasperated sound, and Adam expected Eileen to chastise her employee for that, or at least to give him a look of disapproval. Instead, she barely noticed.

“It’s no trouble at all, really,” she went on. “This house was built for hosting guests, but it’s just me here now, most days. A bit of company might not be so terrible.”

She gave Adam a warm smile, perhaps a bit more warm than was strictly necessary, her gaze flicking over his body for one hot instant before she looked back out the window.

She was hard to deny, Adam would give her that.

“Thank you,” he said, surrendering to this strange turn of fate.

He had been dreaming of Craigmar since he was a boy, and now that he was here, he wasn’t keen on leaving.

At least not until he had explored every nook, walked through every room, drank down every drop of history in this place.

If Eileen was willing to allow that, it was all the permission he needed.

It wasn’t as if they had anywhere else to be.

There was the flight to catch back home eventually, yes, but Adam had left most of their itinerary open for side wanderings and unexpected day trips and hopefully, a deep and meaningful engagement with this place his grandfather had left to Adam like an inheritace.

Adam shot a glance to Nicola, who bounced on the balls of her feet in pleasure. She looked totally enraptured by Eileen and the private world of decaying opulence she commanded.

“Finley will show you to your rooms,” Eileen said, already drifting away as though this lavish display of generosity was nothing to her, like it was all in a day’s work. “Probably a good idea to get some of your things from the car as well. Take your time settling in. I’m not going anywhere.”

“We really appreciate it,” Nicola said. “If there’s any way we can pay you back, or help out—”

Eileen made a sound as though Nicola was being preposterous. “Absolutely not. This is hospitality, and it’s my pleasure. Finley?”

“On it,” Finley said, and then, as though he had forgotten himself. “Sir.”

Finley gestured towards the door, bidding Adam lead the way.

Adam exited the library, followed closely by Nicola pressed up against his back, but he couldn’t help take one last look behind him at the grand room.

He barely caught sight of the groundskeeper grasping the lord’s wrist, rough fingers leaving indentations on the milky flesh.

So quickly, and so faintly that Adam might have been imagining it, he heard Finley say in a low, urgent voice,

“Isla.”

The lord looked to her hired help with fire burning in her eyes. Then, she wrenched her wrist free.

This broke the strange, tense spell. The groundskeeper stalked off after Adam and Nicola, leaving the lord alone in her library.

“This way,” Finley said, voice a little rough.

Adam and Nicola dutifully followed him up a flight of mahogany stairs and down a twisting series of corridors that Adam probably couldn’t find his way along with a map and the light of day on his side.

“That’ll be Nicola’s room,” Finley said, stopping short in a carpeted hallway and pointing out a bedroom. “Adam, your room will be right at the end of the hall. I figured after roughing it on the road you two might like your own space.”

Adam wanted to argue. He and Nicola always slept in mixed-gender hostel rooms when they traveled, but that wasn’t quite the same thing as sharing a private room, and certainly not a private bed.

He wasn’t sure how to complain about being separated from Nicola directly, so instead he said, “Can we have a few minutes to chat and get our bearings? Happy to be shown to my room after that.”

“Sure,” Finley said, unbothered. “See you downstairs when you’re ready.”

With that, he was gone, and Adam followed Nicola into her room.

The guest bedroom was small but cozy, featuring a four-poster bed decorated with carved roses, and a small fireplace in the corner. The wallpaper was covered in delicate green vines and tiny pink flowers, giving the room the air of a country garden.

“Can you believe this?” Nicola asked, in the same tone of voice she used to gossip about who was sleeping with who on the intramural volleyball team. “God, this house! It’s got to be what, eighteen fifties? Built on older foundations, I bet. And did you see how many books were in that library?”

“It’s gorgeous,” Adam conceded. “But I don’t love being stuck here.”

“You don’t love being stuck anywhere,” Nicola said, tossing herself down on the bed. “But it’s only for the night.”

“I just wasn’t expecting any of this, and we’re pretty isolated out here. I don’t even think I have cell service. I can’t help feeling like we’re putting Eileen out.”

“She’s just a lonely eccentric with too much time on her hands, and we’re free in-house entertainment. She said it herself: there’s no one out here but her and Finley. Now him I like.”

“I don’t trust your judgment when it comes to the people you like, no offense.”

“Am I not allowed to like people now?”

“Of course you are,” Adam said, covering for himself quickly.

He had no right to be jealous over Nicola.

At the end of the day, she wasn’t his. He had made sure of that, time and time again.

It was easier that way. Less painful. “I’m just saying, make sure the guy isn’t going to go all Ted Bundy on you before you jump his bones. ”

“You let me have my harmless groundskeeper fantasy and I’ll let you keep looking at the hot aristocrat like you want her to step on you with her riding boots,” Nicola shot back with a grin.

“I do not want her to step on me,” Adam said, bristling.

The kick of his pulse at the mention of Eileen told a different story.

“And did you hear the way they talked? So weird. Every other sentence is like something out of a storybook, like they actually haven’t spoken to modern people in ages.

She’s worse than he is, but still. Let’s just play it safe out here, okay?

If you get any weird vibes, come find me. ”

“Obviously,” Nicola said with a sigh. “But this is what you wanted, isn’t it? Answers with a side of adventure?”

“I guess so,” Adam said, trying not to smile.

He knew he should be more wary about this (stranger danger and all) but it was hard not to feel like the universe’s favorite son right now.

It was so tempting to give in to the sense of fatedness that had wrapped around him the moment he laid eyes on the house.

“This might be it, Adam,” Nicola said, sobering slightly. She knew better than anyone what this trip meant to him. After all, she had been the one who picked up the phone early that Sunday morning his grandfather died. “I want this to be it, for you.”

“Thanks, Nikki. At any rate, we should get back down there before they start thinking we’re up here stealing their silver or whatever.

” He turned to go, pausing at the doorway.

Sincerity was sometimes hard for him, certainly harder than laughter and a good time, but somehow he managed it.

“I’m happy it’s you with me out here. Seriously. ”

“It’s true, I’m pretty great,” Nicola said, smoothing her sweater like a proud peacock as she strode past him into the hallway. “Now come on. I want more tea.”