Page 70 of Love Thief

Kellen takes his fleece off and gives it to me. “Let’s go, Kitten. Or should I say wolf?” He grins, using the name Bug gave me two summers ago.

I blow out a breath and my shoulders slump. I’ll not be able to take them both on. Kellen weirdly grabs my hand, wraps his fingers around mine and pulls me along. Xan takes the other and we run back to the house.

They show me where the ladder is and the key for the window. If ever I need to stay, he says I’m to go here. Yeah right, that’ll go down well with Rowena Russell.

It’s the first night of many I spend in bed with Marcus Henry James Kellen Russell, and he holds my hand tightly as if he’s afraid I’m going to leave in the night.

Chapter

Twenty

EVIE

We’re leaving today. Tarron is sad, and he’s hanging onto Xan, so they're together most of the day. I hear Kellen on the phone to his mother. Neither Xan nor Kell have said much about what happened in Yorkshire, but I know it’s not good for her whatever has happened.

But I’m struggling, to be honest, to be generous about it. Rowena was horrid to me as a kid, and there was really no reason for it, other than I didn’t do what she wanted me to do. I spoke my mind, and clearly that is a cardinal sin.

I hear him ask, “Has he gone?” and hear Rowena crying down the phone, obviously still traumatised. I hear her garble something and he replies, “I can't, I'm going to Glastonbury.” She says something else and he blows up. “I’m performing, mother, not partying, it’s my fucking job. I’ll call in. We’re up in the North after that. Fetch Niamh over, or Siobhan, and I’ll pay.” He rolls his eyes. “Okay, yes, I’ll tell him. I’m seeing him in five minutes. Speak later.”

He hangs up and grumbles, “Fucking Giles, what a cunt.”

I ask, “Was it him?”

“Yep, sure was, as suspected. What a can of worms we opened, or should I say Jackson did. I don’t know why that other P.I. found nothing, unless he was on payroll. Which, to be honest, he could have been.”

“Can you say what it was?”

“Delusion, pure and simple. He was descended from a brother of one of our ancestors and had spun himself a story that the brother was Henry VIII’s best mate, not my grandfather, God knows how many greats ago. He wanted it all, but didn’t have the means to pay for it, so thought mummy dearest was the best bet. Again, why he would think that, especially when he entered the period drama and saw who was paying for it all, is beyond me. But no, he carried on his delusion, thought I was a party boy, a waste of space, a drunk, a drug addict, you name it. Convinced himself I didn’t know what was going on with my estate and monies.

“He’d already tried to steal a cool million from Ant, but Jonno had spotted that one. We won’t mention how he noticed it in private accounts on a private server, though.” He raises his eyebrows at me for that one.

“Thought Ant was an easy touch as he comes across so casual, but as we all know he is so far the opposite of that.” He nudges me. “Deception and delusion is king.

“Mother is clearly mortified, but it won’t last. The show must go on. She’ll ask the writers to invent some reason why he had to leave, but the period drama will not be cancelled due to a fucking thief.” He laughs. “She’s delusional, but she’ll get over it eventually. We might just hear more from her while she is.” He shrugs his shoulders.

Tarron comes to find me as I’m finishing my packing. “I want to show you plans for the ‘fairy house,’” he grins at me, “come look.”

We walk down the path back towards the round house, or Fairy House, as it’s locally known. Tarron has the plans that I drew up and he’s added some stuff of his own. I nod at them, they are gorgeous.

“This will be booked all day every day. And if you market it right, you could get an enormous amount of money for it due to its history and legend. People love old legends, especially romantic ones.”

“The Highlands are very romantic, we run our own rules here. Do you know, I wouldn’t have been in the same boat as the Russells. I could just nominate someone I felt was strong and healthy to lead my clan, even if they were not legitimate. As long as they have a blood connection to my family and I thought they were fit, I could pass it on to whomever, man or woman, no discrimination. I bet you never thought we would be so free thinking in this corner of Scotland.”

His tone is lighthearted, breezy, but his blue eyes are fixed on me with an intensity that belies it. I’m not sure what the intention is, however. I can’t read it.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think it was survival of the fittest, in whatever form that came. If you were good enough to lead, people would follow.” I reply equally blasé.

“True, but I wouldn’t have had to mess around with a paternity test. If Xander had said James was his and recognised the child, that would be good enough.”

I smile at him. I’m still not certain if he’s trying to tell me something, trying to pass on some subliminal message, but if he is, I can’t think what it would be. So I carry on talking lightly as we move towards the back of the stone circle.

He stops me and places his index finger over his lips. A doe is watching us from the trees. She doesn’t blink, and we dare not move. It feels like ages before a bird squawks and the doe startles off.

Tarron stands to his full height, looks down on me and says quietly, “A doe is a sign for gentleness, innocence, safety, strength, protection, as well as unconditional love, if you believe in those sorts of things.” We both startle as we hear then see both Xan and Kellen coming up from the Loch side. He waves at them and whispers, “I believe in those sorts of things, what about you?”

He smiles and calls out to them before I have a chance to answer. “Come see the plans Evie and I made.”

I try to put him off adding me to it, but he won’t and insists I talk it through. I’m flushed and animated, and they’re all smiling at me when I finish. “Err sorry, I get a bit carried away. These are just so beautiful.”

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