Page 116 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

“What’s Fergus doing?” I asked my mother.

“He uses the sleigh to take neighbors home that are too tipsy to drive. But really, darling, I don’t think Ronan has her in a sled. He hates horses.”

“He’s in my Rover, but I’m going after them in the sleigh. It’ll be faster than waiting for this lot to clear out. Wish me luck, mother.” I gave her cheek a kiss as I sped off. I looked back once to see her watching me. She gave me an uncharacteristic thumbs up before guests crowded in front of her.

I dashed around the parked cars, avoiding doors opening and slamming.

“Fergus!” I called. “Give the reins to me!”

The elderly man turned, surprised no doubt to see me sliding through the snow in my kilt and evening wear.

“Your Grace! What’s the matter?” He’d run out of carrots and one of the horses nudged him with her head.

I slid, regained my balance, and careened towards him.

“Did you see my brother tonight?”

“I swear I did, and I wasn’t tippling. But it can’t be true.”

I clapped him on the shoulder, partly to reassure him and partly to stabilize myself. “I believe you. If anyone were going to come back from the dead, it’d be my brother.” I swore again. “He’s got Holly. I can get to them, but the sleigh will be faster than the roads right now. Now lend me your coat.”

Fergus shrugged out of his coat, and I slipped the cell phone in the front pocket.

“Let me take you, Your Grace. I’ve been driving this long before you were in short pants.”

“Fergus, this is between my brother and me. Go inside and stay with my mother, will you? It’s been an eventful night for her.”

I’d long suspected Fergus had cared for my mother. It wasn’t a surprise. He’d worked at our family home for decades. But I had no idea about how my mother’s feelings. She had refused to date after my father died. She’d insisted that keeping Lachlan going was all she cared about. Now I looked at the older man’s bright eyes and wondered where my mother disappeared for hours every day. I’d never given it a moment’s thought before.

And it wasn’t something I was going to ponder now.

I swung up easily in the sleigh driver’s seat.

Fergus handed me the reins and his gloves. “Careful now. There are patches of ice on some of the snow.”

I clicked my tongue, shifting the horses’ attention from Fergus and his pockets of carrots to me.

I’d not driven the sleigh since I was a boy and would go with the groundskeepers every year to help cut down the Christmas tree and haul it back to the house. But it was pretty much like riding a bike.

Fergus had taught me everything he knew about horses. I handled them lightly, and soon we were off, leaving the castle behind us to cut across the fields. I glanced back once at Lachlan, which was brightly lit against the night sky.

The snow had stopped falling, and the night was cold and clear. Away from the castle lights, stars covered the dark sky and added to the sensation that my world had been turned upside and shaken like a snow globe.

I pulled the phone from my pocket. I planned to cut Ronan off before he reached the main road.

And there they were.

I cursed myself for not changing the codes that allowed Ronan to access the garage. God only knew where else he’d been and what mischief he’d cooked up.

The horses’ hooves pounded through the fresh snow. With only one passenger, we flew across the fields.

I didn’t feel the cold.

I was fueled with anger at Ronan and fear for Holly. And something else, something more significant than the first two.

It wasn’t only the bone-crushing desire that I felt for Holly.

I loved her brains, her humor, her body—every bit of her. Especially the part that stood up to me. It wouldn’t be easy to convince her to let me love her.

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