Page 5 of Isla

"This isyourhouse?" Grumpy asks, incredulous.

"Yes, this ismyhouse." I smirk. "But don't worry, you three will have it all to yourself. You can walk around naked and flex your muscles at each other all you want. I'll be staying in the cottage back there." I point with my chin.

"I got these for you." I shove the pastries into Grumpy's arms since he's the closest. "What are you guys doing here anyway?" I eye Henry. "Coming back to your favorite place for another holiday?"

Henry clears his throat. "Not quite a holiday. We bought the pub. The one where you work."

The blood drains from my face. "You what?" I whisper, needing to hear it again.

"We bought the pub," Grumpy repeats, annoyed.

"I’mbuying the pub." My heart's in my throat, making it hard to breathe. I blink hard as tears start to sting the back of my eyes. Iwill notcry in front of them.

"You?" Grumpy laughs.

"Yes, me, you motherfucker. I talked with the owner's son. James and I had a verbal agreement for months."

Glasses Guy takes a step toward me. "He didn't tell us he had another offer. If we had known..." He trails off.

"I call bullshit." Grumpy snatches a croissant out of the box and tears into it.

"Is the fact that I've worked the front of housealonefor the last two weeks bullshit? Maybe me paying the kitchen staff out of my own pocket is bullshit. OR MAYBE ME WORKING THERE SINCE I WAS SIXTEEN, POURING MY BODY AND SOUL INTO THAT PUB IS BULLSHIT!" I yell in his face. I knock the croissant out of his mouth and stomp on it.

None of the guys say anything.

"Sell it to me," I say finally, looking between them, holding their gazes until they look away.

"Never." Grumpy folds his arms over his chest.

I don't trust myself, so I throw the house keys at his head and return to my car, spraying gravel as I peel out of the driveway.

I spendthe rest of the day on the tractor, readying the ground for my annual sunflower field between the Manor House and the castle. My mom used to plant one yearly, and I've kept it going in her memory. I usually would have already sown the seed, but with the chaos at the bar, I had let the rest of my life slip.

The sun is heading toward the horizon when I see Grumpy walking across my freshly plowed rows. Motherfucker. I turn the tractor off, climb down, and lean against the tire as I watch his shiny boots get swallowed up by the freshly turned dirt.

"Isla–"

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Will you just fucking listen?"

I sigh, tearing my eyes away from his full lips and picking at a rock stuck in the tire. "First, I don't even know your name. Second, why would I listen when you’ve been such an ornery asshole?"

He growls at me. "Theo. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry, okay? I know I was a jerk back there. At least let me explain."

"Explain why you're an asshole? Or why you think you can come in here with your daddy's money and buy up a piece of my town?" I die a little inside the second the words leave my lips. Why did I say that when I directly benefit from generational wealth? Fuck me.

"Stop." His countenance darkens. "You know nothing about me."

I sigh. "Fine. Tell me all about you, Theo the Asshole. Just help me while you do it."

He nods and follows me to the edge of the field. I push a bag of seeds into his arms and scoop out a handful, dropping them a few inches apart as we walk down the row.

"First of all," he says, his voice gruff, "every single penny my brothers and I have was earned by us."

"Got it," I say, grabbing another handful of seeds.

"Second, we're here because my brothers need a distraction. The last time they acted like themselves was when we were here in Harris. The day I saw the advertisement for the pub, I thought it was fate. If I had known you were planning to buy it, I wouldn't have pursued it."

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