Page 61 of Duke It Out
I’m going to be plastered before dinner is served at this rate. I take another sip and hold it in my mouth for a moment. “Like a bonfire… wrapped in a silk dress.”
Jamie gives a low whistle. Rory looks across at Finn, who tips his head and raises his glass.
“If you can make the old man’s ramblings sound even half as good, I’ll be impressed.”
Gregor interrupts us with the first course, and as the wine is poured their tongues start to loosen and the family anecdotes flow.
“Remember that time we nearly drowned Rory?” Jamie grins as he spears a piece of asparagus.
“You pushed him, you mean,” Finn says.
Rory meets my eyes and shakes his head, laughing.
“Just think if you’d copped it,” Jamie says thoughtfully. “You’d be in charge of all this, Finn.”
Finn sits back at the table and shakes his head slowly and emphatically. “Board meetings about biomass boilers and showing face at the local school to keep the community on side and listening to tenant farmers complaining? No chance. I’d be out of here before you could say?—”
“I think we’ve all worked that out,” Rory says, looking at his brothers from the head of the table. “You’re a boat crossing away, and that’s if the tide’s behaving itself.”
“Would have been a hell of a lot easier to get to the island if we’d kept the helicopter,” Jamie says. “I met Brice Aaronson up on the moor at the beginning of the week and he was smugly pointing out how handy it was to have one.”
“The last thing I want,” Finn says grim-faced, “is people popping in, by helicopter or otherwise.”
“Charming.” Jamie grins.
Martin slips in and discreetly removes our plates, darting between us. I give him a quick smile, and he goes pink and fumbles the dish he’s holding. So much for showing a bit of solidarity.
Rory shrugs. “For one thing it was a rapidly depreciating asset, and for another?—”
“You realise how ridiculous you sound? You’re a bloody duke, sitting in a castle, talking about watching the purse strings.” Jamie picks up the wine bottle and scans the label as he speaks.
“We all know you’d blow through the inheritance in twomonths.” Finn snorts. “Wine, women and God knows what else.”
“I’m a reformed character these days,” he says, earning a bark of laughter from Rory. “I am. I’m flat out sorting out the rewilding. I’ve got thirty thousand acres to plant up this year, and we’ve got eco warriors on our back protesting about the lack of wolves.”
Finn frowns.
“Long story,” Rory says.
I’ve read all about the helicopter, of course. It’s weird to hear them discussing it like it’s a spare car on the driveway nobody wants to use, but they didn’t want to sell.
“I’m just saying,” Jamie says. “How am I supposed to keep my flying hours up?”
“My heart bleeds for you,” Rory deadpans.
After the main course, Janey pops in to say hello. It’s a welcome shift in the energy, adding another woman to the all boys together atmosphere. I catch her watching me for a moment as she’s chatting to Finn, scolding him lightly about never coming to visit. I’m surprised to see him take it in good part.
By the time the cranachan appears the wine and whisky have gone to my head, and I can feel my cheeks are flushed from laughing at the three Kinnaird brothers. I’ve learned that Jamie once broke a wrist trying to surf down the grand staircase, and that Finn built a still and was almost arrested for brewing his own vodka. And that Rory – proving that the other side of him I saw wasn’t just a one off – once got caught skinny dipping in Loch Morven with the daughter of a visiting French ambassador.
Somewhere between all that and coffee, I stand up to excuse myself. It’s been fun, but there’s a vague uneasesomewhere at the back of my mind – I’m sitting here in an environment so far removed from my own life, and all of the conversation tonight has just underlined it. I’ve got more in common with the staff than the three men sitting around the table. They talk about inheritance. I talk about overdrafts, and the only silver service I’ve ever seen is in charity shop windows.
I step out into the corridor and take a breath. I can hear the rattling of dishes and music coming from the kitchen, and I know that Gregor and the others are in there clearing up. I’m caught between two worlds, and I don’t belong in either of them. And Anna’s going to be here soon, and she’ll add a whole new layer of stress.
My heels click on the wooden floor as I cross the huge entranceway and head for the staircase.
“Edie.”
Rory’s voice is low. It’s not a command, but a question. I stop and turn, my hand resting on the polished wood.
