Page 66 of Duke It Out
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and smiles at Anna warmly. “Right, let’s show you to your room.”
Anna sets of ahead of us despite not knowing where she’s going. I turn to Janey and turn my palms upwards in a gesture of helplessness.
“Sorry,” I mouth at her.
Janey shakes her head. “Not a problem,” she says as we reach the top of the stairs. She’s completely unflustered, taking it in her stride in a way that must have come in handy when she was dealing with the behaviour of the old and extremely temperamental duke.
“We’ll put you in the blue room,” she says, turning left and heading towards the east wing of the castle. I breathe a silent sigh of relief that I don’t have Anna in the room next door. “Lovely view of the loch in the morning.”
“Wonderful,” says Anna breezily. She’s dressed for the Eurostar, not the Highlands. She’s in a navy tailored coat and a silk scarf, with not a single hair out of place. I trail along behind them, very conscious that I’m in the jeans and a hoody I pulled on first thing when Rory hauled me out on an unexpected trip before breakfast.
“Here we are.” Janey opens the door and steps aside to allow Anna to walk in first, and I hear her give a little hum – of surprise or disapproval, I’m not quite sure. I follow her in. The room is identical in design to mine, with long windows that look out over the loch and a tall oak four-poster bed. The walls are papered in a discreet pale blue stripe and there’s a door off to one side, which I assume must be her bathroom.
Anna drops her sunglasses on the antique chest of drawers as if it was a poolside lounger and turns to me with her brows raised. “Well, this is rather nice,” she says as if she’s pleased with a room she’s booked on Booking.com.
“Thanks so much, Janey,” I say, because I feel like someone ought to.
“It’s never a problem for you,” she says, and I feel a little glow inside. “I’ll love you and leave you though, because goodness knows what’s going on in my absence.”
Anna throws herself backwards onto the bed and looks up at me with slightly narrowed eyes. “Never a problem for you? You’ve got your feet under the table quickly, haven’t you?” Her tone is arch. “It’s a long way from writing copy about cat insurance to dining with dukes.”
“Janey’s lovely,” I protest, trying not to bristle outwardly. “D’you want a hand to unpack, or shall I take you for a wander? How was the journey?”
“Oh, no trouble at all. I can’t believe the airport is so tiny. We really are in the sticks, aren’t we?”
She unzips her cases and hangs her things in the wardrobe. She places three different kinds of moisturiser and four different bottles of perfume on the dressing table, laying everything out precisely as she catches me up on news from our loose friendship group down in London. I’ve heard most of it through the group chat, but as time has passed, I’ve found myself checking in less and less. It’s like the friendships I had down there were mostly based around things we had in common, and once they were out of the equation, I didn’t seem to have much to say.
“—So, what do you think?”
I realise Anna’s waiting for a response, and I’ve been looking out of the window at Rory, who is down on the lawn throwing tennis balls for Bramble and Tilly. He squats down to fuss them, a huge smile spreading over his face. It’s funny how much more like himself he seems when he’s in an old sweater and jeans than his normal uniform of crisp shirt and dark trousers. It’s almost as if putting on the costume helps him step into the role and as soon as he does, he reverts tothe buttoned-up aristocrat and not the man I’ve seen glimpses of.
“Think about what?”
“Ruth and Naveen breaking up. I thought they were marriage material.”
“Oh—I—yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Me too.”
Anna walks over to the window to join me, peering out just as Rory and the dogs disappear out of view.
“Very nice,” she says, casting a quick glance over it.
“There’s a path through the woods over there that takes you down to the boathouse that was built by Rory’s grandfather, and you can row across to the other side of the loch and climb up to a little cottage on the top of the hill where you can see the sea,” I say, but Anna’s already turned away and is opening the drawers and looking inside.
“Just checking in case anyone’s left some priceless jewels behind on their last visit.”
“And have they?”
“Nothing.” She shrugs. “So, what is there to do around here? I bet there are lots of secrets hiding in a place like this…”
I frown for a moment. There’s something disconcerting about seeing her here in this place. I’ve built a routine – up in the morning, coffee in the kitchen and a chat with Janey while she flits back and forth between the kitchen and her office. Gregor arriving with his arms full vegetables from the walled garden, always ready for a catch up and to share some gossip from the estate workers. Taking a drive up to the stables to see Kate and cuddle the new baby foals.
It all felt like a lovely – albeit temporary – dream. Now it feels like something I could lose.
Anna looks me up and down. “You look very… rural.”
“I’m blending in.”
“With the sheep?”
