Page 31 of Edinburgh Escape
He stopped at the entrance, blocking her from stepping out until he’d checked both directions. “Stay close to me.”
That’s exactly where she’d be. After the four men had broken into the flat, Maggie didn’t want to go anywhere alone. What would they have done had they found her?
She didn’t know and didn’t want to give them the opportunity to find out.
They walked the few blocks and turned to take a long staircase downward. Had it only been a few hours earlier that they’d climbed up those same stairs? Maggie shook her head. It felt like a lot longer than hours.
At the train station, they found the rental car companies and arranged to rent a mid-sized sedan. Callum refused to let her pay for it, insisting it was part of the protection service provided by Brotherhood Protectors.
Maggie didn’t argue. She’d settle up with Hank and Sadie when she returned to Montana. Her thoughts and focus were on the meeting with Ewan Drummond. In her mind, she’d pictured a joyful embrace with a long-lost brother where they’d sit around sharing stories of their childhoods. He’d tell her about their father and any aunts, uncles or cousins she’d never known about.
Now, a sense of dread had her second-guessing her impulsive rush to meet this half-brother who probably resented her because she was his father’s bastard child, spawned out of an illicit act of adultery, now coming to stake a claim on his inheritance.
Maggie’s stomach roiled as she slipped into the passenger seat, marveling at how strange it felt to be on the left side without a steering wheel in front of her. So many changes. Too many revelations. She almost wished she didn’t know so much. Then again, the more she knew, the better prepared she’d be.
Callum slid into the driver’s seat. Before he started the engine, he reached across and took her hand. “We don’t have to go to the Drummond estate if you don’t want to. I can shift into drive and keep going as far as you want to go.”
Her fingers curled into his palm. For all her bravado and insistence that she didn’t need anyone to go with her to meet her half-brother, Maggie was so very glad Callum would accompany her to the estate. “As tempting as that sounds, I came to meet Ewan,” she lifted her chin. “Since my presence in Scotland has stirred up some trouble, I want to know why and who has a problem with me.”
“Very well.” His fingers tightened around hers for a moment, and then he released her hand. “Next stop is the Drummond Estate.” He started the engine and pulled out of the train station.
Maggie clasped her hands together in her lap, her gaze on the road ahead, barely taking in the amazing architecture lining the streets of Edinburgh.
During the thirty-minute drive through the city and out into the countryside, a knot formed in the pit of her belly. Twice, she opened her mouth to tell Callum she’d changed her mind. Twice, she closed her mouth and remained silent while her mind screamed ahead, imagining dozens of directions this meeting could take. Unfortunately, none of those directions seemed good.
As they pulled off the main road and paused at an ornate stone and iron gate, Callum glanced across to Maggie and said, “You’ll be grand. I’ll make sure of that.”
Maggie let go of the breath she’d been holding for too long and said, “Don’t forget, we met in Montana.”
His answering smile helped push back the overwhelming sense of doom. With Callum, she could do this.
Chapter 7
A camera mounted on the corner of the stone column looked almost incongruous to the gate that could have been older than Callum’s great, great-grandfather. Many of the stone structures and buildings in Scotland had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries.
When he was young, Callum had dreamed of buying one of the old, stone mansions that had fallen into disrepair and rebuilding it to its former glory. Life in the military hadn’t paid much, but he hadn’t needed to spend much. Most of his pay had gone into investments that had grown in value over the years. He could potentially do it now, but hadn’t had the heart to get on with his life when his teammates’ lives had ended.
Callum drew in a breath, focused on the present and lowered the window. He reached out and pressed the button on the metal box set back in the stone structure.
“State your name and purpose,” a staticky voice said.
“Callum McCall, accompanying Maggie McKendrick for her three o’clock appointment with Ewan Drummond.”
“Proceed to the main house,” the voice said.
The wrought iron gate slowly swung open.
Callum drove the rental car through the entrance and followed a winding road lined with towering trees on either side. A seasoned combat soldier, he instinctively studied the deep shadows.
Maggie had been attacked twice now. If the Drummonds were behind the attacks, he’d need to be on his toes and ready should more of the men in black appear.
They passed a small stone cottage on the right, probably what had once been the gatekeeper’s quarters.
The trees overhanging the road gave a dark tunnel-like effect, blocking out much of the cloud-muted daylight and giving the feeling of dusk.
When they emerged from the tunnel of trees, the estate opened up onto a manicured lawn with garden patches tastefully scattered around stately trees or the graceful arches of ivy-covered arbors.
The crowning glory was a gray stone manor with cylindrical turrets on the corners and rows of arched windows across the front. Stone steps led up to a giant black wooden door.
