Page 15 of Heirs and Graces at Highland Hall
As Bex walked away from Kieron, she was left with a peculiar feeling in her stomach. It felt like she had somehow offended him, and that wasn’t what she wanted at all. She hadn’t meant to feel like he’d been pushed out of the conversation or that she didn’t want to include him, but this was business. Business and pleasure did not mix. She should’ve learned that lesson with Duncan, and Duncan hadn’t been directly related to Fergus or the heir to this massive fortune. Even considering something as simple as friendship with Kieron felt like a big red flag at the moment, given everything she had to do. But then he’d been nothing but nice to her. Cooking her breakfast, asking her questions about her job. She would just have to tread carefully. Treat him as an employer as such. An attractive employer, who was undoubtedly attracted to her too.
‘So,’ Gordon said, taking a seat in the study, ‘I expect you’re wondering why Fergus wanted you here.’
‘Yes. I thought you’d be able to deal with all this yourself,’ Bex replied.
‘Me too, to be honest. It’s all very strange.’ He adjusted his glasses and made a chewing motion with his lips. ‘He sentseveral messages to me over the last couple of months, insisting that you attend to this, while he was clarifying his will.’
The word ‘clarifying’ caught in Bex’s throat, causing a sudden weight of sadness to settle over her. Despite all the work he’d done around the village, and late-night whiskies, Fergus had known he was dying. Gordon nodded, as if he understood what she was thinking.
‘To be honest, I think he got longer than he expected. Though, of course, he was too stubborn to let anyone know how bad the situation was. And I suspect the fact he kept going as long as he did led him to think that maybe things weren’t as bad as he’d been told. But then… well, I’m sure you heard, it was a very sudden turn.’
‘Yes, I did hear,’ she said quietly.
So sudden that he’d not been able to get hold of Duncan, she thought, trying to push away the ache in her chest. Fergus hadn’t wanted her up here to be sentimental. He’d wanted her here to do a job. And that was what she was going to focus on.
‘Anyway.’ Gordon coughed, clearly back in work mode. ‘Your presence here isn’t the only peculiar aspect of this estate.’
‘No?’ Bex asked. ‘What else is it?’
Gordon sniffed slightly. ‘Obviously, everything I show you in this room is confidential. And until we understand exactly what the implications are, we’re not sure how to proceed. But here is the last will and testament of Lord Fergus McIntyre.’
He handed her the paper, though Bex hesitated to take it. Somehow, holding the document that contained Fergus’s final wishes made it feel all the more real. It was silly, of course. There were no stages to death. Not really. Just before and after. But it felt like there should have been something more. Something to bridge that gap that felt so absurdly wide. The last time she had said goodbye to him had been no different to any other. She hadn’t known that it would be her last visit to LochDarroch;she hadn’t known Duncan would finally call the end to their relationship. She certainly hadn’t known it would be the last time she would speak to the old man. If she had, she would have hugged him just a little longer. As unbelievable as it still felt, each interaction she’d had since arriving made it clearer that Fergus was truly gone.
Realising she couldn’t leave Gordon sitting there with his hand outstretched forever, she reached out and took the document, at which point Gordon busied himself with his glasses, letting her read it in private.
As Bex scanned the first page, her professional instincts took over. She had read plenty of wills in her time. After all, inheritance law was her speciality. Though none had been quite as substantive an inheritance as this one. Still, the figures and bequests weren’t what caught her eye, and as she turned to the second page, she realised what the issue was.
‘My direct heir,’ she said slowly, lifting her gaze and locking her eyes with Gordon. ‘Kieron is not named.’
‘No, he’s not.’
‘Why would he do that?’ she asked. ‘If Kieron is his only kin?’
‘I dinnae ken,’ Gordon admitted, his face solemn. ‘But I was wonderin’ if maybe, when you were lookin’ through things, you found somethin’ that might help make a wee more sense of it. If you had, it’d explain why he wanted you here.’
Bex shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think so.’
She continued to flick through the pages. There were names on the document, including his sister regarding sentimental items that had been handed down by their parents. But when it came to the largest endowments – the castle, the land, all the buildings and businesses in the village, even the dogs – it still said the same things.
‘When was the will written?’ she asked, thinking that perhaps if it had been before Kieron’s birth then that would explain thename, though she seriously doubted that even Fergus would go thirty years without updating his will, and as she found the date on the front, she realised she was right.
‘Under a year ago,’ Gordon said, confirming what she had just read and dispelling that theory. With a long sigh, the lawyer removed his glasses and began to clean the frames on the bottom of his shirt.
‘Well, we can’t proceed until every avenue has been explored.’
Bex nodded. ‘Kieron is not going to be happy about this,’ she said.
‘No, but if he’s entitled to Fergus’s inheritances then he’ll get it in the end. It’ll just take a little longer than expected.’
Bex handed the paper back to Gordon. What she had been shown had certainly proved this wasn’t going to be a normal inheritance situation by any stretch of the imagination. But she still struggled to understand why he’d wanted her here. Unless it was like Gordon had said, and whether she knew it or not, something she had stumbled across in all the previous paperwork held the clues they needed to solve this puzzle.
Gordon looked at her as he slipped his glasses back onto his nose. ‘I’m not sure why he’s done this, but it would be chaos in the village if anyone finds out.’
‘I can imagine,’ Bex said. Screw the village. It would be chaos if Kieron alone found out. He had already introduced himself to her as the new laird and she couldn’t imagine anyone would take too kindly to having something like that stripped from them.
‘I can trust your discretion?’ Gordon asked, the question implied in the rise of his tone.
‘Of course,’ Bex said, nodding as she still tried to make sense of what she’d just learned. ‘I won’t tell a soul. I just hope we work out what it means quickly.’
