Page 2 of Heirs and Graces at Highland Hall
With a frown on her face, she pulled her phone out of her bag. ‘I’ve no idea who would ring me at this time.’ As she glanced at the screen, she got her answer. Her frown deepened.
‘Everything all right?’ Daisy asked, reading the confusion on her face.
‘Sorry, guys,’ Bex said, putting her wine glass down as she stood. ‘I should probably go outside to take this. It’s Nigel.’
‘Nigel? Your boss? What’s he doing ringing you at eight thirty on a Saturday night?’
‘I don’t know, but I guess it’s important. I’ll just be two secs, okay?’
‘Sure. No worries, but use our room,’ Daisy added, pointing down the boat to the cabin at the end. ‘You don’t want to go outside now. It’s the middle of winter. It’ll be freezing.’
‘Thanks.’ With a quick glance outside at the frost-covered grass, Bex walked through to the back of the boat, a knot twisting in her stomach. The girls were right. Her boss shouldn’t be ringing her at this time of night. And given that she’d already got the promotion she wanted, it couldn’t possibly be for something good.
‘Nigel,’ she said as she answered the call. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Rebecca.’ Her boss let her name out with a sigh that reverberated down the line. ‘I’m ever so sorry to be ringing you so late, but I’ve got some news. Some terribly sad news.’
2
Bex was running late. She had booked the flight the moment she had got off the phone to Nigel, but she’d had too many glasses of wine to drive back to London, and even though Theo offered to take her, the last thing she wanted was him travelling unnecessarily back and forth on icy roads. Especially when she’d need to come back at some point to grab her car. So instead, she’d sorted the flight, then headed to bed with an alarm set for 6a.m. Then she had driven back home as fast as she dared, considering the state of the roads, grabbed her things and gone straight to the airport.
Nigel hadn’t had many details other than that Fergus, the laird that Bex had lived and worked for during her time up in Scotland, had passed away. He’d let her know as soon as he’d been informed, but he thought it had happened a couple of days ago.
A couple of days ago? The knowledge caused a tension to ripple through her body. Why had nobody contacted her? She had friends in the village. Good friends. At least that’s what she’d thought. Although, maybe that was why Lorna hadn’t responded to her message yet. Because she wasn’t sure whether she wassupposed to be the one to break the news or not. Either that or they’d assumed she was an out of sight, out of mind person. Which she absolutely wasn’t.
‘He’s requested you go up there to work with the lawyer,’ Nigel had told her on the phone.
‘That’s not normal, is it?’ Bex replied.
‘No, not really, but that’s the information I’ve got. So he obviously wanted it. Are you okay to do that? You’ll get paid, obviously, but that’s not what I meant. I know you were very fond of the old man.’
‘I really was,’ Bex said.
Even after she and Duncan had got together, Bex had still spent a large amount of time at the castle, and not just working there. She had grown used to her large room with the four-poster bed, but even more so, she had got used to Ruby, the red Labrador, who had taken to her and slept on the armchair at the end of her bed at night. If she went more than a couple of days without sleeping at the castle, Ruby would get more than a little perturbed.
Unfortunately, Ruby wasn’t the only one who wanted attention, and Duncan’s Maine Coon cat, Kenna, insisted she got her fair share of love and fuss too. In the three months since Bex’s last visit, there had been a definite furry shaped hole in her heart, as well as the one in the shape of the broad muscular Scotsman. A small part of her was grateful that she was going to get to see her animal companions again, although that meant she was definitely going to have to see Duncan, too. But for now, Bex was trying to push those thoughts from her mind and focus on getting to LochDarroch and learning why Fergus had wanted her there.
Normally, when she flew for work, Bex would always have the luxury of selecting business class, and it was a luxury she enjoyed, even on short flights. But when she had finallymanaged to book her seats at 10p.m. the night before, economy was all that was available and for once, she didn’t care. Getting to Highland Hall was what mattered. If they hadn’t had a flight, she would have taken a train. She would have even contemplated driving again, which after her first trip up there, she’d promised herself she would never do again. But this was different. She just needed to be there.
With a small carry-on suitcase, Bex made her way through to departures and was standing in the queue when her phone started buzzing. She retrieved it from her pocket and felt a slight hitch in her chest at the sight of Lorna’s name flashing on the screen.
‘Bex, I am so sorry.’ Lorna didn’t even give Bex a chance to get a breath in before she started. ‘I had no idea you didn’t know. I thought Duncan would’ve told you. But then I should have rung and checked. I’m so sorry. It was only when we were talking this morning that I realised no one had spoken to you. I really had no idea you didn’t know.’
‘It’s fine,’ Bex said as Lorna’s guilt bombarded her down the phone. ‘I would have assumed Duncan would have let me know too, but hey, I guess things are different between us now.’ A deep throb began behind her sternum as she realised just how different things between her and Duncan truly were. They would stay friends. That was what they’d promised one another when they called it a day on their relationship, and she’d wished with all her heart it would have been true, but deep down, even then, she’d probably known it hadn’t been possible. How could you stay friends with someone who had been so much more than that for such a long time? After all, it wasn’t like they’d been friends before.
Suddenly aware of the silence that had filled their conversation, Bex cleared her throat and carried on talking. ‘It’sall fine. I know now, and I’m coming up. My flight leaves in less than two hours.’
‘Really?’
She nodded despite Lorna being unable to see. ‘Yes. Apparently, Fergus requested that I work with his lawyer.’
‘He did?’ Lorna sounded as confused by this as Bex was. ‘Well, when do you get there? I’ll come and pick you up at the airport.’
‘You don’t have to.’
‘I know I don’t, but I’m on my way anyway. Mum wanted me to take her into town at some point this week, so she can go today. I’ll pick you up, drop her off, then we can go back.’
‘Thank you. That’s very sweet. I appreciate it.’
