Page 8 of Heirs and Graces at Highland Hall
Bex looked at the size of Lorna versus the size of Duncan. He was probably double her weight and over a foot taller, too.
‘There’s no way you can manage him on your own,’ Bex said.
‘It wouldn’t be the first time,’ Lorna replied.
A deep ache spread through Bex’s chest. Lorna really did adore her big brother, and she could hardly blame her. He was a great guy. When he wasn’t a drunk idiot.
‘It’s fine. I’ll give you a hand.’
Manoeuvring a drunken Duncan was hard, but harder still was trying to ignore the words spilling from his mouth.
‘I should’ve known better,’ he said as he sagged against Bex’s shoulder. ‘I should’ve known you’d break my heart. I should’ve known that I was more in love with you than you were with me. I should have known.’
Bex didn’t want the remarks to get to her. She didn’t want to feel them like needles in her heart, but she did.
‘You were too smart for me,’ he continued. ‘I knew you’d realise it someday. Guess you’ve got yourself some highflying city boy again? Course you have.’
Bex gritted her jaw, fighting the words she wanted to spit at him. Fighting the urge to hit him hard on the shoulder just to stop his ludicrous ranting. She had loved him just as fiercely. She still did love him. But they had to face facts: their relationship could never work. Her whole career was down in London, and he refused to move. But it wasn’t a conversation they could have while he was this drunk, nor was it something she wanted to say while Lorna was there.
‘Can you grab the key from his back pocket?’ Lorna said when they reached the lodge. ‘I’m not sure I can reach it.’
Bex stretched her arm around and slipped her hand into Duncan’s jeans. There was no denying that she’d always loved his backside. But she had never imagined the last time she’d have her hands near it would be like this. She pulled out the key and handed it to Lorna.
‘Just brace yourself. For the chaos,’ Lorna said.
Bex assumed she was talking about mess, and that Duncan had let his tidiness slip since they’d broken up, but when the door clicked open, they were hit by a barrage of wagging tails and slobbery tongues.
‘What the? Ruby?’ Bex said as she noticed her favourite red Labrador among the mix. ‘What are you doing here? What are you all doing here?’
She dropped down onto her knees, and the dog buried herself in Bex’s chest. Against all her better judgement, Bex felt the prick of tears behind her eyes. Her life with Duncan had been so different to what it was now and there was so much she missed.
‘Kieron won’t let them in the house,’ Duncan slurred. They were the first coherent words he’d said that weren’t about Bex and how she’d broken his heart. But they were just as bitter. ‘I know he won’t. He’d put them in the kennel. So I’m rescuing them before that happens.’
Bex looked at Lorna, who raised her eyebrow.
‘Kieron’s not a fan of dogs as pets,’ Lorna agreed. ‘He thinks they should all be working animals. But… I think Duncan might’ve wanted a wee bit of company, hence he took it upon himself.’
‘I did it for the dogs,’ Duncan muttered.
Bex had to admit she was impressed with the way Kenna stood among the new additions to the house. Then again, she was the biggest cat Bex had ever seen in her life, but that didn’t stop Bex from scooping her up into her arms for a hug. If only a brief one. The last thing she needed was Duncan telling her she’d broken his cat’s heart, too.
‘Come on, you. Let’s get you into the bedroom. Jeans off, top off, into bed,’ Lorna said. ‘I’ve got it from here if you want,’ she added, looking at Bex as she steered him through the door.
‘Thanks.’
It was one thing seeing her drunk yet annoyingly attractive ex-boyfriend – who, from the drunken words he was saying, was still as in love with her as she was him – but it was another thing to be stripping him naked and putting him into bed. She’d done that a couple of times in the relationship. As he’d had to do for her too, when she’d had one too many. And each time it had ended with laughter and kissing and promises of happily ever after. There would be none of that now.
So, she sat on the sofa and waited for Lorna to be done.
‘Hey, girl,’ Bex said as Ruby immediately came over and dropped her head on Bex’s lap, causing the resurfacing of tears behind her eyes. ‘Yeah, I’ve missed you too. A lot’s changed, hasn’t it? You’re looking thin, you know. You missing Fergus?’ While no reply came, other than a slow wag of the tail, it didn’t stop Bex talking. It was what she needed. ‘Don’t worry. It’ll be all right. I might not know how, but it’ll be all right.’
For a few minutes, the pair remained there. Silent in one another’s company, as if that was the best they could hope for.Bex suspected Ruby would love nothing more than jumping up on the sofa and falling asleep next to one another, and part of her wanted that too. But there was no way she could stay at Duncan’s. Even on the sofa.
‘He’s already passed out,’ Lorna said as she appeared from the room and yawned. ‘Come on. What time is it? We should get some sleep too. You’ve got a meeting in the morning. I suspect it’s going to be a pretty important one.’
7
‘I knew it would be a mess, but I don’t know… I just didn’t expect him to be this bad,’ Bex said as they walked home.
