Page 59 of Highland Games
Rory knew his time was up when he heard the truck screech to a halt, the door slam and the sounds of her feet as she ran to the cabin, Bandit barking to greet her. He leaned forward against the kitchen units he was making, his head bowed, adrenaline surging through him.
She pushed open the door, kicked off her boots and ran to the back of the cabin to a stack of boxes. She pulled them down and rifled frantically through them. Bandit, seeing Zoe, an open door and smelling a rat, bounded in barking excitedly, running for Basil’s cage. Rory bundled him out the door, and turned to Zoe. She was standing, papers strewn around her feet, her face white.
‘You, you…’ Her lower lip was trembling, her eyes flashing with hurt and rage, struggling to speak. ‘You bastard. You lied to me. All this time.’
Rory swallowed. The speeches he had prepared for this moment vanished from his mind. All he could feel was her pain.
‘You think I wouldn’t find out? Put it all together? All of this?’ She threw her arms out indicating the cabin. ‘I thought it was odd the rest of Willie’s furniture wasn’t here when I arrived, and how quickly you made everything.’ She brought her fists to her forehead, then dropped them. ‘You wanted to live here. Whilst Willie was down south dying, you were planning your move. I bet he wasn’t even dead when you started making the front door. Then I showed up. First you won’t sell me wood. Then I get your childish and pathetic attempts to hound me out, and when that doesn’t work you seduce me? For what end? To move yourself in with benefits?’
He could see her fighting to hold back tears.
‘This is my cabin and my land. But you just couldn’t accept that, could you? You had your own plans for it. So, you stole from me. You stole my copy of the lease agreement so I had no way of proving this was mine.’
‘What?’
Zoe indicated the papers on the floor. ‘The lease agreement. The proof this belongs to me. It’s gone. I had it with my passport, birth certificate, all my most important papers. I checked it was there after the first night when you said it wasn’t my land. It was there then and it isn't there now. You’re a fucking liar and a fucking thief and you need to leave.’
‘Zoe—’
‘Now!’ she screamed.
Bandit was barking and whining outside.
‘Zoe, please listen to me. Yes, I wanted to move in. I had no idea anyone would want to live here. But you did and it’s yours, I accept that. I didn’t take anything. I promise. I have no plans for the cabin. Please believe me.’
‘Then what the fuck is this?’ she yelled, tugging a sheet of paper out her bag and thrusting it at him like a knife.
He took it, scanning the page then shook his head. ‘This is fucking bullshit,’ he said quietly. ‘And it’s not going to happen.’
‘Says who? You’re not the boss! It’s a planning application to turn my land into a bloody spa and retreat centre. How can I fight that without the lease agreement?’
He crumpled the piece of paper in his fist, walked to the Rayburn and threw it in the firebox. ‘I’m going to go back to the estate office now to get the other copy. I know it’s there. This application isn’t going anywhere and neither are you.’
He held her gaze, seeing her uncertainty. The ground was slipping from under him. Sooner or later she was going to find out exactly who he was, but right now he couldn’t leave her without a home.
‘I’m so sorry, Zoe. I’m sorry for everything. There are some things I’ve done that I can’t undo. But this is something I can fix. Can I come back when I’ve sorted it? Please?’
She gave him a terse nod. ‘Just go now,’ she said quietly.
By the timehe finally found his mother on the main staircase of the castle, he was filthy and fuming. He’d turned the estate office upside down until the room had gone from untidy to burgled and the air was thick with dust. But the papers he’d been given by the solicitor were nowhere to be found.
He stood at the bottom of the staircase, watching his mother as she glided down from the first floor. Barbara noticed him, paused to take in his expression, then continued on, unperturbed.
‘Mother, when were you going to tell me about that ridiculous application? We can’t apply for permission for land that isn’t ours.’
She took his arm, and steered him down the long corridor. ‘Darling. You said it yourself. She won’t last the winter. And besides, who’s to say there was even a legal agreement between William and your grandfather? The proposals for the croft are only a small part of the plans Lucy and I have for the future of the castle.’
Rory stopped abruptly and pulled his arm away. ‘Lucy?’
‘Darling, that’s no surprise. You know the part Lucy plays in her family’s company. If you get into bed with Colquhoun Asset Management, then you, well, you know what I mean. Anyway, I know how stressful things have been for you recently, so I’ve been doing my bit to help behind the scenes.’
She went to take his arm again but he didn’t budge.
‘And by helping, you mean trespassing on Zoe’s land, breaking into her home, stealing her property, removing the second copy of the agreement from the office, and going behind my back with an insane plan for a bloody spa by the loch?’
Rory was used to reading people during his army tours, but Barbara’s face was impressively impassive.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she replied smoothly. ‘The estate is experiencing some difficulties, and Lucy and her family are trying to help. The land by the loch is a prime asset for development, and part of a much bigger plan we’ve been working on for you. Colquhoun Asset Management have had some very positive discussions with the planning board, and we believe the meeting next week is a mere formality. This is happening, darling, whether you like it or not, and I’m not going to sit back and allow it to be derailed by a cheap little tart who’s turned your head.’
