Chapter 44
Kieron moved further into the study, his expression relaxing slightly into a soft smile.
‘There is a party going on, you know. And I was hoping to get another dance, Rebecca.’
The nerves Bex had been feeling multiplied a thousandfold, the adrenaline coursing through her veins so powerfully she could hear her pulse thrumming in her ears.
‘I’m sorry, Kieron.’ She tried to smile and look relaxed, but it was difficult. The desperate need to hear the truth from Moira’s lips was making it nearly impossible to control the quiver in her voice. ‘We just needed a quiet moment to discuss something. Something important.’
‘So important that you’re willing to miss out on free-flow champagne?’ A slight laugh flittered from his throat, only to fade almost instantly when he noticed how no one reciprocated. As his smile wavered, his eyes darted between Bex and Gordon, then back again.
‘This is about the will,’ he said, any hint of good relation gone from his tone. ‘If this is about the will, then I should be involved. This is my house. My inheritance. What is going on?’
Bex pressed her lips tightly together. Maybe doing this in the morning, when she was completely sober, would have been a better idea after all.
Right now, the drink was making her desperate to blurt out the truth to Kieron.
But that wouldn’t be fair. Not to anyone. Not until they had their evidence.
‘Please, Kieron.’ She stepped towards him, her voice pleading. ‘Gordon and I need to talk to Moira about something first. Please, let us do that. Let me see if I’m right before I jump to any conclusions.’
Kieron’s gaze shifted to the old woman, who was still sitting in the armchair. Silent but surprisingly foreboding. Almost as if she was the matriarch of the castle. For a second, she thought Kieron might agree, but then he planted his hands on his hips.
‘Then why is he here?’ he said, pointing at Duncan.
‘I dinnae know myself,’ Duncan replied.
Bex clenched and unclenched her hands before letting out a slow exhale. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Well, if it’s that complicated, and it’s happening in my castle, then I should be involved. I’m not having secret meetings under my roof.’
It’s not your roof, Bex wanted to scream, her nails digging into her palms as she fought to control herself. Emotions weren’t going to help matters now, and she suspected they’d be running high soon enough. And not just hers.
‘Okay,’ she said finally, ‘but I don’t think you’re going to like what you’re about to hear.’ Steeling herself, she added, ‘I guess it’s time for me to get started.’
Wishing she could stop her hands from trembling quite so much, she moved over to the desk and picked up Gordon’s phone.
‘Some of you will have seen this photo, some of you may not.’ She showed it first to Kieron, who stared at the screen with blank ignorance.
‘What am I supposed to be looking at here?’ he said.
‘Well, I assume you recognise your uncle in this photograph? From his younger days.’
‘Well, yes, yes, obviously.’ His words were curt and Bex had no doubt that everyone in the room knew Kieron had not in fact recognised his uncle. She suspected he might not even know which of the two men he was. But still, she continued as if he had been truthful.
‘Any idea who the people are with him?’
He shrugged, before handing the phone back to Bex. ‘I assume they’re people he used to hunt with. I don’t know. He was always having photos taken with people. That’s what happens when you’re a laird. People want to have their photo taken with you.’
‘Right.’ Bex walked over to the armchair, where she gently laid the phone in Moira’s hand. ‘You know who they are, though, don’t you, Moira? You know who all three of them are.’
The old woman’s lips were already thinned with age, but when she pressed them together, they disappeared entirely. After a slight pause, she nodded.
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘The other man’s Angus Ramsay.’
‘My grandfather,’ Duncan said. Bex flashed him a quick smile, though Moira chose not to respond to the comment.
‘What about the woman?’ Bex continued. ‘Who’s she?’
Moira’s gaze shifted down as she took a deep inhale, causing Bex’s pulse to kick up yet another notch.
‘That’s Iona. Angus’s sister.’
‘Right, but that’s not all she was. Is it?’
The tension in the room was growing with every heartbeat. Stretched so tight, Bex was sure that at any moment it might just snap and send everything unravelling. But she couldn’t push Moira. She had held the secret for decades. She wasn’t going to let it go easily.
‘Sorry,’ Duncan said, taking a step towards them. ‘Did you say my grandad’s sister? He didn’t have a sister. He didn’t have any siblings.’
He was looking at Moira as he spoke, but it was Bex who replied.
‘The thing is, she didn’t say she was your grandfather’s sister, Duncan. She said she was Angus’s sister.’ She softened her voice. ‘Moira, you can tell them. You can tell us all now. Nothing bad’s going to happen.’
Moira’s eyes pressed shut, her lips tight. ‘We didn’t like to gossip. We didn’t,’ she murmured. ‘He was a good man—’
‘But it’s not gossip. This isn’t gossip, Moira.
This is justice. Surely you see that. If you don’t tell the truth now…
Moira, this is for Fergus. This is what he wanted.
His will. His will says to his rightful heir.
That’s the word he used, Moira. Rightful.
He wants his title to go to the person it belongs to. ’
‘What? What is all this nonsense about? I’m his heir.
I’m his only nephew.’ Kieron, who had remained so silent while Bex was talking to Moira that she’d almost forgotten he was there, strode towards her.
‘Whatever this is, it stops now. So what if he worded it oddly? He was a doddery old man, with only dogs for company.’
A sound remarkably like a growl emanated from Gordon and Duncan simultaneously, though it was Gordon who spoke.
‘Your uncle was the most rational man I ever met, all the way to his death. And he was certainly in sound mind when he wrote that. I should know. I was there.’
Kieron’s jaw was locked, and there was no sign of a twinkle in his eye. Nothing but pure fury.
‘This is ridiculous. You are not doing this. This is my house. My inheritance. I’m the rightful heir.’
Maybe it was the drink; maybe it was hearing Kieron sound so petulant. But whatever the reason, the restraint Bex had managed to maintain for the majority of the conversation snapped.
‘No, you’re not!’ she shouted. ‘Duncan is. Duncan is the rightful heir.’
‘What?’ Kieron’s eyes locked on her, before a high-pitched laugh rattled from his lungs. ‘What are you on about?’
‘Look at this photo.’ She grabbed the photo Duncan had handed her in the ballroom. ‘What do you notice about it?’
Kieron huffed, sounding more like a toddler than a future laird. ‘What is this? Another photo of Iona, I assume?’
‘Sure as hell looks like it, doesn’t it?
’ Bex couldn’t help but let the smile twist at the corner of her lips.
‘But it’s not. It’s Duncan’s mother. There’s a reason that she and Iona look so alike, though.
’ Bex swallowed, needing a breath before she could continue.
‘The thing is, the man Duncan believes is his grandfather never had any children. Not one. But his sister did. Didn’t she, Moira?
’ Bex looked solely at the old woman as she spoke.
‘Iona had one child. Fergus’s child. Duncan’s mother. ’