Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Zeke
R aleigh had finally stopped arguing. The stubborn cuss was back to a mutual love-fest with Zodiac. Seeing the two of them together simply felt fantastic. It wasn’t often a guy could help mend a broken heart. Delighted that I’d pulled off my surprise, I turned to share the moment with Pippa.
I didn’t see her.
I strode back to the van, wondering if she’d gone to get something. But her backpack was gone.
She was gone.
I played the conversation of the past fifteen minutes back and froze.
Shit. Shit. She knows. She knows, and she’s gone .
Trying not to panic, I called out, “Where’s Pippa?”
“She caught a ride with Alistair,” Malcolm answered. “Said she needed to go check on her girls.”
Okay. Okay, that was probably true because she’d been gone longer than she’d intended. But I knew deep down that wasn’t all this disappearance was about. She’d run away.
I’d known the money thing was going to be an issue.
Yanking off my hat, I snarled, “Son of a—” Catching sight of Lily, I managed to save myself. “—monkey’s uncle.”
Raleigh looked over. “What’s goin’ on?”
“I’ll explain later, but right now, I need to find Pippa. Can I borrow a truck?”
Without question, my buddy pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them over. I slid behind the wheel, cursing the whole way down the driveway about why this country had to drive on the wrong side of the fucking road. It always took me a little while to readjust when I came to visit, and all my time this trip had been as a passenger. Thankfully, Pippa’s croft wasn’t far, as she was one of Raleigh’s tenants.
I parked in front of her cottage and headed around to the barn. No matter what was going on, I knew I’d find her with her animals. They were comfort and joy in equal measure.
Her soft voice carried out to me before I saw her.
“There now Betsy. Did you miss me? Och, Noreen, dinna be pushy. You’ll get your turn.”
“You left.” As she didn’t jump out of her skin at my words, I figured that was proof she’d known I was there.
“I needed to get home. I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, and I expect you have other things to do.”
Somehow, that felt like a trick question. Because if I said yes, that sounded as if she wasn’t important to me. If I said no, that sounded like I was some kind of millionaire playboy who could do whatever the fuck I wanted. Which also wasn’t strictly true.
Keeping my tone casual and hoping not to reveal the fact that I was freaking out, I strolled toward her. “Well, I figure I owe you some explanation.”
A hand absently scratching one of her massive cows, she studied me with distant eyes. “You dinna owe me anything. It’s your business.”
I leaned against the rail and automatically stroked the shaggy head of the nearest Highland coo. “So you’re telling me the millionaire thing didn’t just throw you for a loop?”
She ducked her head for a moment before lifting her gaze back to mine. “I want to say that it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t. But you lied to me, Zeke.”
“I never lied. I omitted. That’s not the same thing.”
The fulminating glare she shot me reminded me she wasn’t all softness. She had a spine of steel in there.
“Look, I didn’t grow up with money. I was exactly what you see here. I’ve been a lifelong cattle rancher. We did fine. We were comfortable enough, but it wasn’t anything crazy or excessive. And it happened I went to college for engineering.”
She blinked. “Engineering?”
I flashed a self-deprecatory grin. “I don’t seem the type, do I?”
“That was no’ a dig at your intelligence. I just… You’ve never mentioned it.”
I shrugged again, with more nonchalance than I felt. “Well, that’s not really what I do now, so it didn’t seem relevant.”
“What exactly is it you do now?”
“I have a cattle ranch, among other interests. But, well, back in college, I saw an annoying problem on the farm, came up with a solution, and patented the design. Boring shit. But it ended up being pretty popular boring shit, so the patent I filed when I was twenty has set me up comfortably. I’m not some kind of Elon Musk or Zuckerberg billionaire. Millions don’t go near as far as they used to in this economy, but they allow me to indulge myself when I want to do something for somebody I care about.”
“You made Raleigh so happy.” Her smile told me she understood that entirely and appreciated it.
“Yeah. Seeing the look on his face was worth every penny.” I swallowed. “The thing is, he’s not the only one I’ve been doing something for.”
Her brows drew together as she frowned. “What are you talking about?”
I tried to figure out how to say it, but as the silence drug on, I watched the lightbulb click on.
“The angel investor out of Glasgow,” she whispered. “That’s you?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want it to change how you looked at me.” But it had, and at this point I knew I had to lay all my cards on the table. “Because I want more from you. You’ve been an amazing friend, and if that’s all you want to stay, I will absolutely respect that. But last night was incredible, and I hoped it would be the start of something. I wanted the chance for us to figure out what that could be without the fact that I have money clouding the issue.”
“Did you really think it would matter to me?”
Hearing the faint tone of insult, I chose my words carefully. “It’s mattered to a lot of people in a lot of different ways. I do not, under any circumstances, think you’d be after me for my money. That’s not who you are. But I was afraid that it would change things. And yeah, I do want to change things between us, but not because of that. The investment opportunity is on the table, regardless of what happens with us, because I believe in your product. You know I do. If you decide in the end that you do truly want to expand, I’m here to help you do that, no questions asked. If you decide you don’t…” I shot her a rueful smile, hoping to lighten the weight of this heavy conversation just a little. “Well, I’ll be sad there won’t be more cheese for me to buy. But, again, that’s your choice. I’m not trying to manipulate you in any way.”
As I spoke, I’d edged closer, and I took it as a good sign that she wasn’t backing away. I reached for her hands. “The fact is, Pippa, that I’m crazy about you. I just want the chance to see where this goes.”
I watched as that brilliant brain of hers tried to process everything I’d just laid on her, but she didn’t pull away. “Zeke, how would this even work? You live in the States. I live here.”
“I don’t have to live in the States.”
She began to sputter. “You’d move here for this?”
“Well, I have the flexibility. I have good people running my ranch. I have the income from my patent, no matter where I live. And most of the other stuff I do, I can do anywhere with an internet connection and a phone line. So yeah, I can afford to come over here for a few months or however long we take to figure out whether this is something we both want to pursue for longer.”
She stared up at me, those big brown eyes beseeching. “Zeke, I canna ask you to do that.”
Because I simply couldn’t help myself, I cupped her cheek, loving that she automatically leaned into the touch. “Darlin’, you’re not asking. I’m offering. There’s no harm in sayin’ yes.” Pulling her closer, I framed her face between my palms. “Please give us a chance. Please say you want that.”
Her hands curled around my wrists, and for a moment, I was deathly terrified she was about to pull away. Instead, she leaned into me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“Yes. Yes, I want that.”
Hauling her closer, I dipped my mouth to within a whisper of hers. “Then all the rest is just details.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Anything you want.”