Chapter 5
A surge of heat rolled through Bex. Had he really just done that?
Kieron, the man she had genuinely considered starting a relationship with, had just threatened her.
And she wasn’t the only one who had heard.
A low growl reverberated from Ruby’s throat, her lips twitching just enough to show a glimmer of white teeth.
‘You know, I didn’t think you were allowed dogs in here,’ Kieron snarled. ‘I’d muzzle that if I were you. I’d hate for her to do something silly. There’d be consequences. And I know how much she means to you.’
Bex’s back teeth ground together. Threatening her and her dog? This conversation was over.
‘I think you need to leave. You’ve said everything you need to say. Now, get out.’
‘Don’t worry, I was going.’ Kieron’s lips curled up into a smirk as he slowly rose from his seat. ‘I’d think about what I said though. It’s not going to get easier than this, I can promise you that.’
Bex nodded down to Ruby. ‘Leave before she makes you,’ she said.
Finally, Kieron turned on his heel, marched out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Bex flopped back onto the bed, surprised by the shallowness of her breath.
She wasn’t even sure when she had stood up, possibly when Kieron had started attacking Duncan, or maybe her job.
She didn’t know. All she knew was that she was trembling and struggling to pull air into her lungs.
A wheezing sound whistled from her throat as Ruby placed her head on her lap, emitting a soft whining sound.
‘I’m okay, I’m okay,’ Bex said, though whether she was speaking to herself or Ruby, she wasn’t sure.
Her breath was starting to slow slightly, but her heart was still racing.
Pounding in her pulse points. How the hell could he have spoken to her like that?
And how the hell could he think he had any claim to Fergus’s inheritance?
Yes, Fergus had been close to Kieron’s mother, his sister, but as far as Bex was aware, Kieron had barely spent any time at Highland Hall.
He only used the estate for hunts, parties and other frivolities.
Duncan, on the other hand, had this village flowing in his veins.
He knew every person who lived here, helping them out in whatever ways they needed, from fixing their fences to fetching wayward flocks.
These were people who, if DNA proved it, would become his tenants.
And she had no doubt he’d treat them not only with respect, but with love.
They were his family. And he was almost as much a part of Highland Hall as Fergus had been.
She didn’t know what the DNA test would ultimately reveal, but right now, she knew one thing for certain: there was only one gentleman between the two men involved, and it wasn’t the one who thought he deserved a title.
‘For God’s sake, Fergus,’ Bex muttered to herself as she looked upwards towards the heavens, grateful that both her breathing and pulse were returning to normal. ‘Could you have not just named the damn heir in the will? Would that really have been that hard to do?’
For a moment she waited there as if she might actually get a response.
The room was steeped in silence when a loud knock rattled the door. Her heart jumped, sending her pulse racing from the shock, though as she rose to her feet, it continued to rise for an entirely different reason.
Ruby. Of course, Kieron had told the owner that she had Ruby in here.
That damn snake. Her head went back and forth between the dog and the bathroom.
She could definitely ask Ruby to sit in there and be quiet, but if the owner asked to look through the whole place and found her there, she’d be in even worse trouble. It was better just to own up.
‘I need you to know it’s not Roddy’s fault. He didn’t know— Lorna?’
Bex froze mid-sentence as she found herself face to face with her friend. Lorna stood there, her arms crossed, looking less than impressed.
‘What are you doing here?’ Bex asked, still trying to catch up. ‘I thought you were sleeping?’
Lorna waltzed in and took a seat at the end of the bed. Unlike with Kieron, Ruby made no attempt to stop her. Instead, she wagged her tail happily at the sight of her old housemate.
‘I was,’ she started. ‘But then Kieron turned up at my door, hammering until I got up, insisting he spoke to you. He didn’t believe me when I said you’d moved out until I pointed out that there was no suitcase and Ruby’s things had gone too.
So he wanted to know where you were staying.
Thing was, you hadn’t left a note saying where you’d gone.
Anyway, long story short, I rang here, found out from Roddy that this was where you got a room, Kieron marched straight down here and I was left in need of a bloody big drink. ’
‘I thought you couldn’t handle being near the smell of alcohol.
’ Bex skipped over the bit about Kieron banging on the cottage door, despite how guilty she felt about it.
The last thing she’d wanted was to bring this mess to her friend’s doorstep too, but she wasn’t sure what she could say. Not without explaining about the will.
‘Well, I thought a hair of the dog might help,’ Lorna replied. ‘But I just got to the bar, and Kieron came marching down with a face like thunder. So I left my drink and came up here so you could tell me exactly what’s going on. And I want the truth. All of it.’
Bex groaned as she rubbed her temples. So far, her plan of moving out of Lorna’s so that she didn’t have to deal with any prying questions hadn’t worked at all.
Lorna was unlikely to have been the only one who saw Kieron storming out of the pub, which meant tongues were probably already wagging.
But unless she lied – and said it was just a messy love-triangle situation – Bex didn’t know what she could do.
She pressed her lips together, trying to think of an answer that was truthful, but didn’t reveal Duncan’s situation or anything about the will at all. In the end, what she landed on was, ‘It’s complicated.’
Lorna sat down on the same chair Kieron had only minutes before, crossed her legs, folded her arms and looked Bex straight in the eye.
‘Well then, uncomplicate it for me,’ she said.