Chapter 19
It was the most comfortable Bex could remember feeling in ages.
She stretched out her hand, only to close it again.
Back the same way it had been before she’d woken; fingers intertwined with Duncan’s.
Palms pressed against one another. It was her favourite way to wake up, and she’d always loved that about sleeping beside Duncan.
No matter how they went to sleep, how tired, or possibly how drunk they were, or whether one of them went to bed later than the other, they always woke up holding hands.
It was like an unspoken, magnetic pull that drew them closer, making sure they started each day together, as a team.
As she drew in a lungful of air, the smell of stale whisky caught in her throat.
Her heart juddered. They weren’t at the lodge, she remembered.
They weren’t even together. Hurriedly she pulled her hand away.
Feeling comfortable holding Duncan’s hand wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing now.
She needed to help him first. Help him with this battle against Kieron.
Everything else, including their feelings, could wait.
As smoothly as she could, she slipped out of bed and headed to the door for her dressing gown.
She hadn’t thought it could get colder than when she’d first arrived, but it felt like every day the temperature dropped lower and lower.
She was freezing. Then again, maybe it was just a lack of a certain person’s warmth that she missed.
‘Hey, girl,’ she said, gently scratching behind Ruby’s ear to wake the dog up. ‘I’m just gonna check if the coast is clear.’
With nothing hanging on the door, Bex returned, fetched Ruby and her phone, then stood in the doorway as the dog went and did her business.
A medley of messages filled her phone screen.
There were several from Daisy and Claire, checking she was okay and assuring her they’d support her with whatever decision she made; one from her parents, telling her they’d love to see her if she was up for breakfast, but not to worry if she wanted to lie in; and a couple from Lorna, thanking her for dealing with Duncan.
But it was the missed calls that stole her attention.
Three of them, all from her boss, Nigel, and it was only just gone eight.
Nerves flitted through her.
With a job like hers, where large sums of money were involved, regular nine-to-five hours didn’t apply.
But it was unusual to hear from Nigel at this time of day.
Even before her last promotion he’d given her a lot of freedom and since she’d been in Scotland, he’d barely called her at all.
In fact, apart from when she was working on a particularly large account, she couldn’t recall him ever calling her this early.
‘Nigel,’ she said, her voice tinged with surprise. ‘I wasn’t expecting this call. Is everything okay?’
‘No, Rebecca,’ Nigel replied, his tone unusually tense. ‘We’ve got a bit of a situation here.’
Bex called Ruby in, headed back upstairs and while Duncan was still sprawled out on the bed, she shut herself in the bathroom to take the call in privacy.
‘Sorry about that,’ Bex said. ‘I can talk now. What is it? What’s happened?’
Even as she asked the question, a deep gnawing clawed at her insides. As if she already knew the answer. But she had to be wrong, didn’t she? Surely she was just being paranoid. With everything going on, there was no way that Nigel’s call was connected to Kieron.
‘Bex, we’ve lost all those new clients who signed on with us last week,’ Nigel said. ‘They’ve already dropped us, citing unprofessionalism on your part, I’m afraid. And a couple of others too. Big clients.’
The words sank like a stone in her gut. He’d done it. Kieron had actually made good on his threat to ruin her career.
‘Look, Nigel, I get how this must look,’ she began.
‘Confusing. That’s how it looks,’ he replied. ‘And the fact you asked for a month off just before it happened – well, it’s safe to say that the big bosses aren’t happy. Neither’s HR. They’ve asked me to call you back down. Immediately.’
‘What?’ Bex wouldn’t have thought it was possible for her stomach to drop further, but it did. And this time her whole body went with it as she sank down to the bathroom floor. ‘I’m not sure that’s possible right now.’
‘Why not? What on earth is going on up there, Rebecca?’
Bex drew in a deep breath. There was no point lying to him; it wouldn’t help anyone. Besides, she had too much respect for Nigel for that. He had been there since the beginning of this whole drama. He deserved to know.
‘It’s Kieron,’ she started. ‘All the recommendations we got were from him. That’s why we got so many new clients. But now he’s told them not to work with me any more.’
‘Kieron? Fergus’s nephew? The new laird?’
‘Well, that’s the thing,’ Bex said. ‘We’re not sure he is.’
‘What do you mean?’
Maybe she should have spoken to Gordon before she started telling people like Nigel about the situation with the will, but considering half the village was already talking about it – if not them all – there didn’t seem any point.
‘I found something while I’ve been here, something I think Fergus wanted me to discover.
That’s why he requested I came up here. It was never about the accounts.
If I’m right – and we’re still waiting on the DNA results to confirm it – but if I’m right, Kieron isn’t actually Fergus’s heir. And he’s not very happy about it.’
There was a slight pause, and even though Bex couldn’t see her boss, she could imagine exactly what he was doing; removing his glasses and cleaning them with the bottom of his shirt the way he always did when he needed a moment.
‘Well, that’s certainly a turn up for the books. But why does that mean he wants us to lose business?’
Bex scratched at a non-existent itch on the back of her neck.
It was her turn to need a moment to work out how to reply.
She and Nigel were as close as she was to any work colleague, but on a professional level only.
Details of their private lives were not something they shared with one another, and she didn’t want to start now.
‘I’m the one who made the connections with the will,’ she started.
Even though she planned on skipping a few minor details of the matter, she wasn’t going to tell Nigel anything that wasn’t true.
‘I found the person I think is the rightful heir. Before that, Kieron and I were getting on well, forming a kind of friendship, I guess you’d say.
Now he feels like I betrayed him. If it does turn out that I’m right, Kieron might come out of this with nothing – or at the very least, a lot less than he was expecting.
He’s furious, and he’s taking it out on me. ’
Nigel exhaled slowly. ‘I see.’
‘I’m so sorry, Nigel,’ Bex said. ‘I never imagined this would affect the business. It’s horrific. The whole situation, it’s… it’s had a big impact on the community up here.’
‘I can imagine.’ A long sigh reverberated down the phone line.
He paused again and Bex’s nerves hitched higher. It didn’t matter that Nigel believed her, or how much sympathy he felt for her; if the big bosses still wanted Bex to come back, then that’s what she would have to do.
‘Nigel, I really don’t think I can leave now,’ she said. ‘It’s why I asked for time off, so I could try to help my friends through this. I swear, I didn’t know Kieron was going to pull this stunt when I did that. I swear on Ruby’s life.’
‘Ruby?’ he questioned.
‘Long story. I’ll explain soon.’
This time, as Nigel contemplated what he was going to say, a slight hum reached Bex’s ear. She just hoped he’d got durable lenses on those glasses of his, otherwise this conversation was going to be enough to wear them thin.
‘HR won’t agree to the month now, Rebecca,’ he replied. ‘Even if I tell them it’s extenuating circumstances.’
Bex’s shoulders dropped, a sense of hopelessness cascading over her. ‘I get it, I do.’
‘But maybe I can persuade them to a week?’
‘A week?’ A spark of hope fluttered within her. ‘Do you think there would be any chance you could stretch it to seven working days?’ she asked hopefully.
Grabbing those extra days would at least mean she got another full weekend and a bit extra to stay here.
‘I’m sure I can push them to that,’ he replied.
‘Nigel, you’re a star,’ Bex said, relief washing over her. ‘You have no idea how grateful I am for this. And I’ll get Gordon the solicitor up here to ring you too. Just to corroborate everything I’m saying.’
It was yet another thing she probably should have checked with Gordon before mentioning, but she was sure he wouldn’t have a problem with it.
‘That’d be helpful. You do what you need to do. Just keep me in the loop with things like this next time, so I have a bit of a heads-up.’
If Bex never heard the phrase heads-up again, it would be too soon, she decided. Still, the weight on her chest lifted slightly as she hung up the phone. Now she just had Duncan to deal with.