Chapter 10
TEN
BEAUTY BEFORE THE BEAST
Callum
For two days, I jumped like a startled stag every time my phone made a peep. Then, finally, the message I’d been waiting for appeared, just as I returned from taking the boys to school.
I’m volunteering to work with a wedding coordinator this week. It will help me make sure my ideas for your venture are strong. Pay back for our day out :)
I frowned at the screen of my phone. Aside from replying that she was home safe, as I’d asked her to, this was all Mathilda had to say?
After that kiss? Slamming my Land Rover door shut, I glared at the castle and the hundred and one jobs it contained.
I needed a moment. Instead of going in, I set out on the path around the Tudor block then across to the start of the foothills, treading onto soft beds of pine needles.
To my left, the sprawl of two new farms began, the result of hard work in applying for government funding. A success, though more for the locals who had work than bringing any profit to me.
As I walked in the cool, clean air of my woods, I typed.
Then you’ll come back. To tell me how it went.
Thinking fast, I paused and snapped a picture of the ancient Scots Pine forest around me, then another of the view back down to the castle, the loch shining behind.
With a few clicks, I sent them to Mathilda with the caption ‘Wish you were here’.
If she was sitting in her office, this would look like a slice of Scottish Heaven.
Her reply took a minute, and in that time, I’d ascended the first slope and emerged into a sunny clearing, spring melting the last of the snow and warming the air.
I’d started to sweat, a trickle running down the sword tattoo at my back, so I stripped off my hoodie and shirt, finding a flat rock to take the weight off my feet.
The foothill behind the castle led straight up Mhic Raith, our mountain, and I’d climbed it any number of times both alone or with my brothers.
You make a compelling argument…that is utterly beautiful.
There was a pause as she wrote another message.
Flip the camera and send me one of you.
My heart boomed. The woman had dominated my thoughts ever since she’d left, but I still had no idea where her mind was at. But she wanted a picture of me, and she’d kissed me first. I’d never forget that. I tapped out my reply.
You first. Beauty before the beast.
At my feet, a scattering of pinecones took the brunt of my stress as I punted them one by one down the hillside while I waited. Each one scattered pine needles from the branches they hit on the slope below. Then a message appeared. A picture.
Mathilda’s beautiful face smiled cautiously at me. Her hair was up and her head tilted a little to the side. For a moment, I felt dizzy.
Then I read the caption.
I think you’re beautiful, too.
My ‘beast’ comment was only half a joke—with my height, weight, and rough features, I didn’t expect anyone to find me pretty. Some lasses didn’t seem to mind, and I’d assumed they were attracted to the brutish look of me. Maybe had an idea I’d be an animal when we were behind closed doors.
Nobody, ever, had called me beautiful.
It took a while for me to gather my wits as I stared at the picture and the comment, and my resolve took another sharp turn. I had to win her. She liked me, but it twisted my stomach to think of her other choices.
Nae. When had I ever been daunted by a challenge? Even if the thought made me sweat more than the climb had.
A new message dinged.
So…I showed you mine…
Impatient, I liked that. I grinned and took a snap, then sent it without looking too closely at my brawny shoulders. I followed with:
I’ll send more pictures. Of the estate. If it makes you happy.
*fans self* Put yourself naked in them and I’ll be very happy. Wow, Callum. Just wow
I burst out laughing, scaring a pair of birds from a tree.
Aye, maybe I will.
All the way back down the slope to the castle, my cheeks ached from smiling.
Until I saw the expensive city car pulled up in my car park. Two shark-faced land agents climbed out and strolled their shiny shoes to my door. I pulled my shirt back over my head and lost whatever joy I’d carried.
They’d been here once before, and I’d be damned if I was letting them over my threshold again.
“Mr McRae,” land agent number one said as I approached.
“I’m not interested. And it’s Laird to you.” I bore down on them, splitting them up where I took the steps in one long stride.
I turned back and folded my arms. The men paused and glanced at one another.
Inside the castle, a pile of letters—red bills—sat on Da’s desk. In the very office he’d laid his fists into a wee boy. The place where I’d lost control and broken his bones.
My finances had gone beyond worrying, and I’d been forced to ask the bank for a loan extension and the ability to consolidate my debts.
No answer had come yet, but it wasn’t my only option.
I had another path I’d take if things got desperate.
It meant sucking up my pride and would be harder than keeping my cool around Mathilda—a near impossibility.
The men’s fake smiles now could promise me the world, but I’d die before I took their offer. Selling Castle McRae would be the end of me. Seeing any of the land around here turned into a Highlands theme park, with no respect for history or clan, would kill.
I was more than happy to let them know.