Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
FALTERED
Ella
On shadow-strewn Fifty-Seventh Street, I stood outside Richard’s building, my hands shaking and my stomach contorting itself in knots. The lawyers had been successful—we had a booking to view my uncle’s apartment—but my age-old visceral response to all things Richard held my body taut.
A selling agent waited in the lobby, a glossy brochure in her hands. We closed in on her, but she looked past us.
“Laird and Lady McRae for the apartment viewing,” Gordain said, his voice strong and his shoulders back.
The woman gave us a rapid glance, taking in our casual clothes—me in a pretty dress and Gordain in jeans and a t-shirt—but she welcomed us all the same then led us to the elevators.
The ding of the elevator halting thrust us into Richard’s domain.
At the door, I faltered. Gordain gripped my hand, and I stepped through the hall and into the open doorway.
It was exactly as I recalled. Polished wood. Tall windows with insane views. The place was clear of any personal effects—Richard must had moved out already.
But that wasn’t what hit me. The place smelled of Richard. Of the cigars he occasionally smoked. Of whisky and whatever old-man aftershave he splashed on. My lizard brain recoiled, disgusted. I forced my feet to move.
Couples milled around. The smiling realtor pointed out features and offered to let us explore. Gordain eyed the view—straight down the length of Central Park. I tried to unstick my muscles and remember why I’d thought this was a good idea.
“What do you need?” Gordain wrapped his arms around me from behind, my back to his broad chest.
“My head examined? Why am I here?”
“Because you are stronger than him. You’re taking back what is yours by rights and showing him that he ultimately lost.”
“But look!” I indicated to a couple who stood with what appeared to be the lead real estate agent.
They ducked their heads and whispered, the woman of the couple writing something on a piece of paper.
“They are talking numbers. This place is going to sell quickly. The lawyers aren’t going to get their shit together in time. All I’m doing is showing myself what I never had. It’s going to make it worse!”
Gordain spun me around. “Stop panicking.”
“I’m not panicking!” My eye alighted on the enormous bookcase that divided the lounge from the hall. “Oh God!”
I stomped over and grabbed a heavy book from the shelf. “This is his.”
Gordain angled his head to read the cracked spine. “Debretts Peerage and Baronetage.”
“It’s an encyclopaedia of all the noble families in the UK. Yours will be in there. Ours is. I can even tell you the page number. Richard was obsessed.”
I rested it against my chest and flipped to the right place.
The version of the book was an old one. My dad was listed as the heir. The print was smudged—evidence of my uncle’s obsession over not being in line to inherit.
I dragged my fingers over it. The page ripped.
“Miss?” One of the agents appeared at my shoulder. “Please don’t touch the privately owned objects. Any items included in the sale are listed in the information pack—”
“Is it listed in the information pack how the so-called owner was a liar and a narcissist?” The words fell helplessly from my mouth.
The woman took a step back and glanced over her shoulder.
“Fuck that.” Gordain took the book from me and in one almighty heave, tore it in two, straight down the middle of the spine.
I gaped at him.
The woman gave a little shriek and tottered away.
“Oh my God,” I said to my handsome Highlander, my eyes wide.
He threw the pieces onto the floor. “He has no power over you now. No matter what happens.”
To my left, in front of the backdrop of the city, three of the realtors formed a line. Gordain stepped in front of me, his hands on his hips, ready to defend me.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I snatched it out and answered it, breathless and wired. “Hello?”
“Lady Elinor, this is Pamela Forde from Dawson, Forde, and Lowell. I am pleased to tell you that your outstanding matter has been concluded this morning.”
The lawyers. “My… It has?”
“Your guardianship order was concluded with immediate effect. We then served the injunction overnight, but it was deemed unnecessary.”
Unnecessary? Had I lost already? “Why?”
“It was simpler than expected. The apartment in question was never in Mr Fitzroy’s name. He held it in trust for you. Now he is no longer in the position of your guardian, ownership naturally falls to you. Therefore, he cannot sell it. My colleague is notifying the realtor now.”
I sagged against the bookcase.
I’d won.
“We’ve won,” I said to Gordain.
“If you don’t leave, I am going to call the police,” the lead agent snapped.
“Wait a minute—” I raised a weary hand, but the woman wasn’t done.
“I had my doubts from the moment you walked into the room. These viewings are not a joke! This is someone’s well-loved home. You destroyed our client’s personal property. He is within every right to sue you.”
She took a step closer, and I ducked under Gordain’s arm to stand next to him.
“I’m sure he’ll try,” I almost cackled, high on the moment. “But he’s lost.”
“What are you talking about? Never mind. I don’t have time for this. Leave now, or the police will remove you.”
The lead agent held up her phone. It rang in her hand and the line of women jumped. She answered it and placed a manicured finger against her other ear, still glaring at me.
Gordain took my waist, turning me to him. “It’s done?”
“Aye.” I gave him a wobbly smile. “We did it. You made all this possible. Thank you.”
His answering smirk had my knees weak. He twisted back to the realtors. “Ladies, as I’m sure your boss is just being told, you’re addressing the real owner of this place. If she wants to cause mayhem, I recommend you dinna stand in her way.”
Three hours, multiple explanations, and bundles of emailed paperwork later, and the real estate agents worked for me.
They’d had three offers on the duplex already.
With my hands now steady, I instructed the highly apologetic lead agent to accept the highest bid and wrap up the sale as fast as possible.
Then I booked first-class tickets on the next flight to the UK. Gordain and I were going home.
Side by side in ultra-comfortable, reclined seats, Gordain and I made the return trip across the Atlantic. We held hands in the cosy, dimly lit space and talked.
We drank a glass of champagne each and toasted my uncle’s demise.
All was well, but still, a sense of foreboding hung over me. The depths of Richard’s control and hatred couldn’t be so easily overcome, and I knew he’d retaliate somehow.
But there was nothing I could do about that in midair. I sent texts to James, warning him that Richard would be angry, and to be vigilant, then I quietened my worries by giving my full attention to Gordain. I wanted to know everything about him, every bit of history, every like and dislike.
I wanted him to tell me, again, his closest-held dream.
Because his wife was about to make it come true.
In London, we checked onto an internal flight and made the short hop to Inverness. It hadn’t been difficult to persuade Gordain to see his family first. My brother knew the highlights of what had happened and, after all, we’d be there tomorrow.
I thought I detected excitement in Gordain’s voice when he called to tell his brother we were on our way.
At Inverness arrivals, the laird and lady waited at the barrier. Mathilda held a bouquet.
I leaned into Gordain. “They know?”
“Aye.” He threw his arm around me and drew me in, our bags over his other shoulder. “I found it too hard to keep ye a secret, wife.”
We rounded the barrier, and Gordain’s brother marched over. He enveloped Gordain in a hard bear hug and thumped him on the back. I grinned at the reunion and faced Mathilda.
“Congratulations.” She beamed and presented me with the flowers.
“I didn’t expect this. I thought you’d all think we were mad.” Or that I was using him.
Mathilda tilted her head at where Gordain and his brother were talking, their hands still clutching each other.
“We knew Gordain was in love with you, so once he told us the plan for your uncle, we knew it would end in one of two ways. Either this would injure him, and he’d go straight back to work to lick his wounds and then no one would hear from him for months”—she took my hand and brushed over my wedding ring—“or this. He’d bring you back with him.
Proud, and grinning, and with his spark returned. ”
“I love him so much,” I half whispered.
“That is obvious.” She hugged me.
I returned it, then angled us so Gordain couldn’t see my face. I eyed Mathilda. “I need your help with something. It’s important but needs to be a secret. For now, anyway.”
Mathilda raised a perfect fair eyebrow. “Luckily for you, I’m excellent at getting things done. Let’s get moving. We’ll find time to talk, perhaps when the twins are yelling questions at the two of you.” She linked her arm through mine. “Welcome to the family.”
The twins, who’d been babysitting the two new and super-cute mini-McRaes, were in raptures at our return. The evening meal became a party, and I had to postpone my chat with Mathilda.
I tried to call my brother, but there was no answer.
He replied with a text an hour later saying Beth was having a bad night, but he really wanted to talk to me.
He made a point of stating how secure their apartment was in Belvedere—there was even a fire escape newly added—and I relaxed, knowing they were safe.
In Gordain’s bed, in the tower, after he’d carried me up the stone flight and made love to me at the top on the hard stone floor, I gave him a gentle kiss. “Can we leave early to drive to Belvedere tomorrow? I’m worried about Beth and I want to see them.”
Gordain stretched out, gloriously naked and confident in his inked skin. “Actually, I have a better idea. How do you fancy a helicopter ride there?”
I grinned and laid another kiss on him. “Are you kidding? That will be perfect.”
“I’ll go to the old school and pick one up first thing.”
Which would give me just enough time to pay a little local visit myself.
Mathilda reversed the four-by-four in a neat circle then took off down the road leading away from the castle. In the back, the baby twins gurgled in their car seats.
“It’s not that Ally and Wasp are bad at babysitting,” she murmured, checking her mirrors, though there was no other traffic on the remote Highland road.
“It’s just a little early to expect them to be awake and sensible.
Besides, if I can have my babies with me, I prefer it.
It’s like I’m missing a limb when I can’t see them. ”
“Beth is the same about Sebastian.” I slid my phone from my pocket. “Do you mind if I try my brother as we drive? I can’t shake this feeling of worry.”
Mathilda waved me to go ahead, and I made the call.
James answered, despite it being barely seven AM. “Elinor.”
“Uh-oh, you full first-named me. Is everything okay there?”
“Beth is still unwell, an infection, I think, but wait, I was going to ask you the same thing. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days. What on earth happened?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Well, you know the highlights. I beat Richard—”
“You got married,” my brother interrupted. “To my best friend, who—”
“Who I love,” I interrupted right back.
Silence held the line. Then James chuckled. “Last time you were here, I worried that you two had argued. Now you’re husband and wife?”
“Very happily.”
“I might need a second to get my head around this.”
“You’re happy for us?”
“I am.” He drew a hefty breath. “I’d love to have had that wedding here, but I know why that couldn’t happen.”
“Maybe we’ll have a blessing at Belvedere,” I said, clutching the phone, suddenly emotional. “Or maybe we’ll have it at our own place.”
Ahead, the destination of our short trip loomed.
“Your own place? What are you talking about?” James asked.
In all the months I’d been at university, planning my career and coming into my own, I had one place in mind when I’d envisaged running my business.
Castle Braithar.
The size was perfect, the appearance breathtaking, from the babbling river that splashed through its front garden, to the snowy mountain backdrop. The quiet surroundings, nature, and towering forests could inspire even the most reticent mind.
I could write here. Piece after piece.
Gordain would own the place that had given him sanctuary as a broken child.
With the sale of Richard’s apartment, I was certain I could afford it.
At the front of the castle entrance, Lachlan and Marianne waited, curious expressions on their faces. My heart raced, preparing me for what I was about to do.
“This might sound a little crazy,” I said to my brother, “but I’m going to buy a home.”