Chapter 10 #2
I cut him a dirty look over my shoulder. “I wasn’t ogling. And do you want fired?”
He grinned, dark eyes bright with mirth, because he knew there was no way I’d fire him. Little fucker.
Fergus pushed by and into the studio. “Hullo, ladies.”
Lucy and Eredine broke their grapple to stride over to us. I avoided Robyn’s eyes.
“You decided to train.” I cuddled Eredine into my side.
“It’s fun.” Her gaze cut to Robyn. “Robyn’s a great instructor. I told her if she stays, she should open a class.”
“Hear! Hear!” Lucy tapped her eco water bottle against Robyn’s. “And I told her if she ever wants to come to LA, I will pay her good money to turn me into a badass.”
“You’re already a badass,” Robyn returned, flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. “You don’t need me for that.” Her eyes met mine. They were so large, filled with so much expression. This morning, I’d taken time to look at Mac’s eyes and I’d realized, Lucy was right. Robyn had his eyes.
But they looked different on her.
Robyn’s were ever changing.
Unpredictable.
She was unpredictable.
“So, why are you here?” Eredine nudged me. When I looked down at her, she wore a knowing smirk that was confusing.
“I’m here to check on you, and Fergus is here …” I gestured to him.
“About the Defender. I have paint and interior samples for you to see. But first, I feel I should introduce myself to our lovely guest.” Fergus stared at Robyn with open admiration. It was a bit much. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to women more beautiful than she was roaming the estate.
We were in a room with two of them.
Then why the fuck can you not stop staring at her?
Disgruntled, I focused on Fergus. “This is Robyn, Mac’s daughter.” I might have emphasized that last part with an unspoken “off-limits.” Mac wouldn’t want men sniffing around his daughter while he wasn’t here to keep her safe. That job had unfortunately fallen to me by default.
“Robyn, I’m Fergus, the mews mechanic.” He shook her hand vigorously, and she offered him an amused grin.
Then something changed in her expression. “The mechanic who found the message painted across the Land Rover?”
Jesus, she was a bulldog. “Robyn—”
“The very one.” Fergus stepped into her space. “I didn’t know we were telling people about that.”
“Robyn isn’t people,” I cut in. “She’s police. And investigating on Mac’s behalf.”
“I thought the DIs from Inverness were investigating it?”
“They are.” I heaved a sigh. “But Mac would feel better about it if Robyn investigated too. That means we’re still not talking about it with anyone off the estate, Fergus. Understood?”
At my biting tone, Fergus stepped back, arms raised in defense. “You know I wouldn’t spread gossip.”
Eredine gave me a little shove in admonishment and stepped out of my hold toward the mechanic. “Come on, Fergus. You can show me the samples.”
“I’ll come too,” Lucy said, following them out. “You know I love giving my opinion even when no one’s asked for it.”
The three of them left the studio without even saying goodbye.
Leaving me there.
With her.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and met her confident stare. “Fergus is a family friend.”
Robyn crossed her arms over her chest, drawing attention to it. I kept my focus firmly on her face. “Oh?” she asked.
“He was my brother Brodan’s best friend growing up.
He was also Arrochar’s first boyfriend, but it fizzled out when she went to Aberdeen Uni.
She broke things off. Brodan and he stayed friends, but they don’t see each other much now that my brother lives in LA.
Still, Fergus feels like family.” Even if he acted a bit of a prat now and then.
“So you offered him the mechanic’s job?”
I took a step toward her. “His dad used to own the only garage in the area, but he sold it, and the person who bought it renovated and turned it into an inn. Fergus didn’t want to leave Ardnoch, so I decided the estate should have its own small fleet of cars for chauffeuring members to and from the airport, or for those who wanted to explore the Highlands.
The mews required a mechanic and valet.”
Robyn’s eyes narrowed as her gaze slid away from me to the studio exit.
She considered something.
How did I know that about her already?
“What is it?” I took another step toward her.
Her eyes flickered back to me, down my body and up again upon the realization I’d moved closer. When our eyes met, I saw now that hers looked browner today than they had yesterday. “We need to put Fergus on our suspect list.”
It was like someone slammed open the studio door and an icy spring wind ripped through me. I retreated physically and mentally. “Excuse me?”
“Arrochar dumped him. And then Brodan left him behind. Who’s to say he isn’t taking that out on you?”
“That’s a thin argument, Robyn. And you can’t go around accusing good people of heinous crimes. People I care about.”
“Look, I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. “But I have a dad lying in a hospital bed recovering from three knife wounds perpetrated upon him by a man who fits Fergus’s physical description. I’m not accusing him. I’m just … considering all theories.”
I could feel my anger brewing steadily hotter.
Robyn seemed to sense it. She held up a hand as if warding me off. “You’re allowed to be mad at me. But you also have to cooperate.” I watched her, unable to speak for fear I’d insult her and thus piss off Mac, as she strode across the studio to grab a shoulder bag and her camera.
“Why do you take that thing everywhere?” I gestured in irritation at the camera. I wasn’t a fan of cameras as I connected them to an invasion of privacy.
Robyn shrugged. “I own a photography business.”
The urge to ask her why she gave up police work was strong, but becoming curious about this woman was not a path I should let myself go down. “Why do you need the camera on the estate? You know there’s no way I’ll give you permission to print any photographs you take here.”
“I’m going to take some shots outside the estate once I’m done here. I didn’t see the point in driving back to the Gloaming for my camera when I’m going in the opposite direction. Is that okay with you, oh lord and master?” She threw me a dry smirk as I held open the studio door for her to exit.
Ignoring her sarcasm, I followed her down the porch steps. Before I could think of an appropriate and cutting response, she spoke again.
“Tell me about the village.”
I looked down at her as we walked up the path toward the castle. “What do you want to know?”
“You can guarantee your members privacy on the estate, but how can you guarantee them privacy in the village?”
“I can’t.”
Her eyes widened. “Lachlan Adair just admitted to something he can’t do.”
I flashed her a dark smile. “You say that like you know me.”
Robyn’s eyes narrowed, her thick lashes almost concealing them from me entirely. Her full lips made a moue in thought. “You’re right. I don’t know you. I only know you through what the internet says, and we all know that’s a place truth goes to die.”
I snorted. She grinned up at me.
Then she tripped on a crack in the path I’d been on maintenance to fix for a week. She let out an oof as her body launched forward.
Instinctively, I reached out, hauling her against me to steady her.
I could feel every inch of her curves.
Could feel her heat.
Smell that musky floral perfume that suited her perfectly.
She pushed against me with a strength that belied her slender build, and I quickly released her.
“Are you okay?” I asked gruffly.
Robyn wouldn’t look at me as she brushed strands loosened from her ponytail behind her ears. “I’m fine. I just need to watch where I’m going.”
“The path will be repaired. I’ll make sure to mention it to maintenance again.”
“It’s fine. I would have stopped myself from face-planting even if you hadn’t caught me.”
My lips twitched at the stubborn tilt of her chin.
I had a feeling it would take a miracle for this woman to admit she ever needed someone.
“You were saying,” she continued, “about the village. You can’t guarantee privacy?”
Deciding to give her what she wanted, I replied, “No. But it’s quiet there during the off-season, like now.
During the summer, however, tourists pile into Ardnoch for the award-winning beaches and in the hopes of seeing a famous person.
With them come the tabloids. Most of the club members stick to the estate during the summer, or they take vehicles out and drive farther afield. ”
“Still, it must bring in quite the revenue for the village?”
“Tourism is a huge industry here in Scotland, but I can think of no other village that sees the kind of business we do during the summer. Everywhere is booked months in advance. A traveler comes through on the off chance, looking for a place to stay, they’d be shit out of luck.”
“The people here must love you.”
“My family has been here for centuries. We had a good relationship with the villagers before I launched the club.”
“Well, that’s not strictly true, is it?” She glanced up at me before returning her gaze to the path.
Irritated by the insinuation the villagers didn’t like the Adairs, I growled, “What does that mean?”
“Oh, don’t take offense, Adair.” She threw me an exasperated look. “I’m talking about McCulloch.”
Understanding dawned. “You’ve been reading Mac’s notes.”
“Yeah. But I want you to tell me why McCulloch is on Mac’s list of possible suspects. Though, he’s too tall to be the man who stabbed him.”
“Mac has him on the list for a reason.” I thought of that bitter old man and his hatred of my family.
“What happened there?”
“Ask anyone in the village and they’ll tell you.”
“I’m asking you.”
“It’s not a long story. In fact, it’s a tale as old as time.
McCulloch was raised to believe that my great-great-great-great-grandfather stole McCulloch land and incorporated it into Adair land.
He says there was nothing his ancestor could do against the might of the Adair family.
The Adairs had wealth and social standing, were landed gentry.
In fact, my great-great-great-grandfather’s sister married the younger brother of the Duke of Sutherland. ”
“Is it true? That your family stole the land?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My father looked into it, and there’s no documented evidence that McCulloch is right.
But McCulloch has never let it go. It didn’t help that my father had an affair with McCulloch’s sister and broke it off when he met my mother.
” The story was not a happy one. Certainly not for McCulloch.
And what had happened afterward had left a wound in my dad I knew scarred over but never faded.
“McCulloch’s sister killed herself a few weeks later.
He found her hanging in one of the barns. ”
“Oh my God,” Robyn gasped, her expression tight with sadness.
“McCulloch blamed my father, but we all know there had to be more to his sister’s decision than a broken heart. McCulloch has never let it go, which only added to my father’s guilt. As I said, a tale as old as time. Love and land. It’s always the thing people go to war over, isn’t it?”
“It’s a sad story. And fascinating too.” Robyn frowned at the path. “But what of this housekeeper, Sarah? Why would Mac list McCulloch’s granddaughter as a suspect?”
Discomfort moved through me at the thought of Sarah. “It was a surprise that she wanted to work here or that McCulloch would allow it. At first, I was wary. In case he’d lost the plot and was actually sending her in as a spy—”
“A bit dramatic, no?”
“And what would you call the events of the last eight weeks?”
“Point taken,” she conceded easily. “So, Sarah?”
I grimaced. “She has a very obvious crush on me. And I’ve found her coming out of my suite outside housekeeping hours.”
Robyn stopped on the path to face me, obviously surprised. “Well, that’s damning.”
Shaking my head, I sighed. “You haven’t met her, Robyn. This is a young woman who can barely say boo to a goose.”
“You mean a ghost?”
“I mean a goose.”
“Why would you say boo to a goose?”
“Because that’s the saying.”
“The saying is boo to a ghost.”
“Goose. Google it.”
“I think I will.” She turned away, that chin in the air again.
“Fuck, but you’re stubborn.”
“Uh, Pot meet Kettle.” She threw my words from yesterday back at me but with a sultry smile.
I shook my head but continued as we neared the castle. “Sarah is timid. I can’t imagine her being a part of all this.”
“That may be, but I’d like a chance to talk with her. In a way that she has no idea I’m investigating, of course.”
“Of course.”
Robyn raised an eyebrow at my sarcastic tone.
“How are we supposed to manufacture that meeting?”
“I’ll think of something,” she insisted.
Silence fell between us as gravel crunched underfoot. We strolled around the outside of the castle toward the front entrance.
“So,” she asked, her tone softer than before, “your mom passed away a few years before your dad, right?”
The question destroyed any humor or warmth that may have crept between us. I rounded the castle and saw her SUV waiting at the entrance.
At my silence, Robyn sighed. “I’m very sorry for your loss, Lachlan.”
Her use of my name cut through the cold. I was acting like a bastard. I nodded at her. “Thank you.”
“That’s why I’m here, you know.” She stepped toward me.
I could feel her heat, and she hadn’t even touched me.
“I know you look on me as some kind of outsider—maybe even an enemy—because I don’t understand the trials and tribulations of the rich and famous.
But I’m not here to hurt or exploit anyone.
” Her expression suddenly grew unguarded in a way I hadn’t expected.
Those extraordinary eyes were green, gray, blue, and brown all at once, and filled with feeling.
“I just don’t want to get a phone call one day telling me my dad died and then I’d have to bury him along with all my regrets.
That’s why I’m here. For him. For him and me. The possibility of it.”
With that, she spun, kicking up gravel with the speed of her movement.
Before I knew it, she was in her vehicle and driving away.
Leaving me stunned and disoriented by her confession and the sincerity I’d heard in it.