Chapter 10
ARRO
Constant rain for two days had transformed the site into a mud-ravaged mess. The downpour finally stopped, and after assessing the situation this morning, Marcello had gone ahead with sending the machinery in to finish the job since we were so close to being done.
Now our damn timber harvester was stuck, and we’d spent most of our last hours in the workday trying to get it out.
The truck on the flat revved its engine one more time and drove forward against the mud. With great relief, the harvester pulled free.
A cheer went up around the crew, and I smirked unhappily.
We were definitely off schedule now, something I’d usually be able to handle with little stress, but now it seemed like a massive deal on top of everything else on my mind.
For example, my brother had only just let me return to my own house; the mysterious note sender hadn’t made another move, and thus the police couldn’t do a thing about it; oh, and Mac—the cause of this constant, piercing ache in my chest—kept calling and leaving messages every bloody day.
“Isn’t it your job to make sure something like this doesn’t happen?”
I looked at the asker of the snide question.
Duncan.
Of course.
It was more than sexism here. The little prick did not like me.
And today I was not in the mood to deal with his shit.
Everyone knew Marcello had made the decision to go ahead, even though I’d been apprehensive about it.
But we’d worked in muddier conditions, so I could see why he thought we might get away with it, and we were behind because of the weather.
So I backed him. And I wouldn’t shift the blame to him because we were a team, and I wouldn’t undermine him.
“Excuse me?” I narrowed my eyes in warning at the assistant.
He shrugged, watching as the others parked the timber harvester, securing it for overnight. “Any moron could see this was going to happen.”
“Oh. Do you have a crystal ball?”
Duncan sneered. “No, just brains in my head.”
And just like that, I snapped. “Speak to me like that again, and you’ll find yourself back in the unemployment line.”
His eyes flashed in surprise. “You can’t fire me.”
“Oh, I can and I will.”
“Just because you’re some daughter of an aristocrat and a movie star’s sister doesn’t mean you can do anything you like.”
I felt true rage in that moment.
This little fucker had looked into me.
“First, my family aren’t aristocracy, but you’d know that if you’d dug a little deeper when you were obviously investigating me.
” Our ancestors had been landed gentry. No titles or ranks like the aristocracy.
“And second, what you just said is so far out of line, it is a firing offense. I’m noting this interaction, Duncan, and putting a complaint into Marcello about you.
But make no mistake, if this happens again, I won’t need Marcello’s go-ahead to fire you.
You think I haven’t dealt with misogynists like you before?
You’re wrong. And guess what? I’m still here, despite their efforts to get rid of me.
So this is your last warning. Give me attitude, make my working environment unpleasant”—I leaned in, despite the stark fury in his expression—“I will not only fire you, I’ll make sure you never work in this industry again. ”
To my shock, he made a move toward me, teeth gritted, and was only stopped by Marcello’s voice. “Problemo here?”
“No.” Duncan stepped back.
“Yes,” I snapped. “Your assistant’s attitude is out of line. I’ll be emailing you a written account of what was just said to make a formal complaint.”
Marcello’s countenance darkened as he looked at Duncan. “I would say this is your second strike. One more, and you’re out.”
“But—”
“No buts. Go home. We’re done here for today.”
Duncan looked between us, glaring furiously at me, before he stormed off, his attempt at a stomping exit hampered by the mud.
“I may have threatened his job,” I admitted.
Marcello raised an eyebrow.
“I know. I’m sorry. He just … he brought up my family.
He’s looked into me. And he’s had it out for me since he got here.
” Suddenly, the note came to mind, and more than a fissure of apprehension ran through me.
Duncan had shown up on-site just before I received it, and his attitude seemed to go beyond misogynism.
It was like he had a problem with me, Arrochar Adair, not just that I was a woman.
Shit. No. Now I was being paranoid. This whole note situation had me freaked out.
“Hmm. He’s a good worker otherwise too. Shame. But I won’t have him around if he’s causing you problems. Email me everything that was said.”
I nodded. “Are we done here?”
Marcello gave me a worried once-over. “You sure you’re okay? It isn’t like you to threaten your coworkers, no matter the provocation.”
No, it wasn’t.
I stewed over that as I drove away from the site ten minutes later. I’d changed out of my muddy boots and into clean ones to drive home, and then I was on my way.
Yes, Duncan had pissed me off, but the anger already in me had burst out in our confrontation. All this resentment.
Remembering Regan’s words, I didn’t drive back to Ardnoch.
Instead, I took the road that would lead me to Eredine’s lodge.
She’d be home from the estate by now. It was about fifteen minutes northwest of Ardnoch, in the middle of the woods.
The lodge was built on stilts, for some reason—it wasn’t like there was a lot of flooding here.
I could only assume the grounds were too unstable for foundations.
Eredine’s wraparound porch was brightened by colorful plant pots filled with spring blooms.
Like something from a fairy tale, the home was remote and idyllic, until a person considered what it might be like to live out here in the woods at night.
But someone with sharp eyes might note the security cameras in the surrounding trees.
They were courtesy of Lachlan, who had insisted on installing them after Austin Vale, Regan’s stalker, had attacked Eredine while she was babysitting the kids.
The attack had caused Eredine to withdraw emotionally from us, and I wished I knew why. I wished I knew her story.
Maybe she’d tell me once I told her mine.
Her car was parked outside, so she was home. I jumped out of my Defender, my heart racing, because I’d come here to do just that—tell Eredine my story. If she wanted to hear it.
The front door opened before I even made it to the porch steps.
Eredine stepped out, her eyes wide with surprise.
She wore sports leggings and an oversized sweater.
Her pretty face was clean of makeup, not that she wore much, anyway, and she’d piled her gorgeous dark curls on top of her head in a messy bun that couldn’t contain it.
She offered a kind smile. “What brings you to my door?”
I’d tried to place her accent, as if I were a master of American dialects, but I couldn’t detect anything in her inflections that might point to her state of origin. My sweet friend’s background was an utter mystery. “I needed someone to talk to, and you were the first person I thought of.”
A mixture of gratitude and concern filled her expression, and she stepped back to gesture me inside.
Her home was small but chic, the living area open plan with a sitting room and kitchen. She had a woodstove and comfortable furnishings around it, the perfect spot to read one of the many books I knew could be found in her guest room.
We’d bonded over our love of reading. Regan was a reader, too, and we’d discussed creating a book club, but nothing had come of it.
I’d probably have to be the one to organize it.
What seemed like many moons ago, I would’ve invited Mac to join our book club—few people knew that he was a voracious reader.
Melancholy doused me at the realization he’d never get an invitation now.
Robyn might join us, though she wasn’t much of a book lover.
I enjoyed converting people into readers, so I might just keep asking until she gives in.
“Drink?”
“Tea would be lovely.” It had been a cold, wet day in the mud, after all. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” Eredine shot over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen. “Curious now.”
I nodded. “How are classes going?” Ery was the Pilates, yoga, and mindfulness instructor for the estate.
“Good.” She shrugged as she set about making the tea. “I never have any issues. I think it’s the whole Zen vibe of what I do. But you should hear the stories the girls and guys in the spa tell me.”
I frowned. “Not members being arseholes?”
“Kind of, yeah. Nothing serious that would concern Lachlan. Just the usual entitled diva shit. Plus”—she grinned mischievously—“they tell all these private stories in front of us. It doesn’t go further than staff room chat, I promise,” she hurried to assure me, “but I can’t believe the things these people have done and are happy to talk about in front of the staff. ”
“It’s because they know it won’t go any further.” All of Lachlan’s staff had signed nondisclosure agreements and would find themselves sued thrice over whatever a newspaper might pay them for the juicy details.
Eredine nodded, walking to me with tea in hand. I gratefully accepted a hot mug as she joined me on the couch, curling her feet under her. “This one actor had a three-way with a Hollywood golden couple. Like … my mind is blown by who this couple is.”
I chuckled at the twinkle of amusement in her eyes. It was good to see Ery amused and lighthearted again. She’d been so despondent lately. “Now I want to know.”
She bit her lip. “Sorry, can’t.”
I shrugged. “I’ll just ask Lachlan. He probably already knows.”
We laughed, but there was a slight edge of hysteria to mine, and I wondered if Ery heard it. I sipped my tea, trying to calm my nerves.
“What did you want to talk about?” my friend asked quietly.
Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Something I need to tell someone or I might explode … but it doesn’t have to be you, Ery. If I tell you this, I’m essentially putting you in the middle, because I’d be asking you to keep a secret from Lachlan and basically everyone else you care about.”
Eredine’s brows rose. “And who would you tell if you didn’t tell me?”
I didn’t know.
There truly wasn’t anyone I trusted as much as I trusted my reserved friend.
“Arro … you’re my friend too.” Ery leaned over to place a hand over mine. “If you need me, I’m here, even if that means keeping something from Lachlan and the others. I can’t imagine you’d ask me to keep something from them they need to know.”
“No, none of them need to know. I don’t think.”
“Then tell me. You obviously need to talk about it, whatever it is.”
I nodded quickly, my pulse throbbing. “I do.”
“I’m all ears.”
Settling back against her couch, I stared at the lit fireplace, deciding where to begin. “I’m in love with Mac,” I blurted out and looked at her.
Ery did not look surprised.
Shit.
Had I been that obvious?
“I mean, I was in love with him. For years. And I thought for the longest time that the reason we weren’t together was because of the age difference and because of Lachlan.
But after Mac got stabbed, things changed between us.
We grew closer. He … he was always coming around, spending time with me.
Then Thane and Regan got together. Do you know there are thirteen years between them, and there are thirteen years between me and Mac? ”
“I didn’t realize that, no,” she murmured.
“I was stupid,” I whispered harshly, the memories of that night like fire in my throat.
“I thought that because Lachlan was fine about their relationship, that the thirteen years didn’t seem to matter to him or to anyone, that it set a precedent.
All barriers between me and Mac were out of the way.
The night of my birthday, I thought he thought the same thing. ”
“What happened? I don’t remember anything happening.”
We’d all gotten together at North Star, my favorite restaurant, some miles up the coast from Ardnoch, to celebrate my thirty-second birthday.
“Do you remember Mac drove me home?” I’d had a few glasses of champagne with dinner, so I’d needed someone else to take me home.
“Yeah. Did something happen then?”
“While I was tipsy?” I shook my head. “Never. I mean, things have happened between us. Kissing, a little more than kissing, never sex, though. And he’d never do anything if I’d had a drink.
He’s wonderfully and irritatingly old-fashioned that way.
” Pain ached near my heart. The memory of loving someone I now hated tormented me.
“But when we pulled up to my house, he gave me a gift he hadn’t wanted to give me in front of everyone else. ”
I squeezed my eyes closed, my breathing increasing as something like panic fluttered in my chest. “It was a tennis bracelet. A diamond tennis bracelet.”
“Holy shit.”
I nodded. “Right?”
“What did you do?”
I took a deep, calming inhalation.
“Arro, are you okay?” Ery placed a comforting hand on my arm, and I nodded.
Was I overreacting? Was my body overreacting to what happened? Why did I still feel this way? Why couldn’t I just get over it? It wasn’t as bad as my body was making it out to be. Right?
“I misinterpreted the diamond bracelet.”