Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Beck
I’d woken up resolved. Stella was right. I knew what I needed to do. I just had to focus on the goal and not get hung up on what these people—Henry’s cousin—had done to my mother.
Stella had helped me focus. She brought out the best in me.
My new clothes, pumiced and muddy in places, made me look like everyone else, and I nodded at a few people as I made my way toward the group of men gathered at the edge of the sweeping drive.
“Morning,” I said. “Beautiful day for it.” I’d come across these people in my life—hell I was good friends with a couple of trust funders. Stella told me that Henry was a good man and although it was difficult for me to believe that someone related to Patrick Dawnay could be decent, I trusted her.
Henry was over by the keeper, so I headed in that direction.
“We’re shooting wild birds today, not grouse reared on the estate.” Matt stepped up beside me, dressed in a light-green tweed suit, brown socks up to his knees and a flat cap to match.
At a distance, he could have been fifty years older than he was. I’d drawn the line at headgear, and although Stella had wanted me to wear breeks and wellies, I’d insisted on trousers and walking boots. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” I replied.
Stella had insisted that I do my homework on what a grouse shoot involved.
I was usually well prepared, but I’d been resisting it, rejecting every part of this way of life—perhaps because I’d been rejected by it in the first place.
Patrick Dawnay hadn’t wanted me, had pushed me and my mother aside, and I didn’t want to want any part of it.
But, as Stella said, if I wanted the Dawnay building, I had to do whatever it took.
“Do you like shooting?” Matt asked.
“Golf is more my thing,” I said.
“Excellent,” he said. “Perhaps we should play a few holes when I’m back from my honeymoon. The girls can get together for lunch and leave us boys to it.”
Why on earth would he think I’d want to spend time with him? He was Stella’s ex-boyfriend. And even if he wasn’t, I had enough friends. Five super-competitive arseholes were enough to contend with. There weren’t any vacancies in my friendship circle.
“How are you enjoying Scotland?” he asked. “That rain yesterday was dreadful, but at least we’re seeing the sun today. I didn’t want to have to cancel.”
“You don’t call off a shoot because of a spot of rain, man,” Henry barked at Matt as he came up beside us. “We wear waterproofs and get on with it.”
“I enjoy the rain,” I said, because it was the truth. “I never miss a run because of weather.”
“Quite right,” Henry said. “You’d never go outside in Scotland if you were afraid of a bit of water.” He sniffed, then turned to me. “So, you’re Stella’s new chap, are you?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, she’s a lovely girl. I’m very fond of her. Known her since she was a small child. She was always clever but never shouted about it. I liked that about her.”
Henry and I agreed on one thing at least. “She underestimates herself,” I said. “Very modest despite being quite . . . wonderful.” It was easy to be honest when I was talking about how great Stella was.
He nodded. “Puts other people first. Other people who frankly don’t deserve it.” He shot a glance at Matt, who had the good sense to be pretending not to hear what we were talking about.
“I’ve just seen Phillip. Please excuse me,” Matt said. “I must go and ask him about his speech.”
“Yes, he should scuttle off,” Henry said. “The way he and my god-daughter have treated Stella has been absolutely terrible. Selfish and entitled—both of them. Stella’s better off without him.”
A grin filled my face. “I couldn’t have put it better myself. But his loss is my gain.”
“Just make sure you realize what you’ve got in that girl.”
I’d liked Stella from the moment I’d met her, found her attractive, enjoyed her feistiness.
But getting to know her had brought an entirely new level of captivation with her.
I respected her as well as enjoyed her company and couldn’t keep my hands off her.
“Every day I realize it a little more,” I replied.
“I’ve never understood womanizers. When I found my wife, I was determined to marry her. I saw how kind she was. She brought out the best in me and I could make her laugh. What more could I possibly want? And all these years later? It’s still the same—together we make each other better.”
I looked out onto the countryside, all mossy greens and muted browns. That was Stella—she made me better. She saw things in me that others didn’t, and she coaxed the best out of me.
“All Matt knows how to do is take,” Henry said. “Perhaps Karen is what he needs. If he’d married Stella, she would never have known what being adored and respected felt like. And she deserves that. She’s a special soul.”
“Very special,” I agreed. Gut instinct had guided me well during the course of my career, and at that moment it was telling me that there was more to what Henry was saying than him just giving me a warning to look after Stella.
It was almost as if he knew that we weren’t really together, and he was warning me not to pass up the opportunity to keep her in my life when this week was up.
But perhaps that was my mind playing tricks on me.
“You’ve shot grouse before?” Henry asked.
“Never,” I admitted. “Not really my scene. I’ve shot clays a few times. And a lot of soup cans.”
“Ahhh, sounds like me as a boy. With my air rifle at the back of the stables.” I chuckled. Perhaps Henry and I had more in common than I imagined. “That’s clearly why you were such a good shot the other day.”
“Soup cans come in handy,” I said.
“I take it you haven’t brought your own gun?”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t bring mine either. I’ll help you pick one out. Follow me.”
As we walked toward the keeper, Matt’s chortle echoed out across the party. Henry cleared his throat. “I told Karen that a man who’s prepared to cheat on a woman, will cheat on any woman.”
“I think those are wise words,” I replied.
“You look after Stella. Maybe the next time I see you, after this week, it will be at your wedding.”
I didn’t have to make an effort to agree with Henry.
The last few weeks with Stella had been fun.
She’d found the whole idea of pretending we were dating more stressful than I had.
Relationships for me had never required any effort but with Stella .
. . I was much better at being a fake boyfriend than a real one.
Being a fake boyfriend was far more demanding—we were more like teammates with a shared goal.
But I preferred it like that, which had me thinking that maybe that’s what relationships were meant to be about.
I laughed. “Well, we’re not quite at that point yet. ”
Henry stopped and looked me dead in the eye. “You seem like a man who knows what he wants. If you want Stella, then don’t mess her around.”
I admired how protective he was over her.
Stella had a way of making me see things differently, even if she didn’t do it on purpose. She shook things up like a snow globe, and when everything settled down still again, things were back to normal but were forever changed.
“Yes, this will do for you,” Henry said, handing me a shotgun, and pulling me away from my thoughts of Stella and wondering what things would be like when the snow settled and I went back to life before her. Whether that was even possible.
“Perhaps we can carve out some time this week to talk more about the Dawnay building,” I said.
“Oh that’s right,” Henry said. “You said you’d tried to set up a meeting about it. Did you want to lease it?” he asked. “It would need overhauling, I’m afraid. It’s in a dreadful state.”
“Actually, I’d like to buy it from you.”
His eyebrows disappeared under his hat. “I don’t think it’s for sale.” He didn’t sound very convinced. “At least, I’ve never considered selling it.”
“I can offer you a good price. But I need to move things along quickly, I’m afraid. It’s a short window of opportunity, but like you say, the place needs work, even to let. If you sold it to me, you could invest in something else that’s easier to generate revenue from.”
Henry nodded but stayed silent. I didn’t want to push. I needed to be patient. Let the idea settle.
“Let me know the price you’re thinking. I’ll give it some thought. In the meantime, if you’ve got any paperwork I can look at or I can send to my lawyers, then let me have it.”
I was holding my breath as he spoke, not quite believing that we were having this conversation and that he hadn’t dismissed the idea out of hand.
I wasn’t sure if it was the tweed I was wearing or the warning I’d gotten from Stella to give Henry the benefit of the doubt, but something had shifted. If I kept listening to Stella, the Dawnay building might finally be mine.