Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
I OWN THE OUTCOME
Callum
By lunchtime, Patricia had settled herself into one of the spare bedrooms and was napping with her bairn, the twins were confined to the castle for the foreseeable future, and Gordain had driven off on his motorbike, heading back to barracks and his training.
Without knocking, James entered my study—I was claiming the fucking room, starting with chopping up Da’s desk for firewood.
My friend had been several hours taking the women to the airport, and I’d watched for his return as much as I watched my phone for a text from Mathilda.
I’d sent her one, wishing her a safe journey. No reply had come back.
My friend ran his hand through his hair but didn’t say a word as he dropped into the armchair next to the window.
I knew something had happened between him and Beth this weekend, though I’d been so wrapped up in my own world I hadn’t had time to talk to him.
Plus they’d been sick and taking care of one another. We hadn’t had a moment alone until now.
And alone we both were. Our women had left us. Though I wasn’t sure Mathilda was mine anymore.
“You were a time.” Sparkling conversation from yours truly.
“Mathilda’s flight to Gatwick left first. Beth’s to Bristol was later. I waited with her.”
I rumbled an acknowledgement and rolled a pen over the desk.
Questions sprang up in my mind about how Mathilda had seemed before she’d got on the plane, but the man’s face made me stop. James was hurting, too.
Adding ‘bad friend’ to ‘bad boyfriend’ was not happening today.
I lumbered to my feet and made my way around the desk to join James in the chairs.
Above his head and across the wall, the McRae coat of arms was painted in the corner of a huge map of the estate.
A chest on the opposite side of the room held a bolt of our family tartan.
I always assumed I’d wear it to my wedding, but that event seemed pretty remote now I’d driven the one woman I wanted away.
James glanced up at my approach then let out a rough exhale. “A couple of days ago, I received this from my uncle.”
From his pocket, he extracted his phone, unlocked it, then handed it to me. On the screen was a picture of a woman. Young and attractive in a glossy magazine kind of way.
“Who’s that?”
He stared at me, his fingers gripped together. “A dilemma. Can we talk?” At my nod, he continued, “I’ve shared little about my life with you despite how you opened your home to me and made me a part of your family. You’ve been an excellent mentor, Callum.”
My heart squeezed. “And you’ve become my kin, James. Why do I get the impression you’re about to say you’re moving on?”
“I don’t want to. I want to see our contract term out. But I’ve been called home. My uncle is flying in tonight. He wants to discuss…the next phase of my life. Including me getting married.”
I blinked then looked at the picture again. For months, I’d wanted James to open up to me, to trust me, but he wasn’t making sense. “Since when are you getting married? What’s this woman got to do with it?” I handed the phone back.
James slumped back in the chair. “In order to inherit, I have to get married by November. Before I turn twenty-one. I’ve always known this antiquated rule existed, but it’s never been an issue before. My uncle has sent me profiles of women he thinks would be suitable, but it’s never been real.”
Fucking hell. “Until now.”
He blew out his cheeks and stared out of the window. “Until now. Living here. Meeting Beth.” To himself, he said, “Waking up.”
I squinted at him, thinking of Mathilda’s need to marry. I wanted to understand James’s reasons in order to help him, but there was a sense of potent energy in the room. Of two men tied down, of bonds they needed to break. Opportunities slipping away.
My muscles tensed. The one at James’s jaw ticked.
“Would you have done it? Married a stranger because you had to?” I asked.
“Yes. It would have made little difference to me.”
“But you won’t now.” Please to God, I prayed he’d agree. With everything else falling down around my ears, I needed to hear that.
“I have never, ever gone against my uncle’s word.”
His statement was so final it stunned me.
There I was, hoping beyond hope that he was about to tell me he’d come into his own.
That he was going to stick it to his uncle and claim Beth, or some other woman he’d had the chance to fall for on his own.
But no, I’d failed with him just the same as I’d failed to keep the twins safe and failed to make myself into what Mathilda needed.
“I let Mathilda go because I’m an idiot with a loud mouth,” I said. “You’ve got a chance now, and I’m damned if I’m going to let ye throw it away—”
“Throw it away? Callum! I’m trying to tell you exactly that. I’m not going to. Your mentoring has pushed me to think for myself at every stage. I’ve learned so much from you, but now it’s over to me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m leaving for Belvedere this afternoon. I won’t lie to my uncle like I wouldn’t lie to Beth.” He paused. “I have decisions to make, but whatever happens, I own the outcome.”
“I’m proud of you, my friend. I’ll be here. However you need me.”
“I know.” James looked around the room. Then he paused. “What are those papers?”
Three pieces of paper sat on the desk. In a line and equally spaced. A statement, an IOU, and an offer. Game changers, all of them.
“Problems and insults.”
He squinted at me. “I’m not used to you being vague.”
True. That wasn’t like me. “One is a final bill for the installation at the distillery.” He grunted in solidarity at the pain.
Though James hadn’t been living here when the Storm Force contract had been agreed, he’d been part of the efforts to get the product ready.
My family knew well how it had cost us to lose out on that cash.
Plus, I’d called the lawyer and instructed them to abandon the court case against Mathilda father’s company.
Whether the woman cared for me or not, I wouldn’t make things harder for her.
“The second is an IOU I need to decide whether to collect.” It had been written by Lachlan a long time ago.
Found by me in Da’s desk. He owed Da a debt after all, yet he’d lied to my face.
It wasn’t cash that I could use to save my home, but the man I’d idolised growing up, the big ox that was Lachlan, was very different in my eyes now.
I should challenge him on this, too. But what was the point?
I’d had enough of yelling at people to last a lifetime.
“And this?” James picked up the last, a formal letter on heavy, embossed paper.
I let him read it. He’d been learning over my shoulder for six months so there was no imposition.
It was good to have someone else know. “Another offer to buy your estate.” His blue eyes darted up, bright and panicked. “You’d never sell.”
“Put side by side with my bank accounts, it tells a story.”
I was screwed. Worse than I’d imagined. Bills had come in, and only this morning I had tackled the last bundle, slicing angrily at the envelopes with Da’s sword-shaped letter opener. My choices had narrowed, but I’d thought I had more time. Now I had to face reality.
James replaced the offer letter—sent by the same people who were buying Lachlan’s estate and full of fancy language about honouring our traditions—and scowled. “Why didn’t you tell me your debts were a problem?”
“Why would I?”
“In a matter of months, I’ll receive my inheritance and be independent. What do you think I’m going to do with that money? Let me invest in the family McRae, like you all invested in me.”
Warmth spread out from my heart, replacing the sluggish cold that had settled since Mathilda had left me.
Though my options were slim and James would soon be one of the wealthiest men in England, I would never accept a loan from him.
But the offer, and his affection, meant the world.
“Aye, you would. But I want you as my friend, no strings attached. Money dirties things. I’ll find a way on my own. I always have.”
He smiled as if he knew there was no way I was taking his money. “A good prompt. I need to go and find my own way.”
“And I’m going to find Mathilda.”
It wasn’t even a decision that I made in the moment. It was a fact carved in stone. Right now, Mathilda could be sitting in Dominic’s office agreeing to go through with the engagement. She hadn’t believed my proposal, and I didn’t blame her. I had to make this right.
James held my gaze. “I’m not sure when I’ll see you again.”
“You’ll call me, though,” I ordered. This wasn’t the last I’d see of the young Earl Fitzroy, I knew it. “I’m here for you, whatever you need. I mean it. Let me know what happens either way.”
We both stood. I hugged my brothers all the time and had made sure to include James in the affection once he’d got over his unfamiliarity to touch. Now, as we hugged it out, he thumped my back just as hard as I did his.
“Go get Mathilda,” he said, and I gave him a wide grin as I backed out of the door.
“Aye. I will. I’m away to London.”