Chapter 5
The end of the week had arrived and Bex’s foot bounced nervously on the floor as she squeezed Duncan’s hand.
As she could have predicted, she and Duncan hadn’t managed to get a single night together.
Two of the nights, he and Roddy had been interviewing prospective groundskeepers, another two the pair had been together again, dealing with emergencies on the other side of the loch.
While on the Thursday it was Bex who had been out, having arranged with Eilidh to go along to her book club, given how much she’d loved the book they were reading.
Now Friday had come around far quicker than anticipated. And finally, after weeks and weeks of back-and-forth emails, it was time to meet Amanda. Wedding planner extraordinaire.
‘There’s nothing to be nervous about. She works for us, remember,’ Duncan reminded her as Bex stood up and adjusted the cushions on the sofa for the third time in as many minutes.
‘It’s just… I want her to like this place, you know? I get that she dismissed it as a wedding venue, but that was because she hadn’t seen it, right? This is our home. This is where I want to get married.’
‘I know.’ Duncan stood up and crossed the room so that he was standing beside her. ‘And that’s what I’d like too…’
She could hear the ‘but’ lingering on his lips, even as he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the top of the head. A heartbeat later, it came.
‘But… there are expectations with this wedding,’ he continued.
‘Expectations for the wedding of the laird. Especially one that didn’t even know they were one until a few months ago.
The last thing I want to do is accidentally offend folk because I didn’t take the advice of someone who knew better.
That’s not the kind of laird I want to be.
I know what I’m good at, although just now, that doesn’t feel like much. ’
There was a heaviness in his tone that Bex hadn’t heard before. Not when talking about his role as the laird, anyway. And definitely not when talking about the wedding. A weight fixed in her own chest, suddenly pushing all her nerves about meeting Amanda aside.
‘Are you okay?’ she said, taking his hands. ‘What is it? What’s wrong? Something hasn’t happened, has it?’
She tried to keep her voice steady. She’d always thought that, whatever the situation, Duncan would come to her.
But maybe, with everything going on – her setting up the firm, the pressure of the castle, the infinite stress of puppy training and all the animals and people they were now in charge of, not to mention the loss of Fergus – he’d been trying to keep it to himself.
‘It’s just… it’s a lot, that’s all. The responsibility.
Being this massive landlord. It’s not something I ever thought I’d have to do.
Asking for rent. Saying I need to put it up because Fergus didn’t change it in twenty-odd years.
And if we don’t… the money for the rebuilding and repairs has got to come from somewhere.
But it feels so greedy, you know? Asking folk for more when we’re living in this. ’
He gestured around the open space of the drawing room, where they were waiting for Amanda to arrive.
It had been Fergus’s favourite room in the house and now it was Bex and Duncan’s favourite too.
But living in this cosy corner didn’t change the fact that the castle was enormous and the actual value of everything Duncan had inherited stretched far beyond bricks and mortar.
Antique vases, canteens of sterling silver cutlery, artwork.
There were some rooms Bex hadn’t even been in.
Like the entire dressing room, filled with ballgowns and accessories back from days when music and dances filled everyday life.
There was probably a small fortune there, among the silks and the satins, but like everything else, she simply hadn’t had the time to sort it.
And it wasn’t like they could just sell it all to pay for the repairs on other houses.
They had inherited a history too, and it was their duty to respect and preserve that.
Bex reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, making sure he was looking her in the eye before she spoke.
‘Everyone who knows you knows what kind of person you are. And that you would never take advantage of anyone. And if you do have to put up rents, then just imagine how much worse it would have been if Kieron had taken over as laird? You think he would have hesitated in doubling what he charged people?’
Duncan scoffed. ‘Aye, that’s one way of looking at it.’
Kieron was, technically, Duncan’s second cousin once removed – or some similarly convoluted relation – but Duncan had never thought of him that way.
Even now that they knew the blood relation between them, he would never consider him family.
But he was. He was Fergus’s nephew, and the man who had believed he was entitled to everything that came with Fergus’s death, until Bex had proved otherwise.
Kieron had wanted Highland Hall. He had wanted the status.
To be laird not for the good he could do for the people, but for the psychological and social power that came with the name.
He wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at quadrupling people’s rents, or turfing them out if they couldn’t afford the new prices.
Duncan could have never lived with himself if one person truly suffered from the changes he had to make.
‘At least we’re going to get a few hours to think about us now,’ Duncan said, breaking Bex’s stream of thoughts as he looked down at her. ‘I feel like we haven’t had much chance to think about the wedding properly.’
‘You’re right. This is going to be great. Three hours with Amanda. Hopefully she’ll agree we should have the wedding here, we can set a date, then she can get on with the details and we’ll all feel so much better.’
Bex dropped her head onto Duncan’s chest, and was still in that position, squeezed tightly together, when the doorbell rang.
‘Rosie!’ Bex yelled as the dog immediately bolted to the door, barking its teenage bark. ‘Come back here!’ she called. ‘To me. Here! Heel!’
In what was an amazing display of disobedience, the dog ignored every single recall they’d practised.
Finally, Bex caught up with her and held her by the collar as she opened the door. She was still crouched over, trying to stop Rosie from jumping out, when the voice rang out with the type of accent Bex had assumed was reserved for period dramas.
‘Rebecca, darling! It is such a thrill to meet you!’
Bex stood up, only to do a double take.
Whatever preconceptions Bex had had about what Amanda may or may not look like vanished the moment she set eyes on the wedding planner.
Standing in front of her was a petite young woman who couldn’t have been past thirty-five.
Her perfectly highlighted hair was slicked back into a low bun, while a pair of designer sunglasses were perched on the top of her head and two strings of white pearls were wrapped around her neck.
Rather than wearing a bag slung over her shoulder or across her body, the way Bex would, she was holding it in the crook of her arm: a pink patent leather accessory that Bex wouldn’t have been the slightest bit surprised to see a small dog jump out of.
It was Downton Abbey meets Legally Blonde.
‘Amanda?’ Bex said, stepping back and shuffling Rosie to the side. ‘Welcome to Highland Hall. Come on in.’
‘Thank you, darling, thank you.’ She swept inside, before peering down her nose at the dogs. ‘Working dogs, I assume?’
‘Well… kind of. Not exactly. They’re more like spoiled pets, actually,’ Bex admitted.
‘Oh. Right.’ A tight, nasal laugh crackled from Amanda’s lips. ‘Well. That’s quaint, isn’t it?’
Bex felt her cheeks start to ache, but it wasn’t in the same way they did when she was with Duncan, smiling uncontrollably, heart full of love. It was an intense kind of ache. As if she were forcing herself not to grind her teeth.
Although she wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t like Amanda had said anything rude. Maybe it was just the comment about working dogs. Kieron had always said dogs didn’t belong in the house, and there was no love lost there at all. That was probably it. It had just landed wrong, that was all.
‘Amanda, this Duncan,’ Bex said, gesturing to her fiancé at her side.
‘Pleasure to meet you,’ he said. ‘Can I take your coat?’
‘Oh, yes. You do that yourself? How lovely.’
Amanda peeled out of her camel coat to reveal a crepe polka-dot dress. The wedding planner, Bex decided instantly, was the sort of woman who could wear white to any event and not worry about ending the night covered in wine, chocolate or goodness knows what else.
In one majestic sweep, Duncan took the coat, hung it up then was back beside Bex, holding her hand and cutting through the tension that was wrapping itself around her. She was just nervous, that was all. Nervous about getting everything right. And nothing eased her nerves like Duncan.
And from the way Amanda’s smile seemed to relax into something far easier, she clearly felt the same.
Of course, she was probably nervous too.
This was her job, after all. And while Bex and Duncan had hired her on reputation, she still wanted to do a good job, to keep that reputation intact… surely?
‘Why don’t you come into the drawing room?’ Bex suggested. ‘We’ve got some tea in the pot.’
‘Sounds delightful,’ Amanda said.
Sounds ridiculous, Bex thought. Since when was she the type of person who kept tea in a pot?
She knew the answer, of course: since she’d agreed to marry a laird.
And it was quite nice. She had to admit.
As long as you took the bags out before it got too stewed.
Although it would never beat a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Not in her opinion anyway.
Holding Duncan firmly within her grasp, Bex made her way into the drawing room, only to find Amanda had stopped just a few steps in and was staring up at the walls around her.
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ Bex said. ‘Every day I find something new about the building that I love. That’s why I’d love to get married here.’
Amanda looked at her and smiled tightly.
‘Yes, well. The thing is, with these old buildings, they require so much upkeep. I heard before I came that the old laird had let the place go to disrepair, but it’s very different to see it for yourself.’
Bex prickled, and she wasn’t alone as she could have sworn she heard Duncan’s jaw clench beside her.
‘It’s three hundred years old,’ he said, his voice warm.
‘And I’d hardly call it disrepair,’ Bex added. ‘It just needs a little TLC.’
‘Of course. Of course,’ Amanda repeated, with a smile and a slight snuffle of her nose that reminded Bex of a rabbit.
‘Now, the drawing room, that’s what you said, isn’t it? I think it’s time we got this show on the road.’