Chapter 49
Robin was distracted. Otherwise, there was no way he’d have allowed the token to fall out of his coat pocket.
He probably wouldn’t have handed over his business card to the perfect stranger in the solicitors’ waiting room, but he wasn’t thinking straight.
Seconds before thanking Joe Caiger for his time, Robin had received a text from Jax.
It said something about his priorities, he reflected, as he hurried from the offices, narrowly avoiding bumping into a big bloke with a neatly trimmed beard, that the question uppermost in his mind was not the impact that inheriting a share of Logan Quick’s fortune would have on his life, but whether he could drive from Exeter to Bodmin in time to make the meeting with Jax.
He’d heard nothing from her since the kiss on the clifftop.
In fact, as the three of them, plus the two witnesses, had gone through the motions of the wedding ceremony, he’d come close to thinking he’d imagined it.
When the rehearsal was over, she’d kissed Neil, climbed onto her Honda, and roared away, leaving her fiancé to thank Robin and the manager for their time.
Every day since, he’d waited for the phone call telling him his services were no longer required, that she and Neil had found a new celebrant; one who didn’t try to abscond with the bride.
In his car, having pushed his way past several aggressive journalists and photographers, Robin was on the point of texting that he might be a few minutes late, when another message came in.
Don’t respond. I’m with Neil all morning. He looks at my messages.
Well, that presented questions all by itself. For now, though, he had to get going. The drive would take him over an hour if the roads were clear and, in Cornwall, they rarely were. And then he had to walk to the remote derelict tin mine that was Wheal Glynn.
Only Jax would choose such a spot for a rendezvous.
Wheal Glynn lay in a forested valley outside Bodmin called Cardinham Woods.
He’d have to park, then follow a steep trail along the river for over a mile to reach the mine.
It made sense, though. Not long after they’d met, Jax had told him that Wheal Glynn was one of her favourite places in the world.
A small, squat, square stone tower, topped with an ornate chimney, the old silver and lead mine sat on a steep bank of ferns and bracken, and was largely overgrown with moss, lichen and ivy. There was a fairytale quality about it, and Robin had used it more than once for wedding photographs.
He pulled into the car park at Cardinham Woods a little after one o’clock. Her Honda was parked at the far end, closest to the trail, but there was no sign of its rider. She’d gone on ahead.
Pulling on his coat, Robin started to jog down the trail.
Very quickly, the woods closed up around him.
Tall fir trees reached to the sky and the light danced around on the forest floor as though living things were scattering at his approach.
The thick, scented air of the forest seemed to stick to his lungs, constricting his air supply.
He slowed his pace, trying to catch the clean, citrus scent of the evergreens, but the dense aroma of wet soil and rotting fungi only intensified.
It seemed to Robin that the air was thick with spores and that if he were to linger here they’d steal into his throat and the forest would colonise him, from the inside out.
For all that, there was a lightness in his heart, something he hadn’t felt for a very long time.
With the promise of Logan Quick’s millions, he could rearrange his debt to make it more manageable.
And Jax wouldn’t ask him to meet her here, in a place they both loved, to give him the brush-off.
He was on the brink of something amazing.
A cacophonous honking above the treeline told him an arrowhead of geese was passing overhead. The river bounced over rocks and stones as it rushed ahead of him. He rounded the last bend and saw the abandoned mine.
No sign of Jax.
Robin stepped a slow, lazy circle, partly to get his breath back, partly because Jax would have found a discreet spot to wait and watch him approach. Still no sign of her.
‘Do I close my eyes and count to ten?’ he called, after a few moments.
‘Up to you,’ a voice replied. ‘You seem to like games.’
Jax’s fiancé, Neil, stepped out from the shelter of the mine building.
‘I’m guessing I’m fired.’ Robin tried not to sound nervous as Neil stepped closer. The other man was younger and bigger, almost certainly stronger. It was unlikely a man in his position would resort to physical violence, but he’d be wise not to rule it out.
‘Oh hell, yes, you’re fired.’ Robin was a tall man, but Neil was on higher ground and seemed to loom over him.
‘We’ve found another celebrant who’s free on the twenty-eighth.
I expect you to send over all your contacts for the other suppliers before the end of the day and don’t even think about sending us a bill. ’
Well, he couldn’t argue with any of that. ‘Are we done?’ he said.
Neil seemed to draw himself up. He too was breathing heavily. ‘No, we’re not fucking done,’ he said. ‘We’re a very long way from being done. You’re lucky I’m not beating you to a pulp, you treacherous motherfucker.’
He was bluffing, he had to be. A surgeon couldn’t risk damaging his hands.
‘I know about the Bellingham wedding,’ Neil went on.
‘I know you’re being sued. If you contact my fiancée again, if you so much as like something she posts on Instagram, I’ll add my own case.
I’ll make sure you’re ruined. I’ll drag your name through the mud.
Not only will you never work again in this business, you’ll be such a laughing stock your own mother will disown you. ’
‘Now, are we done?’ Robin asked. ‘Or do you still need to punch me in the face for good measure?’
He took a step closer to the other man, at the same time wondering what the hell he was doing. Did he really need a broken nose on top of everything else?
‘Oh, I wouldn’t sully myself.’ Neil didn’t back away.
If anything, he leaned closer. ‘I don’t need to.
You see, I know people. So, if you want to be out of work, out of a home, facing several bankruptcy charges, a social pariah and needing a new kneecap, go ahead.
There’s every chance you’d end up on my operating table.
And I’ll make sure you never walk again without a limp. ’
At last, Neil stepped back. ‘Now, we’re done.’ He turned and started to walk away up the path.
Shaking, Robin let himself relax. All things considered it could have been worse. He could have been lying on the forest floor now, bleeding and in pain. Although he wasn’t sure he could hurt much more than he did right now.
Directly opposite the mine building was a fallen tree.
He walked over to it and collapsed down.
He’d stay here for a while, until he could be sure Neil had left the car park.
He couldn’t exactly blame the man for being a dick.
If the tables had been turned, he wouldn’t have ruled out murder.
At least he’d only risked one of his legs. One had to look on the bright side.
Tears filled Robin’s eyes. He didn’t care about the token, he realised, or Logan Quick’s ridiculous, manipulative will. He’d give it up in a heartbeat for a life with Jax. Hell, he’d give it up for the chance of seeing her one last time.
The blow took Robin completely by surprise. Lost in his own self-pity, he didn’t hear Neil’s returning footsteps. He didn’t hear him bend to pick up one of the broken branches. He didn’t even feel the rush of air as it came hurtling towards his head.
He felt the massive shock of pain and saw the forest floor rushing up to meet him. He landed face first in a pile of leaves.
‘Changed my mind,’ said the voice directly above him. ‘I’m sullying myself.’
Neil was wearing biker’s boots. Robin felt the fine bones of his nose break when they made contact.