The Heir of the Castle

She smiled at him. Her one leg that was on the ground was feeling distinctly wobbly. ‘I guess that makes you my Prince Charming, then?’

His hand slid along her lower leg. The tingles were getting so much worse. ‘I guess it does.’ He stood up, stopping in front of her for a few seconds. She caught her breath.

This was so real now.

Tonight was their last night together. And expectations were causing the air between them to sizzle.

He reached out and took her hand again, this time walking with a little more care, a little more measure.

As they reached the top of the stairway she let out a little gasp. Something she totally hadn’t expected. Lights around the gazebo.

‘I didn’t realise,’ she began. ‘Is there an electricity supply down there?’

The rest of the swan pond was in complete darkness. Even the steps they were standing on now had no lighting.

‘No. Just be thankful for modern technology.’

She took a few tentative steps down the first few stairs and screwed up her nose. ‘What is it then?’

‘Solar lights. Small white ones lighting around the base of the gazebo, and some coloured butterfly lights strung along the outside.’

‘They’re beautiful, Callan. Just beautiful.’ She tilted her head as she looked at him. ‘Have they always been there? I didn’t notice them the other day.’

He shook his head. ‘I put them there today.’

There was a little soar of pleasure in her chest. It was almost as if, with every step, a notch on the dial between them turned up. She felt curious. ‘Did you know? Did you know about the dress?’

‘No. But I knew about your daydream. You told me. You told me what you wanted to do.’

Her heart squeezed in her chest. She hadn’t told him everything she wanted to do. Some thoughts were entirely private. But here, and now, someone had valued her enough to make her little girl dreams come true. Someone she’d only known for a few days, but felt a whole-hearted connection to.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

He kept her hand in his as she walked gingerly down the steps and they walked along the white stone path around the edge of the swan pond. She could hear the swans rustling in the bushes at the side of the pond. Some of them were floating near to the edges, obviously asleep. It was such a peaceful setting at night.

The gazebo with its soft lights was glowing like a beacon in the middle of the pitch-black night. Twinkling like a Christmas tree in the middle of summer. The air around them was still with hardly a breath of air. Apart from the occasional animal noise all she could hear was their steps on the path, the stones crunching beneath their feet. It was magical.

They reached the entrance to the gazebo and Callan pushed the door open. It creaked loudly. Almost in protest at being disturbed. She liked the idea that none of the other guests had been here. She liked the thought that this was her and Callan’s private space.

It probably wasn’t too surprising. Most of the other guests were older than her and Callan. The steps to the lower garden were steep, not the most conducive to those who weren’t as steady on their feet.

She held her breath as she stepped inside. Wow. The glass panels inside reflected the string of tiny butterfly lights outside. And as they bobbed around outside, the multicoloured lights reflected across the floor inside like a rainbow.

It was better than a movie effect. This was real.

She felt his hands on her waist and spun around to face him, her hands reaching up and resting on the planes of his chest.

He smiled down at her. ‘So, Laurie. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?’ He was standing over her. Only inches away.

She was trying to concentrate. She was trying not to focus on the rise and fall of his chest beneath the palms of her hands. She was trying not to dare recognise the fact she could feel the gentle echo of his beating heart beneath her fingertips.

It was time. It was time to tell someone else her plans. Her hopes for the future. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know where those plans would take her. She only knew they wouldn’t keep her in London any more.

Callan’s green eyes were focused on her. And they soothed her. And they ignited a fire within her belly. A surge she hadn’t felt in a long time.

‘You know I work as a lawyer in London.’

He nodded.

‘When you told me that you worked in computers instead of mathematics I was surprised.’

‘Why?’ His voice was quiet. ‘Lots of people do degrees in one field and take jobs in another.’

She hesitated. This was hard. She was trying so hard not to say anything she would regret. ‘It’s a bit more difficult when you’ve studied law. It’s not such a generic field. Once you’ve done a law degree there’s really only one way you can go.’

‘I get it. Like why would you study medicine if you don’t want to be a doctor? But why would you do a law degree if you didn’t want to be a lawyer?’

It made so much more sense when he said it out loud. It also made her feel foolish. Foolish for taking so long to put this into words.

She lowered her head, blinking back the tears that had automatically formed in her eyes. There was a lump in her throat. She felt his warm hand sweep back the hair that had covered her face, pulling it back to the nape of her neck where his gentle figures rested. ‘Laurie?’

The tears started to flow. ‘I knew right from the minute I got there that I didn’t want to do a law degree. I’d done well at school. My guidance teacher persuaded me to apply for the best possible degrees for my results. It seemed natural. It seemed the sensible thing to do.’

‘You were thinking with your head instead of your heart?’

He whispered the words as if he understood.

She nodded desperately. ‘My dad—he was just so happy, so proud when he knew I’d been accepted to Cambridge. He’d never imagined his daughter would do so well. And neither did I. It all seemed like a dream at first.’ She shook her head, fixating on the flickering lights outside. ‘Then my dad just worked so hard, such long hours to make the dream a reality and all of a sudden I felt as if I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t say anything. How could I disappoint him when he was working so hard? What kind of a daughter would that make me? It was like being on a train ride I couldn’t get off.’

His hand cradled the side of her cheek and his fingers brushed away one of her tears. ‘You felt like you couldn’t tell him?’

She nodded again as the tears just seemed to flow from her eyes like a tumbling river’s stream. ‘I didn’t want to do anything to disappoint him. I didn’t want to do anything to make him sad.’ She could hear the desperation in her own voice. ‘But when you said that Angus had no expectation of you beyond finishing your own degree...’ Her voice tailed off. ‘It just seemed unfair. You make it sound so easy.’

Her hands were resting on his shoulders now and one of his hands drifted along the length of her arm, settling back to her waist where he pulled her closer.

The temperature had dropped around them. Or maybe it was just the atmosphere that was making her breath send little clouds in the air around them. The hairs on her arms were standing on end. Or maybe it was being here with Callan, the man who had no expectations of her and only a steady admiration in his eyes.

‘I know you lost your dad a few years ago, Laurie. So what now? You’re an adult. There’s no one to disappoint. You can decide what happens next. You can decide what steps you take. Where do you want to go, Laurie? Where do you want to end up?’

The words were measured. His other hand had reached her waist and both were pulling her even closer to him. She could almost hear music in the air between them. And it was as if they weren’t talking about her career choice any more. It was so much more than that.

&nbs

p; Where do you want to end up? The million-dollar question. It was everything that sparked in the air between them. Every impulse that fired in her skin whenever he touched her. Every dream that featured him in high-definition detail.

A smile came across his face. The air in the room was closing in on them. Pressing around every inch. His grip on her waist tightened and he lifted her in the air, as if it were something he did every day, making her breath catch in her throat as he took a few steps and stood her on the thin bench that ran around the inside of the gazebo.

‘Maybe it’s time to forget, Laurie. Let’s pretend you don’t need to think about any of these things.’ He waited, then reached and wiped another tear from her cheek before adding, ‘And neither do I. You told me earlier what you wanted to do. Why don’t you just let me give you your dreams tonight?’ She heard his voice break and it squeezed at her heart.

Tomorrow everything changed for both of them.

Tomorrow the person who would inherit Annick Castle would be announced. She doubted it would be her. And in a way, she didn’t want it to be. She had no idea what to do with a place like Annick Castle, even though it had wound its way into her heart.

Right now, she was more concerned about what it might do to Callan. What it might do to the small boy who had found a haven—a safe place in Annick Castle. It didn’t matter what she thought of Angus. It didn’t matter to her at all.

All that mattered to her was what Callan thought of him. How Callan McGregor would feel. Because Callan McGregor was a keeper. She knew that in her heart.

She would never do anything to hurt him. Never do anything to keep him from his dream.

The realisation was startling. Two, in one night.

And even though she couldn’t think about it right now they were probably interconnected. The decision about walking away from her job felt freeing. Like spreading her wings and flying high in the air.

She didn’t feel guilty about it. She didn’t feel irresponsible. It was time to start living her life for herself. Not for anyone else.

Her legs were trembling. She looked around her. It was beautiful. It was the perfect setting. And Callan was the perfect man to share it with.