“From Mrs. Aiken. She was quite angry that you stole food. ‘Just like Thorpe,’ she said.”
“I think maybe I look enough like him that his sins are piled onto me.”
“Add your own sins and that’s a heavy burden.”
Jack snorted in laughter.
She lowered her voice. “Maybe it’s the emptiness of this place but sometimes I feel like I’m being watched. Is your new girlfriend snooping around?”
“She has to stay away from her mother.” Jack’s jaw was clenched.
“She could move away from here, couldn’t she? She’s certainly old enough.”
Jack frowned. “Puck owns a gorgeous house where she grows herbs for the wreaths she makes.” He could feel himself getting angry. “It would be hard for her to move. She’s quite intelligent and she—” He broke off as Kate was smiling at him. “You did that on purpose.”
“Agitate the Wyatt temper and you learn all sorts of things. What did she tell you?”
“Nicky was drunk when he crashed his dad’s car, and Daddy didn’t love his son or anyone else for that matter. And Nicky was in love with Diana but she may or may not have run off with the stable guy. Puck thinks not. But then, I think maybe she had a crush on him.”
“Wow, that’s a lot,” Kate said. “Sounds like you two befriended well.”
Jack started to make a joke but instead told the truth. “She makes me want to defend her. I think she gets a raw deal around here.” He looked at Kate. “What did you find out?”
She glanced at the book on her lap. He could see that it was an old-fashioned ledger full of numbers. “Just that this place was nearly bankrupt when Isabella bought it.”
“You mean Sara bought it, don’t you?”
“I doubt if her name is on any document, but Aunt Sara plowed a fortune into this house. She must have really trusted her friend to do that.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Is she being paid back?” He knew Kate was good at finances.
“Yes, but slowly. When there’s any money in the pot, it goes to renovation and expanding.”
“Seems big enough to me.”
“I agree. Did you see all of it?”
“I think so.” He didn’t say that Puck had wanted him to look around. “Have you met Isabella yet?”
“No. She’s been in her rooms and Aunt Sara is—” She waved her hand.
“Alone with her camera,” he finished. “Did you find anything about the missing people?”
“I got carried away looking at numbers. Protecting Aunt Sara, that sort of thing. I’ve been thinking about something. Maybe...”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe you and I should leave all this and go to the Highlands. We’re booked for four days in a castle. We could go touring and see the sights.”
“And I’d wear my kilt.”
For a moment, they looked at each other. They’d never really been alone together. For all that they lived in the same house and for a while Jack had stayed in Kate’s suite, there were always other people around.
“I’d like that,” he said softly.
“You’d miss singing with this Byon guy.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’d get out of that.”