Let Your Hair Down (Almost Royal Book 3)

by Rachel Lacey

  Bug trotted over behind Twister, ears pricked and tail swooshing as she sized Flynn up. Her white coat was dappled with darker spots, her face and neck marred by dull pink scars from a dog attack before she arrived at Rosemont Castle.

  Ruby walked to the fence. She stroked Twister’s face as he stood happily munching on a mouthful of grass. Beside her, Flynn reached out to rub Twister’s neck.

  “I can see why you like it here so much,” he said.

  “It’s so outrageous, but so perfect at the same time.” She took his hand, leading the way toward one of the many hiking trails that crisscrossed the property. “Good to be home, where I don’t have to wear a mask to go outside.” The air here on the castle grounds was about as clean as she could hope to find, a world away from downtown Paris. As beautiful as it was, a city was a city, as far as air quality was concerned.

  Conversation was sparse as they walked, but it felt comfortable, a silence that didn’t need to be filled. In the distance, a car passed on the drive headed up to the castle. A dog barked. An airplane zoomed across the blue sky, leaving a white trail in its wake. The sights and sounds of home.

  As they entered the woods, she took Flynn’s hand in hers. Dry leaves crunched beneath their feet, with the accompanying scent of the forest, slightly musty but not in an unpleasant way. Overhead, the trees provided a canopy of leaves, various shades of green, yellow, orange, red, and brown, a fall kaleidoscope of color.

  “I love coming out here for walks,” she said. “Elle goes jogging on these trails. Jake rides his horse. Megan brings her camera and takes pictures. I just like to walk and soak it all in.”

  “And I’m picturing how I’d landscape that hilltop over there to put in a rustic little cabin, tucked away here in the forest.” Flynn gave her hand a squeeze, his eyes dancing with inspiration as he looked around.

  “You have the eye of an architect, all right,” she said. “Will you check in with Aidan again before you fly to Dubai?”

  He nodded. “As soon as I’m back in the UK.”

  “I’d love to see it when it’s finished. You know, a picture or whatever.” She glanced over at him.

  “I’ll send you one.”

  They kept walking, meandering their way along the trail. Her impulse was to rush ahead, but her lungs weren’t fully healed yet, so she had to take her time. She stopped here and there to sip water and kiss Flynn, enjoying their last morning together. Or not, if she had any say in it. Because she didn’t want this to be their last morning together.

  Finally, even moving at a post-pneumonia snail’s pace, they came out at the overlook. It was a spot on the trail where the forest opened, revealing the castle and grounds below. After she, Megan, and Elle had discovered it, they’d had a bench carved out of a nearby fallen tree so guests could sit here with a bottle of wine and enjoy the view.

  If only she’d thought to bring a bottle of wine with her and Flynn…although it was a bit early in the day for that. Mimosas, though. Oh well, hindsight and everything.

  She tugged his hand, and they sat together on the bench. “Pretty, isn’t it?”

  “This is what they call a million-dollar view,” he said.

  “It is,” she agreed.

  “Now, I’ll be able to picture you here, and in your guest house, and up at the main castle. I’m glad for the chance to know where you call home.” There was something wistful in his tone, and it only strengthened her resolve to do what she was about to do.

  “Home can be anywhere you make it, though,” she said, turning on the bench to face him. “I spent a lot of my life confined to my house, and now that I’ve finally gotten the chance to spread my wings, I’ve realized how much more there is in the world.”

  “I agree with that.” He studied her, no doubt wondering at the urgency in her voice. “I spend most of my life traveling, although I suppose London will always feel like home.”

  “I don’t want to say goodbye, Flynn.”

  He sat up straighter on the bench. “Ruby—”

  “No, let me say what I need to say.” She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “One thing I’ve learned is that life can be short and fragile, and when you find something great, you should grab ahold of it, even if it’s not what you were expecting. And I definitely wasn’t expecting you, but here we are.”

  “I wasn’t expecting you either.” Something in his expression softened.

  She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. “So, if you feel the same way, I’d really like to give this thing between us a chance. I don’t care what it looks like or if it involves a lot of long-distance dating or if we don’t see each other much while you’re in Dubai. I just think we should give it a try and see if it could work. Because…I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  Flynn lurched off the bench, pacing to the edge of the overlook. Behind him, Ruby was quiet, but he felt her stare like a prickle at the back of his neck. “I…I’m sorry. I’m not quite sure how to respond.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know how I feel before you leave,” she said. “And if you have any feelings for me at all, if you feel sad about the idea of saying goodbye, then maybe we could just agree to keep our options open? Let’s stay in touch and see what happens.”

  “I do have feelings for you, Ruby.” He turned to face her. “I hope you know that. I’ve enjoyed these last few weeks with you more than I can remember enjoying anything in recent years. Under other circumstances, I would love nothing more than to continue our relationship. But the reality is that your life is here at Rosemont Castle, and mine is in Dubai, and then wherever the company sends me next.”

  “So, we try things long-distance for a while and see what happens,” she said, undeterred.

  “I wish I could say yes.” He wanted to more than anything, but he knew in the long run, he’d only be prolonging the inevitable. His lifestyle wasn’t suited for a stable relationship. He was always on the go, always jetting off to the next location. It was the only thing that even came close to keeping him satisfied. What could he really offer Ruby other than frustration and heartbreak? He couldn’t bear to watch it happen, couldn’t bear to hurt her. He wouldn’t be the man who took her away from her family and friends here in America, from the life she’d built for herself at Rosemont Castle.

  He walked back over to sit beside her. “You deserve a man who can give you everything, who can build a life with you here in Virginia.”

  “Don’t tell me what I deserve,” she said, no longer quite meeting his eyes. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  He stared over the golden-hued treetops at the castle in the distance. “You’re right,” he agreed. “But I know that, right now, I’m not in a position to offer enough of myself to meet my own standards for what a relationship should be. And it would kill me to disappoint you.”

  “So, you think it’s better not to even try?” Ruby stood abruptly from the bench and marched down the path toward the castle, head held high, arms wrapped around herself.

  “I’m sorry,” he called after her as a sense of heaviness came over him, weighing down his steps as he started down the trail behind her. All the beauty and charm seemed to have been sucked out of the morning. Now, the air felt cold, trees swaying harshly overhead as dead brown leaves swirled through the air around him.

  Ruby didn’t say another word as she tromped down the path, not even when he fell into step beside her. They walked in silence, not the easy, comfortable silence they’d shared from time to time on the way up, but a harsh, ringing silence that reinforced how much he’d lost with every crunch of his shoe against the leafy trail bed.

  They left the forest a lot more quickly than they’d entered it, coming back onto the castle grounds behind the horse pastures. Ruby led the way back to the guest house, but when they walked inside, she tossed her jacket over a chair in the kitchen and headed down the hall toward the bedroom.

  “I’m going to rest for a little while
before lunch,” she told him, closing the door behind her.

  Flynn stood in the living room, feeling more inadequate than he’d ever felt in his life. Not knowing what else to do, he sat at the kitchen table with his laptop and spent the next hour going back and forth with the builders for Aidan’s property, answering questions and tweaking final details. All the while, a sick feeling churned in the pit of his stomach, like he’d just gone for the bottom step and missed and now he was hanging in mid-air, waiting to fall.

  Promptly at noon, Ruby emerged from the bedroom, looking refreshed and calm. “Time to head up to the castle for your farewell lunch.” Both cats trailed her down the hall, giving Flynn condescending looks, as if they knew and judged him for everything that had happened. He closed his laptop and put it away, grabbing his jacket as he followed her out the door.

  Ruby was polite, if distant, as they walked to the castle to join her friends for lunch. Soon, they were enveloped in conversation that hid any awkwardness between them. Flynn told them all about the project he’d been working on for Aidan and his upcoming work in Dubai. Theo, in particular, had a lot of questions, as his family and Flynn’s had done business together for generations. Langdon Fine Furnishings and Exeter Hotels went way back.

  “Don’t you ever get tired of all the travel?” Megan asked, eyes darting between him and Ruby.

  “Not really, no. It keeps things interesting,” he told her.

  Ruby stared at her plate like it was a to-do list for the rest of her life.

  “I do find it tiresome at times,” Theo chimed in, “splitting my time between here and London. Mostly, though, it’s all gone much more smoothly than I’d anticipated.” He reached over and covered Elle’s hand with his.

  Flynn glanced at Ruby. She was stabbing at her salad like it had personally offended her. Her expression betrayed nothing, but she was uncharacteristically quiet, which seemed somehow harder to take than if she’d just started yelling at him.

  After lunch had been cleared away, he said his goodbyes to Megan, Jake, Elle, and Theo. He noticed that Ruby lingered in the castle, showing him this and that, so that they ended up walking down to the guest house only a few minutes before his car was scheduled to arrive. Back in her house, she watched quietly as he repacked the few items he’d taken out of his bag. He set it by the door, shooing away the cat that ran over to try to stuff himself inside.

  Outside, he heard tires crunching over gravel.

  He turned to face Ruby. “I guess this is it, then.”

  “I guess so.” She met his gaze for the first time since their argument in the woods, her eyes intense and defiant, daring him to get through this goodbye without making things between them even worse.

  “I’ll miss you, more than you’ll probably ever know.” He took her hands, asking silently for one last hug, one last kiss. It was probably more than he deserved, but she gave it to him anyway. With a sigh, she stepped into his embrace, clasping her hands behind his neck.

  “I’ll miss you too,” she whispered, her eyes gone suspiciously glossy.

  He lowered his head, pressing his lips against hers. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, biting down as she turned the kiss from gentle to ferocious in the span of a heartbeat. They groped at each other, tongues tangling, emotions manifesting in the heat between them. He slid a hand into her hair and tugged, loosening the ever-present knot at the back of her head.

  A knock at the door drove them apart.

  Ruby stepped out of his arms, cheeks flushed, eyes snapping with heat and hurt. She licked her lips, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked out the window at the driver waiting to take him away. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”

  He took a deep breath to calm his heart before he went outside. “Goodbye, Ruby.”

  Afraid of what he might say—or do—if he lingered, he picked up his duffel bag and briefcase and headed for the door. As he slid into the backseat of the car waiting in the driveway, he ignored the ache in his chest. In the end, this would hurt less than watching their relationship disintegrate across oceans and continents.

  He was sure of it.

  The car backed up to turn around, and he found himself meeting Ruby’s eyes as she watched him out the kitchen window. And then, he was moving down the driveway, on his way toward DC and Wales and Dubai and wherever life might carry him next.

  15

  Her list was getting out of control. Ruby drummed her fingers against the keyboard of her laptop. Behind her, late afternoon sun filtered through the window, warming her back. Simon lay on the table beside her laptop, while Oliver had curled himself over her feet. They were glad to have her home and had hardly left her side, especially since Flynn left.

  She sucked in a breath, determined not to spend any more time crying over everything that had happened that morning. Yes, she’d cried about it. But now, she was attempting to be productive, because after three weeks in Europe without her laptop, there was a lot to catch up on. At this point, she had a list to keep track of all her lists.

  And, since there was no time like the present, she pulled up the interface for the castle’s website and began tackling the updates that needed to be made. She added a blog post about Elle and Theo’s wedding with a few of their professional wedding photos, since they were the owners of Rosemont Castle. Megan had sent her some new fall photos of the castle and grounds to add to their online gallery, and the adoptable animals in their Fairy Tails program all needed updates.

  The next thing she knew, someone was knocking on her front door. Not someone. She knew that knock as well as she knew her own, and a reluctant smile crossed her face as she stood from the table and stretched, feeling a satisfying pop somewhere in the base of her spine. Tomorrow, she needed to get back to her office in the castle, because working at the kitchen table was not the most comfortable thing.

  Sure enough, Elle and Megan stood outside the door, each carrying a silver tray from the castle. Ruby’s stomach grumbled at the sight, because, wow yeah, it was past six already. She opened the door, motioning them in. “Miss me already?”

  “We thought you might need some company tonight,” Elle said as she set her tray on the table and pulled a bottle of red wine out of the bag that had been slung over her shoulder.

  “And we missed you,” Megan added with a grin.

  “Plus, we want all the unabridged details of your trip, now that it’s girls’ ears only.” Elle winked as she moved to the cabinet and took out three wineglasses.

  “I’m glad you guys are here,” Ruby admitted. This was exactly what she needed tonight. She pulled open a drawer in the island and took out the corkscrew, setting to work on the bottle of wine. “I could use a good chat-fest tonight.”

  “And a sob-fest too, if you need one.” Elle placed a hand on her shoulder with a sympathetic smile. “How did it go when you and Flynn said goodbye? I thought I picked up on some weird vibes between you guys at lunchtime.”

  “Oh, there were weird vibes, all right.” Ruby poured herself a glass of wine and took a fortifying sip. She waited until they’d all filled their plates and settled themselves on the oversized couch in the living room before she told them what had gone down during her hike with Flynn that morning.

  “Holy shit, you told him you were falling in love with him?” Megan exclaimed.

  Elle set her plate on the table and pulled Ruby in for a hug. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

  “It’s okay, you guys. I’m feeling pretty heartbroken about it, but I don’t know, maybe he was right to end things now instead of trying to make it work long distance.”

  Elle scoffed. “Love is always worth fighting for. Just look at Theo and me. Things seemed so hopeless for us at first too, but we made it work, and splitting our time between here and London hasn’t even been that big of a deal. It’s been fun.”

  “Yeah, but Flynn doesn’t just work in London. He travels to job sites all over the world. How would I have a life if I was always following him around,
living out of a suitcase while he oversees new hotels being built?”

  “Well, how did you envision it when you asked him for the chance?” Megan asked.

  Ruby spiraled a bite of pasta around her fork as she pondered her answer. “I guess…I guess I really didn’t. I just knew how I felt, and how right it felt when we were living together in Paris, and I just wanted to fight for any chance to make things work.”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you were one hundred percent right to fight for that chance,” Elle said. “I mean, how would you know if it would work until you tried?”

  “Maybe he’ll get home and realize you were right,” Megan offered before stuffing a bite of bread into her mouth.

  Ruby was already shaking her head before she’d formulated her response. “I don’t think so. He seemed pretty firm on it. And it’s not just the traveling. He’s been under a lot of scrutiny from his family. They’ve always treated him like somewhat of a screw-up, and I think he’s taken it to heart.” She sighed into her wine. “So, I think that’s probably affecting his judgment too.”

  Elle frowned behind her wineglass. “A screw-up, how?”

  “He struggled a lot in school before he was diagnosed with ADHD, and he’s struggled to find a spot in the family business that really suits him too.” She paused, staring into the depths of her wine. “If you ask me, he doesn’t belong in the hotel business at all. He’s an architect at heart, and he does amazing work. He should open his own firm and build things that excite him. He could still collaborate with Exeter if he wanted. But he’s afraid of letting them down again, so I think he’ll just stay, doing something he doesn’t really love to make them happy.”