by Anna Durand
"You, of course. I always dream of you." He slides a hand up and down my arm. "I heard a rumor your brother Rory once got his kit off in the Loch Fairbairn town square."
Why are we talking about that? It seems like a strange shift in the conversation.
"He only got his shirt off," I say. "Emery stopped him before he could unbutton his trousers."
"Jack told me Rory was trying to impress his wife with an outlandish public display, to convince Emery of how much he loves her."
"That's true. He sang an old Frank Sinatra song too."
"Did he? Hmm." Alex gets that look, the one I know means he's plotting something. After a few seconds, he sits up. "Let's commandeer the ground-floor bathroom like we did before. We can have lots of fun in there."
He's giving me his naughty look, and I never can resist that.
We rush downstairs completely naked. No one else seems to be awake yet, so no one sees us, but I still feel decadently wicked racing down the steps to the vestibule and down the main hallway to the large bathroom. We have a shower and a bath, splashing water everywhere. Luckily, the tile floor has a drain in it, so we aren't causing a flood. I don't even try not to make noise while Alex and I enjoy poke after poke after poke.
My brothers and cousins go home after breakfast. That leaves only me and Alex in the castle, though the Brodys are in their cottage beside the garden.
In the afternoon, Alex and I relax in the sitting room, on the sofa that faces the big windows. I decide it's time to bring up the subject he's been ignoring since Rory broke the news to him yesterday.
"Are you going to contact your brother?" I ask.
He bows his head. "I don't know."
"It's been a shock to find out you have a brother. But don't you want to meet him?"
"What if he's like my parents? Or me?"
"Oh Alex." I twist around to sit sideways to him and lay a hand on his cheek. "Grey Dixon would be lucky to be like you. From what Rory said about him, he's not a criminal."
"If he's really a good man, he won't feel lucky to have me as a brother."
"You are a good man."
He lets his head fall back against the sofa. "I realized yesterday that I'm not the grifter I used to be. Reginald conned me for almost three years, and I never suspected a thing."
"Why do you think that is?"
"I suppose I was…lonely. Reginald seemed like a kindred spirit, but I imagine that was all an act. He was running a very long con on me." He raises his head, smirking at me. "It's all your fault."
"My fault?"
"Yes. Those two years with you convinced me life can be all sunshine and kittens." His smirk fades away, and he brushes his fingers through my hair. "After you left me, I didn't know what to do with myself. I got a different job in a different town, but it didn't help. So I got another job in another town. By the time I met Reginald, I'd fully committed to being a cynical bastard with a 'who gives a toss' attitude toward life. I suppose Reggie realized I was damaged in some way and exploited that weakness."
"No one is immune to being tricked. Reginald Hewitt must've been very good at it."
"Oh, he was." Alex sighs, shaking his head. "I can't believe I fell for his act for so long. He embezzled from me, but I think I mentioned that before. He emptied the household account, which was only used for buying groceries and whatnot."
"What you need is family, Alex. People who support you and love you no matter what."
"I have you—and Henry and Imogen. That's all I need."
"You have more family than that. You have mine."
His lips quirk into a sly smile. "I suppose threatening to beat me to death is how your brothers show their affection."
"Aye, it is." I pat his cheek. "But you have more family than that. You have a brother and cousins of your own."
He puckers his lips, then the expression softens into a small smile. "Very clever, Cat. You worked your way back round to that like an expert grifter."
"Are you going to contact your brother?" When he makes an annoyed face, I climb onto his lap, straddling him, and loop my arms around his neck. "Do it for me, Alex. Please."
"Just because you have a family that's as tightly woven as a Persian rug doesn't mean my relatives will want me in their lives."
"You won't know unless you try." I lean into him, my breasts mounding against his chest, our lips millimeters apart. "Please, Alex, I'll do anything you want if you do this for me."
I push my hand between our bodies to cup his cock. It's already stiffening.
"Sex isn't the way to convince me," he says. "But your sweetly stubborn determination has done it."
"You'll ring your brother?"
He grasps my bottom. "Yes, Cat, I will."
"Thank you."
Alex kisses me slowly, deepening it until I'm moaning and plastering my body to every inch of his, feeling his shaft hardening against my sex. Then he pulls his head away.
"Let's go out on the green," he says.
"Why?"
"Don't you trust me? It's a surprise." He squeezes my bottom. "I've got something very special in mind for you."
"Cannae wait."
He kisses me again, but this time he doesn't stop with my mouth. He strips my clothes off and kisses me everywhere. Alex keeps his clothes on, but he uses his very talented mouth and tongue to give me the sort of kisses that make me writhe and cry out his name.
After that, I get dressed, and we go out on the green.
"Where's the surprise?" I ask, glancing around at the empty lawn.
"Right here."
Alex backs away from me several steps. "Afraid I can't sing, though I can outdo Rory in another way. We're doing this on the green because I don't care to be arrested. But I do want your entire family to know how much I love you."
"My family? What—"
He nods at something behind me.
I turn around.
My whole family is descending on the green. I see my brothers and sisters and their spouses, along with my cousins and their wives. Evan and Keely are here too, and so is Serena. They must have all flown in via MacTaggart family jets to get here so quickly. Everyone gathers behind me, and I wonder if they know what Alex plans to do.
Logan winks at me. He must know. Logan probably helped Alex plan this.
"Catriona," Alex says. "Look this way, please."
I do, but I'm still confused. "Are you going to throw more cabers?"
The cabers are still lying in a pile on the other side of the green.
Alex chuckles. "No, love, I have something more creative in mind."
He whips his shirt off over his head and tosses it away.
The shirt lands near my feet.
"Alex?" I say. "What are you doing?"
His lips curve into a self-satisfied smile as he kicks off his shoes and unbuttons his trousers.
From behind me, Logan shouts, "Cover your wives' eyes!"
I want to glance back and see if Logan is actually covering Serena's eyes, but I can't tear my gaze away from Alex. Logan's sarcastic tone suggests he's not doing anything of the sort.
Alex lets his trousers fall to his ankles, then he kicks them off and sheds his socks too. One hundred percent naked, he stands there with his arms spread wide. "I love Catriona MacTaggart!"
His voice booms across the green, echoing off the castle wall and the trees.
Someone whistles, and I suspect it's Emery. More whistles follow, probably from other members of the American Wives Club.
I gawp at Alex, still having no idea what he's about. He's gone off his head, for sure. Stripping in front of my family? I can't believe he's done this. Well, all right, I can believe it. The man is shameless. But getting his kit off in front of my family? I never knew until this moment exactly how shameless Alex Thorne is—and I love it.
Alex saunters up to me and drops to one knee.
My heart stutters. Every hair on my body
goes stiff as a wave of excitement shivers over my skin.
He clasps my hand. "Catriona Sorcha MacTaggart, will you marry me?"
"Yes, Alex, yes." I fall to my knees in front of him and throw my arms around the man I love. "Of course I'll marry you. I've only waited fourteen bloody years for you to ask."
"Sorry. I can be rather slow to figure things out. I've wanted to marry you since the day we met, but yes, it took me fourteen bloody years to get round to it."
"Don't apologize. It was worth the wait." I bend closer to whisper in his ear, "We've been forgetting to use condoms."
"Have we? Are you…"
"Too soon to know. But I wanted to prepare you for the possibility."
"Let's make sure you are."
I grin and kiss him.
And the crowd cheers.
Chapter Forty-Three
Alex
Catriona lets me avoid dealing with the issue of my brother and my original parents for one full day, but on the next day she gets more insistent. I did promise her I would contact my brother, so I can't refuse to do it much longer. Rory gave me the phone number for Grey Dixon, which means I have no excuses left. But something else distracts me this morning.
Julia has asked to see me.
My first reaction is to say no, absolutely not. Cat doesn't try to influence my decision at all, and I love her even more for that. After deliberating on the issue for an hour, I decide to do it. Julia and Nigel are both on remand at the Inverness prison, so Cat and I make the three-hour drive to get there. Cat stays in the car while I go inside to find out what my original mother wants to say to me.
I'm slightly nauseous by the time I sit down at a table in the visit room. Normally, a visit requires twenty-four hours' notice, but I suspect Julia put on a good show of crying and pleading for the chance to see her son so she could get me here sooner.
Yes, dear Mummy excels at getting what she wants.
Julia Charnley-Ainsworth walks into the visit room and sits down across the table from me. She has dark circles under her eyes, which are red like she's been crying. Her posture is slumped. The wrinkles on her face seem deeper today, or maybe that's just the lighting. She looks tired, old, and defeated.
I want to feel triumphant about that, because this woman deserves to be miserable after everything she's done to me. But I can't muster any hatred for her. I feel numb and still slightly nauseous, and I'm even wringing my hands. It's ridiculous. I can't be nervous about speaking to this woman who's become a virtual stranger to me. Until the other day, I hadn't seen her in almost two decades.
But my palms are clammy.
"Hello, Alexis," she says. "Thank you for seeing me."
"Why am I here? I have nothing to say to you."
"I want to apologize. For everything." She reaches out like she intends to grab my hand but changes her mind and sets her hands on her lap. "I'm sorry for what we did to you when you were a boy. I know words can't make up for it, and I won't ask for your forgiveness because I don't deserve it. But I want you to know I've always loved you, in my own way. I didn't deserve to be your mother. I'm glad the Bennetts found you and fought for you, even when Nigel wanted to get you back. Those other two times we tried to steal you away, that was Nigel's idea too. Which doesn't excuse me for going along with it. I'm as guilty as he is."
My original father instigated those attempts to get me back legally? When I look into Julia's eyes, I discover I believe her. Something in her eyes and her voice convinces me she's telling the whole truth, possibly for the first time in her life.
"I hope you've had a good life," she says.
Have I? Two weeks ago, my answer might've been very different and much less optimistic.
"Yes," I tell her, "I've had a good life. Henry and Imogen saw to that."
"And now you have a girl. I'm happy for you, Alexis."
I don't know how to respond to that. To say "thank you" seems odd. This woman made my life hell for so many years that I know I can't ever forgive her. But I can stop letting those memories rule my life. I can stop living in fear of anyone finding out who I used to be and what I'd done because my parents told me to do it. I realize now that I've stayed alone all my life, except for those two years with Cat, because I was afraid to face up to my past, afraid to trust anyone completely.
All that has changed. I have everything I want and need, and I won't let anyone or anything take it away from me.
"We were never going to bother you again," Julia says, "Nigel and me. We've been living a normal life for a long time, no more cons. Then Reginald Hewitt knocked on our door and convinced Nigel that you have a fortune in the bank and that we deserved some of that. He told us how you're as depraved as Caligula, you lie and cheat and bribe your way into jobs at universities, and you're secretly an antiquities thief. Nigel was easily convinced. He stopped taking his medication a few weeks ago, so he's been paranoid."
Yes, my original father has psychological issues that necessitate medication and weekly visits to a court-mandated psychiatrist. Rory had found that out, thanks to his investigator mate. And yes, I worried I might turn out like Nigel. Cat told me I wouldn't, but I didn't quite believe it until Jack assured me I'm not on the path to madness. After I moved to America, Nigel became a drug addict. Years of abuse have damaged his brain, causing paranoia, depression, and other issues even after he'd stopped using drugs.
I feel sorry for Nigel. He threw his life away, and for what? Brief moments of euphoria that have sentenced him to a lifetime of suffering. Maybe I should say he deserves what he's got, but I can't manage any cruel feelings toward him either. Loving my original parents is out of the question. But I can feel pity for them, or maybe it's empathy.
Tears glisten in Julia's eyes. "I shouldn't have gone along with the plan Nigel and Reginald came up with. I should have stopped them." She shrugs. "I was afraid, so I didn't."
"That's what you wanted me to hear? You let your husband bully you into kidnapping me and Cat. I'm not trying to be cruel, but you've had a lifetime to divorce that bastard."
She nods while tears start to trickle down her cheeks. "I know. I'm not making excuses, only explanations. I'm sorry, Alexis, and I hope you have a full and happy life. That's what I wanted to say to you, face to face. I'm sorry."
I sit there for a moment staring at her, trying to figure out how to respond. I don't feel anger or resentment or disgust. I feel sorry for her, and that's all.
"Thank you," I say. "I appreciate that you are genuinely sorry, but I don't think we have anything else to say to each other."
"You're right. I said what I needed to say." She stands up. "Goodbye, Alexis."
She walks away from me.
And I go home with Cat.
What else is there to do but get on with life? Hearing my mother's apology has no effect on me. The opinions of the people I love and who love me matter far more than what the woman I knew for eight years as a boy says to me today. When we arrive back at Dùndubhan, Rory informs us that Reginald will be extradited to the US and tried there. The Scots wanted him for the kidnapping, but the Americans won the argument since they had him for escaping from prison, two counts of arson, and two counts of breaking and entering. There's also the matter of the crime he'd been imprisoned for when he decided to escape. I think dear Reggie will be out of commission for a long, long time.
Julia and Nigel will get lighter sentences, I'm sure.
I'm allowed to rest until the next afternoon, when I find out what Cat's family has done. The MacTaggarts have arranged a party to celebrate the good news that the wanker who burnt down my house is on his way back to prison. I've invited my brother to visit today, so the clan has given me until this evening before they drag me into the great hall for the revelry they claim I need.
"You need whisky, for certain," Logan says, slapping me on the shoulder. "That and Catriona."
He winks at me.
Jack smiles. "Aye, Alex needs
a bit of tender loving care."
"A bloody great poke, you mean," Logan says with a smirk. "The louder, the better."
"How many times have I told you," I say. "Talking about sex with you lot is not on my list of things to do before I die."
Jack turns more serious when tells me, "If you need me, just give a shout. I'm here for moral support, not official therapy."
"Thank you, but I'll be fine."
I leave Logan and Jack in the office, the one that used to belong to Rory, and make my way to the sitting room. Cat is waiting outside the door, which hangs open. I can see four people inside the sitting room. Four men. Four strangers.
Cat claims my hand.
We walk into the sitting room, and our four visitors turn toward us.
"Hello," I say, because it's the only word I can produce. My brain seems to have shut down. It's ludicrous. Why should I feel anxious about meeting these men? I don't care what they think of me.
Yes, I'm full of rubbish today.
One of the strangers, a blond man who seems older than the rest, approaches me and offers his hand. "I'm Chance Dixon, your cousin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alex."
"Ah, yes, it's…nice to meet you too." I shake his hand. "This is my fiancée, Catriona MacTaggart."
"We know. She introduced herself before you got here."
"I had to greet them," she says when I raise my brows at her. "It would've been unfriendly to lock them in the sitting room without saying hello."
Another man steps up to shake my hand. "Reese Dixon, also your cousin. I'm the youngest one here, and the most fun." He grins, then points toward one of the other two men. "That's my brother Dane. He used to be no fun at all, but Rika loosened him up. She's his wife."
"I see."
Dane comes up to shake my hand too, which leaves only one person who hasn't spoken to me yet.
My brother approaches slowly, shuffling his feet. When he holds out his hand, he can't look me in the eye. "I'm Grey Dixon. Your, uh, brother. Half-brother. Julia's son. I never met her, but my father told me her name."
I shake his hand, but he still won't look me in the eye. "Have you heard anything about me?"