I raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Are you guys aristocracy?”
“Not quite. We’re what you would call landed gentry. That means—”
“I know what it means.”
He raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged and admitted unashamedly, “I read a lot of historical romance.”
Thane shot me a quick look, saw I was serious, and then grinned that stupidly sexy smile of his. “Okay, then.”
“So not aristocracy, but you have links to them?” I prodded. I found this fascinating. British royalty and aristocracy were like something out of a fairy tale.
“Yes. We have an ancestor who married the younger brother of the Duke of Sutherland.”
“Are we there yet, Daddy?” Eilidh asked impatiently.
“Nearly, sweetheart. Nearly.”
As Thane turned off the road, the castle appeared before us, imposing and beautiful. There were cars parked on the wide drive before it. Upon closer inspection, I saw the castle wasn’t white but more of a sandstone. Still, it was freaking beautiful. “It’s amazing,” I whispered.
“It’s inspired by a French chateau,” Thane said, “which is why, Eilidh, you think it looks like something out of Beauty and the Beast. The castle gardens were inspired by the gardens at the Palace of Versailles. It was a fort back in the day, but in the Victorian era, the earl hired the famous architect Sir Charles Barry.” He looked at me. “He designed and rebuilt the Houses of Parliament after they caught fire.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.” I could see why Thane, the architect, loved this place so much.
“Very. He turned Dunrobin into what it is now, and he also designed the gardens.”
“Ree-Ree …” Eilidh got our attention with her worried tone. She stared at us from the back seat with that deep frown furrowing her brow.
“What is it, sweetie?”
“I’m not dressed right!”
Confused, I studied her for a second in her adorable red winter coat and matching hat. Underneath she wore a navy dress and navy ankle boots. The kid couldn’t be any cuter. “You look beautiful.”
“But I’m not dressed like a princess.” Her eyes flew toward the castle. “I should have put on my unicorny dress.”
Thane and I looked at each other, both of us clearly trying not to laugh at how cute she was. Then suddenly I realized how close our faces were. As if Thane realized it, too, a strange, hot tension sparked between us, and we jerked back in our seats.
“You’re perfect, sweetie,” I said, scrambling to unbuckle my belt and get away from my boss. “Come on, I’ll help you out.”
Once Thane had paid for our entrance, we walked into the castle, Thane’s hand on Lewis’s shoulder as he talked to him about the castle’s history. Despite his age, Lewis hung on to his father’s every word. Eilidh, while old enough to appreciate the castle’s beauty, just as Thane knew she would, was too young to take much of anything else in.
So while her dad lingered with her brother over every little thing in the rooms that were open to the public, I took photos of everyone with my camera phone and only stopped Eilidh at the parts I thought she’d like. Like the room with the old-fashioned ceremonial clothing. She seemed right at home in the opulent drawing room and wanted to touch anything shiny. Thankfully, Eils, despite her big personality, listened when she was told not to do something.
Okay, so she listened after the third time I told her with a sharpened tone not to touch. And that was only after she shot me a dark look that made me want to laugh. But I didn’t. Because if she knew how funny I found her antics, she’d never again see me as an authority figure.
We were standing in the fanciest dining room I’d ever seen, and it was like I’d stepped into one of the period dramas I loved so much. A hot breath suddenly whispered across my ear, and a rumbly, masculine voice said quietly, “I’ll take Eils if you want to have a proper look around now.”
Goose bumps prickled my neck, and I couldn’t look at Thane as I nodded. “Sure, that would be great.”
“I can take you around,” Lewis offered.
“Sounds good.”
“Come on, Eilidh-Bug.” Thane grasped her hand. “Do you like the castle?”
“Can we live here?” I heard her ask as I followed Lewis out of the room.
For the next half hour, Lewis led me back into rooms I’d hurried through with Eilidh, and I discovered not only had he been listening to his dad but he had retained nearly everything Thane had told him. Smart as a whip.
Once we were done, we headed downstairs and found Thane waiting with Eilidh. “Did you enjoy it?” He grinned down at me.
Squeezing Lewis into my side, I replied, “With the best guide in the world showing me around? Of course.”
Lewis blushed a little but grinned when his dad smiled proudly at him. “Right. Time to see the gardens. The falconry display is on in twenty minutes.”
“What’s fall-rony?” Eilidh asked as we wandered the grounds.
While Thane tried to explain to his five-year-old daughter about the ancient art of using birds of prey to hunt, I peered over the edge of the top tier of the back of the grounds, amazed. Thane had not been kidding. The castle was perched above the lower gardens with many steps down to get to them. Despite being tiny in comparison, the landscape had the same beautiful order and formal grandeur of Versailles. Beyond that was the sea, gleaming like a tranquil mirror.
Though it was a cold November day, only a very slight sea breeze blew past, the sun cutting through the iciness to create perfect, crisp salty air. My favorite kind of day. Thane lost Eilidh’s interest five minutes into the garden walk, and she took off with Lewis to run around instead. I captured photos of them with my phone, and Thane approached me while I snapped a picture of them staring up at a fountain. They did so in the same manner, and with their dark curls, there was no mistaking they were siblings. Thane leaned into me to see the picture, and I caught a whiff of his fresh, citrusy scent.
“Can you send that to me?” he asked.
“Sure.” I met his gaze, swallowing hard at his nearness. “I’ll send them all to you.”
Our eyes held for a moment too long.
“Ree-Ree!” Eilidh shouted, breaking the tension.
Ignoring the butterflies in my belly and the worries in the back of my mind, I hurried to Eilidh just in time to talk her out of climbing into the fountain.
By the time we arrived for the falconry display, Eilidh was mulish, bored, and hungry. She was done with the fairy-tale castle. “Just a while longer,” I assured her, lifting her into my arms.
It was clear Thane really wanted to see the falcons, so I handled her while he and Lewis moved closer in the small crowd that had gathered around the falconer and his Peregrine.
“I don’t like the bird.” Eilidh held on tight to me.
“It won’t hurt you, sweetie,” I promised but took a few steps back. “Better?”
“No, I’m hungry,” she growled in her monster voice. Not so cute when she was on the verge of a tantrum.
“Eilidh, we won’t be long.”
“I want to go now!” Her voice got louder, her scowl deeper.
I gave her a stern look as she tried to slide out of my arms. “Eilidh Adair, today is your dad’s day. This is for his birthday. And your dad doesn’t ask a lot from you, so you’re going to behave and let him enjoy his day.”
She pouted, her eyes brightening with tears, but to my relief, she clamped her lips closed and snuggled her head against my chest.
“Good girl,” I whispered, turning to look toward the show.
Instead, I caught Thane staring at me. His eyes smiled and he mouthed, “Thank you.”
I smiled back, wishing my heart didn’t race at a mere tender look from him.
Thankfully, he turned back to the display. It was pretty awesome, but Eilidh was getting heavier and more restless in my arms by the second. I was grateful when it ended.
“That was really cool, Dad,”
Lewis said as they followed us up toward the castle.
“Glad you enjoyed it … do you fancy stopping in at the tearoom for something to eat?”
“YES!” Eilidh yelled.
I winced. “Eilidh, my ears.”
“Sorry!” she said, not sorry, and then slipped out of my arms like an eel before I could stop her. She made to rush precariously down the stairs to be with her father, and my heart leapt into my throat. Thane, however, quickly dove forward and grabbed her up into his arms. Happy to be there, as well as delighted food was on the agenda, she let him carry her with no complaints up the steps.
A little out of breath when I reached the top, I bugged my eyes out at Lewis who grinned at me. “I think I need to start running with my sister.”
“Nah, you’re just old,” he teased.
I guffawed, horrified, and glowered at Thane as he laughed. “If I’m old, what are you? Ancient?”
That just made him laugh harder.
Sexy bastard.
Trying to get Eilidh to sit down in the tearoom was a nightmare. There was a glass cabinet filled with cake, and she just wanted to stare at it. Not that I didn’t understand the fascination. Eventually, after promising she’d get a piece of whatever cake she liked, we got her to sit down at a small table. And by small, I mean, my knees kept knocking against Thane’s.
The proximity was driving me nuts.
I tried to ignore it as we sat and talked with the kids about the castle and then about school. While the rest of us were eating scones with our tea, Eilidh had, of course, decided on a piece of messy chocolate cake. “You’ll spoil your lunch.” I tried to tell her.
“It’s Daddy’s birthday. There should be cake,” she argued.
“Fine, then you can share a piece with your dad.”
Thane’s lips had twitched at having been given no choice in the matter, but we both knew Eilidh would be sick if she ate the entire thing. As it was, she got most of it on her face. Trying to avoid cake crumbling onto her new red coat, I pulled baby wipes from my purse and swiped at her face as she continued talking about the argument she’d had with a boy in her class over how Marvel films weren’t for girls.
“But I said, I watch all the Malver films with Lewis—”
“Turn your face to me, sweetie,” I murmured, tilting her cheek.
She did as I asked but kept talking. “—and how can it not be for girls when there’s one with a girl called Captain Malver!”
“It’s true,” Lewis agreed, for once engaged in one of Eilidh’s many retellings of her school-day “discussions.”
As I got the last of the chocolate off her face and tenderly brushed a stray curl behind her tiny ear, I felt heat on my cheek. Glancing at Thane, I found him watching me with an intensity that made my breath catch.
“Ree-Ree, I need a wee-wee!” Eilidh announced loudly, breaking our staring match.
Thane pressed his lips together to stop his laughter at the answering titters around the tearoom, but his gorgeous eyes glittered with amusement.
Lewis giggled around a bite of scone, and I cut Eilidh a half-amused, half-stern look.
She grinned with her teeth comically pressed together.
“Eilidh Adair, we do not call it wee-wee, especially since it rhymes with my name.”
“But that’s why I should call it wee-wee.”
I narrowed my eyes, and she mirrored my expression. This kid! “If you need to use the restroom, what do you say?”
She opened her mouth, and I just knew she was going to repeat the Ree-Ree/wee-wee thing.
“Not that,” I cut her off and heard her father choke on his amusement. Shooting him a quelling look only made his shoulders shake harder.
Eilidh sighed like a world-weary eighty-year-old. “Fine. Ree-Ree, I need to use the restroom even though I don’t need to rest, I need to wee-wee.”
Thane coughed into his fist to cover up his laughter.
I couldn’t look at him. “Okay.” I stood, dropping my napkin on the table. “You’re too smart for your own good, kid.”
“I know.” She hopped up from the table and took my hand.
“We call it a restroom because it’s a polite word for it,” I told her as we made our way through the tearoom, following the sign for the ladies’ toilet off the entrance.
“But I like the word wee-wee.”
“You do now. However, believe me, when you’re my age, calling it that is not cute.”
She continued to argue about this the entire time we were in the bathroom. I waited outside her stall door, interrupting her thoughts on how funny the word wee-wee was to ask how she was doing. She’d answer and then continue her monologue. If I never heard the word wee-wee again, I wouldn’t be sorry.
Though she was hilarious.
“Do you think Daddy will have ate the rest of my cake?” Eils asked, her brow furrowed as we washed our hands and stepped out of the restroom.
“Eaten, sweetie,” I corrected. I was so busy looking down at her, I missed the person crossing our path and collided with him. My head flew up as the hand not holding Eilidh’s hit a hard chest. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
Green eyes stared into mine, and familiarity hit me. “Regan, right?”
“Jared, hey.” I stepped back a little, tightening my grip on Eilidh’s hand.
Noting her, the yummy young farmer looked down and asked, “And who’s this?”
Turning uncharacteristically shy, Eilidh pressed into my side and buried her face in my coat. Huh. “Uh … this is Eilidh. Eilidh, this is Jared, Farmer McCulloch’s grandson.”
She nodded and lowered her eyes to the floor.
Surprised, I looked up at Jared.
He just grinned. “Shy one?”
Not usually. “Uh … what are you doing here?”
“Oh, just dropping off some produce for the kitchens. You showing the kids the castle?”
“Yeah. And having cake.” I ruffled Eilidh’s hair lightly. She still didn’t look up.
Jared searched my face for a second. “I was hoping we’d bump into each other again.”
I smiled noncommittally.
“I have to get back. I have other deliveries to make, but … can I have your number?”
Oh my God. I had not been expecting that. No messing around with him, huh?
Uh …
He gave me a sexy half smile. “I just want to take you out for a drink. No pressure.”
I thought of Thane waiting for me back in the tearoom.
About the tension still crackling between us.
Or was it all in my head? Thane had made it clear where we stood.
But once he apologizes, you move on. Thane goes back to just being your boss, and you take care of those kids. I remembered my sister’s advice.
Move on.
Right.
“Sure.” I grinned, nodding, even though my stomach was in knots.
Jared pulled out his cell, and I rattled off my number. He tucked the phone back into his work pants, stared at me like he had a lot more than a friendly drink in mind, and backed away. “I’ll call you.”
“Great.” I gave him a little wave and then led a strangely quiet Eilidh back to the tearoom.
“All good?” Thane grinned at us, and I felt a stupid prickle of guilt.
“Yeah.”
“Ready to go, then?” He stood. “I’ve already paid.”
I frowned. “I was going to pay for your birthday.”
He gave me a look as if to say “nonsense.”
Letting it go, we gathered our things and walked back to the car. I should have known by how quiet Eilidh was that she was stewing over something. But I was so distracted by what had just happened, I wasn’t paying enough attention. It wasn’t until we were all in the car and Thane was about to turn on the engine that Eilidh asked loudly and somewhat sullenly, “Why is that pretty man going to call you, Ree-Ree?”
I squeezed my eyes closed for a second as silence descended over the car.
>
Ignoring Thane’s stare, I looked over my shoulder at Eilidh, who looked confused and upset. She clearly didn’t understand what had passed between me and Jared, but she knew she didn’t like it. Shit.
“What’s Eils talking about?” Thane asked quietly.
I flicked him a look. “We bumped into Jared McCulloch in the hall. I gave him my number.” I met Eilidh’s gaze. “It’s what friends do, sweetie. We exchanged numbers so we can hang out.”
“Like you and me hang out?”
“Sure!” I knew my voice was too high with my lie.
She frowned. “But … I’m still your best friend. He can’t be your best friend.”
For some stupid reason, tears pricked my eyes. “My bestest buds in the entire world—you and Lewis. Promise. No one is replacing your spot as my besties.”
Eilidh side-eyed her brother. “I’m your bestest best friend. Lew is your best friend.” She looked back at me now that she’d asserted herself at the top of my priority list. “Daddy is your other best friend. So that man can only be a friend friend. Okay?”
Lewis scowled ferociously out the window.
Oh, boy.
I really shouldn’t let Eilidh think she had authority over my friendships, but that knot in my stomach tightened at her mention of Thane. The children were starting to see us as a unit. And if the last few minutes were anything to go by, they were territorial about that unit.
Which meant they were too young to understand the imaginary lines drawn in the sand between “nanny” and “family.” It didn’t help if the two adults kept blurring those lines.
I shouldn’t have come today.
That is it, I decided as Thane started the car. No more spending weekend day trips with them. It wasn’t fair to the children in the end.
Eilidh had a short attention span and started talking about how hungry she was again. Considering it was past lunchtime and they’d only had a scone and cake, Thane promised we’d stop in at Morag’s to see if she had any sandwiches left.
Morag, the bubbly, pink-haired owner, was delighted to see the Adair kids. She brought them behind her chilled counter to help her make their sandwiches. Thane and I stood in a weirdly tense silence, watching.
There With You Page 21