I pulled paper and charcoal pencils out of the nightstand drawer, and took a seat on the bed. I began with Kade’s face, and then made the outline of his body. He had such a beautiful body, all lean muscle and gorgeous olive skin. Memories of the afternoon, of exploring those long lines made me feel all warm inside.
He laughed. “Shouldn’t I be the one blushing?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Shh, don’t move.”
For the next thirty minutes he did as asked, watching me watch him. I remembered when I had drawn Ian, the playful, flirting glances we’d shared. With Kade it was more intense—his stare downright smoldering.
He flexed his muscles a few times and I laughed, telling him to stop it and behave.
“Hey, Tom is having some of us up to his grandparents’ cabin Saturday night,” Kade said, picking up a ceramic angel that was on my vanity. “Do you want to come?”
I was happy he had asked me. I couldn’t wait to spend more time alone with him, and a cabin in the woods, even if it was with our friends, sounded perfect. “Sure, I’d love to.”
“It’s only about an hour up A-93. I’ve been there a few times. Nice place, isolated, and there’s supposedly a few resident ghosts.”
My heart leapt. “Really?”
He nodded. “I haven’t seen any, but when Tom was younger he said there was an old lady who stood in his room and watched him sleep.”
“Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked, actually anxious to hear his answer.
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing. “Why do you ask?”
I shrugged, and kept my focus on the drawing. “Just curious…I mean you do live in a castle,” I said, using the words Madison had thrown at me.
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“No fair, I asked you first.”
Taking a deep breath, he released it. “Fair enough…I guess I do then. I’ve heard noises in the castle that can’t be explained, and people who have visited have seen shadows and mists. I mean, if someone dies in a place, then it makes sense that maybe that person’s spirit hangs around there.”
“When I had dinner at your house, your mom mentioned one of your ancestors being murdered.”
“Ian MacKinnon,” he said matter-of-factly. “He was poisoned by a female servant who fell in love with him. He wasn’t much older than I am now.”
My heart was hammering so loud, I was surprised he didn’t hear it.
“So did you ever feel his spirit in the castle?”
He shook his head. “I hear noises every once in a while. I think everyone has the sensation of being watched from time to time, and I’m no different. Does that mean my house is full of ghosts? Maybe, but I can’t say for sure if it’s Ian or not.”
What I wouldn’t give to be a hundred percent honest with him, and tell him that I had hung out with Ian for weeks. That I felt he was Ian, reincarnated.
“So…is the inn haunted?” he asked.
Actually, I’m the one who is haunted. “Definitely,” I said under my breath.
“Really?” he asked, sitting forward. “What have you seen?”
“You don’t want to know.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, and then the corners of his mouth lifted. “I’ll just have to protect you from these ghosts then.”
Chapter 21
Kade had left and I was getting ready for bed when Dad walked into my room. “I wanted to let you know that there is a company party in Edinburgh this weekend.”
So he was leaving again. Honestly, I was relieved, especially since I was going to Tom’s party with Kade. Maybe I could convince Miss A to let me stay up there overnight…
“And you and Shane are coming with me.”
My stomach dropped to my toes. I wanted to hang out with Kade and my friends, not sit through a company party with my dad. “But I already have plans.”
“Sorry, but you’ll have to break those plans. Everyone in the company is bringing their families, and therefore, I am bringing my family. I’ve asked Miss Akin along as well,” he said, like bringing Miss A would make all the difference in the world.
“Dad, please, I don’t want to go.”
“I’m sure you like hanging out with your boyfriend, but this is important to me.” His voice was stern. “I don’t want to hear another word about it. We leave at noon.”
***
Edinburgh was an interesting city. Old, creepy, and yet hauntingly beautiful all at the same time. I felt spirits around me, and although I didn’t try to connect, my pulse skittered when I saw the ghost of a young girl, doll in hand, walking up the middle of the Royal Mile. I focused in on her and I got a vision of a mother crying over her, and then covering the girl’s face with a pillow.
I flinched. The family had been starving, living in squalor beneath the streets of Edinburgh. A crowded, overrun subterranean apartment that smelled like death.
I pushed away the visions, and followed my family into the hotel. Thank goodness we were staying in the same hotel as the company party. That way we could leave when we wanted, and hopefully my dad wouldn’t bitch too much.
Shane and I shared a room, and I watched him closely. He’d gone quiet on me for about an hour, saying very little, but I didn’t feel creeped out. No doubt, like me, he was hating his life right now and wishing he was at Tom’s party.
Dad dropped by our room at ten minutes to six dressed in a charcoal gray suit. Shane wore a black dress shirt and jeans. He refused to wear slacks, and dad seemed to be content, because he gave us both a once-over and smiled. I wore the sundress I had worn at Milo’s birthday party, along with a navy shrug sweater and wedge heels.
The ballroom was full of about two hundred people, and as we ate dinner my dad excused himself, saying he had to use the restroom. He stopped by the table of a lady he’d been eyeing all night. I’d caught a few flirtatious glances between them, but I’d assumed the man sitting beside her was her husband.
That man was now completely turned in his chair, speaking to another woman, their body language familiar.
“This fucking sucks,” Shane said under his breath, sliding a little further down into his chair, and pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Miss A had stayed behind in her room, saying she just wanted to relax and enjoy a movie that was on the History channel. Dad didn’t argue, especially since it had been a rough week for her.
I made small talk with the lady to my right, the wife of the Chief Financial Officer of the company. She was sweet, but had horrible breath, and I struggled with trying to keep from inhaling.
Dad walked back toward the table…with the lady he’d been talking to in tow. The man at the table didn’t even blink as she left, giving me confirmation that I had been wrong. I elbowed Shane and he sat up, looked at Dad and the woman, and shoved his cell phone back in his jeans pocket.
“Riley, Shane, I’d like you to meet Cheryl Fleming,” Dad said, huge grin on his face. I hadn’t seen him smile like that since before Mom died. “Cheryl, this is my daughter Riley, and my son Shane.”
She had strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and her forehead had the waxy, kind of startled expression that people who did Botox had. Her tailored suit fit her slim body, and I could tell she was nervous as she reached out and shook Shane’s hand and then mine.
My heart sank to my toes. Dad liked her. I could see it in his eyes as he looked at her and smiled reassuringly.
I thought I might puke. My mind started racing, going in a not-so-good direction. Shane had alluded to the fact he thought dad was messing around with someone. Now he glanced at me, his brows lifted as though to say, ‘See, I was right.’
My nails bit into my palms.
Shane, looking bored to death, glanced at Dad. “Can I go back to my room now?”
Dad’s smile thinned. “The night is young, Shane.”
“Dinner is over, though.”
Clearing his throat, Dad said, “I’d like for you stay for the CEO’s speech.”
I felt sick
when Dad pulled out a chair beside him and offered it to Cheryl. She held his gaze for a moment, and then with a slight nod, sat down. She immediately started asking questions. Did we like Scotland? How was school? What subjects were we learning? Had we made new friends? Shane answered with one syllable answers, where I tried to be a little more polite. It was tough though…because I knew what this meant. I could tell that my dad wanted us to like her. I could almost feel his desperation.
She said she was divorced, and had an eight-year-old son who went to boarding school in France.
“Lucky him,” Shane said under his breath and I smiled inwardly. Personally, I was suspect of anyone who sent their kid to boarding school. My mom had always used boarding school as a threat when we didn’t behave. She told us she’d be calling 1-800-boarding school. Little did I realize at the time that the word boarding school had far too many digits to be a phone number. Her threat had worked like a charm, though.
The CEO walked onto the platform and tapped the side of a wine glass with a knife. “Good evening…”
I was actually grateful for the interruption, ready to be out of here and back in my room. I wanted to talk to Kade. How lucky he was that he had both parents, and a great home life.
Shane slid his earbuds in, ignoring Dad’s stern look. At least the music wasn’t blaring loud enough for the table to hear.
The CEO of Langstrom’s Software Services gave one of the most self-inflated speeches I’d ever heard. My mind had wandered and I couldn’t help but watch my dad from the corner of my eye. Once I saw him touch Cheryl’s hand, and she didn’t pull away. He brushed his pinky along her thumb and she glanced up at him with a shy smile.
Bile rose in my throat. So this is why he’d dragged us four thousand miles away from Portland. Another woman. Maybe he was grateful when Mom had been killed in the car wreck. He could play the poor widower to the hilt, and turn around and see his mistress halfway across the world.
I focused on Cheryl, trying to tap into her, but I couldn’t focus. My thoughts were all over the place. I was getting more pissed off by the second, and by the time the long-winded speech was over, I stood so fast my chair nearly tipped over. Shane caught it, and righted it before it hit the ground. “I’m heading back to my room. Cheryl, it was nice to meet you.” I forced the words past my lips.
“I’ll go with you,” Shane said. “Nice to meet you, Sandra.”
Cheryl opened her mouth to correct him, but Shane was already walking for the double doors. Yep, my brother had returned in force. Thank God.
“Good night,” Cheryl replied with a tight smile.
Hotel staff was busy cleaning off tables, and Shane grabbed two glasses of champagne off the back table while the server was preoccupied talking to a guest. He handed me one. I glanced back at the table to see if Dad was watching, but he was talking to Cheryl, and now they were holding hands.
We immediately took a right, toward the stairs and walked the four flights to our room. I tossed back the champagne and left the empty glass on one of the steps.
“Look at you,” Shane said, lips quirked. “I’m impressed.”
Pulling the room key out of his back pocket, Shane stopped in front of our room and handed me his glass. “Hey, don’t drink it.”
I was tempted. My heart pounded a mile a minute. I was furious, sad, and disappointed, and all I wanted to do was cry.
The minute the door shut behind us, I turned to Shane. “They’re together. I mean, together-together.”
“I know.” Unbuttoning the dress shirt, he slid it off and put on a T-shirt. “I read Dad’s emails to her on his computer.”
“How come you didn’t say anything?”
He shrugged.
I knew the reason. He didn’t want to give me any reason to cut, and he knew Dad dating someone a year after our mom’s death was definitely going to upset me. And I was upset. Actually, I was furious. “Do you think they were dating before we moved here?”
“Dad loved Mom, Riley.”
“That’s not what I asked,” I said, sitting on one of the double beds.
“He was probably lonely, and let’s face it—he’s had business in Edinburgh before. I just choose to believe he wouldn’t have screwed around with anyone else while Mom was alive.”
“He flew to Edinburgh a few times though.” I tried to think back on those times, how Mom acted when he was gone. She never seemed concerned about an affair but then again, some women were completely in the dark about their husband’s infidelity.
“Yeah, but I really don’t think so. The tone of the emails were more the flirty, new kind of relationship emails. You know what I mean?”
I suppose I did. It still didn’t help though. I felt like it was way too early for him to move on.
“Hey, look at the bright side.” He flashed a grin. “This means he’ll be gone even more now.”
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I’m not trying to be an insensitive dick, but what can we do, Ri? He’s lonely, and now he’s found someone. He can spend his weeks and weekends in Edinburgh, and Miss A can keep an eye on us. She’s a lot easier to deal with than Dad.”
So true. Thank God for Miss A. She was our salvation. “Do you think he brought Miss A along as a buffer?”
“Definitely.” He chewed his thumbnail. “He probably figured this was the easiest way to let us know about her. Whatever the case—he’s moving on. We have to accept it.”
The problem was…I didn’t want to accept it.
I went into the bathroom, washed my face, and changed into my pajamas. Shane was slumped against the headboard, feet crossed at the ankles, scrolling through the channels. The hotel only had basic cable. Aside from an old movie that wasn’t good the first time we’d watched it, we were stuck with watching reality television, Scottish style.
“This fucking sucks,” Shane said around ten. “We’re missing one hell of a party.”
I nodded in agreement, and sent yet another text message to Megan. No one was responding—not Kade, not Cait, not Cassandra or Megan.
“You have any luck getting your friends?” I asked Shane.
He shook his head. “Milo forewarned me there’s little to no mobile reception, so I’m not surprised.”
We spent the next hour in silence. I had hoped my phone would ring and I’d get an update from Megan, or at least hear from Kade…but nothing.
Shane went to the bathroom and turned on the fan. I heard the click of his lighter. “I thought you quit that,” I said, figuring he couldn’t hear me over the fan when he didn’t respond.
“Only in case of emergencies…and this is an emergency.” He poked his head out, the joint pinched between his fingers. “You want a drag?”
“No thanks.”
Within thirty minutes he was asleep and I was staring at the ceiling. I picked up my cell phone, dialed Kade’s number and then hit End. It was after midnight. I didn’t want to act desperate, even though I was.
Glancing at Shane one last time, I set my phone aside and slid under the covers.
Chapter 22
I was at Tom’s party, a cottage with three bedrooms, a great room, kitchen and a loft. I had a drink in my hand and as I walked through the crowd, people nodded at me.
Kade stood with his friends, leaning against the kitchen counter, a cup full of beer in hand. Seeing me, he nodded and continued talking with his friends. I’d expected a better reaction, and rather than go up to him, I stayed on the periphery and waited for him to come to me.
I lingered nearby, drinking, and talking with friends. When he walked past me, I grabbed his hand and led him into the nearest bedroom.
“What are you doing?” he asked, perplexed and irritated as he pulled his hand away.
“Don’t you want me?” I asked, but it wasn’t my voice. I did the strangest thing then—I put my hand to his forehead, and then flaring my fingers, slid them down over his face.
He blinked a few times and stared at me fo
r about ten seconds before his lips curved into a boyish smile, white teeth flashing. “What are you doing here?”
Before I could answer, he leaned in and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks.
Liquid fire rushed through my veins, and I savored the way his hands ran over my body. Desperate to get closer, my fingers threaded through his dark hair, and I clung to his shoulders.
Knocking sounded at the door and Kade cursed under his breath. “Go away.”
“Come on, MacKinnon. Not in my parents’ room. Go upstairs to the loft, will ya?”
He took my hand and opened the door. Tom stood there, brow lifted high as his gaze shifted between us. One side of his mouth curved in a strange, kind of knowing smile. He shook his head a second later and wandered back into the kitchen.
I pulled Kade’s head down to mine and we kissed. I could hear his friends whispering, and Johan laughed. Maybe too much PDA for them?
Kade caught my earlobe with his teeth. Goosebumps rose along my arms and I smiled. As we walked into the great room, I saw Richie, Shane’s friend, who sat on one of the two couches playing video games with Tom’s brother. He glanced at us, and did a quick double-take, his gaze focused on our linked hands. Frowning, he turned back to his game, looking confused.
We walked up the stairs to the loft, hand in hand.
I caught my reflection in an oval mirror hanging on the wall. My eyes looked strange, different. He grabbed me, kissing me, pulling me close.
My arms encircled his neck, and when I glanced in the mirror again, this time I saw someone else’s reflection.
I woke from the dream with a sickening feeling. The dream had seemed so real. What if Kade really had been with Dana?
No, I was just getting myself riled up. All my fears about not being able to go to the party had manifested into a nightmare, that’s all. I was just freaking myself out unnecessarily.
I took a shower and got dressed. Shane was still sleeping, so instead of turning on the television, I sat in a chair by the window and texted Megan, asking her about the party.
Within five minutes she texted back saying she and Cassandra had left the party at eleven thirty, but it had been fun and she was bummed I had missed it.
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