Lea Carloth was placing dust sheets on the furniture in the now deserted northern wing of Brathellae Castle when she heard the sound of a firm footfall on the stairs. Goosebumps peppered her skin like Braille, and a cold draught of air circled her ankles like the ghost of a long-dead cat. No such things as ghosts. No such things as ghosts. Her old childhood chant wasn’t working any better than when she first came to live in the Scottish Highlands castle as a frightened and lonely twelve-year-old orphan. Taken in by her great-aunt, who had worked as a housekeeper for the Borthman family, Lea had been raised in the kitchen and corridors of the castle. In the early days, downstairs had been her only domain, upstairs was out of bounds. And not just because of her limp. Upstairs had been another world—a world in which she did not and could not ever belong. “Is anyone th-there?” Her voice echoed in the silence, her heart thumping so loudly she could hear it booming in her ears. Who would
WTF? Why had she even mentioned such a thing? Maybe it was time to stop reading paperback romances and start reading thrillers or horror novels instead. Lea could feel a hot flush of colour flooding her cheeks and bent down to straighten the items in her basket to disguise it.“Of course not, are you insane?” No. Of course not. Her voice was part laugh, part gasp, and it came out shamefully high and tight. Her? His bride of convenience? No way! She wouldn’t be a convenient bride for anyone, much less Dave fucking-playboy-Borthman.A strange silence crept from the far corners of the room, stealing oxygen particles, stilling dust motes, stirring possibilities...Dave walked back to where she was hovering over her cleaning basket, his footsteps steady and sure. Step. Step. Step. Step. Lea slowly raised her gaze to his inscrutable one, her heart doing a crazy tap dance in her chest. She drank in the landscape of his face—the ink-black prominent eyebrows over impossibly blue eyes, the patri
“Can you say no?” Lea’s best friend, Iris, said on the phone later that evening. “I'm not sure if you can say no. What I’m sure of is that you’ll get your heartbroken for sure.”“Of course not.”"Yes, I am one million percent sure; the man is rich, handsome, and hot. Girls like us? Fall for that every time. And he will break your heart a fucking million times, Lea.”“But it will break my heart to see Brathellae sold,” Lea said. “This is the first real home I’ve ever had. I’ve spent the last fourteen years here—it’s made me who I am today. I can’t bear the thought of it going out of the Borthman family. It belongs to Dave and Mary now. It was wrong of the old man to make his will in such a way.”“Do you know why he did it that way?”Lea sighed so heavily that her shoulders slumped. “Dave has made it pretty clear over the years that he has no intention of settling down again. Losing his ex was such a terrible shock to him—as it would be to anyone. I’ve overheard a few conversations wher
The frown on Lea’s brow deepened. “So, who will your heir be? Or will you eventually leave Brathellae to a nephew or niece if, after all, Mary has two?Dave hadn’t gotten to thinking that far ahead. His sole goal had been rescuing Brathellae from being auctioned off to settle his sister’s doing all the things in the world to make him a responsible husband. Marrying to save the estate was a big enough step; siring an heir was a giant leap he wasn’t sure he was ready to even consider. Yet. He gave one of his carefully rationed smiles. “I don’t suppose you’d like to help me with that?”Her cheeks burned a fire engine red, and her plump, rosy lips flattened to a thin, disapproving line. She rolled her eyes in exaggeration and even shook her head, like it was the most absurd thing to do. “No way in hell, I'll help you with that.” Her tone was as starchy as a prim and proper schoolteacher’s.“Only joking.” It was no joking matter, but he refused to think about having a child. Hadn’t he done
Later that evening, Lea fed Flossie and let her out for a comfort walk. When she got back, the old dog began to snore almost as soon as she settled back in her wicker basket in front of the fire in the old Borthman’s study, a few doors away from the kitchen. There was a pet door in one of the back doors off the kitchen, but Flossie was too arthritic these days to get through it.It was sad to see the old girl’s decline. Lea had only been at Brathellae a couple of weeks when Angus McLaughlin brought Flossie home as a playful and needle-toothed puppy. She had often wondered if he had bought the dog to help her settle in. She had asked him once, but he’d dismissed the suggestion in a gruff and off-hand way.Lea had spent many a happy time playing with Flossie, brushing her silky coat, and taking her on walks about the estate, which had seemed so huge and terrifying when she had first arrived. But with the company of the ebullient puppy, it had suddenly become a home. A home she could not
Dave spent longer than he needed to choose a wine from the well-stocked Brathellae cellar. He remembered the bottle of vintage champagne he’d selected when he’d gotten engaged to Susannah. How excited he’d felt, how ready he’d felt for the commitment he’d made. He had imagined himself to be in love, and she was in love with him. He had been Lea’s age—twenty-six. Susannah had been two years younger, with a host of issues he had been completely oblivious to until it was too late. Mary had compelled him to settle down as soon as he could. With hindsight, he could see now how many signs he’d missed about the suitability of Susannah, even his own readiness for such a permanent commitment. He’d had no way of knowing how that night of celebrating his engagement would end less than a year later, in her death. How could he have been so ignorant of the demons she’d battled on a daily basis? What did that say about him? It said he wasn’t relationship material, that’s what it said. Or, at least
“Don’t say anything.” The pitch of his voice went down another notch, and he slid his other hand under the curtain of her hair, his eyes locked on hers.Every nerve tingled at his touch, and every cell in her body throbbed with awareness. His eyes were the deepest blue she had ever seen—bluer than the Brathellae loch at midnight, bluer than a midnight winter sky. He was still holding her left hand, the heat from his hand seeping into her body with the potency of a powerful narcotic. She was aware of every part of his hand where it touched hers—the pads of his fingertips, the latent strength of his fingers, the protective warmth of his palm.Lea forgot to breathe. She was transfixed by the slow descent of his mouth towards hers, spellbound by the clean, fresh scent of his warm breath, mesmerised by the magnetic force drawing her inexorably closer, closer, closer to his lips. It was as if she had been waiting her entire life for this to happen. She hadn’t been truly alive until now. She
Dave gave her hand another quick squeeze in time with the on-off movement of his lips, in a blink-and-you’d-miss-it smile. A smile that didn’t reach high enough to take the shadows out of his eyes. But then he let go of her hand and sat back in his chair and picked up his water glass and drained it, placing it back down with a definitive thud.What on earth was that?“Finish your dinner. We have a busy day tomorrow meeting with the lawyer to organise the legal paperwork. Rather than drive, I’ve taken the liberty of organising a flight from Inverness to Edinburgh.” His business-like tone and abrupt change of subject were disquieting and left her with far too many questions unanswered.She sighed. He was so near yet so far away, so very far away."Okay, no problem.” Lea wanted to know more about his relationship with his ex. She had idolised them as a couple, seeing them as a match made in heaven. Feeling jealous of the love they’d shared, hoping one day someone would love her in the sa