Secret Garden (13 page)

Colin crossed his arms, humor playing across his handsome face. “You know your golf. You should join my crew.”

“Scotland is the birthplace of golf.” Jessie drew herself up, insulted. “Of course I know my game!”

Colin laughed. “The guy I flew over here with is playing at St. Andrews this weekend.”

“You want to play St. Andrews? I can see you registered at St. Andrews. Our club professional can make a phone call.”

“Someday, Nana, I will,” Colin promised. “The people we met in the clubhouse today told us about some small courses I’d love to try, as well.”

“Aye. We have more than five hundred courses in Scotland. Most are wee, some on the honor system, all beautiful. You won’t find courses like ours in Texas.”

“No, I suppose not.” Colin glanced at Rhiannon, and she got a bad feeling. “Give me your phone number,” he said to her.

“What? Why me?” Rhiannon asked.

“I’m going to dial you up on video tomorrow. You’ll go to the golf course along with me. Just for a small visit, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“That’s a lovely idea,” Jessie said.

Colin gave Rhiannon a sweet smile, and she felt herself relaxing.
He understands.
“I suppose I could do that,” she said, feeling very brave.

“Well, that’s it for me,” Jessie said, rising. “I’m knackered. Jamie, will you help me pack up?”

“And then I’ll walk the lassie back to the castle,” Jamie said.

“But...”
You all haven’t discussed the funeral arrangements,
Rhiannon was going to say.

“Ah, I made this for you, dear.” Jessie passed Rhiannon a small, old-fashioned photo album. “They’re pictures of you and Colin.” Behind the back of her hand, she said, “
Just
you and Colin. I weeded out the ones with Dougie and Daisie Lee in them.”

Flabbergasted, Rhiannon took the album from her.

With a wry grin, Colin leaned close to her. “I don’t know about you, but I prefer to live in the present.” He motioned with his chin. “Come with me for a minute.” He unwound Molly’s leash and led her dog up the path toward the castle.

She followed Colin, not sure what else to do. When they were out of view, hidden by the leaves in a copse, she told him, “I think what’s really going on is that Jamie is upset with your grandmother because she won’t discuss the funeral.”

Colin laughed. “Nice try. He’s mad at me because I exist.”

“Surely that’s not true! I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow and find out more.”

“Sweet Rhiannon,” Colin teased. “It’s okay. I can’t make him happy. I’m not going to try anymore, or care about it.”

“You’re not concerned that nobody is addressing the fact that there’s a funeral on Sunday?” she demanded.

He leaned against a tree trunk, still holding the dog’s leash. Molly was scratching her neck with her hind foot. A sad smile played on Colin’s lips. “I think it’s enough just to be back here to catch up with you.” He dug his phone from his pocket and handed it to her. “Program your number in it for me.”

Hesitantly, she took his phone, still warm with his body heat. By instinct she inhaled, as if the rubber casing might carry the scent of him. Sadly, it did not.

She opened the directory to type in her name, and saw so many others. With her thumb she scrolled through dozens of
r
’s...perhaps hundreds of
r
’s. She felt herself frowning.

“Put it under
Rhi
,” he said.
“R, h, i.”

She shoved the small photo album toward him. “I will, but only if you open this album and look at
one
photo.”

A line appeared in his forehead.

“Are
you
afraid?” she said. “I dare you.”

Scowling at her, yet taking the bait, he whipped it open. Stared at the book. And then burst out laughing.

He shared it with her. The photo was of wee Colin at a junior golf clinic, his cocky pose apparent even then. But the kicker was her. Young Rhiannon hugged him unabashedly around his waist. They were both outdoors at Kildrammond Golf Club.

“Oh, dear.” Rhiannon handed the photo album back to him. “You should keep this.”

“Maybe I will,” he murmured. He pushed away from the tree bark, closer to her now. Too close. Closer than she let anyone get. She saw the blue of his shirt—cerulean blue, the oils artist in her automatically thought. She was at his chest height, exactly. The heat from his body was close enough to feel.

She didn’t dare look up at him.

“Thank you for being here with me today,” he said quietly.

“I wish I could have helped you more,” she murmured. “I feel like I didn’t do enough.”

“Your presence is always enough.” And then he leaned forward and kissed her quickly on the forehead.

Oh, why did he do that? She gazed up at him.

His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. He had the faintest, scattered bit of sexy razor stubble on his neck.

He chuckled at her, deep in his throat. “You were my first kiss, Rhiannon.”

“And you mine, as well,” she said lightly. She refused to be affected by him.

“That night during ‘Auld Lang Syne,’” he said.

All she could do was nod.

That crease on his forehead appeared again. “I should’ve asked. Do you...have a boyfriend?” He had a look on his face that said
probably not.

She couldn’t stand for anyone to feel sorry or make presumptions about her, especially him. “Stop it, Colin.” She put her hand on her hip. “A year ago, we had a man working as a security guard for a few months on the property. I kissed
him
. No big deal.”

He stared at her, his mouth open. “We said to be honest and...well, I’m jealous.”

She smiled at him. “You should be.”

He shook his head at her, laughing. “Rhiannon, you never cease to amaze me.”

She tilted her head. “Why?”

“What was his name?” he asked instead, scowling again.

She couldn’t help laughing, because his reaction was so ironically absurd to her. “Are you sure you want to open Pandora’s box, Colin?” she teased. “Because I’m giving you fair warning—I’m not interested in hearing the names of all your sweethearts.”

“My only sweetheart is my long-lost nana.” Colin looked at her. “Honestly, who was he?” He glanced around as if the trees would give him an answer. “A neighbor?”

“His name was Colin.”

“No, really.”

“Yes, his name was honestly Colin.” She smiled sheepishly at his disbelieving laughter. “I figured the name was my destiny. Besides, my brother was here that week when he’d first met Kristin, and well, romance was in the air. I suppose it was inevitable.”

“I’m crushed.”

“Don’t be,” she said lightly. “You’re still my first kiss. Nothing can take that away.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you’re still mine, too.”

There was an awkward moment. “You should go with your grandmother,” Rhiannon said.

He nodded. “Um, tomorrow...”

“You’ll be out golfing with your grandmother, and I’ll be here as always.”

“Right.” But the awkward moment dragged on. Wanting to end it, Rhiannon leaned forward. If she were to kiss him, quickly and firmly on the lips, the same way that he’d kissed her during “Auld Lang Syne,” then she would be showing him that she was fine.
No big deal
. That she could handle his presence without being silly. That she could handle a mere kiss.

She kissed him quickly. His lips were warm... And firm...

And she was lingering too long.

Her blood roaring in her ears, she drew back.

“You see,” she said softly, as lightly as she could—as he would, “it’s no big deal.”

“Yeah, Rhiannon, it is.” And then he leaned forward and kissed her. It was gentle and sweet and completely unexpected. It gave her the message that...

...that he was interested in her as a
woman
.

Stunned, she touched her lips.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.

He left, whistling.

She groaned, putting her head in her hands. What was she
doing
, spinning fairy tales in the air over something that couldn’t be?

She was still in that position when Jamie found her a few minutes later. “Lass?” he said. “I didn’t want you to be involved in this.”

She snapped up her head. Colin’s grandfather stood alone beneath a Scotch pine. His hands in his front pockets, he was hunched over, looking grim and upset.

“Involved in what?” she asked with foreboding, wondering what he’d just seen and what he thought about it.

“It’s Jessie,” he said with his gravelly voice.

“Jessie? What about Jessie?” Rhiannon just felt so relieved that he wasn’t talking about her kissing Colin—indeed, he hadn’t seemed to have seen it—that her mind was disoriented.

“She invented the story about the funeral and the inheritance.”

Rhiannon’s mouth dropped open. “She did
what
?”

Jamie seemed to be bracing himself. “Our son Dougie isn’t dead. He’s alive. She only came up with the story to bring Colin back to Scotland.”

Rhiannon felt her mouth hanging open. “Why would she
do
that?” she wailed.

It was a horrendous lie! Such a horrible, terrible
wrong
thing to do. She couldn’t believe that Jessie would do such a thing.

Rhiannon clasped her head and moaned. “This cannot be true, Jamie. The Jessie I know wouldn’t do this to someone.”

“I know,” Jamie ground out. He shook his head. “I haven’t been myself since I found out what she did. I’m afraid I’ve been taking it out on my grandson—unfairly perhaps—but I cannot blame my wife for it, lass. I cannot.”

“But...for what
reason
would Jessie possibly do this?”

“I can’t say,” he said grimly, “because it’s her story to tell. She meant to confess to him when he first arrived, but then she said there never seemed to be the right time. She’s promised to tell Colin tomorrow, when they’re golfing at her club. She’s pledged it to me.”

“But...but...” Rhiannon struggled to find words. Colin would be devastated and furious, and rightly so. “He’ll feel so betrayed, Jamie. Don’t you see that? It could ruin their relationship beyond all repairs.”

“Aye,” Jamie gritted out. “But there’s nothing we can do until she tells him.”

He gazed at her, and his eyes softened. “Miss Rhiannon, you weren’t supposed to be part of this. But Paul said that you must be told. That it was for you to hear, and not your brother.”

She groaned, slumping against the tree. “You talked to Paul today?” she asked weakly.

“I did. Just before dinner.” Jamie peered closely at her. “Is this too much for you, lass?” he asked hesitantly. “Stepping in as the lady of the manor?”

“No. I’m fine.
I’m
not the one to worry about in this situation.”

Jamie clenched his jaw. “I was right—I shouldn’t have listened to Paul. You shouldn’t be part of this. If your father were home I would go to him.”

But her parents weren’t home.
She
was in charge.

She had no choice but to step up and help gather the pieces of the fallout from both Jessie and Colin, even though it could damage her relationship with Colin. “Will you
please
call me tomorrow—after Jessie has confessed to Colin?”

“Aye,” Jamie said. “But don’t judge my wife too harshly. She has her reasons.”

Rhiannon couldn’t imagine what they could be.

“All will come out soon enough, lass. In the meantime, don’t tell Colin. Please let Jessie do it. Will you promise me?”

Rhiannon could only nod.

CHAPTER SEVEN

T
HE MORNING DAWNED
sunny and bright, a day to be taken advantage of. Colin assisted his grandmother into the front seat of his steering-wheel-on-the-wrong-side rental car, tossed their golf bags in the trunk and then prepared to head out for their grandson/grandmother tee time at the local golf club.

“Did you bring a rain suit?” his grandmother asked, carefully folding her waterproof jacket.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but Colin wasn’t about to doubt her. Three days in Scotland, and he was already getting used to the damp, quickly changing weather again. “No, but I’ll pick one up at the pro shop. You have some great brands here that aren’t readily available in the States.”

“That’s good to know.” His grandmother settled her purse on her lap. As Colin pulled into the road, she glanced toward the window of her whitewashed croft cottage.

Jamie scowled back at them.

Colin refused to be bothered by his granddad’s attitude toward him, but it upset him that he couldn’t say the same for his grandmother. Beside him, dressed in her golf sweater and wearing a brimmed cap over her white curls, Jessie twisted her hands in her lap—she obviously was affected by her husband’s disapproval.

Colin had heard them talking last night—Jamie wanted her to discuss tomorrow’s funeral with him.
Forget it.
Colin had nothing to say about it. He figured they had all day tomorrow to deal with
that
baggage, and then Colin was heading back to Texas right afterward.

“We’re gonna have a good day, you and I,” he said to Jessie.

“Mind that you don’t forget to fetch Molly,” she murmured.

Ah, Scotland. A country where dogs were welcome on the golf course. Colin felt himself smirking as he made the turn past the guard gate and down the gravel drive toward the castle.

Paul the butler waited for them out front. Molly, ever obedient, sat with her leash on, though Paul didn’t need to hold it.

“I’ll be right back,” Colin said to his grandmother. While Paul opened the back door for Molly to leap inside the car, Colin left the engine idling and loped toward the castle—he walked in just as had been his habit as a kid, striding through the front rooms in search of Rhiannon.

He found her in the kitchen up to her elbows in flour and other baking implements. Her hair was tied back and her arms were bare. She looked good enough to eat. He paused, enjoying himself.

She gave a small gasp when she saw him. “Colin!” The flush to her cheeks that he liked so much rose and spread. “What are you doing here?”