The Heir of the Castle (Harlequin Romance) (14 page)

Callan standing at the castle doors holding some kind of certificate in his hands. He had a vague recollection of it being his exam results that gained him his place at university. All little moments in time.

He’d been feeling annoyed. He’d been feeling spurned by the fact Angus wouldn’t sell him Annick Castle. Deep down he’d been hurt that Angus hadn’t considered him in his will.

But here it was. Captured for posterity. Exactly what Angus had left him.

A life.

A safe haven.

Love.

The things he’d needed to shape him and become his own man.

A tear dripped down his face.

Now he understood.

He’d always known how much he’d owed Angus. But here was something to cherish and keep. To help him remember that memories were more precious than material things. None of Angus’s children had shared any of these moments with him.

The gift that Angus had left him was the most precious of all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
HE
GONG
SOUNDED
dead on eleven. Laurie had never heard the gong used before. She’d noticed it standing in the entrance hall and wondered what it had ever been used for. It was almost like the start of one of those movies, except Robin wasn’t dressed in a loincloth.

Everyone was gathering in the drawing room. It seemed to be the room where Angus’s relatives had spent most of their time.

The rain was battering the windows with a ferocity she’d never seen. It seemed fitting on a day like this. It was almost as if the weather could read how she was feeling.

She filed in and took a seat. Frank, the family lawyer, was standing in the corner of the room. He looked as if he wanted to be sick. Robin stood next to him along with the guy John who had been playing the butler, and the girl who’d been murdered on Friday night.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps outside. Callan appeared with Marion and Bert by his side. It was only fitting. They should all hear who would own Annick Castle together.

Her eyes fixed on the floor. After Callan had abandoned her in the bedroom she didn’t even want to look him in the eye. She certainly didn’t want to have a conversation with him in front of anyone else. Whatever she had to say to Callan she could say in private before she left.

But Callan seemed to have entirely different thoughts.

He crossed the room in a matter of seconds, sitting on the chaise longue next to her. ‘Laurie, I’m sorry. I had to go and look through Angus’s papers this morning. You won’t believe what I’ve found.’

What?
Her head whipped up. She couldn’t help but frown. ‘But you left this morning.’ She shook her head. ‘I woke up and you were gone.’ She couldn’t hide the confusion in her voice. And she didn’t care what he’d found.

He smiled, obviously unaware of the turmoil she’d felt. ‘You looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to wake you. I meant to come back and bring you breakfast in bed, but once I started going through Angus’s boxes I just lost all track of time.’

There was no time to reply. No time to try and think clearly. Frank cleared his throat loudly. ‘Thank you for gathering here this morning. In accordance with Angus McLean’s will, today we will reveal who has inherited Annick Castle. Once the announcement is made, we will make suitable arrangements for a DNA test to be carried out to confirm the family connection. Once this has been confirmed, the process of passing on Annick Castle will take a few weeks.’

Frank looked around the room. He was clutching cards in his hands—the cards where everyone had written who they thought had carried out the murder.

He was obviously feeling the strain. The colour in his face was rising, probably in line with his blood pressure. He gave a nervous smile. ‘It turns out that only one person correctly identified the murderer. There was provision in the will if more than one person had guessed correctly, but that won’t be necessary now.’

Heads were glancing around the room. Everyone wondering who had been right. ‘So, who was the murderer?’ Craig snapped, the tension obviously getting too much for him.

Frank nodded. ‘The murderer was John. The butler did it,’ he said simply.

There were gasps around the room, along with several expletives.

‘That’s not fair!’

‘I hardly spoke to him.’

‘He was only ever in the background.’

‘I never even had a conversation with him!’

Robin was instantly on the defensive. ‘We conducted everything with absolute precision. The clues were all there if you looked for them.’

Laurie was frozen. Her throat dried in an instant. She couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t hear because the thudding in her ears was getting louder and louder. Sweat. She’d never experienced sweat like it. Appearing instantly all over her body, running down the length of her back and collecting between the cups of her bra. She was freezing. She felt as if someone had just plucked up her body and dropped her in the raging sea outside.

People were still ranting. Callan was just frozen in the chair beside her, holding his breath while he waited for the announcement.

The announcement that would mean any chance they had of having any kind of relationship would disappear in an instant.

Frank’s grey eyes locked on hers. ‘Congratulations, Laurie. Pending a DNA test, Annick Castle is yours.’

The room erupted.

‘It’s a fix!’

‘She’s obviously in league with Frank—you lawyers stick together.’

‘She’s hardly even been here!’

‘She’s in cahoots with that man—Callan. The rest of us never really stood a chance!’

She felt numb. There was good reason she didn’t like some of her relatives. Her vibes about most of them hadn’t been wrong. Any tiny flicker of doubts she’d had about the personality traits of some her relatives were now being revealed in 3D multicolour. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. The air was coming in, but she couldn’t get it back out.

From the corner of her eye she saw her auntie Mary give her a little smile and blow her a kiss. She was sitting on the other side of the room and her elderly bones couldn’t possibly navigate the melee between them.

It was the first sign of hope. The first glimmer of a good-luck wish.

She was scared to look sideways. She was scared to look at Callan. Part of her wished he’d jumped up to defend her once the rabble had started. But he hadn’t—he’d been silent.

Frank was trying to push his way through the crowd. At this point it looked as if he might be trampled by the objectors.

She stood up and turned to face Callan.

He hadn’t moved. He looked shell-shocked. The smile on his face earlier had vanished. His green eyes lifted and met hers.

She could read everything on his face and in his eyes. He’d been taking steps forward. He’d been trying to move past the fact that Annick Castle would be inherited by someone else. And he’d been getting there. In tiny baby steps.

But this was entirely different. This changed everything. The pain and confusion was etched in his eyes. Both of them knew this wasn’t her fault. This was something that neither of them had control over. Or did they?

Could she have done something to prevent this happening? Could she have done something to allow them to cling onto the hope of developing a relationship together?

She was so confused right now.

Panic started to grip her. She’d written that name on the card without a second thought. Her reactions had been automatic. She should have guessed wrongly. But it hadn’t even occurred to her at the time.

Pain started to spread across her chest. She was starting to feel woozy. The room was closing in around her. She couldn’t bear the look on Callan’s face. The look that said everything had just changed. His pain was too much for her to bear. And the ramifications made her feel as if everything was out of her control.

Her feet started to move. She started to push her way through the bodies. She had to get outside. She had to get some air.

Marion reached out to her on the way past but she didn’t even slow her steps. She couldn’t.

She pulled the main door open. The wind and rain howled around her but she didn’t even care. She just walked. And kept on walking.

Her shirt was soaked in seconds, her hair whipping around her face. But all she could think about was the air. It was what she needed.

Her legs carried her around to the front of the castle—the most exposed edge facing the sea. She leaned against the wall and tried to take some deep breaths.

The wind was working against her—almost sucking the air from her lungs as she tried to pull it in. She bent over, arms around her waist and counted to ten. One, two, three...

She lifted her head again. This time she felt the cold coursing through her. This time she looked at the castle she could inherit.

Tears started to pour down her cheeks. This was hers. This
could
be hers.

It was almost unbelievable. To go from a girl with only one known living relative, to a girl with a huge array of aunts, uncles and cousins, and the inheritor of a castle all in the space of a few weeks.

The castle loomed in front of her. Dominant. Intimidating. A whole world of problems.

But she didn’t feel like that about it. She looked at the sandy-coloured storm-battered building with its intricate-paned glass windows and drum towers.

She loved it.

She loved it with her whole heart.

But she loved something or someone else a whole lot more.

Genetically she might have a right to Annick Castle. But there were some things so much more important than genes.

‘Laurie!’ The shout came from her side.

Callan was running towards her, followed by Frank bundled up in a rainproof mac. Frank’s umbrella caught in the high winds, turning instantly inside out and making him spin around blindly.

Callan reached her, soaked and windswept by the battering rain. He put his hands on either side of her shoulders. ‘Laurie, are you okay? What happened? You ran out before we had a chance to talk.’

She shook her head. Would he notice her tears in amongst the torrent of rain?

Callan was shaking his head in wonder. An amazed smile appeared on his face. ‘How did you know? How did you know it was the butler? We’ve hardly been there this weekend.’ He was shouting now. She could hardly hear him above the roar of the waves below.

She lifted her hands. ‘Who else could it be? There were twelve of us. It couldn’t be any of us, Callan. That would have been unfair. It had to be you, Robin or John. And when the murder took place, you had your arm around me the whole time.’

The recognition dawned on his face. He’d obviously never given the whole weekend much thought. He’d been too wrapped up in the outcome. Too wrapped up in the fate of Annick Castle.

He grabbed her hand. Frank had reached him now and was starting to babble. She couldn’t hear a single word he was saying in the braying winds. ‘Come on,’ shouted Callan. ‘Let’s get inside.’

He pulled her towards a back door. It must have been a servants’ entrance and it took them along a back corridor until they reached somewhere she was much more familiar with. Much more comfortable with—the library.

Callan waited until Frank had joined them and locked the door behind them. Rain was dripping from every part of her. Callan lifted a throw from the back of one of the chairs and stood in front of her, gently rubbing her sodden hair and face.

Callan was so wrapped up in what he wanted to tell her he couldn’t contain himself. ‘I found medical files, Laurie. Files that were part of a drug trial seventy years ago. Angus was a participant. Everyone else died within six months. He must have thought he was going to die too, Laurie. That’s why he didn’t meet his kids—just provided for them financially.’

She hadn’t spoken. She hadn’t responded. And his voice tailed off to be replaced with a concerned expression on his face. There was a second of recognition. Recognition that she was long past the point of caring about Angus McLean.

‘Laurie? Isn’t this what you wanted? You’re the only relative here who has shown any real interest in Annick Castle.’ He hesitated. ‘I’ll need to go over the castle accounts with you, but some of the things you suggested might be part of the way forward for Annick Castle.’

Frank stepped forward. ‘I have to warn you I think there might be some legal challenges from some of the unhappy parties. There’s nothing we can do to prevent that. But no matter what their challenges, Angus’s will is rock solid. He made sure of that. It might just tie us up in court proceedings for some time.’ He rustled some papers. ‘Now, can we make some arrangements for your DNA test? It’s just a simple cheek swab, and I’d expect the results back relatively quickly.’

‘Stop.’ She lifted her hand. ‘Stop it. Both of you.’

Callan froze. He’d been mid-rub of her hair, which was still stubbornly dripping on the floor below. She shivered. The impact of the rain and wind was starting to affect her body’s reactions. Frank’s mouth was still open—poised mid-sentence.

‘I can’t do this.’

‘What?’ Both voices, in perfect unison.

Callan’s brow instantly wrinkled. ‘What do you mean you can’t do this? You are the perfect person to do this, Laurie.’

‘No. No, I’m not.’ She shook her head fiercely. ‘If I’d thought about this more carefully I would have put the wrong name on the card.’ Frank looked horrified, but she continued before he could say anything else. ‘I’m not the right person to look after Annick Castle. It doesn’t matter that I’m a relative of Angus McLean. It doesn’t matter at all.’

She walked over and picked up one of the photographs of Angus in his army uniform. ‘I didn’t know this man. I didn’t know this man at all.’ She pointed to herself. ‘And he didn’t know me. I didn’t matter to him. My father didn’t matter to him. I don’t care what his reasons were.’

Her brain felt as if it were scrambled. She didn’t feel rational. She didn’t feel in control.

‘Laurie, hold on. Let me show you what I found—’

‘No. Don’t, Callan. I don’t want to hear it. The fact is, I’m a lawyer. And I’m not even going to be that for much longer. But it doesn’t matter. What do I know about a place like this? I wouldn’t even know where to begin. It’s already starting to fall apart.’ She held out her hands. ‘This is a piece of history. This is something that should be protected and preserved. This is something that other people should enjoy.’

‘But you can do that, Laurie. You’ve already considered what could happen with Annick Castle. Let me tell you what I found.’

She felt herself start to sway. Her legs were turning to jelly underneath her and she slumped down into one of the nearby chairs.

She took a few seconds, then lifted her head. ‘Frank, if you need to do a DNA test on me, then that’s fine. Do it. But I need you to do something else for me.’

‘What?’ Frank looked bewildered, as if the whole event were taking place in a parallel universe.

She loved Callan. She absolutely loved him. If she kept Annick Castle they would never have a chance. This would always be Callan’s home. And she would always be the person that had taken that away from him. And she loved him too much for that.