LITMIR.BIZ

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needed time. He needed to play catch up. Jeanie was right: if she’d been a business proposition, he would have researched before he invested.

      An undischarged bankrupt? How had he not known? The complications made his head spin.

      The whole situation made his head spin.

      He tried to get her to ride home with him but she refused. Short of hauling her into the SUV by force he had to let her be, but he couldn’t let her walk all the way. He figured that was the way to fuel her fury and she was showing enough fury as it was. He therefore drove back to the castle, found her car keys hanging on a nail in the kitchen, drove her car back along the track until he reached her, soundlessly handed her the keys, then turned and walked back himself.

      She must have spent a good hour trying to figure out how not to accept his help, or maybe she didn’t want to pass him on the track. Either way, he was back at the castle when her car finally nosed its way onto the castle sweep.

      Maybe he should have talked to her then, but he didn’t have all the facts. He needed them.

      Luckily he had help, a phone call away.

      ‘Find anything there is to find out about Jeanie Lochlan, born on Duncairn twenty-nine years ago,’ he told his secretary. Elspeth was his right-hand woman in Edinburgh. If anyone could unearth anything, it was her.

      ‘Haven’t you just married her?’ Elspeth ventured.

      ‘Don’t ask. Just look,’ he snapped and whatever Elspeth heard in his voice he didn’t care.

      Jeanie was back in her rooms downstairs. He was in his sitting room right over hers. He could hear her footsteps going back and forth, back and forth. Packing?

      Finally he heard her trudge towards the front door.

      He met her at the foot of the castle stairs and tried to take an enormous suitcase from her.

      ‘I can manage.’ Her voice dripped ice. ‘I can cope by myself.’

      And what was it about those few words that made him flinch?

      She was shoving her case into the back of her battered car and he was feeling as if...feeling as if...

      As if maybe he’d messed something up. Something really important.

      Yes, he had. He’d messed up the entire Duncairn empire, but right now it felt much more personal.

      She closed the lid of the boot on her car and returned. He stood and watched as she headed for the kitchen, grabbed crates and wads of newspaper and headed for the library.

      He followed and stood at the door as she wrapped and stowed every whisky bottle that was more than a third full.

      The B & B guests would come back tonight and be shattered, he thought. Half the appeal of this place on the web was the simple statement: ‘Genuine Scottish Castle, with every whisky of note that this grand country’s ever made free to taste.’

      He’d seen the website and had congratulated his grandmother on such a great selling idea.

      ‘The whisky’s Jeanie’s idea,’ Eileen had told him. ‘I told her I thought the guests would drink themselves silly, but she went ahead and bought them anyway, out of her own salary. She lets me replenish it now, but the original outlay and idea were hers. So far no one’s abused it. The guests love it, and you’re right, it’s brilliant.’

      And the guests were still here. They’d want their whisky.

      ‘And don’t even think about claiming it,’ she snapped as she wrapped and stowed. ‘I bought the first lot out of my wages so it’s mine. Be grateful I’m only taking what’s left. Alasdair, you can contact Maggie if you want my forwarding address...for legalities. For marriage annulment. For getting us out of this final foolishness. Meanwhile that’s it. I’m done and out of here. From this day forth I’m Jeanie Lochlan, and if I never see a McBride again, it’ll be too soon.’

      She picked up her first crate of whisky and headed to the car. Silently he lifted the second and carried it after her.

      She shoved both crates into the back seat and slammed the door after them. Her little car shuddered. It really was a banger, he thought.

      Alan’s wife. An undischarged bankrupt. Alan... He thought of his cousin and he felt ill.

      ‘Jeanie, can we talk?’

      ‘We’ve talked. Goodbye.’ She stuck out her hand and waited until he took it, then shook it with a fierceness that surprised him. Then she looked up at his face, gave one decisive nod and headed for the driver’s seat.

      ‘I’m sorry about the castle,’ she threw at him. She could no longer see him. She was hauling on her seat belt, moving on. ‘And I’m sorry about your company. On the upside, there are going to be some very happy dogs all over Europe.’

      * * *

      He stood and watched her as she headed out of the castle grounds, along the cliff road towards the village. When she disappeared from view he watched on.

      His entire financial empire had just come crashing down. He should be gutted.

      He was gutted but what was uppermost in his mind right now was that he’d hurt her. She’d hit him but the next moment she’d drawn back as if he’d been the one who’d hit her.

      He had made assumptions, he thought, but those assumptions had been based on facts. He knew how much money Eileen had withdrawn from the company when Jeanie and Alan had married. ‘It’ll set them up for life,’ Eileen had told him. ‘I know Alan’s not interested in the company but he is my grandson. He wants his inheritance now, and if it helps him settle, then he should have it.’

      The amount she’d given the pair had been eye-watering. And yes, Alan’s lifestyle had been ruinous but his death must have meant most of the capital was intact. Surely Alan couldn’t have gambled that much?

      Surely?

      He’d always thought Jeanie’s decision to come back here to the castle was an attempt to ingratiate herself with his grandmother. The contents of Eileen’s will had proved him right.

      The sight of her heading away in her ancient car gave him pause.

      An undischarged bankruptcy...

      If it was true, then the castle was forfeit no matter whether they married or not.

      And with that thought came another. He’d loved the castle since he was a child, even when it was little more than a ruin. Eileen’s restoration had made it fabulous. She’d been overwhelmingly proud of it—and so was he. He gazed up now at the turrets and towers, the age-old battlements, the great, grand home that had sheltered so many generations of his family. That had provided work for so many islanders...

      He was the Lord of Duncairn. Even though he no longer used it, the title, but the castle and the island were still important to him. Desperately important. With her leaving, Jeanie had sealed the castle’s fate. It would leave the family forever.

      He was forcing his mind to think tangentially. If what she’d just told him was based on facts, then it wasn’t Jeanie who’d sealed the castle’s fate. It had been Alan.

      He thought suddenly of the night Alan had been killed. He’d been driving a brand-new sports car, far too fast. A clear road. An inexplicable swerve to the left, a massive tree.

      Jeanie had been thrown clear, suffering minor injuries. Alan had died instantly.

      He’d thought until now it had been alcohol or drugs that had caused the crash, but now... Had it been suicide? Because of debt?

      Had he tried to take Jeanie with him?

      He’d been too caught up with Eileen’s grief to ask questions. What sort of fool had he been?

      A car was approaching, a low-slung, crimson sports car. The couple inside wore expensive

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