And the Bride Wore Prada (15 page)

‘Oh, nonsense.’ Wren squeezed her hands. ‘It’s I who should apologize, acting like such an overwrought ninny. I’m happy for you, Natalie, truly. For both you and Rhys. I want you to know that.’

‘I know you are. Still – I feel badly. I know how much you and Tark want a baby.’

‘Yes, well, if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not—’ she shrugged and reached for the mug of tea. ‘Then I expect we’ll adopt.’

‘Have you tried IVF?’ Nat ventured.

She nodded. ‘Yes. It didn’t take. The doctors say there’s no reason we can’t have a child. We’re both healthy. And yet...here we are, still trying. Still childless. It’s just so bloody discouraging, sometimes.’

‘Well, if it’s any consolation at all,’ Natalie said hesitantly, ‘Rhys and I would love it if you and Tark would agree to be our baby’s godparents. It’d mean the world to us if you would. Truly.’

Wren’s eyes welled. ‘Oh, Nat – we’d be honoured! Of course we will. Consider it done.’

‘Good! Then it’s settled. Now,’ Natalie added as she reached for the packet of Hobnobs and held them out to Wren, ‘let’s gorge ourselves on biccies and have a nice long gossip.’

Chapter 25

‘Where are you going?’ Penelope asked her daughter as she came down the stairs late that afternoon. She eyed Caitlin’s woollen cap and the coat she was buttoning up. ‘You can’t mean to go outside in this weather.’

Caitlin shrugged. ‘Why can’t I? It’s only snow, after all, and I’m in desperate need of a walk. I’m going stir crazy inside this place.’

‘It’s nearly time for dinner,’ her mother pointed out. ‘Stay in, and have a drink with me. I’ve barely had a chance to talk to you since you got home.’

But you had plenty of time to lecture me
, Caitlin thought uncharitably. ‘That’s hardly my fault.’

‘Please, darling. I don’t want to argue, I haven’t the energy for it. Come into the drawing room and tell me what you’ve been up to.’

What shall we talk about first?
Caitlin wondered.
Will I confess that I’ve slept with my married lit professor? Or admit I got booted from uni because of him?

‘All right, Mum,’ she sighed, and shed her coat with bad grace. ‘I’ll stay and have a drink with you.’

‘Don’t sound so enthused. Where’s Jeremy, by the way?’

‘Studying. Or reading. That’s all he ever does.’

They were just going into the sitting room when Lady Campbell breezed through the baize door that led to the kitchen. ‘Oh, there you are, Caitlin. I’ve been looking for you. You have a telephone call.’

‘I do? Who’d be calling me here?’ Caitlin wondered, puzzled. ‘All my friends have my mobile number.’

‘I’m sure I don’t know. Mrs Neeson took the call. You can pick it up in the hall.’

‘Thanks, Gram. Sorry, Mum,’ she apologized, secretly relieved by the interruption. ‘I’ll be right back.’

She hurried across the entrance hall as her mother disappeared into the drawing room and went to the phone on the hallway table. ‘Hello? This is Caitlin Campbell.’

‘Caitlin?’ a familiar male voice enquired. ‘I’m glad I caught you at home.’

Her fingers tightened on the receiver. She couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe his nerve. ‘Niall! Why did you call me here?’

‘Well, I must say, that’s not exactly the response I was hoping for,’ he replied. ‘I called because we need to talk.’

‘We said everything we needed to say before I left Edinburgh. I lost my place at university because of you,. My parents are still furious.’

He hesitated. ‘You didn’t tell them about us, did you?’

‘No! Of course I didn’t. But Gram knows,’ she added. ‘She’s very smart, my gram. She figured it out. She wanted to have you sacked, but I talked her out of it.’

‘Thank you for that.’ He let out a pent-up breath. ‘I’m sorry for the whole mess, truly. More sorry than you know. I’ve had a word with a couple of key people, and I’m reasonably certain I can get you reinstated...provided we agree not to see one another other again.’

‘Oh, trust me ‒ that won’t be a problem.’

‘Cait, darling,’ he chided, ‘don’t be like that. I miss you terribly…’

‘Yes, I’m sure you do.’ Her words were acid. ‘You miss having me at your beck and call. You miss having someone to make your tea and toast. You miss having me in your bed…’

‘I do miss that,’ he admitted, unperturbed by her accusations. ‘All of it. I won’t lie. But more importantly, I miss
you
. I’ve left Miriam, you know.’

There was a brief, charged silence as Caitlin absorbed this bit of information. ‘That doesn’t mean anything. Married people separate and get back together all the time.’

‘I’ve also filed for divorce.’

She sank down onto the cushioned bench in the hallway. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘I’ll show you the paperwork if you like. But to do that, I’d have to see you again.’

‘That’s impossible.’ Although she spoke firmly, the certainty had left her voice. ‘I’m back home, at Draemar. And I don’t want to see you again. I...I can’t.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it hurts too much, Niall!’

She thought of all the times he’d promised to take her to dinner, or away for the weekend, and called at the last minute to cancel. She thought of the meals she’d cooked for him in her tiny Chalmers Street kitchen, roast beef or chicken with lashings of gravy from a packet, grown cold and unappetizing by the time he finally slipped away from his wife.

He was always sorry, so very sorry; and she’d relent, and forgive him, and let him in. They’d have the most amazing sex, and she’d lie in his arms afterwards and think that really, she was very lucky, and she should be happy to settle for whatever scraps of his life he gave her.

‘I’m tired of sneaking around,’ she said now. ‘I’m tired of the broken promises and the last-minute cancellations. I just,’ she paused to blink back tears ‘I just can’t do it any longer.’

And before he could protest, or persuade her to give him another chance, she choked out a goodbye, and rang off.

‘Caitlin!’ Her mother stood waiting in the drawing room doorway. ‘Are you coming in?’

Caitlin blinked back her tears and stood up. ‘Yes. Sorry, I just finished my call. It took a bit longer than I thought.’

‘Who was it?’ Penelope enquired as her daughter crossed the hall to join her. ‘One of your university friends?’

‘Yes,’ Caitlin said, and managed a smile. ‘No one important.’

Chapter 26

Helen emerged from her bath half an hour later, warm and flushed and wrapped in Colm’s robe. It was amazing what a tub of hot water and bubbles could do for a girl.

‘Feel better?’ Colm enquired as she padded, barefoot, downstairs and into the sitting room.

‘Much, thanks.’ She eyed the whisk in his hand curiously. ‘And what are you doing?’

‘I’ve put your clothes in the dryer. They’ll be ready soon. In the meantime, I called the castle to let them know you’re here. And I thought you might be hungry,’ he held up the whisk ‘so I’m making a wee bite to eat.’

‘You needn’t have done that.’ Helen, despite herself and despite Colm’s scowl, was touched. ‘But I’m glad you did – I’m
starving
. What are you making us? Can I help?’

‘You can butter the toast, if you like. It’s only eggs and bacon, nothing fancy.’

‘That sounds gorgeous,’ Helen said, and meant it. She followed him into the kitchen – tiny, even by the most generous of standards – and busied herself spreading butter onto the thick slices of toasted brown bread. ‘I’ll make a pot of tea.’

They bumped elbows or brushed against each other more than once in the close confines of the kitchen. Other than a glance from Colm or a muttered ‘sorry’ from Helen, neither of them acknowledged their physical proximity.

When at last the toast was buttered and the tea was brewed, Colm piled scrambled eggs and a rasher of bacon onto a platter, and they sat down to eat at the scarred wooden table.

‘Sorry it’s only eggs,’ Colm ventured as he poured milk into his tea. ‘I need to do a shop, but I haven’t had the time.’

‘It’s perfect,’ Helen assured him, and bit into a slice of crisped bacon. ‘What do you need? I can ask Mrs Neeson to add your things to the weekly grocery order if you like.’

‘Oh, aye, that’d save me a trip. This place keeps me busy. I haven’t time for much else.’

‘What do you do, exactly?’ Helen asked as she picked up her cup and sipped her tea. ‘If you don’t mind my asking,’ she added.

He shrugged. ‘I look after the grounds, mostly. I make sure the roads are cleared, deliver packages up to the castle, run any errands the Campbells might have...and in the autumn,’ he grimaced ‘I take the toffs grouse hunting.’

Helen wrinkled her nose. ‘
That
must be fun.’

‘Mostly I just haul the guns round. The Campbells have a proper gamekeeper.’

‘What did you do before you came here to Draemar?’

His expression grew guarded. ‘This and that. I did a stint in the army. Tended bar. Worked as a short-order cook for a bit.’

She was treading on dangerous ground, she knew it; but Helen couldn’t resist one more question. ‘Did you ever do any traveling? To...oh, I don’t know – to Africa, for instance?’

‘Why d’ye ask?’ he said evenly.

‘Just curious, I suppose. All that talk of Andrew and his travels to Australia and the Sierra Leone made me wonder if you’d ever ventured anywhere interesting.’

‘I’m afraid I’ve never been outside the UK, Miss Thomas. Travel requires money.’ He reached for the platter of eggs. ‘And that’s something I’ve never had.’

‘So you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, then?’ she asked lightly. She hadn’t failed to notice he’d returned to calling her ‘Miss Thomas’ once again.

He levelled his gaze on hers. ‘No. Far from it. Why so many questions? You just can’t stop prying for ten minutes, can ye?’

‘Look, Colm,’ Helen said, trying – and failing ‒ to hold on to her temper, ‘I know you don’t trust me. I get that. You know I’m a reporter, and so everything I do or say is suspect. But honestly, all I want is to get to know you a bit better. That’s all I’m guilty of...whether you believe it or not.’ She stood up and took her plate to the sink and dumped it in. ‘I’ll do the washing up.’

He was silent as she turned on the tap and reached for the dishwashing soap. With a vicious squeeze, Helen squirted the liquid into the sink and scrubbed at her plate with barely contained anger. Of all the stubborn, paranoid people she’d ever known, Colm MacKenzie took the bloody cake.

‘Here, let me.’

She looked up a moment later to see Colm, plate in hand, standing beside her at the sink. ‘No. I’ve got it.’ Her words were stiff as she thrust her plate with a savage motion into the dish rack. ‘I don’t need your help.’

‘I know ye don’t,’ he retorted, ‘but I’m fond of my dishes and I’ve no wish to see you break ’em into a million bits. Now, move over, woman, and let me rinse.’

‘Where on earth is Helen?’ Wren observed as she unfolded her napkin at dinner that evening. ‘I’ve not seen her all afternoon.’

Caitlin shrugged. ‘She said she was going out for a walk earlier. But that was hours ago.’

‘Perhaps we should send someone out to look for her?’ Wren suggested anxiously to Tarquin.

‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ he replied, ‘but if you think we should, Rhys and I can go out and search for her.’

Mrs Neeson thrust her grey-permed head around the dining room door. ‘Pardon the interruption, but I’ve just had a call from Colm. Miss Thomas is with himself down at the gatehouse. He said not to worry, and don’t wait dinner.’

‘Now that’s an interesting turn up,’ Rhys observed thoughtfully as Mrs Neeson departed.

‘What is, darling?’ Natalie inquired.

‘I’m surprised that Helen ‒ who’s made it quite plain she detests Colm ‒ has evidently just spent the afternoon and a good part of the evening in his company.’

‘Well, you know what they say,’ Lady Campbell observed.

‘What’s that?’ Natalie asked her.

‘Sometimes, my dear, there’s no accounting for taste.’ She lifted her brow. ‘Or for attraction.’

Chapter 27

When the dishes were washed and dried and put away in the cupboards, Colm excused himself to go and fetch Helen’s clothes. ‘They should be just about dry now, and you can get dressed and be on your way.’

‘Yes,’ she muttered, stung. ‘I’m sure you’ll be only too glad of that.’

He eyed her in surprise. ‘What?’

‘I said, I’ll be glad to have my clothes back,’ she replied tartly. ‘Then I can leave you to yourself.’

‘I don’t mind the company.’

‘You might’ve fooled me.’

His eyes darkened. ‘Sorry, Miss Thomas, but I’m used to being alone. I’ve been alone for a great many years now, ever since Alanna died.’ He scowled. ‘I’m not much good at...social situations. I never was. If I made you feel unwelcome, I’m sorry. I dinnae mean to.’

Helen was taken off guard by his apology. She really thought the man despised her. ‘It’s all right,’ she said, and shrugged. ‘I understand.’

‘No, it’s not all right.’ His scowl deepened. ‘I’m a miserable sod. Alanna told me so often enough.’

She was silent, absorbing this titbit of information, holding it greedily to herself like a rare jewel. ‘What was she like?’ she asked a moment later, curious. ‘Your wife.’

He didn’t answer right away, and Helen thought perhaps she’d gone too far, and he’d closed himself off again.

‘She was beautiful,’ he said finally. ‘She wore her hair in a plait down her back, and she had the devil of a temper. She didn’t have much patience with my moods. After she and the baby died, I just...shut down.’

‘I felt the same way after David died.’ Helen fiddled with the belt of her robe. ‘I couldn’t bear anyone’s company. I still can’t, really.’

‘And what about my company, Miss Thomas?’ Colm asked gruffly, and came closer. ‘Can ye bear to be around the likes of me?’

She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his. They were a lovely green-gold. ‘Sometimes,’ she murmured, right before his arms came around her waist and his mouth found hers.

His lips, tentative at first, grew bolder, and her hands slid up and over his shoulders. Helen made a sound low in her throat as he deepened their kiss and explored her mouth with his tongue.