“She’s applying for her ancestry visa. I have a friend at the Home Office who’s going to push it through so she doesn’t have to return to the States to wait for it. I offered her a position and a cabin here on the estate for however long she needs it.”
“With no thought to me or the kids?” Thane seethed.
Lachlan quirked an eyebrow. “I’m sure the kids will be pleased Regan can still be in their lives. Frankly, your attitude to this point has suggested you don’t give a fuck about her. I didn’t think you’d care. But Robyn does. Robyn wants her here, so I’m making that happen.”
“Don’t give a fuck? Didn’t think I’d care?” he whispered harshly, feeling the unfamiliar urge to punch his brother.
He received a hard warning look. “I’m not the one you’re angry with.”
“Oh?”
“You’re angry with yourself, you hardheaded prick.” Lachlan cut him a dark look. “A decade of happiness is better than a lifetime of emptiness.”
Thane tensed, remembering those words.
“That’s what you said to me,” Lachlan pushed. “Not even eight months ago. When I came to you about Robyn, you advised me to face my fears and just be with her. Not very good at following your own advice, are you?”
“You love Robyn.”
“And by that, I suppose you mean you don’t love Regan?”
Sweat dampened Thane’s palms and suddenly his bow tie was too tight. “We don’t make sense.”
“That’s a lie and you know it. I have never seen you happier than I have these past few months. I suspected something was between you but couldn’t be sure. What I did know was whether you had given in to your attraction to Regan, you were more content with her in your life than you have ever been. Ever, Thane.”
The truth in his words was soul-destroying. “I have to protect Eilidh and Lewis. If Regan was older, ready to settle down, then it would be a different story. It would be a calculated risk that anyone takes when they’re in love. But Regan’s too young. Right now, it’s just asking for Eilidh and Lewis to be hurt.”
“And asking for you to be hurt, am I right?” Lachlan glared at him. “Or I’m wrong. Because you can’t love her if you don’t trust her. And you obviously don’t trust Regan and her feelings for you.” His brother shook his head in disappointment and strode away.
As he opened the door to leave, he glanced back at Thane and said grimly, “One day you’re going to realize how in love she was with you, that you betrayed her with your mistrust and destroyed the best thing that ever happened to you since the kids came along. And I will be there for you on that day because you’re going to need me. But Christ, Thane, you could save yourself a world of misery by just pulling your head out of your arse before it’s too late.”
Thane flinched, not at the slam of the door as his brother departed in frustration, but at Lachlan’s words.
They held an air of prophecy that filled him with dread.
Tonight should have been a good night. The beginning of a new year, as Lachlan had said, after a horrifying one. A night to move on. His children were safe in their beds at home, Sean McClintock was out of their lives for good as per the correspondence Thane had received from the arsehole’s lawyer, the pall of Eilidh’s paternity no longer hung over him, and a fresh start beckoned.
Except he was still fucking miserable.
“Now what could you possibly have going on in your life to make you brood so?”
Thane looked up from his glass of whisky at the husky, upper-crust voice. Angeline Potter, current young darling of the British film industry, leaned against the castle library door with a champagne flute in her hand.
He hadn’t ever conversed with her, only knew her from her films and the odd sighting here and there at the estate and in the village. “Nothing,” he replied, in no mood for pleasantries. “Just wanted to be alone.”
Not taking the hint, she sashayed into the room, swinging her slender hips. “I know the feeling. That’s why I found my way here. It’s my favorite room at Ardnoch.” She settled into the armchair opposite him and crossed one leg over the other so the slit in her blue dress revealed her pale, lovely leg from stiletto-encased toe to upper thigh. Angeline gave him a sultry but hard look. “My partner disappeared with Lizette Mayfield ten minutes ago. One guess what they’re getting up to.”
At her bitter tone, Thane murmured, “I would think Angeline Potter wouldn’t have to put up with a cheating boyfriend.”
“Oh, we’re just casual. We’re working on a film trilogy together, and the director asked that we pretend to be more serious than we are, you know, for publicity. But you’d think”—she pouted—“that the arsehole could get through one evening without fucking someone else. As if he’d ever be allowed to step onto this estate if it weren’t for my membership. And he goes and fucks Lizette Mayfield of all people.” She lowered her voice. “I will never understand how she was granted membership.”
Thane raised an eyebrow.
“Oh. I don’t mean to disparage your brother. I just think he’s too kind sometimes.” She leaned forward, eyeing him in a way that couldn’t be misinterpreted. “I haven’t seen the youngest brother, but it seems the handsome gene runs strong in the Adair men. I met Brodan in Cannes once. He’s a rather delicious specimen, isn’t he? I like my men broody, though.” She grinned flirtatiously. “That American of Lachlan’s is certainly a lucky woman. Are you married?”
“No.” The word was like ash on his tongue. Not in the mood to be Angeline Potter’s distraction for the evening, he stood abruptly. “If you’ll excuse me, it will be midnight soon.”
She gaped at him, as if shocked he was giving up the chance to be with her in private. As he marched away, he heard the rustle of her dress and the click-clack of her heels as she called, “Wait for me. I don’t want to miss the fireworks.”
Wanting to run from her was completely incongruous to the way Thane’s father had raised him, so though he didn’t slow down, he didn’t run off either. Back in the reception hall, they found many of the guests had donned coats and jackets and were making their way outside again, this time for the fireworks display. It was almost midnight.
“There you are!” Lachlan called to him from the main door. He gestured for Thane to hurry.
“I don’t have a coat,” Angeline whined, reminding him she was at his side. “But I don’t want to miss the display.”
The gentleman in him shrugged out of his kilt jacket, despite how irritating he found her. He placed it around her shoulders, and she clutched it, staring up at him with wonder in her big Bambi eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered, apparently amazed. Then she grinned and looped her arm through his to snuggle into his side.
Oh, wonderful.
Lachlan glowered at him as they approached, and Thane threw his brother an exasperated “I don’t know how this happened” look.
Outside, he couldn’t shake her, and as they wandered along with the guests to find a spot to stand on the driveway, he saw Robyn with his sister and Mac. She turned and caught sight of him. Her lips stretched into a smile that faltered when she saw who was on Thane’s arm. Her features hardened, and she glared at him as fiercely as his brother just had.