Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
While its beautiful bones still existed, Lachlan had transformed the castle back to its glorious majesty. The parquet flooring had been restored and polished. The décor was traditional Scottish, but opulent too. The grand staircase was fitted with a new red-and-gray tartan wool runner instead of the worn one we’d tripped over as children. It led to the landing where Lachlan had replaced the three windows with floor-to-ceiling stained glass that looked like it had always been there. Beautiful Christmas garlands and fairy lights hung in strings along the galleried balconies at either end of the reception hall. I remembered us shouting to each other from across the balconies. Someone had miraculously restored the painted ceiling.
A fire burned in the huge hearth on the wall adjacent to the entrance and opposite the staircase. Tiffany lamps scattered throughout on end tables gave the space a warm glow, as did the massive Christmas tree in the corner.
There were guests everywhere. Famous faces among others I didn’t recognize. Servers with trays of canapés and champagne flutes moved through the room to offer refreshment to the revelers.
“Lachlan’s Hogmanay party is coveted. Members fly in from all over to be here,” Brodan had told me before we left. I could see the proof before me. It was a bit of a squeeze.
“Brodan Adair, as I live and breathe.” A familiar beauty with a lovely plummy British accent stopped before us.
Angeline Potter.
I tried not to gape.
But I loved her movies.
Her eyes flicked to me before moving back to Brodan. “They told me you were living here, but I was beginning to think it was a lie. Where have you been?” She rubbed a hand over his lapel in a familiar, flirty way.
Suddenly, I didn’t like her as much. My eyes narrowed on her hand, and Brodan cleared his throat and pulled me tighter against his side. “I’ve been around.”
“Well, I’m here for a few weeks … Duchess’s Suite. Look me up.” She gave him a sultry smirk.
“I won’t be doing that,” he said bluntly. “This is my girlfriend, Monroe.”
It was the first time he’d actually said the words out loud.
For a moment, they shocked me, but I managed a small smile.
Angeline eyed me now, thoughtfully. “You do look familiar. Are you in Andy Bradshaw’s latest movie?”
She thought I was a movie star?
Feeling mischievous, I shrugged.
“I’ve heard you’re rather good.” She took my shrug as a yes before turning back to Brodan. “If you’re not free, darling, please tell me that rugged head of security has gotten over your sister.”
Mac?
Brodan smirked. “Angeline, Mackennon Galbraith will never be over my sister. Or the baby girl they just had.”
“Right.” She pouted and then sighed heavily, looking around. “Oh, well then. Looks like I’m shagging someone I’ve already shagged tonight. Ta ra.” With that, she sashayed away.
I snorted, and Brodan grinned down at me. “That was Angeline Potter,” I whispered.
“It was.”
“And she thought I was an actor.”
“She did.”
“She’s quite funny in real life.”
Brodan’s lips pinched together.
“You don’t like her? She seems so likable in her movies.”
“She’s the opposite of likable. Causes problems on set, and she fucked a friend of mine’s husband while they were making a movie together. By all accounts, selfish to the core, that one. And a drama queen. Plus, it’s like she bloody lives here. Lachlan jokes that she’s trying to get more out of her membership than she’s paying, but he might not be wrong. I once heard she—”
“Don’t tell me any more.” I wrinkled my nose. “You’re ruining some of my favorite films.”
Laughing, Brodan pulled me deeper into his side. “Come, let’s find people we do like and maybe some of those canapés that keep whizzing by us.”
The night was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. In fact, it might have been a wee bit too much if not for Brodan, his brothers, and their partners. Although Lachlan was forced from our sides much of the evening along with Robyn to play hostess, we had a good laugh with Thane and Regan. There was no pretension. We regaled Regan with stories of our childhood, and I realized for the first time that those stories were hurting less. It had only been a week, but already I felt like I was healing from the past.
In the background, a small orchestra entertained, but they played instrumental versions of modern pop music. Regan told me that one year the indie rock band High Voltage had played at the Hogmanay party.
As fire was a big part of Hogmanay celebrations, it didn’t surprise me when Brodan led me outside with everyone else to watch the fire dancers. But I was taken aback by how spectacular the visual was of the procession of dancers down the extensive estate driveway, their flames lighting up the pitch-blackness beyond the castle. I gasped alongside everyone else as fire-breathers shot fireballs into the night sky and dancers twirled fans of fire and others spun by them in aerial cartwheels.