‘I promise. I’ll see you tomorrow. It’s Saturday so we’ll have the whole day.’
He lowered the phone and gave Alex a nod of greeting. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said in gruff tones. ‘I’ll get dinner on.’ That was all.
She wanted to say he didn’t have to. That she’d sort herself out, but now she looked at him, she didn’t have the heart.
‘And I’m sorry about this morning,’ he said before she could. ‘I was out of order.’
‘So was I,’ she said, because it was the least she could do, to meet him halfway. ‘And when you’re free, I’d appreciate it if you went over the books with me. So I can understand what there is here.’
‘All the better to sell it?’ he asked, but there was no real malice in his voice this time. More like regret. He sounded defeated. She didn’t like that but what could she do?
Alex shrugged. ‘I can’t stay here. Simple as that. After Theo, after our dad. You know about that, don’t you? From what you’ve said, Theo must have told you.’
Something flashed in his eyes, grief perhaps. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know him well enough to read him. But he nodded briefly and then headed for the kitchen. Alex retreated to the study and closed the door behind her. It was safer.
Nick laid out dinner in the kitchen. A thick and fragrant stew, served with the rest of that bread. She didn’t normally eat a lot of bread. LA wasn’t a place for carbs, after all. But this was delicious. It made her feel like she was on more of a holiday, rather than…well, reliving her past.
‘I believe you were something on TV in the States,’ he asked.
‘Something,’ Alex murmured. ‘I’d rather forget it.’
‘Ghost hunting?’
Oh good, she thought. He knew. He didn’t sound impressed. Did Theo tell him that much? Did they have a good laugh about it?
‘The sceptic.’ She raised her eyebrows, challenging him. ‘There are a lot of frauds out there. And a lot of gullible people. And a lot of perfectly normal explanations which get skipped over in the rush to assign the supernatural as a reason for anything.’
‘But you must have seen things you can’t explain.’
Alex shook her head. People always asked that but there was always an explanation. Not usually the one they wanted. ‘Not really.’
He took a while to reply to that, as if psyching himself up for something.
‘You know this house is haunted, right?’
‘So I was told.’ Too many times. Gran loved those stories. So did Dad. He must have got them from her. He certainly told enough to Alex and Theo. Her mum had constantly warned him to lay off before they had nightmares. Dad never listened. And the nightmares were not his fault.
‘Theo believed that?—’
She really didn’t want to get into that. Not with Nick and not now.
‘Theo believed a lot of things,’ she cut in. If she sounded curt, so be it. ‘Tell me about the forestry experiment instead. That was his real baby, wasn’t it?’
‘The rewilding?’ And the suspicion drained away from his features. His voice grew rich with enthusiasm. ‘It’s more than an experiment. It’s a vital transformation which could change the whole ecosystem of the island. We’re restoring the estate as a thriving pocket of the Atlantic Rainforest in a way which…’
Alex laughed as he trailed off, realising that he was about to start evangelising probably. ‘Theo got to you too then.’
Nick gave a brief smile, barely visible under the growth of his beard. ‘Ours is just a small part of a much larger campaign. And he didn’t get to me. If anything, it was the other way around. These woods are special. Old. He asked me to show him around the woods the moment he arrived and I was more than happy to tell him all about it. The woodland here is some of the oldest remnants of original forestry on the island. Really ancient. Most of Ireland’s woodlands were destroyed from the sixteenth century on.’
‘Perfidious Albion?’ she asked, grinning. She had had this conversation with her brother more than once. A tale as old as time around here.
‘English warships needed wood. And forests hid wolves, not to mention rebels. Win–win.’ He returned the smile and for a moment she felt something shift in the air between them, something calm and comfortable. It was almost like talking to Theo himself.
Except in all the ways it wasn’t. His eyes captured her attention, brown but with glints of green and gold in their depths, the way his hair fell over his forehead and cast them into shadow. Alex licked her lower lip without thinking about it.
Until his gaze moved to watch her.
Her skin shivered, as if someone ran a fingertip down the side of her neck, the lightest touch. As if urging her to reach out and touch him. To kiss him.
