“I honestly don’t know.” My brother suddenly looked exhausted. “I should be at work. But my PI told me you’d come home.”
I wasn’t even surprised he had a private detective following me. “You’re a piece of work.”
“You dropped off the face of the planet, Theo. Of course I had people looking for you.”
I bloody knew it.
“Well, as you can see, I’m dandy.”
“Yes.” He glanced around. “Where is Ms. McCulloch?”
Anger filled me and I fought hard not to show it. “You investigated Sarah?”
He shrugged like it was normal to look into who your brother was sleeping with. “She’s not your usual type. A housekeeper at Ardnoch. Really?”
At the sneer in his voice, I warned blandly, “Be careful, brother.”
“Don’t tell me you have actual feelings for this woman? You know her mother is a junkie? She was raised by her grandfather on a farm in the Highlands. There’s no record of previous relationships or any kind of a life, for that matter. She’s just a quiet nobody, and bringing her into your world like this when you have no intention of keeping her is a level of cruelty I did not expect even from you.”
Indignation wrapped its hand tightly around my throat and my voice was but a whisper, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed in contemplation. “Yes, I do. I can see my words hit their intended target. Good. Perhaps you’re not a complete sod after all.”
“If you just came to insult me, you can leave.”
“I came to tell you that Father is recovering well.”
“And you thought I cared? How pathetically naive.”
My brother’s expression tightened. “You know what … I wish that I didn’t care about you.”
I flinched. I hated him for getting a reaction out of me.
“For years, I’ve carried guilt for the way I handled things with you over Father and Saffron. I’ve attributed your entire personality change to Mother’s death and Father and Saffy’s betrayal … but it’s been years, Theo. At some point, I just have to admit that you’re never going to be the boy I remember.”
Pain slashed across my chest.
“You’ve turned into a selfish, self-indulgent, bitter, and uncaring prick,” he spat. “And this woman you’re carting all over London, spending your money on, dressing her up to play the part … what happens to her when you grow bored? Do you even care?”
I could barely hear over the blood rushing in my ears.
“God, I hope that look on your face means you care enough not to be a selfish cur. Maybe that means there’s a little of my brother still in there.”
When I continued to stare blindly at the floor, I heard him huff, seconds before he strode out of the flat, slamming the door behind him.
Twenty
SARAH
Before I left for the meeting with my agent, Theo announced we would be going to a club that evening. We were both more the pub type, but when I told Theo I’d only ever been to a nightclub once, in Inverness, he’d decided I needed to experience a proper club.
“I’m not taking you to some celeb spot like Cirque Le Soireither,” Theo said with obvious distaste. “We’ll go somewhere I think you might actually like.”
My meeting with Liz went well—in person, she was hyperintelligent and forthright, but warm too. She’d informed me we had three more foreign language deals on the table, which took the series to thirty-three countries. I still couldn’t wrap my head around that.
My excitement about the evening ahead escalated into nervousness when I walked into Theo’s flat. He was already dressed, looking incredibly sexy in an expensive, fitted three-piece suit. While he always dressed well, I’d never seen him in a suit. I crossed the room to smooth my hands over his chest.
“You look handsome.” I smiled up at him.
