Does that mean he was never really interested in getting to know me? Was all of this just a bit of fun to him?
‘What do you mean you haven’t known about it for long?’ I ask, choosing to concentrate on a question I actuallywantto know the answer to, other than the one that could break my heart.
‘Exactly that.’ He raises his shoulders as if this explains everything. ‘I’m not the Laird’s nephew, for one thing; I think I’m actually his great-great-nephew, once removed, if you want to get technical. Or twice removed, maybe. Whatever it is, I only found out a few months ago, when Dougie’s solicitor contacted me to let me know he was planning to name me as his heir, and that he wanted to meet me. I mean, you can imagine what that felt like, finding out you’re one day going to inherit a soddingcastlein the middle of nowhere.’
He chuckles mirthlessly.
‘It just so happened to come along at the same time Hannah’s mum had accepted a big contract in New York,’ Hunter goes on, looking like he could be doing with a dram of that whisky he likes so much. ‘She was going to be away for months, which meant there was nothing keeping me and Hannah in the city. So I thought: what the hell, why not come up and meet the old guy? I thought it would be a bit of a laugh, I suppose – something to tell people about when I got back. And, to be totally honest, I wasn’t convinced it wasn’t some kind of wind-up.’
‘But it wasn’t.’
‘No. No, it was all real enough; a bittooreal, actually, because once I got here, and Dougie told me what a mess he’d managed to get himself into, I realised it wasn’t quite the windfall his solicitor had made it sound like. At first, I thought the only option was going to be to sell up and use whatever we got for the place to pay off the debts.’
He shakes his head again, but this time I don’t feel quite so frustrated by him.
‘Was it really that bad?’ I ask instead. I have no idea what a Highland castle is worth, obviously, but I’m guessing it’s a lot more than evenIcould run up on my credit card, which means .?.?.
‘It was that bad,’ Hunter replies bluntly. ‘Loans, gambling, you name it. He’s had quite the life, has Dougie; I have to hand it to him. But he’s not stupid. Reckless, yes, but still – he knew he was going to have to find some way to pay it all off by that point, so I guess that’s why he got his lawyer to track me down. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to leave me the castle; it was more that he knew he’d be leaving me everything that went with it, and he wanted to at least give me the chance to fix it.’
‘So, whose idea was the Chrysalis?’ I ask, still trying to make sense of all of this. ‘Yours?’
‘Dougie’s,’ he says, surprisingly. ‘Well, he didn’t come up with the idea of it being awellnessretreat, obviously. He wanted it to be a hunting lodge. I managed to talk him out of that idea, but I couldn’t persuade him to sell up. He only grudgingly agreed to let me turn it into a hotel, and that was bad enough for him. It’s his family home, Rosie. He’s lived here his entire life. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing it.’
‘Which he will anyway if you sell it to WanderNest,’ I exclaim, any sympathy I was starting to feel for him evaporating as I realise the truth of this. ‘Poor Dougie! I mean Douglas. Lord Glenmuir.’
‘No,’ says Hunter, leaning forward intently. ‘No, that’s just it; Dante got it wrong. I was never planning tosellthe place. WanderNest would have a stake in it, that’s all. A large one, sure, but Dougie would still be the owner. Hannah and I would still get to stay here, which .?.?. well, you know how much I want that. I fell in love with the place, Rosie. I wasn’t expecting to, but I did. It gets under your skin – you must feel that too? In fact, I know you do.’
His golden eyes bore into mine, and I focus my gaze on a rack of dusty wine bottles behind him, avoiding the question.
He’s right, of course. I’ve only been here a few days, but I can feel the magic of the place, the same way he does. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to leave either. Idon’twant to leave. But .?.?.
‘In the maze, earlier,’ I say, in a small voice that sounds like it’s being dragged out of me. ‘I told you I was sure Dante was the Laird’s nephew, and you didn’t say anything. You let me believe it. You let me make a complete fool of myself, accusing him like that. And in front of all those people.’
The cellar suddenly goes blurry, my eyes filling with tears of both shame and sadness. Hunter makes a move as if he’s about to reach for me, but I step sharply back, and he lets his arm fall uselessly to his side instead.
‘I was going to tell you, Rosie,’ he says hoarsely. ‘I promise. But you were so upset; so scared. I wanted to calm you down first, but .?.?. well, then we got a bit distracted, didn’t we?’
He tries a smile, but I can’t bring myself to return it. I just keep thinking of the way I stood there in the lobby, like some kind of budget Nancy Drew, accusing Dante of being someone else.
I wishIcould be someone else right now. Someone who has even the foggiest idea what to do about all of this.
‘In fairness, I didn’t think for a second you were going to accuse him like that,’ Hunter points out. ‘And I was about to tell you in the maze, but then Sabrina turned up. After that, there was always someone around, so I didn’t get the chance. But Iwasgoing to tell you, Rosie. You have to believe me.’
He holds up his hands in a gesture of helplessness, and we both fall silent.
‘I honestly don’t know what to believe, Hunter,’ I tell him at last. ‘I know you didn’t owe me an explanation of who you really were .?.?. we barely even know each other, like you said. But it still hurts that you didn’t tell me. And it’s going to hurt everyone if you end up selling the hotel to WanderNest. That would .?.?. well, it would really, really suck.’
‘Would it, though?’ he says, his eyes bright in the dim light of the cellar. ‘Would it really be worse than having to sell up altogether? Probably to some property developer who’d turn it into executive apartments? Trust me, I know what I’m talking about here. ‘
Something tugs gently at my memory.
‘A property developer,’ I say slowly. ‘That’s what Ian said the Laird’s nephew is – whatyouare.’
‘That’s what Iwas.’ He nods. ‘And that’s how I know what’ll happen if the castle ends up being sold outright. This partnership idea seems like the lesser of the two evils.’
He watches me carefully, waiting for my reaction. He doesn’tlookany different from the Hunter who kissed me at the funfair just a few hours ago; which makes it almost impossible for me to believe thatthisHunter is not the rugged, tree-chopping, outdoor man I thought he was, but actually a cut-throat property developer.
No. I definitely didn’t know him at all, did I?
