Meredith gasped, thinking of the bloody sheet. She should have knocked on the door and checked on him this morning. Oh, damn. “His leg is worse. Isn’t it?”
Louise shook her head. “It’s not his leg. He went home on business.”
Meredith stiffened as the sharp edge of betrayal cut through her in rough, zigzag lines. “Did he leave a message?” she asked, but she felt certain he had left without thinking of her.
“He got a call from the farm and off he went.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that.”
Tears rushed to Meredith’s eyes. She turned away from Louise, not wanting her to see the pain Elliott’s departure had caused.
“Would you like to join Eve and me for supper? I’m cooking a roast.”
The crushing weight of Meredith’s bad decisions squeezed the air from her chest. “I had a big lunch. I’m not hungry.” A lie, yes, but the knots in her stomach would play havoc with food if the two collided anytime soon.
“Excuse me.” Meredith edged past Louise and headed toward the elevator. He left because the farm needed him. How could he do that? We had plans. She punched the elevator button, and the door opened right away. When she was safely inside with the door closed, she tapped her head against the glass. “How could I be so stupid?” Anger welled within her.
When she reached her floor, she hurried to her room, where she kicked off her boots and slung them across the bed. “Stupid. I gave my body to a man I’d known for three days.” Now on top of her other health concerns, she’d have to be tested for STDs. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she knew she couldn’t stay at the B&B. Even looking at the bed made her gag. Elliott’s sudden departure had squeezed the joy right out of her, leaving only an empty tube. She’d never been a quitter, but today she didn’t have the energy to rebound. Especially now, knowing she’d be leaving Scotland to face worse news at home. Goosebumps peppered her arms, and the stream of tears turned into a gully washer.
Maybe she should go home and spend a few days in San Francisco before returning to the winery. That would give her time to bounce back before the next crisis. She was a bottom line girl, and the bottom line was that she’d had a one-night stand. Time to put on her big girl panties and move on.
Go home, Mer. Put on some new music and dance.
Thirty minutes later, she went downstairs to check out. After dropping her bags by the front door, she went looking for Louise and found her in the library working at the desk. “I’m leaving earlier than planned. My work here’s done.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Louise’s tone had thawed a degree or two. She walked around to the front of the desk. “Do you want to keep the room charges on the credit card I have on file?”
Meredith handed Louise a business card. “Yes, and please email a copy of the bill to me.” Even though a roaring fire burned in the fireplace and classical music played on the sound system, the vivid red room Meredith had found so warm and cozy was noticeably frigid and unwelcoming.
Louise glanced at the card before putting it in her skirt pocket. “I hate to see ye’ leave before yer holiday is over.”
I’m sure you do.
The doorbell rang.
“Excuse me. I need to get that,” Louise said.
“I’m sure it’s the car service I ordered.”
“I hope you’ll come back,” Louise said, following Meredith out into the hallway. “My rooms book early, so give me plenty of notice.”
Meredith suspected Louise wouldn’t have a vacancy regardless of the dates she requested.
Louise’s clogs flapped against the hardwood floor. “Evelyn is looking forward to a trip to yer winery.”
“You have my number. Tell her to call if she can work it out.”
Louise’s face held a pinched expression as if she were debating with herself. She glanced at Meredith’s left hand. Something was on Louise’s mind, but Meredith had already had a piece of it earlier and wasn’t up for another serving.
The driver carried the bags to the car. The walls seemed to be closing in around Meredith. She had to get out of the house before she suffocated. She opened the door and stepped out into the chill, taking a deep breath of cold air.
“Thanks for the hospitality.” Meredith almost choked on the words. She climbed into the limo and said a second goodbye, not to the B&B proprietress, but to a man with chocolate eyes and a whiskey smooth voice that had whispered to her soul on a lonely Christmas night.
Chapter Twenty-Six
On the MacKlenna jet – December 26
KEVIN HAD WAITED on, cajoled, medicated, and fed Elliott, but nothing seemed to ease the stress his boss wore like an old farm shirt, ripped and stained.
They were two hours from landing in Kentucky, and the flight couldn’t end fast enough for either of them. Although Kevin had tried to engage Elliott in conversation, he hadn’t said more than a few words since leaving Scotland. He wouldn’t even talk about the woman he took to the estate on Christmas Day and screwed afterwards. It wasn’t that Elliott bragged about his women; he just that he usually shared their preferred wines and foods so Kevin could have them readily available.
The fact that his boss, for the very first time, took a date to the family estate made Kevin even more curious about the mysterious woman. If Elliott wouldn’t talk about her, he knew who would. He carried the wine magazine he was reading to the galley, closed the door, and placed a call to Scotland.
“Lou, who’s the woman Elliott took to Fraser House yesterday?”
She laughed. “You don’t care who he took to the estate. You just want to know whose bed he was in this morning. He’s not talking about her, is he?”
“He hasn’t said much since we left Scotland. He’s in a bad mood.”
“The woman’s married.”
Kevin gasped and clutched his chest. “I don’t believe that.” His voice pitched higher than usual. “Elliott’s got a strict code about married women.”
Louise made a tsk tsk sound. “Idol worshiping will disappoint ye’ every time.”
“It’s not just me, Lou. Everyone will tell you—Elliott doesn’t mess with married women.”
“Fine,” she said, snapping out the word. “But the woman was wearing a wedding ring. I didn’t mind her joining us for dinner, but when they went to the estate and well, afterwards, I got worried. Scared, really. Funny thing is, I like her, and I think she’s a good match for Elliott. But she’s married.”
“Crap.” Kevin sagged against the door. “Give me her name and address. I’ll google her and see what I can find out.”
“She gave me her business card, but I tore it up and tossed it into the trash. Let me see if I can piece it back together.”
Kevin put the phone on speaker and drummed the counter top with his index fingers. Louise was right about his idol worshiping. If Elliott broke one of his cardinal rules, he had a good reason. Wanting sex didn’t qualify. There was more to this situation. There had to be.
“Her name is Meredith Montgomery.”
Kevin turned off the speaker and put the phone to his ear. “Did you say Meredith Montgomery?” He glanced at the cover of the wine magazine he’d been reading. “Is she by any chance from California?” Kevin held his breath waiting for Louise’s answer.
“Napa. She owns a winery.”
Kevin raised his fist then lowered it with a vigorous, swift motion. “Yes.”
“I’m going to put you on speaker, so I can put pieces of the card back together,” Louise said.
“I only need her mobile number. Can you get that?”
“Here ye’ go. Write this down,” Louise said.
Kevin wrote down the number with a shaking hand.
“There’s something else I should tell you,” Louise said. “Elliott wanted her to call him, but I didn’t give her the message. Now she’s gone home.”
“She left thinking Elliott slept with her and left town without saying goodbye.”
Kevin slapped his forehead.
“Something like that.”
“Oh, hell, Lou.” Elliott didn’t always care about the women he slept with, but he did care about his reputation, and he made sure the women he dated were always treated well.
Louise sniffled. “Evelyn’s furious with me, but I was only trying to protect Elliott. He’s in so much pain and has problems at the farm.”
Kevin held the phone between his chin and shoulder and made a fresh pot of coffee while Louise talked and sniffled.
“He doesn’t need to get mixed up with a married woman,” Louise said.
“I don’t think she’s married,” Kevin said.
“She was wearing a wedding ring.”
Kevin flipped through the article. “According to this article in Wine Digest, she’s a widow.”
“Shite,” Louise said. “How was I supposed to know? Should I call her and confess?”
“You’d probably piss her off,” Kevin said. “Let me think of something.”
“Call me later and let me know if I need to call and apologize,” Louise said.
“You can do that the next time you see her.”
Louise sighed. “Don’t think that’ll happen.”
Kevin smiled, barely able to contain his excitement. “Something tells me it will.”
“Kevin,” Elliott yelled.
Kevin patted the cover of the magazine. “Got to go, Lou. He’s awake.” He disconnected the call, poured a cup of coffee, and grabbed the fruit and cheese plate from the refrigerator.
“Bring me coffee and something to eat.”
“You don’t have to yell. We’re the only ones here.” Kevin carried a tray and the magazine toward the front of the plane where he sat in the chair opposite Elliott.
Elliott snatched the coffee and a slice of apple from the tray. “Where the hell are we?”
“About an hour from home.” Kevin held up the latest issue of Wine Digest. “Do you know who this woman is? I know you slept with her. But do you know who she is?”
“Meredith—”
“The owner of Montgomery Winery,” Kevin interrupted.
Elliott took the magazine and glanced at the article.
“Her winery,” Kevin said, “has created some of the finest hand-crafted wines in the world. It’s a 160-year-old winery. She’s a mega star, and a widow, by the way.”
Elliott rolled the magazine and slapped Kevin’s knee. “You know I don’t sleep with married women.”
Kevin rubbed his knee. “Lou said she was wearing a wedding ring.”
“Gossiping is a good way to get fired,” Elliott’s voice sounded normal, but his face had an angry red flush.
Kevin slipped a piece of paper from his pocket and dropped it on the table in front of Elliott.
“What’s this?”
“Meredith’s phone number.”
A vertical frown line appeared between his eyebrows. “How’d you get it?”
“Louise had it.”
The frown line deepened. “She told me she didn’t.”
“Meredith gave it to her when she left the B&B this afternoon, heading home.”
“Lou was supposed to tell her to call me.”
Kevin’s adrenalin spiked. The bearer of bad news always received the brunt of Elliott’s Scottish temper, and Kevin seemed to be the only one in Elliott’s sphere with the courage to be the bearer. He tasted the words he intended to say, wishing they weren’t so bitter. He looked into Elliott’s dark angry eyes and said, “She didn’t give Meredith the message.”
Elliott’s face turned a darker shade of red. “Why?”
Kevin didn’t drop his long fixed look, although common sense told him to put distance between himself and his boss. He stayed put and said calmly, “She thought Meredith was married.”
Elliott scrubbed his face, shaking his head. “I don’t have time for this crap. Call Louise back and tell her to fix it.”
Kevin leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “I’ll do that if that’s what you want, but I don’t think Meredith will take her call.”
“I got a nut case killing my twenty-five million dollar Thoroughbred and a friend screwing me, too.” The anger drained from his voice, and he sounded very tired. “Where’s Meredith now?”
“Somewhere over the Atlantic.”
“She can’t take a call now. I’ll call her from home.”
Kevin picked up the rolled magazine Elliott had tossed aside and flipped through the pages. “Look at this,” he said, pointing to a picture. “Her plane’s bigger than yours, fully equipped. Call her.”
Elliott raised his brow as he glanced at the picture of the Gulfstream G500. Then he handed Kevin his coffee cup. “Get me a real drink.”
Kevin strutted back toward the galley. “Maybe she’ll stop in Kentucky on the way to California. I’d like to meet her.”
“You don’t hustle my women, and you don’t date former girlfriends.”
“Whew. Touchy. I just want to talk wine, not the size of your dick.” According to the magazine article, Meredith loved Scotland, horses, and a wee half when she was thirsty.
She’s the woman for you, Boss, so wake up and get ready.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Montgomery Winery Jet – December 26
MEREDITH’S PLANE WAS halfway across the Atlantic when her phone rang, flashing a number with an 859 area code. Since she didn’t recognize the number and wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone she didn’t know, she let the call go to voice mail. Then she clicked over to listen to the message.
“Meredith, this is Elliott.”
She tensed at the sound of his voice. The anger burning in her gut over his insensitive departure hadn’t cooled one degree.
“All hell is about to break loose at the farm. I had to get in the air. I couldn’t wait. I asked Louise to give you a message to call me. We didn’t have your mobile number. She didn’t tell you, and I’ll deal with her later. Call me when you get this message, or better yet, stop in Lexington for a few days and we’ll enjoy what’s left of our holiday.”
All the heartbreaking anger swamped her emotions. He had hurt her, not intentionally, but he had hurt her nonetheless. It was over now and time to move on.
She tossed the phone aside and went to take a shower. What had started out as an I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair shower turned into the complete opposite when she massaged her breast, feeling the lump. Elliott had fondled her, kissed her, complimented her, but never once had he asked about her scars. Jonathan had led her to believe she was undesirable, but Elliott proved that wasn’t true. In a moment of clarity, she made a decision that might not turn out to be the best one for her, but she made it and would live with the consequences.
Call her gullible. Call her stupid. But don’t call her sorry.
Thirty minutes later, she sat back in her chair and made a list for a gut check:
1. There had been a communication glitch.
2. He didn’t mean to hurt her.
3. He had promised her dinner.
4. Her life was about to change, and she wanted another moment to hold in her heart.
She snapped her pen against the paper, thinking through each item, focusing on the emotions that were pulling her in four different directions. None of them, however, produced teary eyes or foot-tapping anxiety. Her normally tied-in-knots stomach cheered, “Bring it on.”
I’m going in with eyes wide open.
She tapped the call back icon, and the phone rang. A prickly sensation started at her neck and ended at her toes. Eyes wide open.
Elliott answered in his whiskey smooth voice, aged by nature. “Fraser.”
“It’s Meredith.”
He let out a breath, sounding relieved. “Where are you?”
Memories popped like firecrackers. The whiskey and sex she licked from his lips hours earlier now teased her tongue—memories, oh, such sweet memories.
“Halfway across the pond,” she said breat
hlessly. “What about you?”
“Almost home.”
“What’s for dinner?” she asked.
He chuckled, sounding even more relieved. “Whatever you want.”
“A Kentucky Hot Brown?”
“That can be arranged. Anything else?”
She twirled the hair at the nape of her neck like an infatuated school girl. “You’re good at making arrangements. I’ll leave that to you.” She tapped her nails against the window.
“Tell your pilot to change course, and call me back with an ETA.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped into the flight deck. “Can you reroute us to Lexington, Kentucky?”
“The Thoroughbred Capital of the World,” the captain said. “Sure. Give us a few minutes, and we’ll get you a new estimated time of arrival.”
Ten minutes later, she phoned Elliott. “We’ll arrive at eight o’clock p.m. Eastern.”
“I’ll send a car,” he said over the sound of crystal clinking in the background. “My assistant will make arrangements with the customs inspector along with hotel reservations for your crew.”
“Sounds like the cocktail hour’s begun.”
“Nae, wee sweetheart,” he said with a lift to his voice. “Not ‘til you arrive.”
She chuckled. “Somehow I don’t believe that. Enjoy, and I’ll see you soon.”
Smiling now, forgetting all the angst from before, she clutched the phone to her breast. In her mind, she slipped into the circle of his arms, biceps flexing to hold her closer. Sensual notes infused his woodsy smell and changed his organic scent. A vision of him speaking with his eyes, telling her how much he wanted her, smothered the pain she’d experienced earlier. The imagery held more than the rich texture of his skin or the words he’d spoken into her ear with his soft brogue. It held the roots of the vine he’d wrapped around her heart. Roots that would need nourishing in order to thrive.
Part II
Chapter Twenty-Eight
MacKlenna Farm – Late Afternoon on December 26
The Last MacKlenna Page 15
