by Audrey Adair
She shook her head almost imperceptibly at him, however, telling him that no, she had not said a word. He looked back at the man, saying nothing, but allowing him to continue.
“I should like you to come to London. Come share your work with my partner. He will know more about how best to incorporate it into our operations. You will be paid handsomely, of course, if anything should come of it. Why, perhaps you can even join our business, could he not, Vincent?”
Vincent did not look convinced, but said nothing.
“Father,” Rebecca asked for him, as Adam sat there mutely, rather taken aback at the conversation. “How do you know of Adam’s work?”
“Adam? My, how we’ve become familiar with our hosts,” said Trenton with a glint in his eye. “When I was at Galbury Castle I happened upon some of his work. It was meant to be, I suppose!”
“You let yourself into my workshop?” Adam asked, gritting his teeth. There was no way anyone at the castle would have let a stranger into the building they knew Adam was so protective of.
“You could say I was led there,” the man said, letting out a bellow of laughter which shook the jowls of his cheeks. “Come, now, my boy, does it really matter? What matters now is the future! We have it within our reach. We return to London in two days’ time. What do you say?”
Adam wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t trust the man, that was for certain. Yet if what he said was true, this was an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many, to bring power to them and move them forward in the future. For once, the countryside would not be left behind, but rather, would be as advanced as the city folk.
“My invention … it’s not finished. And I would never work without being a partner myself,” he finally said, not committing either way.
“Aha!” said the man, pointing his finger and nearly jumping out of his chair as if it he found the key to what he had been searching for. “That’s the beauty of this! Together we can finish it. Together, we can find the answers you are searching for, as I have the resources at my disposal to help. We will create a partnership in its truest form. Will you come?”
Adam wasn’t sure what to say. There was something off about the man that bothered him — there had been since the moment he arrived to their land. But then he looked at the woman sitting beside him, her wide eyes framed by the petite face and freckles that had emerged to cover her nose. She looked at him, so hopeful, and he realized he could not say no to her unspoken question.
“Aye,” he finally answered. “I’ll come.”
17
As the train chugged into the station, Rebecca couldn’t help the mad beating of her heart that seemed to be keeping time with it. When her father had told her just weeks ago that he was coming to Scotland, she had felt something calling to her from this land, a land she knew hardly anything of. However, she could never have imagined what would await her. Her life had changed so drastically in just a couple of short weeks since she left the city she had always known, the city she had grown up in. She had left as a girl and was returning as a young woman with a man by her side.
Well, make that men, for Vincent was still persistently present. However, she no longer cared, as long as Adam was there too. She wasn’t sure exactly how deep her feelings for him ran. She was inexplicably attracted to him — to his dark good looks, the mysterious smile that would sometimes cross his face. And yet when he had asked her, in that moment, to stay with him, she had felt a moment of panic.
It was too much, too soon. Rebecca had always done what had been asked of her, what was expected, despite the desire for something more that always seemed to gnaw at her. Now that the more was here, she hardly knew what to do with it, and she felt like a fool.
She had hardly seen Adam over the past two days. She hadn’t gone out hunting, of course, and besides that, he was no longer leading the expeditions. She wondered what his family was thinking of this venture. It was only temporary, as far as she knew, but the McDougalls were so close that it must have been hard for them to see him go, and on such short notice.
She looked over at him, where he sat across from her in the dining car. His dark eyes bore into her, and he gave her a half grin as he swayed back and forth in rhythm with the wheels starting their slow chug over the tracks.
Their time together in the hunting cabin, short as it was, almost seemed like it never happened. It was as if it were a dream, when time had stood still and magic had brought them together. It had felt so right, so predestined, and yet now in the reality of everyday life, it seemed almost inconceivable what had happened.
Rebecca was so mesmerized by Adam’s stare, it took her a moment to realize Vincent was trying to get her attention.
“Rebecca, love, have you forgiven me — for shooting you?” he asked, and she looked over at him in exasperation.
“I’m not your love,” she muttered, but he acted as if he never heard her. She saw Adam roll his eyes and she tried not to laugh. She needed to speak with him again, though she wasn’t sure when she would have the opportunity to be alone with him, what with her father and Vincent watching her so closely. As nervous as she was about that conversation, she also had to know if he felt something — anything — for her, and what that might mean for their future.
“Did you bring all of your plans?” her father asked Adam, who nodded.
“I did,” he said, offering no more information.
“And your prototype?” her father pressed.
“Aye, sir.”
Adam might have come willingly with them, but he certainly didn’t seem pleased about it. Rebecca wondered at the situation — why exactly her father had asked him to come with them, and why Adam had agreed. Her father typically didn’t take on any more partners than he had to. Sullivan Andrews basically ran the operation of the business, so her father needed him, but otherwise… the situation made her nervous, anyway. Her father was up to something.
Although she couldn’t say she wasn’t pleased Adam was coming back with them. Was that — perhaps — why he had agreed? A tiny flame of hope began to burn in her belly. Would he move to London to be with her? Or was he merely trying to find the key to his invention? She knew he was close to finding his answer. Perhaps this was what he had been waiting for, an opportunity to collaborate.
She sighed. So many questions. Would she ever find the answers?
They were about an hour away from Inverness when Rebecca found her head lolling back against the seat. She hadn’t slept well the night before, her thoughts caught up in all that had happened, and now she was trying to fight the sleep that threatened to overtake her. She fluttered her eyes open as she heard her father and Vincent rise to join men playing cards at another table, and she heard Adam’s low voice tell them he would be there shortly after finishing his meal. For a moment she was alone, until she felt a hard thigh press into hers.
“Becca?”
She smiled. Was she dreaming? She loved hearing her name like that roll off his lips. Her eyes sleepily drifted open, and she saw him next to her.
“Alone at last,” she murmured.
“Somewhat. Your father and Thompson are a few tables away, although we will not be overheard. I thought perhaps we should speak about what happened,” he said, casting his eyes downward.
Speak about what happened — the way he said it made it sound like it should never have occurred. Was that why he had been asking her to stay? Because he felt he had no choice, now that he had taken her innocence? She would not agree with that. She was an equal partner in what had transpired between them.
“You do not have to feel obligated to me for any reason,” she said softly, her fingers clutching the soft muslin of her dress, a pretty one that was also comfortable for travel. “What happened was … well, it was absolutely lovely and breathtaking, and more than I could have imagined. But that does not mean you should feel beholden to me.”
She looked up at him then, meeting his eyes, which showed no glimpse of whatever emotio
n he was feeling.
“You have to know that it was more to me than a simple bedding,” he said. “I have never felt such a way about a woman before. You must know that I would not take such an experience lightly. I hope you understand.”
She nodded, her heart beating as she was unsure of what to think, what to say. Suddenly it seemed harder to take a deep breath at the intensity of his gaze and the thought of what he might say next.
“Following this, this foray into London, would you come home with me? Back to the Highlands? Do you think you could live there, with me and my family? I know it’s not the fancy city you’re used to. You would no longer have as many pretty things, or the opportunity to buy all you wanted at fashionable stores. But you would be valued. You would be — loved. My family, I mean, they have so much love to go around. You saw how much they enjoyed having you in their company. Peggy would be thrilled, would she not?”
He looked at her expectantly, and her mind raced. He had said she would be loved, true, but not once had he mentioned his own feelings. Would he love her? He had not even asked her to marry him, simply to come home with him.
“Would that mean that you and I….” she started shyly, not knowing how to ask.
“Aye,” he said. “You and I would be together. Husband and wife. Would you … consider it?”
“I… yes,” she said in a rush, feeling the smile break out on her face before she could help it. The words came of their own accord as she subconsciously overcame her fears because of her feelings for this man. “Yes!”
His usually solemn face now grinned back at her, and they sat there smiling at one another like a pair of fools until she finally had one thought to add.
“We should, however, first speak to my father,” she said.
“Your father?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I know he has other plans for me, with Vincent, to keep the company in the family, but he must understand by now that I would not be happy with him. I do not think it would be too great a request, as truly I am of fairly little consequence to him, but he has raised me, and given me so much that it would not seem fair to simply leave him without a word or a say in it all.”
He nodded, though his grin slowly faded. “If nothing else, I do understand family obligation,” he said. “Though at some point you must do what makes you happy as well. My eldest brother stayed in the Northwest Territories with his wife. My father was displeased for a time but eventually realized that Callum would not have been happy had he returned. His heart was there, and not only with his new bride, but with the land as well.”
“We’ll give it a few days, after you have begun your business with him — what do you think?” she asked.
“I think that sounds just fine.” He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, so quick she almost missed it. “I’d better go join them before they come looking for me.”
And with that he was off, leaving her staring after him, her heart all aflutter, her mind filled with visions of the two of them at home on the Highlands. Was it truly possible?
“Gentlemen,” Adam said with a nod to Trenton and Thompson as he sat across from them at the table. He could hardly stand either man, and yet if this is what Rebecca wanted, for him to have her father’s blessing, then he’d do his best. Besides that, these men could help perfect his wind machine, allowing him to improve the lives of so many people, people like his own clan.
“Tell me, McDougall,” said Trenton as he stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth, “Have you ever been to London before?”
“I have,” answered Adam, folding a napkin neatly on his lap.
“You must have felt somewhat … out of place, perhaps?”
“Somewhat,” Adam responded. “Though ’tis not much unlike hunting the woodlands of the Highlands, now is it?”
Trenton gave out a hrumph, while Vincent looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“Now, you must not worry about all the business dealings,” Trenton continued. “I know it will be somewhat new for you. You must trust that I will handle everything for you.”
Adam tried not to laugh at that. What did Trenton take him for? “Are ye not the man I’ll be having business dealings with? I’m not sure that’s sound advice.”
“You don’t think I would look out for you, boy?” Trenton asked, and Adam tried not to let the anger simmering inside his belly show. How could a woman as gentle, as beautiful both inside and out, as Rebecca have been raised by this man?
He said nothing, but gritted his teeth, picked up his fork, and swallowed his eggs as he tried to block out Trenton’s voice and the din of the train around him.
18
A train ride had never felt so long. True, Adam had rarely been on any train journeys, but when he had they certainly hadn’t felt so abominably drawn out. The farther they got from the Highlands, the less green he saw out his window, and the more he already longed to return home, back to his family, his work, and his land. However, as soon as he would begin to feel melancholy, he found solace by turning to look at Rebecca, reminding him of why he was doing this. All would be well until Trenton or Thompson opened their mouths, and then his impatience would grow once again.
He didn’t know how Rebecca was continually able to shut them out. He supposed she was used to it, and he wondered at her patience. Her gaze would remain out the window at the passing landscape, except every now and then she would turn and look at him with that knowing smile that Adam cherished yet was worried would give them away. He had begun to realize that it would take some time to prove himself to her father. Were he to find out Adam’s intentions too quickly, all would be lost.
When they finally pulled into London’s King’s Cross Station, Adam felt his anxiety grow as he looked out the window. People milled about everywhere, and he began to feel as if he was suffocating. He took deep breaths as they filed off the train, and as he felt the crush of bodies closing in on him, he closed his eyes for a moment, the memories of the one and only time he had been in London flooding back to him. Now he recalled just why he so rarely visited Edinburgh or Glasgow. So many people in such a little space made him feel such anxiety. Breathe, Adam, he thought, and as he tried to focus he felt a light touch on his arm.
“Adam,” came Rebecca’s soft voice. “Are you all right? Is there anything I can do to help?”
He opened his eyes and saw her standing in front of him, concern all over her face. He kept his gaze on hers, and it steadied him, helping him slowly relax.
“I’m fine,” he said, managing a small smile which he hoped was somewhat reassuring. “Perhaps I had a bad bit of food on the train is all. Now, where have your father and Thompson got off to?”
“They went to find our luggage,” she responded. “We’d best hurry and find them, however, before they get too far ahead.”
For a man who continued to claim a betrothal, Thompson certainly didn’t pay much mind to ensuring her safety, thought Adam as he and Rebecca wound their way through the crowd. He reached out and touched her fingers, clasping them for a moment as she turned her head and flashed a smile. He kept his eyes on her, not wavering to look about him to either side, and while he could still feel the anxiousness in the pit of his stomach, he managed to find his way to the baggage cart without incident.
He helped the men gather the bags, and soon enough they were out on the street, calling for a hack.
“We’ll go to our townhouse, McDougall, would that do for you?” Trenton asked him, to which Adam nodded. “I suppose you can stay in one of our extra rooms for a short time. Should our arrangement prove to be extended, we will find you a place to stay. Does that suit you?’
“Aye, and I thank you,” said Adam, to which Trenton shrugged his shoulders. When neither Trenton nor Thompson made to help Rebecca into the hackney, Adam held out a hand to lead her inside. Trenton eyed him warily but said nothing.
The townhouse that Rebecca shared with her father turned out to be a well-structured building, though Adam could see wh
ere repairs were required, where paint had faded and furniture needed replacing. There were few adornments on the walls of the foyer, the house seemingly fairly utilitarian with minimal touches to make it a home.
“Would you like a tour?” Rebecca asked, turning to him.
“I’m sure Jackson can see to it,” said Trenton, nodding his head at the man who had opened the door to them. Adam assumed he was the butler.
“Oh, but I don’t mind at all,” said Rebecca with a smile. “Though if Jackson should like to accompany us, he is more than welcome.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Thompson. “It wouldn’t be right for you to be alone with a man who is not your fiancé, now, would it?”
“For heaven’s sake, Vincent,” she sighed. “But if you would like to come with me, so be it.”
She turned with a huff, and Adam fixed a glower on the man as the two of them began to follow her. The rest of the house turned out to follow Adam’s initial impression until they came to the second-floor drawing room.
“This,” said Rebecca, “is my sitting area. Father hardly ever sets a foot inside so I can do with it as I please.”
She opened the door to reveal a room that Adam would have recognized as hers, even had she not said a word of it. The room was bright, with paintings of landscapes adorning the brightly painted yellow-toned walls, flowers in vases on the side tables which needed refreshing upon her return, and a comfortable looking couch in a floral pattern. There was a small piano in one corner, as well as an easel.
“It’s lovely,” Adam murmured, “very much like you, Rebecca.”
She blushed while Thompson eyed him with a look of unveiled contempt. Adam could not understand why the man persisted in his pursuit of Rebecca. Could he not see that, as much as her father was pushing the match, she did not want him?
