by Audrey Adair
“But of course!” Trenton said, his face full of mirth. “She was, in fact, the one who suggested you come to London with us. She is a much smarter girl than she lets on, is she not? Leave those papers where you found them, will you Mr. McDougall?”
Adam looked at him in the eye, holding his gaze as he slowly, carefully, ripped the papers in half once, twice, and three times before following suit with the check.
“Ah well, I can always draw them up again, never fear,” said Trenton with a wave of his hand. “Farewell, Mr. McDougall! It has been a pleasure!”
His voice followed Adam as he shoved open the door, storming through the building and out into the busy streets of London. He looked around him in disgust. He wanted nothing more to do with this city, this family, this business. He was a complete, utter fool. All he wanted now was to collect his things and go home. He could think of nothing else but to return to the Highlands and be rid of this blasted place.
Rebecca had scarcely finished showing Eloise out the door when she heard a knock come once more on the front entrance.
“My goodness,” she muttered, as she assembled the teacups back on the tray. “What in heaven is happening today?”
Her heart fell further when Jackson showed in her apparent fiancé.
“Vincent,” she said in surprise, “What are you doing here? It is the middle of the work day!”
“Ah, but I couldn’t wait one more moment to hold my fiancée in my arms, now that we are finally, officially betrothed.”
Rebecca felt anger simmering in her belly as she looked him square in the face. “Did you know about this? The public engagement that I have never actually agreed to?”
“Of course,” he said with a shrug. “Your father suggested it and I agreed that it was an excellent idea.”
“And neither of you ever thought to ask me?”
“Does it really matter?” he asked, picking up her cup of tea and finishing it himself. “The end result would be the same.”
“But—”
“Come here, darling,” he said, reaching out a hand to her.
“No, I’d really rather—”
Her words were cut off as he pulled her to him, his mouth coming down hard on hers. She was so taken aback, she hardly knew how to respond. His lips were cold, his kiss unfeeling, unlike the warm, loving kisses she had shared with Adam. How she longed for his touch instead, which brought warm feelings of pleasure through her body, rather than the cold slither of ice she felt from Vincent.
She reached her hands between them, positioning them on his chest. She pushed with all her might, and while she didn’t move Vincent far, she did manage to put space between their bodies.
“Vincent I—”
Movement at the doorway caught her eye. “Adam?”
She heard the tread of his boot on the wooden floor as he continued past the doorway and strode down the hallway, and forgetting all about the man in front of her, she raced after him, her slippered feet barely making a noise as she ran up the stairs, following him to his bedroom.
“Adam!” she gasped. “Stop.”
“I’ve seen enough,” he said, keeping his back to her as he found his bag and began throwing the few items of clothing he had brought with him into it.
“Where are you going?” she asked, as he moved about, seemingly in great haste.
“Home,” he said curtly, and her eyes flew up from his bag to his broad figure.
“Home? Back to the Highlands?”
“Of course. Where else would you figure my home to be?”
“But I — Adam, what you saw in the parlor, I did not ask for it. Vincent, he came and he took me aback, it was so sudden, and I — I was pushing him off me when you came in. It was not—” She stuttered as she somehow felt the need to tell him the truth of the matter so that he would know where her heart still lay.
“You need not explain anything about that to me,” he said, his voice an emotionless tone that seemed to dismiss her as if she meant nothing to him. “I knew you were to marry the man. It was not unexpected.”
“Then why are you so angry? Why are you leaving?”
“Why do you think?” he turned around and faced her, his face tight with anger and emotion, all now trained on her. “I know, Rebecca. I found the patent letters on your father’s desk. Tell me, was anything you felt for me real? Did you really think you had to sleep with me, to pretend to love me, in order to get what you wanted?”
She reeled back at his words, in utter shock at his anger. Who was this man who would speak to her like this? Why was he being so cruel?”
“I do not know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to remain stoic. “I made love with you because I wanted to and for no other reason. I thought it was a good idea for you to come here in order to help you with your invention. I don’t know what papers you are speaking of, but I have nothing to do with that. I have no part of my father’s business, as he will not share any of it with me. And whatever it is you think I did, there is no reason to speak to me as you are.”
“Your father has told me the truth, that you helped lure me here in order for him to steal my work.”
She gasped. “I would never do such a thing. Is that what he told you? Is that what he’s doing?”
“He is,” he said, and hefted his bag on his shoulder. “Now will you get out of my way?”
She stood as tall as she was able, coming as close to eye-to-eye with him as she could. “You should know me better than that,” she said, trying not to allow the tears to form in her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat. “I would never, ever do that to you. If you actually believe such a thing, well, there is nothing I can do for that but feel sorry for you.”
“Goodbye, Rebecca,” he said, pushing past her, down the stairs and out the door, as she simply gaped at him as she watched him leave.
22
As the train pulled into Inverness, Adam felt a sense of calm settle over his soul. Never again, he vowed. Never again would he leave the peace of his homeland for a city full of people who cared for nothing but their own lives. Never again would he work with another who might steal his work away from him. And never again would he trust a woman with a pretty face, gentle words, and kind, open eyes. He had been a fool, but he would learn from this lesson.
As his parents and siblings were not aware of his imminent arrival, he was fortunate to find a ride with a family headed in the direction of Aldourie. He did his best to remain somewhat friendly with them and left them with a wave as he disembarked and walked the remaining miles to his home.
When he entered the front door to find his family gathered around the table for dinner, he nearly felt a tear fall from his eye at the familiarity of it all.
“Adam!” his mother exclaimed as she rose from the table and came to envelope him in her arms. “What a surprise! We had no idea you were coming home so soon, though it is absolutely wonderful to see you.”
The joy at seeing his family was stalled for a moment as he thought of Rebecca, but all it did was cleave a hole in his heart, and he pushed her from his mind. No, he was home now, returned to all he knew, all he loved, and he would put London — the city and the people — far behind him. He forced a smile on his face as he hugged his mother back, deposited his bag in the corner, and took his regular seat at the table after grabbing a plate and beginning to fill it.
“It was a surprise to me too,” he said. “My business there concluded sooner than I had thought, and you know how much I hate the city.”
“What happened with the wind invention?” asked Roderick, as Adam tried to ignore the concern he could see etched on his family’s faces.
“It’s finished,” he said, feeling ashamed at how he had been deceived and not wanting them to know of it. “At least, my role in it. I worked with Trenton’s partner, and together we came up with the piece of the solution I had been searching for.”
“That’s wonderful!” said Kyla. “You must be thrilled!”
<
br /> “Yes,” said Adam, forcing a smile on his face once more. “I am.”
“You don’t seem very excited,” Peggy said, narrowing her eyes at him. “What happened with Rebecca?”
“Rebecca? Nothing at all,” he said, shrugging a shoulder and feigning nonchalance.
Peggy snorted. “We’re not stupid, Adam, we know you had something with her.”
“Hush, love,” their mother said, though Adam cringed at her concern as it would clearly mean questions to come later. “Dinna bother your brother. Let him enjoy his meal.”
Adam sat, silently forcing himself to eat as he felt the stares of his family upon him. Suddenly here, surrounded by everyone he loved, he had never felt so alone.
Rebecca paced her bedroom. She was usually fairly even-tempered, but never in her life had she been so angry — at Adam, at Vincent, and most especially at her father. Men. Always thinking they knew everything, that they could play her as they wished. She was done with it.
After Adam had left, she refused to go downstairs for dinner, feigning a stomachache. She felt like a coward, staying in her room to wallow in self-pity, but she didn’t know what she would even say if she went downstairs. Her engagement had been announced, but could she truly spend her life with a man whose kisses made her want to be sick?
The next day, once the house was quiet, she dressed in a simple blue muslin and after eating a quick croissant from the kitchen, she slipped out the door and hailed a hackney. She gave the driver the address of her father’s power plant. If nothing else, she was going to determine what had happened, and she knew there was only one man who could — and would — give her truthful answers. Sullivan Andrews.
When she disembarked, she squared her shoulders, willing herself to be strong, to not make any rash decisions until she had discovered the truth.
Thankfully, her father and Vincent were nowhere in sight as she entered the power plant, where she made her way around the huge machines and the men that stared and nodded at her, until she came to the desk where she knew she could always find the man.
“Sullivan?” she said softly, not wanting to startle him. He was always so focused that he never heard anyone approaching.
“Oh!” He looked up, jumping anyway. “Rebecca,” his face broke out into a smile. “How are you?’
“I’m not sure,” she said truthfully.
“No?” he asked, his strong, dark eyebrows drawing together as his eyes roamed over her face.
“Sullivan, what can you tell me of the agreement between you and my father and Ad— Mr. McDougall?”
“I cannot say I know much of the agreement, my dear,” he said, sitting back in his chair and winding his pen between his fingers. “I worked with McDougall on the actual invention itself — a brilliant mind that boy has, I will tell you. I was quite impressed, and that doesn’t happen often. Anyway, Hardwick had always told me we were paying McDougall for his work, both for the intellectual property as well as his time with us. I mentioned this to McDougall just yesterday that he should follow up with Hardwick to determine all that was agreed upon, and I haven’t seen the lad since. I assumed Hardwick paid him and he returned home, although I have to say I am a bit put out that he didn’t bother to wish me farewell. I thought we had become friends of a sort.”
Rebecca nodded, a lump in her throat. It was as she had thought. Her father had manipulated Adam, lying to him in order to access his idea and then take it for himself. She sat mutely in front of Sullivan, unable to put into words what she was feeling. Oh, how betrayed Adam must have felt. As much as she still somewhat resented the fact he thought her to be complicit in all of this, in the same breath she could now understand his reaction to it all. He had been duped by the lot of them. And now, not only had she reneged on her promise of marriage, but her father had taken from him something he had worked so hard for.
“Was that not what McDougall was told?” Sullivan asked, his gravelly voice cutting through her thoughts.
“No,” she said, shaking her head morosely. “Not at all. Adam was told he would be made a partner. Not in the company, but in this venture. That the three of you would come to a solution and then put it into practice, with all of you seeing the profits. Not that Adam was particularly concerned with making money off of this. He was more focused on ensuring that people could benefit from his work. He agreed to come only because he saw it as a way to put his work into practice and also … also…”
“Perhaps we should take our conversation into the workroom,” said Sullivan quietly. “There are fewer ears in there.” He ushered her into the room around the corner, and as she sat at a stool, she looked at the tools and the metal strewn about the table in front of her and realized this is where Adam had been working so diligently for the past couple of weeks. He had been here, likely where she was sitting. It made her feel close to him again, yet still so far away.
“Did Mr. McDougall come to London because of something to do with you, my dear?” asked the man who had known her since she was a child, and was almost more of a father figure than her own flesh and blood. He sat across from her at the table, his kind blue eyes taking her in with such compassion she wanted to weep.
“I … we … yes,” she said, bowing her head as she tried to keep the tears from falling. “When I was in the Highlands we … we spent time together and we fell for one another, I suppose you could say. I thought he was my future. All I asked was that my father bless our marriage and he did not, of course. No, he is bent on me marrying Vincent. As much as I wanted Adam, how could I go against my father’s wishes after all he has done for me? He raised me when my own mother gave me up. If I say no to the marriage, then all plans for your business are ruined.”
“Plans?” asked Sullivan, a frown coming over his face. “What plans are you referring to?”
“Why, the plans for the Thompson family to buy your business, for Vincent to take over,” she said in surprise, thinking that Sullivan would know exactly what she was speaking about.
“That’s interesting,” he said slowly. “Particularly since this is the first I am hearing of such.”
“Oh,” she said, her mouth rounding and her eyes widening. “Oh, dear. Was I not to speak of it? I assumed that because you and my father were business partners—”
“We are,” he said, standing and beginning to pace back and forth. “And yes, because we are business partners, you should have been free to speak of it with me, as I should have known of such a plan. What the hell is Trenton up to now? Oh excuse me, Rebecca, I should not have spoken such in your presence.”
“It matters not,” she responded, in shock that her father would treat the man who was responsible for all of his success in such a way. “I am sorry, Sullivan. I know my father can be deceitful but this…”
“Is unforgivable,” he finished. “As is what he did to your Mr. McDougall.”
“He’s not my Mr. McDougall any longer,” she said in hushed tones.
Sullivan walked over to her, lifting her face to look at him. “Do you not love him, child?”
“No,” she said immediately. “How can I love a man who would suspect me of such treachery? I understand his thoughts but still…”
“How do you feel now that he is gone? Do you think of him?”
“Do I think of him?” she asked, looking down, her eyes tearing up of their own accord. “I do more than think of him. I see him everywhere I go. Every time I turn a corner around a street, I expect him to be there. Every time I walk down the corridor of our home I expect he will be awaiting me. Every time I walk into a room, I want to see his smile. Even now, I can almost feel his presence in this room, and yet the fact that he is not here … it makes me feel utterly bereft.”
“And yet you say that you do not love him?”
“Oh bother, of course I love him!” she burst out, the tears now flowing down her cheeks, and yet she felt no shame. “I love him with every core of my being. And yet I have tried so hard to deny it, to push it away s
o that it does not hurt quite so much when I come to the realization that I shall likely never see him again. Yet I will think of him for the rest of my life.”
“Rebecca,” Sullivan said, placing one hand on her shoulder as he handed her his handkerchief. “You have been a wonderful daughter to your father. You have supported him, you have done his bidding, you have kept his house for him. But to give up the rest of your life because of a deal he made without your knowledge goes above and beyond what any parent should ask of their child. Be happy, my dear. Find your man and do what gives you the most joy in your heart.”
Rebecca began crying earnestly as she launched herself into his arms, tears flowing into the shoulder that smelled like tobacco and dusty bookshelves.
“He will never take me back now. He believes I was part of a scheme to bring him here and steal his plans,” she said, wiping her eyes and nose as she pushed away from him.
“I think, when he truly considers the issue, he will realize that you could never betray him like that,” said Sullivan gently. “And besides, that — I have a plan.”
23
For the first time since he had returned from London, Adam stepped into his workroom and looked around it in silence. It was near completely bare now but for wood shavings and the odd piece of metal he hadn’t seen fit to use sitting on or under the table. He was typically fairly particular in keeping his space tidy, but had left in a rather bit of haste. It had only been a few weeks, and yet it seemed like it had been a lifetime ago that he had held such high hopes for both his work and his life with Rebecca. Now the emptiness of the room reminded him of all that he had lost.
He sighed as he threw his bag on the table, emptying it of the contents he had managed to bring back with him. His mind was as blank as the workspace when he tried to think of what next to work on. Clearly, anything regarding his wind model was no longer an option, as Trenton would have the patents on it. If nothing else, the man had enough guile to cover off anything that might be required to keep Adam from having any sort of claim to the invention.
