Scotland or Bust Page 3

  “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

  “Where will I be working? For how long? For how much? And where will I stay during that time?”

  “Ten thousand. U.S. You’ll work directly for me, assisting me with whatever I might need, for the next eight weeks. And you’ll stay with my family on our estate.”

  “Ten thousand for two months of playing secretary?”

  “Do you want less?”

  She snorted. “I didn’t say that. And I’ll stay with you and your family? On your estate? What estate would that be? The one with the castle?”

  “You ask as if you don’t believe me.”

  She shrugged. “Not many men have an extra ten grand to throw around, though I can think of plenty who might offer it to get a girl alone so he can drag her off to who-knows-where.”

  “I’d have paid that anyway to my assistant, so it’s not an abnormal expense.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at him and chewed her lip.

  He sighed. “Google me,” he said, nodding at her phone.

  The eyebrow went up another notch. “I’ve heard some weird come-ons before but…”

  He released another exasperated sigh and pulled out his own phone, quickly googling himself. “I’m legit,” he said, handing her the device with the page pulled up to the first twenty websites, complete with a few thumbnail pictures.

  “My name is Harrison Troy.”

  Her eyes grew round. “As in Troy Travel Harrison Troy?”

  “I prefer the Harrison Troy whose work will help put the first human colony on Mars, but as my parents own that company, sure…the Troy Travel Harrison Troy.”

  She perused the phone for a few minutes longer until he held out his hand for it. She handed it over but continued to stare at him, long enough that he had to fight the urge to squirm.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “Thirty thousand.”

  His lips twitched. “Twenty.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Plus an all-expenses-paid first-class Outlander package from your company.”

  He stuck his hand out. “As long as you never mention the O word again, you’ve got a deal.”

  She frowned. “You mean Outland—”

  “Yes,” he said, gritting his teeth. “What other O word would I mean?”

  She snorted. “Honey, if you can’t think of any other relevant O words, you have more issues than I can help you with in eight weeks.”

  He narrowed his eyes, trying his best to look disapproving, though his mind had quickly gone to all the ways the other O word was very relevant where she was concerned.

  “Deal or no?” he asked.

  She shook his hand. “Deal.”

  He smiled at her, grinning wider when her eyes widened slightly with surprise.

  “Wow. Didn’t know you even had teeth,” she said.

  “Well, that can’t be true. Pretty sure you were running your tongue all over them a few hours ago.”

  Her jaw dropped, and he had to choke back a laugh. Okay, so maybe he had been a surly bastard. A visit to his family would do that to him. He’d try and keep it under control. “By the way, I’d have paid the thirty grand,” he said.

  She grinned back at him. “I’d have done it for nothing but the chance to spend the summer in a castle.”

  This time he snorted. “You won’t be saying that for long.”

  He took the bag from her shoulder and grabbed the handle to her suitcase and handed them to the town car driver who’d been standing unobtrusively waiting for them. He turned to follow him out to the waiting car, ignoring her rapid-fire questions.

  “Wait, what do you mean I won’t be saying that for long? What does that mean?” she asked. “Harrison. Hey, what do you mean by that?”

  He just laughed. “You’ll see.”

  Chapter Four

  Nikki jogged to keep up with his long stride. “Harrison? What did you mean by that?”

  He just laughed again. Okay, that really couldn’t be good.

  She followed him outside the terminal where a car and driver waited with the door open.

  “After you,” Harrison said, holding the door open for her.

  She narrowed her eyes a bit trying to figure out what could have possibly been so funny. Finally she sighed and got in the car. If he was trying to trick her into something nefarious, she could always have the driver take her back to the airport. And just in case, she shot off a quick text to her mother letting her know that she’d just accepted a job from Harrison Troy and would be staying on his estate. Not surprisingly, her mother immediately texted back wanting a million details that she didn’t have yet. She told her she’d be in touch but just wanted her to know where she was.

  There. So she was going against every rule an unaccompanied woman traveler should follow. Having no concrete plans. Getting into a car with a stranger. Though, not a total stranger, seeing as how they’d sat beside each other the whole flight. And the fact that she’d already had her tongue down his throat. And vice versa. Still, getting in a car with him to drive off to who-knows-where would probably be listed under the definition of what not to do if you’re trying to stay safe.

  But Harrison Troy wasn’t any ordinary person. He was a moderately famous billionaire who occasionally graced the covers of the tabloids and who even now was drawing the attention of some fellow airport-goers and their cell phones. There were probably dozens of photos of her with him floating around out there now, and her mother knew where she was and who she was with. So at the very least, if he did turn out to be a serial killer, there was some sort of record of who was responsible.

  She wanted to continue to interrogate him on the way to wherever they were going, but he spent the majority of the trip on his phone. She spent the time watching the scenery out the window. She’d never been anywhere outside the United States, so there was plenty to see to keep her occupied.

  “Sorry about the car,” Harrison said during a short break in his conversations. “Typically, I would take the helicopter, but it’s being maintenanced right now. We’ll have to make do.”

  “Oh, no problem,” she said, as if it was an everyday occurrence for her to have to choose between modes of transportation. Hell, most days she was lucky if she got a ride anywhere rather than having to hoof it. Though riding in a helicopter would have been seriously cool.

  “So, where is this castle anyway?”

  “Not far from Newcastle Upon Tyne.”

  “Haven’t heard of it. How far away is it?”

  “Several hours. Now might be a good time to take a nice, long, quiet nap.”

  She rolled her eyes. Okay, she might be talking his ear off, but she was excited so he was going to have to live with it. “A few hours away is pretty far up north, isn’t it? How close are you to Scotland?”

  He sighed. “About an hour south of the border.”

  Since he was already glowering at her, probably anticipating her next question, she resisted the urge to bounce on the seat like a toddler bursting with excitement but asked it anyway. “I didn’t know you were so close! Can we go?”

  “We will go as part of the travel tour in a few weeks. But other than that, no.”

  She sat back and blew her bangs out of her face with an exasperated puff of air. “Spoil sport.”

  His lips twitched but he didn’t comment further on the whole Scottish issue. “Take a nap. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

  Before she could ask him any other questions, his phone rang again and she rolled her eyes as he took the call. She must have dozed off at some point while watching the towns morph into rolling hills and small villages, because the next thing she remembered, Harrison was nudging her awake.

  “We’re here,” he said, pointing out the window.

  She pressed her face up against the glass like a kid at the pet store trying to see the puppies, and sucked in her breath at the sight that met her. They entered through a pair of stone gates and drove up a long winding road for several minu
tes before the estate came into view. She gasped.

  “It’s a castle,” she said, nearly bouncing in her seat with excitement. “Like an honest-to-God castle.”

  He chuckled. “I told you it was. Didn’t you believe me?”

  “Not really,” she said.

  “Then why did you come with me?”

  She shrugged. “I had nothing better going on and thought it might be worth the risk on the off-chance you weren’t a pathological liar.”

  He shook his head. “You really need to be more discerning in your decisions.”

  “You do realize had I been more discerning I would not be in this car right now.”

  “Hmm, that is true. Never mind then. Carry on.”

  She laughed and went back to gawking at her surroundings. The castle was situated in the middle of a large clearing and was exactly like what she had always pictured. With its stone towers, rounded archways, and landscaped manicured grounds sprawling out beneath it, it was a fairy tale come to life.

  “This is breathtaking,” she said. “If you could live here, why would you ever leave?”

  “You’ll find out in short order.”

  “You know, you keep saying things like that. It doesn’t inspire much confidence.”

  He just grinned again and turned his attention back to his phone.

  “So if your family owns a castle, why aren’t you an earl or a knight or something?”

  Harrison gave her a wry smile. “Because the illustrious ancestor who first gained possession of the estate was actually the mistress of a younger son of a rather obscure baron. When the relationship had run its course, the lady was rather industriously pensioned off and given the castle as a consolation prize of sorts. While her subsequent descendents,” he said, gesturing at himself, “have had the dubious pleasure of owning this rather modest estate, there was no title to be had.”

  “Her ex paid her off with a castle? I think the most I’ve ever gotten from an ex was a few free months of Netflix before he remembered to change his password.”

  He chuckled. “It’s more of an oversized manor, really.”

  “If you say so,” she muttered. Sure, it wasn’t Buckingham Palace or anything. But there was no doubt the place was definitely a freaking castle. It would make most of those sprawling Beverly Hills mansions look like servants’ quarters.

  The car followed the path along to the back side of the estate. The farther they got from the front, the less manicured the property became. Wild growth had been allowed to take over, giving the castle a more sinister and abandoned look. Parts of the stone of the castle walls had fallen away, ivy covered what remained, and scaffolding had been set up in order to make much-needed repairs. She hoped. At the moment, the scaffolding looked like it was only there to shore up the walls and keep the whole thing from toppling over. The back of the property was so completely different from the front she could almost imagine they were two entirely different locations. Or that the front was merely a facade. Like in those Hollywood movie sets where you walk down a street that looks like it’s lined with real buildings and then you step inside one only to realize the fronts were nothing but props held up with two by fours.

  The car came to a stop, and she got out, without waiting for Harrison or the driver to open her door. She stood staring at the crumbling building in the twilight sun. Oh, it was still a gorgeous old building, one she’d enjoy visiting on a warm afternoon with a picnic basket before going back to her nice, comfy hotel. Only now it looked more like the ruins of a castle rather than a building someone could actually spend the night in, let alone live in permanently.

  “Welcome to Alberth Castle.” Harrison got out and stood beside her. “Well?” he asked. “What do you think of the old place?”

  Old was right. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Have you ever seen the movie The Money Pit?”

  He laughed, a deep booming belly chuckle that surprised her. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said, putting his hand on the small of her back to lead her inside. “Come on.”

  A couple servants had scurried outside to grab their luggage. Nikki handed hers over feeling both pampered and uncomfortable. Like she should apologize for handing them her bag instead of carrying it herself. She knew it was their job and they probably didn’t mind, but it was still odd.

  Before they could go inside a voice echoed from up above. Harrison stopped and closed his eyes.

  “What is that?” Nikki asked.

  “Nothing, ignore it.”

  “Is this place haunted, too? Because that could be kind of cool. As long as the ghost was friendly.”

  “It’s not haunted,” Harrison said, his face strained.

  “Wooooeeee!” the voice echoed again.

  Nikki quirked an eyebrow. “You were saying?” She stepped back to get a better look at what was going on. Up at the top of the castle, standing on the battlements, was what looked like a pale little Yoda figure, stark naked, waving around a white…

  “Is that a nightgown?” Nikki asked.

  Harrison rubbed his hand over his face and turned to one of the servants. “Go tell my mother Granny has gotten loose again.”

  The servant nodded and ran off, and Nikki turned to Harrison. “Granny? That’s your grandmother up there with her nibblets and bits waving in the wind?”

  He frowned down at her. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Do that often, does she?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  As they watched, someone, the butler maybe since he was all spiffed up in a tuxedo-looking outfit, came out to round her up. But before he reached her, she let out a loud “Whoop!” and took off running in the other direction. Nikki slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing as the whole episode seemed to upset Harrison. But seriously…crumbing castles, naked grannies? What the hell had she just gotten into?

  Chapter Five

  Harrison led Nikki into the house, marching her through too quickly to really let her stop and get a good look at anything. Not that she would have been able to see much anyway. They didn’t use much electricity in this part of the castle. They saved that for the tourist wing and relied mostly on candles and lanterns in the family’s quarters. Most of the rest of the place still needed to be rewired.

  “Sorry about the lights,” he said, leading her into the kitchens.

  A fire was roaring in the massive fireplace, giving the place a cozy, homey glow. The kitchen had been expanded and updated with state-of-the-art equipment, but the original fireplace had been left, and the decor centered around the original stonework. The space probably looked much as it did several hundred years ago…except with stainless steel appliances.

  “This is charming!” Nikki said, looking around with a huge smile.

  He looked around, echoing her smile on a smaller scale. Her enthusiasm was infectious. He couldn’t help himself. He’d never thought of it in terms of anything other than functionality, but there was a certain charm to the place. As long as it didn’t come tumbling down around their ears.

  “Hungry?” he asked her. “Plane food is atrocious.”

  She laughed. “You should see what they feed the people in coach. But yes, I could eat.”

  He dug around in the fridge for a minute, finally pulling out some leftover chicken, cheese, and fruit. He laid it all out along with a few napkins. And a bottle of wine.

  She raised her eyebrows at that. “Trying to get me drunk, Mr. Troy?”

  He frowned at that. “Of course not. But it pairs well with the fruit, and frankly, it’s been a long day that is only going to get longer.”

  She held up her glass and took a long drink. “Wow, this is excellent. I’d say the day was good. I got to fly first class. Had a lovely make-out session with a hot, if repressed, English gentleman.”

  His mouth dropped open, but she rambled on before he could protest.

  “And I’m in England. In a castle. If it remains standing long enough for me to enjoy it, that
is.”

  “Funny,” he said, taking a long drink himself.

  “Plus, I got offered a job making a ton of money. And my handsome make-out buddy is feeding me in the middle of the coolest kitchen I’ve ever been in. I’d call that a good day.”

  He raised an eyebrow, an unexpected warmth flowing through him that he didn’t think was coming from the wine. “You think I’m handsome?”

  She let her gaze rove over him. “You’re not bad.”

  “Thank you for the rousing compliment.”

  She shrugged. “Hey, you’re my boss now. I wouldn’t want anything I said to be construed the wrong way and end in my termination.”

  He smiled. “Fair enough. Though, as a general rule, I wouldn’t fire an employee for calling me handsome.”

  She laughed. “Good to know.”

  “Besides, I know some people who’ve gone a lot further without being terminated.”

  “Oh really? Do tell,” she said with a grin.

  He shook his head. “It’s a really long story.”

  “Which you’re going to have to tell me some day.”

  “We’ll see, though while we’re on the topic, now that I am your boss, we should probably make sure there are no more make-out sessions.” Which was a shame, but still, boundaries and all.

  She held her hands up. “Hey, no complaints here.” His eyebrow quirked up, and she grinned. “I mean, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, but you’re my boss now. Totally off-limits.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Kind of a shame though. I’ll probably be having wet dreams about that kiss for the foreseeable future.”

  His mouth dropped open again. “You have no filter, do you?”

  She flashed him a brilliant grin. “Oh, I do, but it’s a lot more fun watching your eyes bug out of your head.”

  He snorted and popped some grapes in his mouth.

  “Seriously though, you don’t have to worry. There’s no way I’m screwing this up. I’m finally on my own. No parents. No boyfriend. No one I’m dependent on. Kind of scary, but it’s also amazing to be making my own way for once.”

  “Understandable. Though, technically, I am literally providing everything for you—food, shelter, money. Doesn’t that completely negate your goal to be taking care of yourself?”