Chapter Fourteen
“How do you think it’s going so far?” Nikki asked.
Harrison shrugged. “Well, no one else has been hit by a flying showerhead so that’s a good sign.”
Nikki laughed. “Agreed. The house at least seems to be holding up. Now if we can just make sure your family…”
Harrison snorted. “Yes, well… We’ll have to take that one day the time.”
“Your mother seems fully on board.” Nikki popped a bite of scone in her mouth. “I saw her earlier in her costume. She looked amazing.”
Harrison took another sip of tea. “Mother will always rise to the occasion when it comes to putting on a show. I think she misses her theater days. Doing this gives her an opportunity to get back to her roots.”
Nikki smiled. “I think it’s great. Actually, it’s kind of fun to see her in her element.”
Harrison kept silent. He agreed with her, but it also made him feel somewhat guilty that his mother obviously loved acting so much. She’d given it all up when she’d married his father. And even though Harrison had nothing to do with that choice, it was an odd feeling to know that if you didn’t exist, your mother would be living a completely different life.
“Your dad will be fine also I think,” Nikki said.
Harrison nodded again. “Dad isn’t a theater connoisseur like Mother, but as long as he can stay in his library reading his books, I think he’ll be fine.”
“So that just leaves…”
Harrison scowled. “Amy.”
“Do you think she’ll go along with it?”
Harrison let out a long breath. “I honestly have no idea. She didn’t seem thrilled by the prospect. Then again, she likes her perks, and she knows she won’t have them much longer if she doesn’t help make this venture a success.”
“Right,” Nikki said, though her brow was furled in a small frown. “Well, we can always tell them she’s playing Brianna. She can be kind of a headstrong, abrasive character.”
He nodded, and she gave him a faint smile though her forehead stayed crinkled in thought.
“What is it?” Harrison asked.
Her eyes flickered to him and then away as if she didn’t want to meet his gaze.
“What?” he asked again. “You can tell me. I’m not going to bite your head off.”
Nikki sucked in a long slow breath. “I was wondering why you don’t just…I mean you have all this money… Why don’t you…”
Harrison gave her a half smile. “Why don’t I use all my money to fully restore the place and set up my family?”
“Yeah.”
“Believe me, I tried. Marched into my father’s office proud as a peacock and offered to make all their troubles go away. Take care of everything for the rest of their lives so all he had to do was sit around and read his books all day.” Harrison looked down at the table with a small smile and shook his head remembering how arrogant and cocky he’d been. “My father graciously declined my offer.”
Nicole frowned again. “Why?”
“He told me he was proud of me and all that I had accomplished. But that he was also proud of his own accomplishments and had no intention of living off his son. He said that’s not the way it was supposed to work. Fathers took care of sons, not the other way around.”
Nikki’s frown deepened. “Maybe for a time, but at some point, the roles usually do switch.”
“I suppose he wasn’t ready to give up his role yet.”
“So for the sake of his pride he would let your ancestral home fall into ruin and the family business run into the ground?”
Harrison controlled the small spurt of anger that sparked at her words. Especially since he had pretty much said the exact same thing to his father at the time. “He was right,” he said. “The business may not have been doing as well as it once had, but that didn’t mean it was worthless. And me marching in waving my money around had made him feel just that. Worthless and obsolete. That was never my intention.”
“Of course not,” Nikki said, reaching out to touch his hand. “And I get that. I’m not saying I’d turn down anyone who marched into my office offering to make all my troubles go away,” she said with a sardonic smile. “But I get wanting to do it on your own. Living life by your own terms, handling things on your own. Hard to feel like you’ve made something of your life if all your accomplishments are due to someone else, I guess.”
Harrison nodded. “I’ve done what I can since then. Lending a hand over the summers, using what knowledge and contacts I have to help the family business. And if things ever became truly dire, I would step in. I’ve made more than a few very large but anonymous donations to the public fund to restore this place. When I’m here in the summer, I foot the bill for quite a few repairs he might not be aware of. I’m sure my father knows the sudden influx of money is from me, but it’s easier for him to accept this way. It’s still frustrating. I completely understand where he’s coming from but,” he said, plucking at his kilt, “it has resulted in me doing a few things I would really rather not. But again, it has allowed me to do what I can to help my family without destroying my father’s pride. I’m not going to say I enjoy any of this,” he said with another smile, “but it’s a small price to pay.”
Nikki looked at him, and the warmth in her smile permeated every inch of him. “Your father has a good son.”
“Yes. Well,” he said, clearing his throat, not sure how to process the emotions she created in him.
Harrison and Nikki sat at the table where they had just taken a much-needed tea break. Something that Nikki had giggled at when he first suggested it until she realized that he actually meant what he said. It was something he had never quite gotten used to in all the years he’d been in America. Tea was something that calmed his nerves and restored him. Americans liked their coffee, but all that did was rev him up when he needed to calm down. Give him a good, stout cup of tea any day, and today he could use a double dose, for sure.
The first crop of guests had arrived. The first night in the castle had gone well, and they were currently wandering around the estate, enjoying the grounds and generally settling in. The next day, they’d be traveling around to different sites used in the show, culminating in the trip up to his family’s Scottish estate.
He’d needed a break away from the house. So he’d taken her to Ruby’s Tea House. His favorite haunt when he was in town.
Nikki glanced around, sipping her tea. “This place is lovely. Thank you for bringing me here.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
She glanced at him, an amused, speculative gleam in her eye.
He laughed. “What?”
“Just doesn’t seem like your type of place.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Dainty china, roses and lace and sunlight…not…macho enough for you.”
His eyebrow quirked up at that. “Macho?” He laughed.
The door that led into the kitchens opened and Ruby, the owner of the shop, came out. “I love to hear that sound.”
He smiled at the old woman, warmth filling his heart. He stood and met her halfway across the small room, taking her hand and leading her back to the table. She didn’t like to admit her eyesight was failing and wouldn’t have accepted help if he’d offered. But she’d take his hand and let him escort her.
“Nicole,” he said, stopping in front of her chair. “This is Ruby Lewis, the owner of the shop. And my old nanny.”
Nikki’s eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t grill him yet, just smiled that sweet smile that lit up the room.
“I didn’t know you had a nanny,” she said.
Ruby nodded. “I was with him until he went away to school, and on holidays when I was needed. I was sad to see my boy grow up,” she said, reaching up to pat his cheek. “But my Sonny has taken good care of me.”
Nikki’s eyes widened farther at the nickname, and his own eyes narrowed, daring her to say something.
“He doesn’t come to see me as often as I’d like,” Ruby said, giving him a little nudge.
He tried to ignore the familiar twinge of guilt that always struck him when Ruby mentioned his long absences. He wrapped an arm about her shoulders, frowning slightly at how frail she felt.
“Come and sit,” he said, pulling out a chair for her.
“Oh my, no. I’ve got guests to serve.” She waved a hand at the other patrons of the shop. “I had to come and see my favorite customer.”
“Ah, you know I just come to see you.”
She gave a delicate snort at that. “You come for my lemon tarts. I’ve got a box of them ready to go when you leave.”
“Ruby, you truly are an angel.” He took her hand and kissed it, and she giggled and fondly ruffled his hair. “You old flatterer you.”
She turned to Nikki who sat staring at them in apparent speechless wonder.
“What?” he asked.
She blinked. “Nothing. I’ve just…never seen you quite so…relaxed.”
Ruby laughed. “You’ve probably only seen him around his family then. He’s quite a rascal when left to his own devices.”
“Is he now?” Nikki asked. Harrison scowled at her, which just made her grin at him.
“Oh yes,” Ruby said. “I seem to remember quite a few practical jokes that landed him in hot water. And then there’s this place.”
“Your tea shop?”
Ruby nodded. “After I was no longer needed as a nanny I wasn’t quite sure what I should do. I’d been with them so long. So I decide to retire. But between you and me, it didn’t suit me. I prefer to have my days full and busy. And then one day my boy hands me the deed to this place. Says it’s a retirement present. That came fully furnished with everything I’d need to start this business.”
She smiled at him with suspiciously wet eyes. He gave her hand a squeeze. “I gave you the building. You’ve made it into a wonderful business.”
She looked at Nikki. “See what I mean?” She grabbed his face in his hands and gave his cheeks a squeeze. “I’ll throw a few extra tarts in the box for you.”
She headed back to the kitchen. His laugh cut short when he looked back at Nikki and her half-amused, half-confused expression.
“What?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.” She wiped her mouth and stood up. “Just didn’t know you had such a gooey center.”
He scowled at her again until Ruby came back out and handed him a box tied with twine. The heavenly lemon scent of the tarts wafted toward him. Those babies weren’t going to make it back to the castle.
He thanked her, kissed her on both cheeks, and escorted Nikki back out to the car.
“All right,” she said, leaning against the car. She pulled her clipboard out of her bag. “We seem to be all set. The sites in England are ready to go, then a night in Edinburgh, two in Inverness, a trip to the stone circle they used as a model for the ones in…” Her gaze flickered to him, her lips pulling into a quick smile before she looked back down. “The thing. And then over to your family’s estate for two nights where we’ll do the whole wedding bit.”
Again, her gaze met his, though this time it lingered. He didn’t say anything, though the word wedding used to instigate a near panic attack. Now, with those deep brown eyes of hers staring into his, all he could really think about was how much he wanted to recreate the wedding night scene. And if the blush stealing across her cheeks was any indication, she was thinking the same thing.
Saints preserve him, it was going to be a long trip.