Laird of the Highlands: International Billionaires IX: The Scots Read Online Free

Laird of the Highlands: International Billionaires IX: The Scots
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in his head.
    The only thing to do was to retreat.
    So, he did.

    * * *
    H e was very young . And he was very odd.
    Ceri stood in the middle of her garden, and watched Lorne Ross march past the empty flowerbeds, across the long, green lawn, and into the old wooden back door of the castle. His shoulders were straight, his gait strong, his fiery-red hair, tied in a man-bun, a tight flag of resistance. None of him screamed what had just occurred.
    He’d fled the field of battle.
    She’d come right into his personal space and told him off. Close enough to him to catch the fine weave of his suit coat and the nasty, costly smell of his cologne. She’d taken in his wealth and power and her whole body had shook. But she hadn’t crumbled or become intimidated.
    She’d won. At least, this round.
    Apparently, though, he was here to get the castle back, so there’d be more rounds. Many more, and she couldn’t afford to lose even one. She stared at the castle’s back door as it slammed shut behind Will’s son.
    Lorne Ross had moved right into the castle last night. He hadn’t given her the courtesy of realizing she owned the property now. He hadn’t served her with any papers, or approached her like a civilized person would. Instead, he’d marched onto her land and called her a really ugly name.
    “Bugger,” she yelled across the garden.
    Stupidly, she hadn’t changed the locks. Stupidly, she’d begun to believe Will’s prediction about his son’s disinterest. And very stupidly, she now found herself with two males encamped in her castle, one of them being the new laird.
    The villagers liked their laird. They still held the ancient loyalty which was so out of place in modern times.
    “ Shite ,” she muttered.
    When Will had died, they’d all lined up with her in the church, and then at the gravesite. They’d all paid their last respects with appropriate sorrow. But behind the sad faces, she’d seen. Behind the forlorn voices, she’d heard.
    They’d been excited for the new laird to come home.
    “ Drewgi ,” she shouted her mam’s favorite swearword.
    Yes, he was a smelly dog with his too-expensive cologne and his offensive arrogance. If he’d come home when he was supposed to, then perhaps she would have felt more kindly, and they could have come to an understanding. However, it had been four months—four months during which the villagers had come to accept her place as the new owner of Castle Ross.
    They’d get excited again, though, if they found out he was here. She also couldn’t be sure the slimy Chief Inspector would enforce her rights against the new laird if she demanded he do so.
    “Dammit,” she said to her flowers.
    Best to not alert the villagers. Best to merely let the man and his oily solicitor stay at the castle until they’d made her their formal offer. Once she’d said no, they’d leave. Go back to London in their fancy clothes. Better to focus on getting these flowers planted and keep planning for the tours.
    Wresting the heavy flat into her arms once more, she strode to the first flowerbed. As she dragged on her gardening gloves, she tried to push her rising anxiety aside. Yet, the thoughts and emotions still tumbled inside her, causing her to feel faintly nauseous.
    Will would have been stunned.
    She had no idea why his son would want to come here. He hadn’t spent a spot of time here in the five years she’d been in Pictloch, and certainly not since she’d moved onto the grounds. As far as she’d known, he’d rarely called his father on the phone more than once a year. From what Will had revealed, and Elis’s Google searches expanded on, Lorne Ross was a London billionaire through and through.
    She had to admit to being a bit stunned, too.
    Dropping the flat on the first raised flowerbed made of ancient granite, Ceri tried to force herself to focus on the planting. The daisies went in, bright slashes of yellow mixing in with the beginning sprouts of the white and orange
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