Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
“Great,” Dair forced out.
“Blake?” Ned called.
“I’m here, Daddy,” she said in a small voice.
“I know you’re not okay,” Ned said. “I won’t ask if that’s the case. I’m just so sorry, sweetheart.”
“Me too, Daddy,” she replied as if she wasn’t certain of her words.
“And I’ll see you when we meet in England,” Ned said.
“Okay,” she replied.
“Now try to get some rest, darling,” Ned encouraged. “I know it will be hard, but please try.”
“I’ll try, Daddy,” she mumbled.
“Can I have Dair?” Ned requested.
Blake said nothing. Now, she was just staring at the duvet.
So Dair took the call off speaker and put the phone to his ear.
“Ye got just me.”
“Do you have her?” Ned asked, his voice ravaged.
“Of course.” Dair tried not to sound insulted due to the circumstances.
“She’s going to be conflicted.”
“Aye, I ken.”
“I’ll communicate with you both, and ask Alex to do the same, if you would as well?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m sorry this has upset your visit. Blake was very much looking forward to it.”
“Can’t be helped, but now we got a job, Ned. Ye hear me, mate?”
“I do, Dair. Glad you’re on the team. See you soon.”
“You will, Ned. Keep your chin up.”
“No choice. Take care, Dair.”
“You as well.”
They hung up, and he instantly put his phone on the charge pad before he turned back to his woman.
“Up, baby, to the bathroom,” he ordered. “Teeth brushed. Your makeup isn’t off yet. Let’s go.”
She nodded, and he pulled her out of bed with him.
They stood at each of their basins, and he watched carefully in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. Then she washed her face.
But while she was putting some gunk on it, she swathed a load of the cream on her cheek, stilled, and suddenly wandered out without rubbing it in.
He followed her.
She sat on her side of the bed.
Sorcha pushed at her hand.
Blake stared at the floor.
Dair made his approach, gently moved his dog out of the way, and crouched in front of her.
“Look at me, love,” he urged.
She raised her gaze to his.
He reached to meticulously rub the cream all over her face.
“Thank you,” she whispered when he was wiping his fingers on his lounge pants.
That was when the tears started to fall.
He surged up and in, gathering her in his arms and positioning them under the bedclothes. Sorcha whined. Blake burrowed into his body.
“Th-the last time I saw her, I s-s-slapped her,” she sobbed into his skin.
“I ken, darling. Dinnae think of that now.”
“Oh God,” she moaned, pushing closer to him.
“I hate this for you, baby,” he whispered.
“M-me too. I hate it too, Dair,” she pushed out through weeping.
He held her.
She cried for a long time.
So long, she fell asleep doing it.
He held her longer, and when she didn’t move for some time, with extreme caution, he turned out the bedside lamp, called loving words to his dog, listened to his girl settle on the floor beside Blake, and he pulled the covers up further over his woman.
As for himself, he did not want Helena Coddington-Sharp dead, but he wasn’t upset she was. She was a shite mother who did harm to both of her girls. She was a shite woman who willfully did harm to a marriage. She was simply a shite woman.
She would be missed by very few, if any.
Dair had no doubt that the best future scenario between Blake and her mother was a détente. They would never build the mother-daughter relationship she might wish they had.
But now, that option wasn’t open to her and the last time she saw her mother was not a good memory in the slightest.
And now, Dair was going to have to phone his father and let him know this happened.
As well as tell his mother and his sister.
More, now Blake was the Marchioness of Norton.
She was a peer of the English realm.
She’d just inherited a vast estate, multiple properties, a complicated portfolio, and massive bank accounts.
Her life had just changed irrevocably.
And his life did too.
Chapter 14
Treverton
Dair
* * *
Dair turned their rental car through the open wrought iron gates affixed to dual stone plinths topped with urns and onto the sand-colored gravel drive that led to Treverton Manor, Blake’s ancestral home.
He’d had a busy morning, booking their flights to Bristol, packing, making uncomfortable calls.
His mother was on a plane.
His sister was not, and she was shocked at the news, but mostly she was worried for Blake.
Since Davi was coming down to Somerset as soon as they had arrangements for the funeral, she was going to take care of Sorcha until then, but Dair needed a backup plan for his dog too. Therefore, he’d set that up as well.
Then he’d called his father, only to discover Balfour already knew, something that wasn’t surprising since it was all over the news. Much of it including old photos of Helena and Ned, along with pictures of Alex with Rix, and a different photo of Dair and Blake taken at the airport. This one of them walking and dragging her luggage, connected together and smiling at each other.