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“You eat broccoli,” Ella said.
“Mostly I hide it.” She shared a conspiratorial look with Brodie, whose wink made Samantha think he’d probably hidden broccoli himself at some point.
She followed him up a winding staircase to the room at the top.
The focus of the room was the ornately carved four-poster bed, draped in a thick velvet throw and piled with pillows and soft cushions in shades of the forest. Heavy curtains covered the windows and flames flickered in the fireplace, sending a wash of ruby light across the room.
In front of the fire was a comfortable chair, a table and a thick rug.
“There’s an alcove for hanging clothes—” Brodie pulled back a curtain and then pointed to a door. “The bathroom is small, but it has everything you need.”
Samantha poked her head into the alcove. “What was this used for originally?”
“No one knows. There’s a rumor that the laird used it as a hiding place for his lovers.”
She laughed and drew the curtain across it. “He clearly wasn’t an expert on hide-and-seek. It would be the first place I’d look.”
The room was perfect. Her concerns lay elsewhere and couldn’t be ignored.
“How does your sister feel about all of this?”
“My sister?”
“I sensed tension.” Attention to every small detail was one of the reasons she was good at her job, but still she felt a little uncomfortable pressing him for details. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have plenty of tension in her own family, but before she could recommend this place to people, she had a duty to understand the situation.
He paused and then closed the door so they couldn’t be overheard.
For a moment the only sound was the crackle of the fire and the lick of the wind as it rattled the windows.
“Kirstie is struggling to adjust to our new reality.”
“You mean taking in paying guests?”
“That and other things.” He walked to the fire. “It’s complicated. Families are complicated.” He ran his hand over his jaw. “Or maybe yours isn’t, but—”
“Mine is complicated.”
“Really? Because three generations of the Mitchell family spending the holidays together is pretty impressive.”
She almost told him then. She almost told him that they hadn’t even been in touch with their mother for the past five years. That this “togetherness” was new to them. That she was dreading it and scared of the outcome. That she hadn’t even known her mother had been to Scotland before, let alone on her honeymoon.
And suddenly she felt bad. They’d been here less than half an hour, and she was expecting him to spill all his family secrets when she had no intention of telling him hers.
Providing the hospitality was good, the McIntyre family should be allowed to keep their secrets.
“It’s Christmas. A difficult time to have guests.” And not the easiest time to be a guest. She walked to the door. “The room is beautiful, Brodie. Thank you. Did you say something about food?”
Across the room his gaze locked on hers.
She had a feeling he was about to say something more, but then Ella called up the stairs and the moment was broken.
After a delicious supper of cold cuts, salad and freshly baked bread, they all went back to their rooms.
Ella and Tab paused to say good-night to the dog, which left Samantha alone with her mother.
There was a difficult moment when Gayle paused outside her room. Samantha paused too, unsure what to do next.
Wishing her mother good-night was a new thing. She could hardly shake hands. She definitely wasn’t able to hug. It was as if there was a massive physical barrier between them.
