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“I’m sorry about your mom and dad,” the girl offered. She was watching him closely, her uncanny eyes warm, an assessing tilt to her head. Her scrutiny made Ben uncomfortable. He started to feel like some kind of exhibition in a museum.
She looked away, her face going bright red, and Ben’s eyebrows rose.
Aah. Well this was familiar territory at least. The girl seemed to be developing a crush on him.
Ben knew girls thought he was good looking. He’d been popular with them back home. And while he’d been mostly preoccupied with football, he’d started returning the attention the last couple of years or so.
This kid didn’t interest him in the slightest, of course. He was nearly seventeen. He didn’t have any interest in wee lasses with crushes. But at least now he understood why she was staring at him so intently.
“Thanks,” he muttered belatedly in response to her condolences and a glance to the side revealed that the old man was beaming, seeming happy with their interaction so far.
“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. Lilah, why don’t you show Ben to his room? You can ask one of the drivers to take you both out sightseeing later, and you can introduce Ben to your favorite places around town.”
“Okay, Gramps.” She bounced over to Cyrus and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m so glad you’re home. I missed you.”
It only then occurred to Ben that she hadn’t seen her grandfather in three weeks because the old man had been in Inverness since the day after Ben’s parents’ accident. He watched Cyrus enfold Lilah in his arms and drop a kiss on top of her head.
“I’ve missed you too, sweet pea.”
In that instant, Ben felt a crushing swell of gratitude toward the man, as he comprehended exactly how lost he would’ve been if this stranger—who was clearly an important and busy man—hadn’t chosen to drop everything in an instant to come and help him.
His parents hadn’t been rich people. They’d lived a hand-to-mouth existence, and while they hadn’t left any debt behind, they also had not left any money for funeral costs. Cyrus had taken care of everything. There had been a lot of meetings with social services, with lawyers, lengthy calls to South Africa, all in an effort to make sure everyone was happy with the transfer of Ben’s guardianship to Cyrus Beckett.
At the time, Ben had felt like a steamroller had come in and laid waste to his life. But now he understood that without the juggernaut that was Cyrus Beckett, Ben would have been left destitute and alone. It was a humbling, terrifying thought.
The old man left the room, dropping a hand on Ben’s shoulder on his way out and giving it a comforting squeeze. And then he was left with just the girl… Lilah.
They stared at each other for a long, uncomfortable moment.
“Well? Are you gonna show me to my room or not?”
“I like your accent,” she observed shyly, immediately getting his back up. He didn’t need the reminder that he was a stranger in a strange land, where everyone else had the accents.
“Yeah? Shame your opinion means fuck all to me.” Not his finest comeback, and he felt ridiculous for allowing this infant to draw the stupid, childish response from him.
“I want us to be friends,” she told him after moment, and now it was his turn to glower.
“You’re a kid. What would we even do together? Play dollies? Have tea parties?”
“I’m not a kid.” He gave that response the snort it deserved and she seemed to bristle with fury and dislike. Her face went bright red. “Honestly? I didn’t want you here. Because Gramps already has me to take care of. He doesn’t need an extra person to worry about. And I’m his granddaughter. Family. I belong and you… don’t. So I thought maybe you’d feel out of place and uncomfortable. I know how it feels to be an orphan, but at least I have Gramps to love me. You have no-one. You need a friend and I can be your friend.”
Stung by the spiteful reminder that he had no-one left in the world to love him, Ben lost patience with this irritating little shit. He wanted to get out of here. Be alone. Cut his fucking hair. “I’ll find the room myself.”
He turned on his heel and strode toward the door.
“Ben—”
He lifted his arm in response to the sound of his name on her lips and raised his middle finger in a farewell salute as he left the room.
THIRTEEN
Her Tattered Heart
“So when have you signed us up for all the sightseeing stuff?” Ben asked Lilah after they’d finished their breakfast in absolute silence.
“I didn’t sign us up for anything in the first two days, I thought—” Her cheeks flamed and she immediately bit back the revealing words she’d been about to utter.
