Love at First Hate by JL Merrow

Author:JL Merrow [Merrow, JL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Published: 2018-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Bran didn’t go near the castle for the rest of the week. With his now-reduced workload, he found himself with too much time on his hands. Time to think about what a mess he’d made of things.

He even found himself considering responding to Craig’s calls. What harm could it do now? Apparently it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that Bran was as queer as they came, so why not give in to what Craig wanted? Live openly in a relationship with a man? Craig was good-looking enough, intelligent enough, good enough company.

Bran wasn’t sure he wanted enough. But he was clearly never going to get what he suspected he did want, so why not make the best of a bad job? At least . . . at least Craig wanted him. And they’d had some good times together. Mostly in bed, it was true, but there had also been quiet dinners together. Nights at the theatre. Bran had been content with his life, back then, hadn’t he?

He missed that feeling with an ache in his chest wholly unlike the pains his ribs were causing him. What was the point in suffering, when . . . if not happiness, then perhaps contentment, was there for the taking? Who knew how long he would have left in this world?

But how would Bea react to him living openly as a gay man? He shied away from the thought of asking her, fearing he knew all too well what she’d say. After all, she’d been brought up with their father’s principles as much as he had, and she certainly wasn’t on good terms with her other gay brother. Bran’s resolve faltered at the thought of becoming estranged from her—but then again, things had been strained between them lately in any case, although he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps she’d be pleased if he consulted her beforehand?

Equally possibly, though, she might be appalled. No, best to present her with a fait accompli. She would be practical, then. Would work out a way to counter any disadvantage to the family interests.

Bran’s phone had crept into his hand without his conscious awareness. It would be so easy to bring up Craig’s number and dial—

The phone rang, startling him so much he almost dropped it. He got a grip on himself, and frowned at the display before accepting the call.

“Kirsty? Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. I was just calling to ask a favour. You know I wouldn’t normally, but you said you had more time to yourself now, so . . .” He heard her intake of breath. “Could you have Gawen on Friday? It’s just, Euan and I were hoping to, um, crack on with the sculpture, and it turns out Jory’s already made other arrangements.”

Apparently the thing with Euan was serious. Bran didn’t believe for one moment this was about the sculpture. Reading between the lines, a week during school holidays with Kirsty’s child by another man was becoming a little too much for Euan.

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