To Marry McAllister by Carole Mortimer

Author:Carole Mortimer [Mortimer, Carole]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Models (Persons), Portrait painters, Scotland, Contemporary, General, Romance, Large type books, Fiction
ISBN: 9780263178708
Publisher: Thorndike Pr
Published: 2003-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘WHAT do you mean, you want to bring some girl up here?’ his grandfather’s voice sounded impatient down the telephone line.

‘Exactly that, Grandfather,’ Brice replied frowningly.

He had thought it only right, before pursuing the matter with either Sabina or Richard Latham, to ask his grandfather if he minded him bringing a guest with him to Scotland next weekend. He certainly hadn’t expected this reaction to his request!

‘This isn’t a hotel, laddie.’ His grandfather’s brogue deepened in his agitation. ‘I know you boys have never thought so, but I do have a life of my own to live,’ he added truculently. ‘I don’t just sit around here waiting for one of you to honour me with one of your random visits!’

Oops—he really had caught his grandfather on a bad day! And Brice was well aware of how busy the estate in Scotland kept his grandfather, the castle accompanied by several thousand acres of land, some of it given over to the breeding of deer, but the rest of it divided up amongst numerous tenants who lived on the estate. Which, despite the presence of an estate manager, still kept his grandfather very busy.

It was also quite amusing the way his grandfather still referred to Logan, Fergus, and Brice as ‘boys’; they were all thirty-six years old, which hardly made them boys!

‘Besides,’ his grandfather continued before Brice could answer him, ‘it’s just possible I may have a guest of my own staying next weekend.’

‘A guest, Grandfather?’ Brice echoed interestedly.

‘I do have friends of my own, laddie,’ his grandfather rasped.

‘Would this guest we’re talking about happen to be female?’ Brice guessed curiously.

Strange as Brice might find the idea, his grandfather was still a handsome man even though in his early eighties, and he had also been a widower for some years now…

‘Don’t get cheeky with me, laddie,’ his grandfather snapped.

‘We are talking about a female guest,’ Brice realised slightly incredulously. It was one thing to make the suggestion, another to have it confirmed…!

‘We aren’t talking about her at all,’ his grandfather bit out decisively.

‘You aren’t the “kiss and tell” type, are you, Grandfather?’ Brice drawled mockingly, not altogether sure he was comfortable with the reversal of roles.

‘Watch your tongue, boy,’ the elderly man came back harshly.

This was a complication Brice had just never envisaged, he had to admit. And he wasn’t a hundred per cent sure he knew how to deal with it now that it had happened!

So much for his advice to Sabina to be adult where her mother’s relationship was concerned—this was his grandfather, not one of his parents, and he didn’t know how to handle it!

‘So the answer is no, Grandfather?’ he said slowly.

‘Now, I didn’t say that,’ the older man came back dismissively. ‘I’m merely trying to point out that my home is not a hotel, somewhere for you to bring the current woman in your life—’

‘Sabina isn’t the current woman in my life.’ More’s the pity, Brice could have added regretfully. ‘I’ve accepted a commission to paint her, that’s all.

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