Chapter One – The Lass was a Menace
Lennox
There was a sixth sense that came from being the oldest of my group of cousins. At eighteen, and heir to the vast Highlands estate that was our playground, I’d grown up with sharp instincts for spotting trouble.
I slowed the Land Rover at a bend in the road, easing around the snowy track, then spared a glance at the kids in my back seat. With rosy cheeks from our afternoon snowboarding on the mountain, they chattered away, no mischief in their looks.
Still, something was wrong.
Ahead, Castle McRae stood proud, the centuries-old building guarded by an enormous illuminated Christmas tree to the right of the entrance. Tonight was Christmas Eve, and my father, the chief of Clan McRae, was hosting a party. Kin and friends alike were invited, and Da was as excited as a lad. He had a choir, special logs to burn on the fire in some ancestral ceremony, and had been going on about it for weeks.
I wanted it to be perfect for him.
In the car park, I rolled to a stop. The kids yelled thanks then ran inside the castle, and I followed, trudging over the gravel, my boots leaving deep prints in the newly fallen snow.
Da appeared in the doorway to the great hall.
I raised a hand. “I know I’m late. Any problems?”
He rested a shoulder on the carved stone and furrowed his heavy brow. “Nae problems. The hall is decorated, most of the family is already here. Guests should arrive in an hour, then we’ll have carols, food, and a walk to the church for midnight mass for those staying. Why do ye have a face like a wet weekend?”
I debated for split second telling him about my spike of intuition but shook my head. “No reason. It’s going to be a grand evening.”
“Aye, the best Christmas ever. All the more important now you oldest three are heading out into the world.”
In a few weeks, I was joining the army. Sebastian, my best friend and sort-of cousin, was signing up, too. Then my twin sister was leaving for university. We’d aged up and were shipping out. Rarely a day went by where Da didn’t stare at us with a wistful gaze.
Not that it helped me any. I’d had an alternate plan, but my father had shot me down in flames. Fuck it. The military would do me good. Use up the energy I never seemed to be able to control.
Behind me, a car rumbled into the yard.
Da’s gaze sought it, and a grin lit his face. “James and Beth!” He stuck his head in the doorway and bellowed the same into the depths of the great hall.
I stared at the car. Aunt Beth had a garage full of expensive vehicles, and today she drove a glossy red Bentley Continental. They were the only two people inside. Sebastian, their son, was driving himself, but where was Isobel?
My premonition grew stronger. If anyone was going to be causing mischief, it was their sixteen-year-old. The lass was a menace.
Side by side, Da and I approached the car. The couple climbed out. They were my parents’ closest friends, but we kids called them uncle and aunt.
“How was your trip?” Da hugged them both, his big voice booming.
I held back while they made their greeting. “Where’s Isobel?” I finally asked when they turned to me.
Beth smiled. “Good to see you, too, Lennox. Isobel is travelling with Sebastian. They should be here soon.”
Fuck. Now I knew we had a problem.
Da ushered them into the castle, and I made my excuses and headed the other way. Once out of sight, I jogged, rounding the building until I reached the tower’s exterior door. In a minute, I was inside and up the stairs to my apartment, frustration driving me on.
I placed a call, shucking my snowboarding jacket and pants to my couch.
Sebastian answered on the first ring. “Nox, how’s it going?”
“Where’s your sister?” I demanded, no time for pleasantries. Seb was my best friend in the world, and he’d forgive the rudeness.
There was a pause. “Isobel was to travel to Scotland with our parents.” Then he groaned, no doubt working out the reason for my urgency. “Fuck.”
“Aye, fuck. They just got here, and she wasn’t in the car. They think she’s with you.”
He swore viciously. “Hold on. Let me pull over and call her.”
While I waited for him to come back on the line, I strode through the hall into my bedroom and grabbed my jeans and a jumper.
Isobel Fitzroy was a problem child and then some. I hadn’t seen her in over a year, but I’d heard about her exploits from her far-too-patient brother. She’d changed schools after outrageous behaviour had her expelled. She smoked, drank, had apparently and inexplicably gotten a tattoo, and seemed to be doing everything to draw attention to herself.
There was no way in hell she was ruining Christmas.
Sebastian returned. “She’s not answering. I’ll ring the garage at home. She usually hangs out there.”
Another twenty-second wait brought worse news. “The Tesla is missing,” Seb said, his deep voice flat.
I slapped my hand to my forehead. Our runaway had taken a car from her ma’s collection as if she were entitled to it. “Where the fuck would she go?”
He grumbled. “No idea. Isobel has some issues right now. Is Skye there? I’d bet any money that she’d answer the phone to her.”
Sebastian was right. My sister would know. “I’ll call ye back,” I muttered then stepped into my boots and hotfooted it out of my apartment, descending the spiral stairs to the interior of the castle.
Skirting the great hall and the large number of relatives already present, I found my twin in the dining room.
I glared at her, unable to help my mood. “Skye, a word.”
She pushed her blonde hair behind her ear then blinked at my expression. Rising gracefully, Skye set aside the pastel paper Christmas chain decorations she was making with two of our younger—and comparatively well behaved—cousins. The girls exchanged an uh-oh glance but didn’t complain about my interruption.
I dragged her through the busy main kitchen where our uncles prepared the evening’s feast and outside into the night. Chill air fought the furious heat blazing in me.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Skye asked.
“Isobel has taken a car from Belvedere. She lied to her parents about coming here with Seb. She’s missing.”
“Oh heck.” Skye shivered, wrapping her bare arms around her torso.
Twins we might be, but she was slender to my brawn. Instantly, I shed my jumper and stuck it over her head.
“Thank you. Have you tried calling her?”
“No. Her brother did, and she won’t answer. You try,” I ordered.
Skye grimaced but took her phone from her dress pocket. “Just don’t bark at her in the background. She’s going through a hard time right now.”
A hard time? I planted my balled fists on my hips. Isobel had a charmed life. She lived in a mansion with two doting parents and she wanted for nothing. She wasn’t the one who’d have to take on a title and ownership of an estate one day, like her brother and me, or lead a clan, like I would.
What the ever-loving fuck did she have to worry about?
The dial tone sounded on Skye’s phone. A voice answered.
My sister pressed her finger to her ear and half turned away from me. “Is? Where are you?”
A clear laugh came down the line, and my back stiffened.
Skye listened intently. “Right,” she said. “But the party starts soon. Will you be here in time? That’s at least an hour’s drive away. I’m worried about you.”
Skye knew where she was! I seized the phone from her hand.
“Isobel Fitzroy, what the bloody hell do ye think you’re playing at? Are you out of your mind? What the hell is wrong with ye?”
A shocked intake of breath came, then silence met my ears. I checked the screen.
She’d hung up?
Fuck!
“Lennox! That was really rude!” Skye grabbed her phone back. She poked me in the chest. “We’ll be lucky if she shows up at all now, and you know how excited Da is about this party. He’s got most of the clan coming. It has to go well.”
“How is any of this my fault? Tell me where she is,” I demanded.
With a resigned sigh, she gave me the name of a tiny town south of us.
“What’s there?” I asked.
“I’ve no clue. She said she needed to drive.” Skye poked at her phone again. “I’ll search for it.”
I dialled Sebastian. “Seb. We think she’s in Balliedun. It’s about an hour south.”
“There’s an airfield there,” Skye reported.
“God’s above.” Seb growled, clearly overhearing. “Then she’s racing.”
“Racing? As in cars?”
“Yeah, she’s just taken it up. Legally, I mean. But she keeps going on about these drag racing meet-ups and she’s taken the fastest nought-to-sixty car in the garage. What else can she be doing?”
With my nerves fraying to the very edge, I relayed this wee nugget of joy to Skye.
She paled further. “We need to help her.”
“I’m the wrong side of the Cairngorms,” Seb said in my ear. “I won’t be able to reach her in time.”
“I’ll go.” I jammed my fingers into my hair. “Just get here safe, aye, Seb? We can’t have two Fitzroys missing on one evening.”
“Shit. Fine. Thank you. Keep me posted.”
I hung up and eyed my sister. “Don’t tell anyone what’s happening. If asked where I am, say I had to see a friend and I’ll be back soon.”
“Agreed. Da will have a head fit if he knows what’s going on.”
He would, but better that he had it after the fact with Isobel in front of him. Maybe then she would finally get the discipline she needed.
Skye blew out a frosty breath. “I don’t know how you’re going to get there in time.”
“Leave that to me.” I had an idea in mind but I’d have to be quick. “I’ll see ye before the fun starts, aye?”
“Be careful, and don’t be too hard on her.” My sister held up a hand, pausing me in my steps. “I still need to talk to you,” she said.
I’d forgotten all about that. Earlier, Skye had told me she had something important to ask me. A favour she needed. I’d assumed it was to do with her and Sebastian. Ever since we’d been tiny, everyone—me included—had assumed they’d one day be a couple. I couldn’t imagine how she’d need my help with that, though.
“It’ll have to wait, but whatever it is, consider it done.” I took off at a jog, leaving my twin behind.
I had to see my uncle about a helicopter ride. There was only one way I could stop Isobel before she did something stupid, and it meant getting there fast.
Chapter Two – Adrenaline Rush
Isobel
Engines rumbled, the vibrations combining to shake the disused airfield under my wheels. I’d pulled up at the end of the line of cars, ready to race, but now, I couldn’t bring myself to step out of the Tesla.
Impulsiveness and a need to burn off my anger had primed my muscles, but I hesitated, gazing at the accumulated racers.
The vehicle next to mine, a Lamborghini Huracan, belonged to someone I knew. Casey Warwick. His younger sister, Erika, was in my year at school.
Erika was my own personal bully.
After what that bitch had done to me, I wanted to ram her brother and his fancy fucking car off the fucking road.
Not that I’d ever be so violent, but the thoughts danced around my head, entwined with images of her mocking message.
At least in the Tesla Model S, I’d kick her brother’s ass.
Casey stepped out of his vehicle. “Engines off,” he yelled to the petrolheads assembled.
I slid my window down a quarter to hear him better but kept to my seat.
Eyes soaked in Mum’s newest ride.
She’d kill me if she knew I’d taken it, but I wouldn’t hide the fact. I could hardly avoid the truth as I’d arrive at the castle in the Tesla later this evening. But the details of the illegal drag race could wait until after Christmas.
“Rules are simple. See the headlights down the airfield?” Casey reached into his car and flashed his lights. Two answering flashes came from a car farther along the dark, wide concrete expanse. “To the Subaru and back again. Winner takes all. If you crash, it’s your problem, but deliberate ramming means disqualification. Got it?”
A series of replies came back, all male, all gruff, and tinged with testosterone-fuelled excitement.
In the background, a chopping noise came. Distant but distinct. I’d know the sound of a helicopter anywhere—Dad’s friends often came to Belvedere by air. One of the McRae uncles ran a helicopter training school. But the airstrip we were on was in the middle of nowhere. It must be a passing military chopper. Nothing to worry about. We’d be long gone before any reports of the race could be acted upon.
A knock on my bonnet startled me.
Casey peered in the tinted windscreen. “Hey, Tesla, are you nuts? If you wreck this ride, that’s a fucking waste.”
I squirmed in my seat.
Earlier today, I’d been a howling, raging little beast. Casey’s sister had somehow come across a Christmas card I’d written for a friend. She’d taken a photo of my writing and posted it everywhere, her mocking jeers intended to hurt.
She’d got her wish.
I never wrote anything by hand. I had agreement from my teachers that all schoolwork could be done on my laptop and printed if necessary, and I’d carefully avoided the kids at school knowing about my problems. But then, on the last day of Christmas term, I’d broken my rule and handwritten a card for a boy I liked.
Sort of asking him out.
Erika somehow got hold of my note and played her trick. School was hard enough, particularly ours where every kid came from a privileged background and bullying was almost mandatory. I mean, I didn’t even like the guy that much. That wasn’t the source of my embarrassment. Memories of my spidery scrawl and mixed-up letters had me cringing. Next term was going to be rough. I was already being watched for my hot temper.
The leather steering wheel dented under my nails.
I hated that school, with the constant pressure on whose parents earned the most or what celebrity they’d had dinner with that weekend. My parents had picked it because Skye, my sort-of cousin, had gone there and thrived. She was even friends with Erika and Casey’s elder sister, Amber.
If it made me miserable, why should I go back?
“Shit.” Casey reached my window, clocking me through the gap. “It’s a girl. Wait, I know you.”
Summoning my will, I popped the door and climbed out. “What if you do? Got a problem racing a girl?”
His lip curled, and his gaze took on a predatory glint. He adjusted his sunglasses, perched in his over-styled brown hair. “Can you drive that thing, babe?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Better than you can your Lambo, babe.”
Casey’s smile dropped. “Seriously, this isn’t a game. There’s money on this race.”
I already knew that. I’d read about it in the motor forum where the race had been planned. His sister boasted about her brother’s illegal activities like it was some clever achievement rather than a rich kid taking risks because he could.
Though wasn’t that me, too?
Maybe. But if I didn’t offload this anger, I was going to ruin Christmas for my family. Driving aggressively would get the angst out of my system. The adrenaline rush, one I’d been used to since Mum taught me to drive the moment I was old enough to help her in the garage, would tire me out and shut my damn brain down.
“Scared to lose to a girl?” I taunted Casey.
His mouth twisted. “If you can pay, I don’t give a fuck who you are.”
From the pocket of my leather jacket, I extracted the race fee. Then I pressed it to Casey’s chest. “Good. Then let’s go.”
“Isobel!” a voice boomed across the field.
I hesitated, my ears burning.
There was no way that could be Lennox McRae.
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