A Highland Summer: The Billionaire's Nanny (A BWWM Billionaire Contemporary Romance) by Imani King
Authors: Imani King
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Cameron McLanald had to visit a mother she clearly hated every single weekend of the year?
She refused breakfast so I took her to her room and helped her get dressed and then I carried her across the courtyard and out to the helicopter landing pad that sat just outside the castle walls. The Laird was there waiting for us and the look on his face exactly matched my own feelings.
Cameron wailed when her father pulled her out of my arms. She fought a little, too, snatching at my shoulders and holding onto my body with her legs but giving up within seconds, going limp and allowing herself to be strapped into the back of the helicopter. Her father leaned in to kiss her and whisper something into her ear. Just before the door closed I reminded her:
"We'll have dinner together tomorrow night, Cameron! We'll see you soon!"
She didn't look up, though. Even when the door closed behind her and the pilot started the rotors. She didn't see me and Darach waving and smiling as hard as we could as the copter rose into the air and careened off to the south, leaving us behind to stand in the cool fog of the morning for a few moments, saying nothing.
"Do you want to go to the pub later this afternoon, for a pint?" Darach's voice was low and he sounded defeated.
"A pint?" I asked, "sure, that sounds nice."
Darach started to walk back towards the castle first and I decided to let him go, sensing that conversation was probably the last thing he wanted. If I felt terrible about watching Cameron's tiny little blonde head bowed in defeat as the helicopter took off - and I did - it could only have been that much worse for her father.
There was a pall over the castle and its grounds without Cameron there. It wasn't just the lack of her joyful shrieks as she went on various adventures and discovered new and interesting bugs and amphibians in the fountain's pool, it was the fact that everyone in the castle knew the circumstances of her departure, and we all hated it. Even Mrs. Clyde was in a somber mood when I found her in the kitchen a few minutes later.
"Jenny. You'll be wanting breakfast? How does toast and poached eggs sound?"
I wasn't even hungry but I wanted company so I told her toast and poached eggs sounded perfect and sat down at the long wooden table where I'd sat the first time I walked into Castle McLanald. It felt like a long time ago even then, although in truth it had only been just over a week.
"DAMNIT!"
I jerked my head up at the sound of Mrs. Clyde swearing and saw her holding half a wooden spoon in her hand. The other half lay on the floor at her feet.
"Och, Jenny, I'm so sorry lassie. I don't know what's gotten into me."
I knew what had gotten into her. It was Cameron. There was no point in even pretending it wasn't.
"Does this happen every weekend?"
Mrs. Clyde looked up and I watched the expression on her face change when she realized I wasn't talking about the wooden spoon.
"Aye, Jenny. Every weekend. It's getting worse, too, it is. God knows what that arsehole woman is doing to that poor child but there doesn't seem to be a damned thing any of us can do about it and I think it's going to drive her father mad."
I tried and failed to hide the shock on my face at hearing the word 'arsehole' coming out of Mrs. Clyde's mouth.
"I'm sorry for the language. She's a monster though, Jenny, a real monster - the kind of human being you don't think exists until you're unfortunate enough to run into one."
It was clear Diane was a figure of hate for everyone at Castle McLanald but I had yet to hear any real details about what exactly it was she'd done to earn her reputation. It wasn't that I needed details to believe it - Cameron's fear was more than enough to prove that Diane was, at the very least, a terrible mother - it was more an attempt to understand just how one person could be so seemingly and wholly repugnant.
"What exactly did Diane do when she lived here?" I asked Mrs. Clyde slowly, hoping I wouldn't immediately
She refused breakfast so I took her to her room and helped her get dressed and then I carried her across the courtyard and out to the helicopter landing pad that sat just outside the castle walls. The Laird was there waiting for us and the look on his face exactly matched my own feelings.
Cameron wailed when her father pulled her out of my arms. She fought a little, too, snatching at my shoulders and holding onto my body with her legs but giving up within seconds, going limp and allowing herself to be strapped into the back of the helicopter. Her father leaned in to kiss her and whisper something into her ear. Just before the door closed I reminded her:
"We'll have dinner together tomorrow night, Cameron! We'll see you soon!"
She didn't look up, though. Even when the door closed behind her and the pilot started the rotors. She didn't see me and Darach waving and smiling as hard as we could as the copter rose into the air and careened off to the south, leaving us behind to stand in the cool fog of the morning for a few moments, saying nothing.
"Do you want to go to the pub later this afternoon, for a pint?" Darach's voice was low and he sounded defeated.
"A pint?" I asked, "sure, that sounds nice."
Darach started to walk back towards the castle first and I decided to let him go, sensing that conversation was probably the last thing he wanted. If I felt terrible about watching Cameron's tiny little blonde head bowed in defeat as the helicopter took off - and I did - it could only have been that much worse for her father.
There was a pall over the castle and its grounds without Cameron there. It wasn't just the lack of her joyful shrieks as she went on various adventures and discovered new and interesting bugs and amphibians in the fountain's pool, it was the fact that everyone in the castle knew the circumstances of her departure, and we all hated it. Even Mrs. Clyde was in a somber mood when I found her in the kitchen a few minutes later.
"Jenny. You'll be wanting breakfast? How does toast and poached eggs sound?"
I wasn't even hungry but I wanted company so I told her toast and poached eggs sounded perfect and sat down at the long wooden table where I'd sat the first time I walked into Castle McLanald. It felt like a long time ago even then, although in truth it had only been just over a week.
"DAMNIT!"
I jerked my head up at the sound of Mrs. Clyde swearing and saw her holding half a wooden spoon in her hand. The other half lay on the floor at her feet.
"Och, Jenny, I'm so sorry lassie. I don't know what's gotten into me."
I knew what had gotten into her. It was Cameron. There was no point in even pretending it wasn't.
"Does this happen every weekend?"
Mrs. Clyde looked up and I watched the expression on her face change when she realized I wasn't talking about the wooden spoon.
"Aye, Jenny. Every weekend. It's getting worse, too, it is. God knows what that arsehole woman is doing to that poor child but there doesn't seem to be a damned thing any of us can do about it and I think it's going to drive her father mad."
I tried and failed to hide the shock on my face at hearing the word 'arsehole' coming out of Mrs. Clyde's mouth.
"I'm sorry for the language. She's a monster though, Jenny, a real monster - the kind of human being you don't think exists until you're unfortunate enough to run into one."
It was clear Diane was a figure of hate for everyone at Castle McLanald but I had yet to hear any real details about what exactly it was she'd done to earn her reputation. It wasn't that I needed details to believe it - Cameron's fear was more than enough to prove that Diane was, at the very least, a terrible mother - it was more an attempt to understand just how one person could be so seemingly and wholly repugnant.
"What exactly did Diane do when she lived here?" I asked Mrs. Clyde slowly, hoping I wouldn't immediately
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