Page 115 of Love Bomb

Rona snatched the microphone back from him and turned to Caroline. She was furious. She’d fallen in love with an idiot who knew nothing about romance or relationships, and far too much about getting women into bed.

“Caroline,” she said. “The reason I blew up the folly was to free the trust fund attached to it.” There were gasps of outrage from the crowd. Rona rolled her eyes. “Before everybody starts getting all self-righteous, the money doesn’t come to me. It goes to the causes that were closest to old Mack Dalgliesh’s heart. Those being Invertary, architectural heritage, and monumental art. I’ve already instructed my lawyers to hand the money over to Invertary council. There is more than enough there for you to build a new folly. One that isn’t so sexist.”

“How much are we talking, Rona, lass?” Dougal called, forgetting he wasn’t supposed to be part of the meeting.

“Twenty-seven million pounds,” Rona said, drawing gasps from the crowd and a wail of distress from her mother. Rona smiled sweetly at Caroline. “Are you pressing charges?”

Caroline grinned. “I think that, under the circumstances, we can chalk the folly’s destruction up to an unfortunate accident. Let the minutes show that George and Lorna Dalgliesh accidentally destroyed their family folly, and the council will not hold them responsible.”

Her parents’ cries of outrage were drowned out by the excitement of everyone else in the room. Meanwhile, Rona turned to Bain, who opened his mouth to say something else that was probably going to make her mad.

She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t talk,” she ordered. “Nothing good ever comes of it.”

She grabbed his jumper and pulled him toward her. And then she kissed the man she loved—mainly to shut him up.

EPILOGUE

One year later

Invertary

Bain was calmly sitting on his new sofa, watching a shark week documentary with Tom Cat, when Rona stormed into the room.

And she was furious.

“I can’t believe you knocked me up,” she said, before throwing a pregnancy test wand at his head.

Bain scrambled to catch it, sending Tom Cat flying.

“What?” he said as he looked at the test window.

Sure enough, it read positive.

Rona, meanwhile, was pacing the rug in front of the TV. The rug, like the sofas, was new. The sofas had been the first thing she’d replaced when she’d moved into Bain’s small row house. She had not replaced the two brothers who used to live there. They had been sent off to find somewhere else to live.

“Typical,” she said, throwing up her hands. “I’m just another pregnant woman, left in Bain’s wake.” She suddenly stopped and glared at him. “This is your fault. Your sperm is unnaturally wily. It gets around contraception far too easily.”

Bain was still staring at the test. A baby. He was going to be a father. And it was his, this time. Damn, that felt good.

“Don’t bother wondering if it’s a false positive,” Rona was ranting. “That’s the fourth test I used. How could you do this to me? I’m not ready to be a mother.”

Bain placed the test on the coffee table. He waited until Rona paced past him before carefully taking hold of her shoulders to stop her.

“Everything will be fine,” he said firmly.

He’d been through this before. Their wedding almost hadn’t happened because Rona had freaked out at the last minute. According to her, there had been no point getting married because it would just end in divorce anyway, because he didn’t really want to commit to her.

Aye, her abandonment issues manifested in mysterious ways.

It had taken a parade of people—including Dougal, Margaret, Kirsty, his Ma and Da, most of his brothers, and Father McMurtry—to convince her that he really wanted to commit to marriage, and that he had no plans to divorce her after their wedding night.

They all had their issues. Rona’s were just more spectacular than most.

“No, it won’t be okay!” Rona started pacing again. “I don’t know how to be a mother. I had a terrible example.” She stopped dead in front of the TV and paled. “What if I abandon the baby? What if I don’t love it? What if I go away for the weekend and forget it?”

Bain pulled out his phone and dialed Dougal.

Rona, meanwhile, continued pacing as she ran through all the horrible things she would likely do as a parent.