“You already have.”
“Wow,” Win said. “Really? I’m the one who’s causing problems?” She hung up. She wasn’t going to find any peace keeping company with liars and drama queens.
She continued to the greenhouse, her usual enthusiasm for working with the plants dampened by Leslie’s hovering presence.
For the rest of the morning, Leslie kept so close that they collided several times while they were working. When Leslie trailed her to the bunkhouse for lunch, then tried to follow her right into the bathroom, Win lost it.
“Shouldn’t you be watching Angus?” Win snapped.
“I need to wash up, too,” Leslie said innocently. The bathroom was large, with a stall for the toilet on one end, a shower on the other end and a sink and mirror in between.
“Wait your turn,” Win said loudly enough that several other people in the bunkhouse looked their way.
She tried to calm herself. Angus was firmly on her side, but she had the uncomfortable impression that Leslie had something up her sleeve. There was a certain smugness to the young woman these days.
It rubbed Win the wrong way.
“I know how devious you are, rival,” Leslie returned, standing her ground. “You’re like a mongoose in a hen house, so I’m keeping my eye on you. Besides, I’ve got a surprise for you today, and when it arrives, I want to be there to see it.”
“I don’t want any surprises.” Win tried to close the door between them.
Leslie blocked it with her foot. “None of us do, yet you gave me a good one last week, didn’t you? Snuggling up with my fiancé.”
“You’re not engaged.”
“Not yet. Soon, rival. Very soon.” She pulled her foot back, and since Win’s weight was against it, the door slammed shut, startling her. She straightened, locked the door and went to stand in front of the mirror. She wasn’t looking her best. She hadn’t been sleeping well. Her belly was getting big enough that lying on a mat on the floor wasn’t comfortable no matter where she did it. Avery had begun sleeping in the bunkhouse as well, in solidarity, she said. Win wondered if she was missing Walker, even though the two of them rarely spoke.
Win was sure Walker lay awake most nights. So did Avery. In fact, all them struggled to sleep, including Byron, pining after Leslie she was fairly sure, although he was always the first of them to succumb after Leslie did.
After lunch, during which Leslie stuck so close to her Win was tempted to jab her with a fork, she brought her dishes to the kitchen and made her way to the door, intending to get back to work in the greenhouses. Leslie followed, of course.
“Hold on, rival. Your surprise should arrive any minute.” She raised her voice. “In fact, everyone, gather around. You’re going to want to see this.” Conversations dipped and then continued again, but people began to drift closer as they finished their meals.
“Who’s that coming up the lane?” Clay asked, peering out of the window. “I don’t recognize that truck.”
“Just you wait.” Leslie bounced on the balls of her feet. “You all are going to be so surprised. And happy, too,” she added. “Because I’ve fixed everything. I’ll get my man, and you, rival, will get him, too.” She sent Win a broad smile that gave Win the chills.
“You found someone who’ll conduct a bigamous marriage ceremony?” Savannah quipped.
“Nope. Someone even better.”
Clay ducked closer to the window and whistled. “Angus, you’re not going to believe this.”
Chapter Eleven
‡
What had Leslie done now?
Angus moved reluctantly to Clay’s side, but by the time he did, whoever was approaching the bunkhouse was already on the front step, too close to the building to see through the window. He drew back and waited for Leslie to open the door, tension tightening the muscles in the base of his neck.
“There you are,” Leslie cried, reaching to pull the newcomer inside. “Did you have a good flight? Was there a movie playing? Do you like action films when you fly, or do you prefer something more soothing? A lot of people don’t like planes much, but I do. You’re actually safer in a plane than on the street in a car, did you know that? Anyway, come meet your bride-to-be. Win, come here.” Leslie turned and stepped out of Angus’s line of sight, so that he got his first good look at the man.
“Holy crap.” All around him the others murmured in shock and surprise.
Win looked as if she’d seen a ghost. He could only imagine his own face. No, scratch that—he didn’t have to imagine it. It was standing three feet away looking back at him.
“I didn’t know you had a twin, Angus,” Addison said slowly, the first of them to regain the power of speech.
“I don’t.” But he had cousins, a half dozen of them, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he was looking at one of them—the grown-up version of a boy he hadn’t seen since he was eleven.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” the man demanded in the kind of thick Scottish accent Angus liked to put on when he was joking around. “It’s Douglas! Douglas Holmes! Don’t you remember me? Your own kin?”
“Of course, I remember you.” Angus pulled himself together and stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. He and Douglas had been grand friends once upon a time, until he’d left Scotland with his family and immigrated to the United States. Douglas had been consumed with envy about Angus’s upcoming adventure. He’d always had a thing about the United States. Liked to try on an American accent, copy the heroes in American movies. When he’d learned Angus was moving there, he was fit to be tied.
Angus had been far less enthusiastic about the prospect of leaving Scotland. At eleven, he’d been wildly in love with his first girlfriend, Davina Glassford, heartbroken at the thought of leaving her and everything else he cared about.
A week after his flight took off, he learned Davina
