In truth, she had no idea how her father’s staff would react. But her father, Lord Roxbury, employed more staff than the castle needed. One of them certainly could spare the time to childmind an eight-year-old lad.

Harry took a bend, then went left at the fork, the road following the River Tweed.

“Hi, you’ve missed our turn.” Elise pointed back toward the main road.

“The satnav recommended this route.”

Far be it from her to give Harry instructions; his navigation skills far exceeded hers. However, she knew these particular roads like her own face. They might appear shorter on the satnav, but in reality, the hills were steep, and cars traveled well below the limit. If a farm lorry pulled out in front of them along this stretch, the arrival time lengthened considerably.

At Clovenfords Village, he slowed the car and turned the opposite direction from Torwoodlee Castle yet again.

Elise shifted in her seat. “Um, Benson, this takes us an entirely wrong way.”

“I’ve got to pick up the cottage keys from the estate agent first. He has some time constraints. I don’t want to place myself and Sammy on the mercy of your parents for overnight accommodations.”

“Right.” She glanced out the passenger window.

A motorbike roared past them, carrying two passengers, churning up memories of those halcyon days when she had ridden double on the back of Harry’s bike. Her heart jolted, and she squelched the multitude of emotions that swirled inside.

Harry had visited her family estate once—the night of her parents’ twenty-fifth-anniversary party. Dressed in a ball gown, she had ridden up the drive on the back of Harry’s motorbike, shocking a bevy of early arrivals and giving her mother a frightening case of angina.

The two of them had met shortly after her freshers week at university. It was her first year and Harry’s last. When she had turned up at Nick’s off-campus flat for a party, Nick had taken one look at her and escorted her out, saying in his polite way, “Lady Elise, this is no place for a girl like you.”

Burning with embarrassment, Elise had spun around and quite literally banged straight into Harry’s chest. The attraction between them was immediate. Within days, they were a couple, and in a few months, they were over.

When her mother had discovered Harry’s background and lack of prospects, she couldn’t hide her shock. An ensuing family row had occurred in the library that night after her parents’ party concluded.

“The son of servants is not an appropriate companion for the daughter of a marquess,” her mother had fluttered. “He doesn’t even know which fork to use. Really, Elise, you can do so much better.”

Her father had been more explicit. “That boy has no future. How will he ever get ahead in this life?”