THE NEXT MORNING, ONCE we had set off, Jamie sees my head turn as we pass a sign for the airport and reaches over to stroke my shoulder gently.

"You can still go home you know?"

I turn and capture his hand, bringing it to my lips before I shake my head. "No, I can't." I huff a sigh. "I miss them, of course I do, but I need this. I'll just go back home for New Year or something?"

"You mean we won't get our first New Years' kiss?" he asks, pouting.

"Oh no, you're coming with me. I'm hoping introducing my new boyfriend - who I looooove," I overexaggerate the word and he pretends to go all gooey, "will distract them off the scent of being angry at me."

"So you're throwing this new boyfriend to the wolves?"

"Oh definitely. But they will love you, so it won't hurt you for long."

He rolls his eyes before bringing both our hands towards him, kissing my knuckles individually, causing an electric sensation to run up my spine.

"Well, I am glad you're coming home with me. Mum's really excited."

I turn in my seat as he pulls into the fast lane and heads towards the motorway.

"You haven't really told me much about your family, you know. I've met Rob, but I don't know anything else about what your family does."

He turns towards me quickly and chuckles. "You're worrying they won't like you, aren't you?"

I snort a laugh, "Well, yeah."

He laughs at my honest reaction before kissing my knuckles again. "Tess, my mum will absolutely love you. And my sister. And my dad."

"How do you know that?" I ask, pouting.

"Because I love you."

I beam as I turn my head to face him again. Hearing those words never gets old. He must have said it a million times in the last twelve hours, but I want to hear it every day for the rest of my life.

"Now stop worrying and sort us out a driving playlist," he laughs, shifting awkwardly to hand me his phone.

"Challenge accepted," I tell him as I search S Club Juniors and turn the volume up high.

***

WE'VE BEEN DRIVING FOR nearly three hours by the time we finally turn off the main road, heading West.

He goes quiet as the car starts to slow down. We seem to be following a private lane, and I think I can sense his nerves because those same nerves have been playing in my stomach since I agreed to come.

The illogical part of me thinks that Dad is probably right. I'll be an imposition. One extra mouth to feed, an extra annoyance when they thought they would be getting Jamie by himself. But then the logical part of me tells me I'm being stupid.

And as I catch sight of the house we seem to be heading towards, I start to think that one extra mouth to feed really won't really be a problem.

"Jamie?" I ask, pressing my nose so close to the glass it curls and pushes up unattractively. "This... is your house?" My voice is breathless and weak as my knees begin to shake.

To say the house is big is an understatement. This house made Downton Abbey seem like a cottage. And this house wasn't a house. The right word was definitely castle.

"Jamie, please don't tell me you're a prince or something?"

"Tess, Scotland doesn't have a King."

He says it so seriously I just raise my eyebrows. But a few seconds later the serious expression breaks and he starts laughing at me.

"Holy shit!" I push my face against the glass of the car window, trying to stare up at it. "Are those gargoyles?"

He snorts a laugh before getting out.

"Tess, get your face off the glass so I can open the door without you falling out," he laughs again. He would open the door and let me fall, and to be honest I'd be too stunned to catch myself.

"Jamie, I thought you said they owned a distillery?" That had been the one nugget of information I had managed to extract, but it seems he hadn't been entirely truthful about that either. I think owning a whisky dynasty would be more along the right lines.

"This house is ridiculous," I say, gawping. "Oh my god, there's a moat!" I say leaning over the side of the bridge. It was technically a grassy verge, but I bet you in the original ancestral home, that would have been a moat.

"Yeah, Mum was sick of having to fish our footballs out, so she filled it in," he responds, looking over the edge.

I'm about to believe him when he starts laughing again. I swat at him. He's enjoying me being completely knocked for six with this.

I look up at the castle and blow out a long breath as wipe a shaky hand over my forehead.

"You lived here?" I ask and he just shrugs, his cheeks pinking as he comes towards me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to act like this," he laughs. "I wanted you to know the real me. Not the me that spent his childhood rattling around in here," he gestures up to the castle.

"A little warning could have helped..."

He shrugs. "I suppose. Because you will be expected to keep to your own wing when you're here."

I swat at him and he chuckles, picking me up from behind and swinging me around as I tuck my legs up, squealing as he throws me over his shoulder. It's only when I spot a figure standing next to the door do I tell him to put me down.

I can't see her properly from here, but as she comes closer, I know this is Jamie's mum.

She has a kind face, like her son, which is plastered in a smile, and her long blonde hair billowing around her shoulders in the wind. She's got her slippers on, big fluffy slippers, and as she wraps her arms around her son's shoulders, I'm starting think I'll be okay here over Christmas. And if things weren't okay, I don't think Jamie was joking about me having my own wing.

"So this must be Tessa?" she says, opening her arms for me, pulling me into a warm hug before she pulls away and softly cups my cheeks with her hands. "God, you're even more beautiful than James described."

Hearing her call him James makes me snort slightly, but I catch myself before she notices. Surprisingly, she's not Scottish, she's Irish, which actually only makes me like her more. I loved Jamie's accent so much, but I do love the Irish accent too.

"Come on inside. Grab your bags and we'll get you settled in."

She tucks me under her arm as Jamie heads back to the car to get our bags, and I can't help my jaw being on the floor as she brings me into the hall.

"You know when James cancelled the other day, we were so disappointed we wouldn't get to meet you. But then he rang us last night and said you were coming. Well, we're so grateful you're here. But you must be hungry? Or tired? Probably both."

I shake my head. "I'm okay. And I was looking forward to meeting you, too. You have an absolutely beautiful home here, Mrs McGregor," I say, tipping my head back to admire the splendour, eyes widening as they settle on a real knight's armour. I laugh at the fact he seems to be holding a red, polysterene sword.

"Thank you for having me at such short notice," I add as she leads me into a room just off the hall, which turns out to be the kitchen.

This room is a lot more house-like. It's a kitchen-diner, with a huge range cooker at one end and a massive kitchen island I am so jealous of. This kitchen makes me think of Millie. She would absolutely be in heaven in here. I make a note to take a few pictures to send to her.

"Oh nonsense. We're happy to have you. I'm sure James will be happy too. You're always welcome here. We're just glad that he's finally found someone else he can bring home to meet us, finally."

She smiles behind me as Jamie comes in and slots his arms around my front, kissing my cheek. The words from his mum make me feel giddy, and I feel even more loved than I did three hours ago when Jamie told me in the car.

"Now you guys make yourselves at home and I'll go find Greg."

She pootles off, shuffling her feet, smiling once more before she closes the door behind her.

"Jamie, I feel like I'm in a fairytale."

He turns me around and picks me up, walking slowly until I feel the kitchen island underneath me. I rest my arms on his shoulders as I kiss him, hooking my legs around him and he moans appreciatively, grinning into my kiss. I'm just getting into it when we both jump as an 'ahem' rings out from behind us.

"Hate to interrupt..."

I look past Jamie's shoulder to see his mum and a man Jamie is the spitting image of. I can only assume it's his dad.

"I am so-"

"She is beautiful, Jimmy!" his dad interrupts.

Jamie's cheeks redden as he looks at me and smiles. "Thanks Dad."

I can't help but smile as his dad comes towards me. Jamie helps me off the side before his dad comes to stand next to me. Looking up at them both, I can see where Jamie gets his good looks from.

"Greg," he says, offering me his hand.

I raise my eyebrows. "Your name is Greg McGregor?" I ask on instinct before I smack my hand over my mouth. "I'm sorry."

He chuckles. "Don't be. I'm actually called James, but everyone calls him James," he explains before ruffling Jamie's hair in a headlock. When he lets him go, he smiles. "So people call me Greg."

I nod and smile back as Jamie tucks me under his arm.

"So what happened to make you change your plans?" he asks.

"Greg!" Jamie's mum scolds.

I shake my head. It was okay. I owed them the explanation if they were going to be putting me up for the holidays.

"It's okay. My mum and dad just changed plans on me..." That makes me sound really spoiled and ungrateful when I hear it out loud. I may as well just roll around on the floor and throw a tantrum right here, right now.

"My mum is pregnant, and she's having an aversion to meat... so you're saving me from a vegetarian Christmas," I joke, hoping it will explain enough. Jamie's mum isn't smiling anymore, so I'm now worried I've blown it. Good one, Tessa.

After a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, Jamie's mum smiles and claps her hands.

"You guys must be hungry, no?"

I shrug and look up at Jamie. I was okay but as I see him nodding in the corner of my eye, I decide I could eat too.

"You guys go relax," she tells us. "I'll fix you some haggis sandwiches."

My eyes light at the thought. Jamie had made me so many haggis sandwiches and I knew the idea must have come from somewhere.

"You want a tour?" Jamie asks as he leads me into a lounge the size of my house.

"That could take us days."

He shrugs, "I was only going to show you one room."

I turn to him and his eyes are hooded and dark, and my stomach tightens in the best way possible.

"I suppose we'll pass a few rooms on the way," I tell him and he rolls his eyes as he pulls me onto his lap and starts kissing at my neck.

"What's your mum's name?"

He stops and moves his head away.

"What? You never told me."

He rolls his eyes before kissing my neck again.

"Jamie, stop distracting me and tell me," I giggle.

He moves his lips away and tucks his head into my chest as I play with his hair. "Lizzie."

I smile. "She's really nice. And your dad is too. I still can't believe you never mentioned all this," I say, gesturing to the splendour of this room and this house.

"It's not really important. I don't really like coming back."

"Why not? Have you always lived here?"

"Yep, my whole life." He looks around the room before he stands and walks towards the fireplace where there are several pictures. I stand and follow him.

"Mum and Dad are rattling around in here now really. The youngest are still here, but they keep to themselves mostly."

"Younger ones? I thought you just had a sister?"

He had only mentioned Sophie, but as I look at the pictures on the mantelpiece, I realise there is so much more than just Jamie and Sophie.

I count up the different children just as Jamie answers my thoughts.

"I'm the fourth one. I've got six brothers and sister." His jaw tightens slightly but he shrugs and smiles.

"There's eight of you?" I ask, unable to hide my shock. "Bloody hell, maybe you did need this castle then," I joke and he chuckles. "Christmas Day will be busy."

"We won't have an entirely full house. My two eldest brothers are in Australia, so they won't be back, but everyone else will be here."

"And am I allowed to know their names?" I didn't really understand why Jamie was finding this so hard. If Matt was around today I would have no problem showing him to everybody because I was proud of him. Hiding all this from me makes me feel like Jamie doesn't mention his family for more than one reason.

He picks up the largest of the silver frames on the mantelpiece and points to each child. "Youngest are these two: the tiny twins, Fergus and Shaun. They turn eight in January and are absolute nightmares. Gareth calls them The Mistakes," he chuckles. "Then there's Tim and Mikey, although they're not twins. . They're seventeen and will be here later, as Dad will go get them from school soon. Then it's me, then Soph - she's just graduated from St Andrew's - then oldest twins are Gareth and George. They're like thirty and are selling Dad's whisky to the unsuspecting people of the Outback."

"You have two sets of twins?" He nods just as the door bursts open and two bouncing and excitable children come running in, sprinting towards us.

I squeal as they charge at Jamie and I just about get out of the way before they tackle him to the ground.

"Jimmy can you play jousting with us?" one of them asks.

"Later," he says, getting up and ruffling his hair. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Tessa."

They turn in unison and I realise I'm going to have trouble telling them apart as they are identical. "Hello!" they chime.

I narrow my eyes and move my finger between them, guessing which is which, deliberately choosing Jamie's older brother's names.

"Noooo! Fergus and Shaun!" they giggle and both hug me tightly around my legs. "Are you Jamie's friend?"

I nod with a smile. "I'm his best friend," I tell them and they grin.

"Will you play jousting with us?" Fergus asks.

I look at Jamie and he rolls his eyes as I say yes. "How do we play?"

They answer by running out of the room so I look to Jamie who just starts moving out the room after them. "They're heading to the stables, so you'd better run."

"You have stables?!" I shout, following Jamie out of the room and sprinting down the corridor after his brothers.

***

LATER, AFTER PLAYING JOUST for nearly two hours, Jamie and I finally get some alone time.

Lizzie handed us some haggis sandwiches before we headed upstairs to Jamie's room. We ate our food in silence before Jamie started tickling me, which then led to him kissing me, and then ultimately led to him unbuttoning my shirt and jeans, and driving me crazy.

We're lying on his bed, him stroking soft patterns on my skin, raising goosebumps as he goes, he sighs.

"You okay?" I ask, stroking his hair.

He looks up and rests his chin on my stomach for a second before kissing my belly and sliding back up to me. He leans on his arm and kisses me lightly on the mouth before he nods, smiling sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you about my family."

His cheeks redden slightly but I smile, knowing he's about to give me his reasons and know they'll be adorable.

"This is going to sound terrible, especially after what you told me yesterday."

I frown and sit up, suddenly feeling very nervous.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he starts, "you know you said you had Archie?"

I nod.

"Well, there was someone like that for me. Although not quite as close as you and Archie it seems."

"Like a girlfriend?"

He nods. "And that's why I didn't mention my family really, because they're the reason we're not together. And I didn't want you to like me because of my family..."

I smile, "Jamie I would never do that. I wouldn't care if you lived in a cardboard box or this castle. I'd still love you."

He snorts. "Tess, that is the cutest thing you have ever said," he tells, me leaning forward to kiss me soundly.

"Well, it's true," I say when he pulls away to lean back on his pillow.

I follow him and rest my cheek on his chest so he puts his arm tightly around me.

"Who was she?"

He sighs. "Katie Taggart. I met her at school. And I know exactly what you mean about the childhood friend you fall in love with."

I move my head up to look at him and he shrugs.

"She knew about my family, about my life, so I never really thought much about it being a problem. But then one Christmas, I think when we were in Lower Sixth at the time, my mum randomly mentioned my inheritance at dinner and when me and Katie would be able to use it, have a family, support the family business..."

"When you were sixteen?"

He nods. "Yeah my mum is quite pushy about things like that. Keeping the family going, etcetera." He rolls his eyes and shrugs again.

"Wow."

"Yeah... Anyway, after that Katie became obsessed with the family, and the money and the 'rich life'" he says, making air quotes, "and I didn't know what to do. She was changing and it was all so fast, that I freaked out."

He sighs.

"Everything became about getting an invite to all the big events that Dad holds and meeting all the clients at these things, and getting involved in the business. It was just really weird."

"What did your parents say about that?"

"They didn't bat an eyelid. They thought it was great that she was so interested and invested, as the 'empire' would eventually be something I would be running myself," he says. "But I didn't want that. I'd told my dad that I wanted to do Forensic Accounting. I told him I wanted to work in London where all the big banks are and that I wanted to make my own name for myself, and not be living in his shadow all the time. I wanted to start a business of my own - I still want that - and Mum and Dad at the time said they understood."

I'm starting to see he's about to say they didn't understand.

"Anyway, I spoke to Katie about the obsession and she just laughed it off and said I was imagining things."

He shakes his head. He's getting to the hard bit, I can tell.

"So when I went to uni, to Edinburgh, she went to a different uni. She's at St Andrew's - same as Soph - and the two of us just committed to going backwards and forwards as much as we could to see each other." I nod. "But then at Christmas last year, my dad hands me a tiny red velvet box and tells me that I had to propose if I was going to keep her."

"Keep her?" This was getting really weird.

"Yeah. And I loved her so much that I didn't see it any other way. But I didn't want to do it then, as Christmas is always a drama in our house - you'll soon see that - so decided to wait until our anniversary in February."

Oh God, I think to myself. Here we go.

"So I drive up after classes back in February, and she's not in, so I ask her roommate if it was okay if I waited and she said yes... so I did."

"Oh no."

"Yeah. I think you've probably guessed what happened next."

I didn't want to guess. Instead I lean up and kiss his jaw.

"I'm sorry, Jamie."

He shakes his head. "The real punch in the gut is that she decided to cheat on me with George, so..."

I snap my head around and he nods. "What? George as in... your brother George?"

"Yeah. I don't know what happened there... or when that happened."

"I thought you said he's in Australia?"

"He is. With my other brother... and her."

I cup my mouth. "Aww Jamie, I'm so sorry."

"Please don't be. The more I think about the more I know I should have told you about my family - despite the drama - but I just wanted to keep you to myself just that little bit longer."

I smile again and his cheeks redden.

"I didn't want you to be like Katie, and love me for the fact I'm connected to an Empire. I don't want to be connected. I want my own life without it."

"Hey, I love you, okay. And I love you even more for telling me this." I cup his cheek as I lean up and balance on my elbow. "But you have nothing to worry about. I don't care if you want to be a Forensic Accountant - whatever that is," I say and he chuckles and rolls his eyes. "I don't care if you want to be a magician or bin man or whatever. I love you for you and your family are just an extra."

"I know," he smiles, and leans up slightly to kiss my nose before lying back down. "God, as soon as I saw my brother there I started laughing. I mean, I punched him, hard, but I laughed and left... and we haven't really talked since. I'm just glad Dad's got him out in Australia now because they'd all be downstairs right now otherwise."

"Ooooh, awkward."

"Very," he chuckles. "But they seem to like you though?" he asks.

I shrug. "I hope so. I do feel bad that I am intruding. I haven't even got them any presents."

He rolls his eyes. "You would think about presents."

"It's just I feel awful that they've invited me here and I haven't got them anything. Can we go in to town tomorrow and get something? You can come and you can tell me what they like."

He rolls his eyes again but nods in agreement before silence passes between us for a few seconds.

"Do you forgive me for not telling you?"

I sigh and pretend to think about it before smiling. "James... I-"

He groans, cutting me off, and rolls on top of me, making my stomach warm and flip at the same time.

I bite my lip before rolling us over again, leaning down to kiss him. "James..." I whisper in his ear.

He rolls us back over so he's on top again, holding his weight on his elbows. I giggle as I tip my hips up to meet him, his hand tickling down my side as the temperature between us heats up and threatens to take over.

"I forgive you," I tell him breathlessly, nodding at his silent question before he sighs and he presses into me.

He brushes my fringe away from my face before kissing me softly as he starts to move.

With a smile, he kisses me again before whispering that he loves me in my ear as he pushes me over the edge.