Chapter 6
SIX
Back at the house they loaded up Dylan’s truck with everything they needed. Chester sat in the back with Jenna. She let Cormac sit up front with Dylan for the simple reason that he wouldn’t have fit in the small rear seat. Chester rested his head in her lap and sighed contentedly as they drove off.
Cormac appeared to be fascinated with the truck and was asking all sorts of weird questions.
If he was trying to make her believe his crazy story about being from another time, he was doing an admirable job.
The two men were preoccupied with each other, so she used the opportunity to examine Cormac without him knowing.
He really was gorgeous and she sighed contentedly as she continued to give him a thorough once over.
She couldn’t believe she had propositioned him last night.
Well, maybe she could. Any woman in her right mind would find him irresistible.
That obnoxious waitress, Sophia, certainly had.
Jenna couldn’t understand why it had bothered her so much to see Cormac flirting with her.
She didn’t need another deadbeat man in her life.
Jonathan had been enough and she was not going to repeat that mistake ever again.
Jonathan had only wanted her for her money.
That was another reason to steer clear of Cormac.
He didn’t seem to have any money or even a place to live.
He had somehow weaseled his way into their home and was taking advantage of their good graces.
They’d been paying for all his food and drinks.
If Dylan really didn’t know him, just what was he up to?
She’d better be careful. Letting him hang around might be a huge mistake.
“Cormac?” Jenna was using her sweetest voice.
“Aye, lass.”
“Where you come from, what do you do for work?” She needed to get a clearer picture of who Cormac MacBayne really was.
“I be me brother-in-law’s captain,” Cormac answered.
“Your brother-in-law?”
“Aye. Robert MacKenzie. He’s married to me sister, Irene.”
“I see. Does he pay you to do this?” she wondered.
“Aye. Why do ye ask, lass?” Cormac questioned.
“I was just curious. You don’t seem to have any money.”
“Edna said me coin would be of no use here.”
Edna again. Who was she and what was her part in all of this? “And where did you say you lived?” Jenna asked.
“I live at Breaghacraig, with me family,” Cormac replied.
Jenna was chewing on her bottom lip, wondering how she could find out if he was lying.
So far he seemed to be telling the truth.
He wasn’t evading her questions and he didn’t hesitate in his answers.
The fact that he claimed he was from another time troubled her.
To top it all off, he expected her to believe that.
“Cormac?”
“Aye, lass.”
“You said you are a captain. Does your brother-in-law have an army or something?”
“Aye.”
“Wow. Really? Why does he need an army?” An army of his own in this day and age seemed highly suspect. His story is getting stranger and stranger by the second.
“To protect his family, his home and his lands,” Cormac responded.
Jenna sat quietly in the backseat, petting Chester and pondering Cormac’s answers.
“Is all well with ye, Jenna? Ye seem to be full of questions. Have I answered them to yer satisfaction?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m just curious about where you come from. That’s all.”
“Tis fine. Ye may ask me anything and I will always tell ye the truth.”
“I appreciate that, MacBayne.” She dismissed him by focusing her attention on the dog and let him go back to quizzing Dylan on the way every single thing worked.
She had decided she would maintain her distance by calling him MacBayne.
She would reserve the right to call him Cormac for times when it worked to her advantage.
***
Sitting next to Dylan in the front of the truck was an education for Cormac.
He was happy that he could ask anything of Dylan and it would be answered without judgment.
Jenna, on the other hand, was a puzzle he was having a hard time deciphering.
One moment she was all sweetness and light and the next she was calling him MacBayne and snarling at him.
Rather than dwell on it, he focused his attention on the wondrous bridge they were crossing.
He had never seen anything like it and he was craning his neck in all directions to get a better look as they passed beneath the grey steel towering above their heads.
He would have such tales to tell upon his return home.
As Cormac turned to see the view through the back window, he noticed Jenna staring at him with a most unhappy expression on her face. He caught her eye and she smiled half-heartedly in his direction.
“What time is everyone coming over, Dylan?” she asked.
“Some people are coming earlier, around six. The one’s with kids, you know. Then everyone else will be their later.”
“You have everything arranged, right?”
“No worries, Jenna. It’s all taken care of. The only thing I have to do is get a keg delivered and we’re good to go.”
Cormac wasn’t sure what they were talking about and he raised an eyebrow in question to Jenna.
“We’re having our annual end of summer party tonight.”
He nodded in response and looked a bit worried.
“It’s a lot of fun. You’ll have a good time I’m sure.”
“Lots of beer and babes, my friend,” Dylan chimed in.
“Beer and babes?” Cormac asked.
“Mmhmm … you’ll see. We’ve got to get home to let the caterers and party planners in. We’ll be there in no time.”
“I dinna doubt it. This carriage travels verra fast,” Cormac observed.
“This is nothing. You should ride in the Porsche if you want to see fast,” Dylan boasted.
“I hate to break up the bromance you two seem to have going, but Dylan I don’t want any trouble tonight. I hope you told your friends that they are going to have to behave themselves. I don’t want the neighbors calling the cops.”
“Don’t worry. I invited them,” Dylan said.
“The cops or the neighbors?” Jenna asked.
“Funny, Jenna.”
“Dylan, what is a bromance,” Cormac asked. From the way Jenna had said the word, he couldn’t imagine it being anything good.
Dylan laughed. “It’s just what they call it when two guys enjoy each other’s company. Don’t worry it’s nothing bad.”
Jenna was snickering in the back seat as they pulled into the driveway of a large house set at the very top of a hill on a narrow and curving road.
There were other houses close by, but this house was by far the grandest of them all.
As they were getting out of the truck, a man walked up the driveway and waited to speak with Jenna.
“Hi, Jenna.”
“Hey, Travis, what’s up? I hope you’re coming to the party tonight.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. I just thought you should know that Jonathan has been hanging around here. I’ve seen him coming out of the driveway a couple of times. I don’t know if he’s been in the house or not and I wasn’t able to stop him before he left to ask what he was doing here.”
Jenna looked worried. “I knew I should have changed those locks.”
Cormac came and stood by her side. He put an arm around her waist and surprisingly she didn’t resist.
“Thanks for letting us know,” Dylan offered. “We’ll see you later then.”
The man waved as he walked down the driveway and to the house next door.
“I can’t believe he’s been here. What are we going to do, Dylan?” Jenna looked concerned.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get a locksmith out first thing in the morning and change the locks. In the meantime, I guess we should go in and see if he’s done any damage to the house.”
Cormac kept his hand on the small of Jenna’s back as they mounted the steps to the front door and entered. To Cormac’s eyes everything looked very neat and orderly, but there was no way he could know if anything was wrong.
***
Jenna and Dylan made their way from room to room checking to see if anything was missing.
Relief swept through Jenna when they found everything exactly as it should be.
What is he up to? She had a very uneasy feeling about this.
He had been extremely angry with her when she got the marriage annulled and he walked away with nothing.
He obviously wanted her money and when he hadn’t gotten it, he made his displeasure known in lots of ways.
The events at the karaoke bar paled in comparison to some of his stunts.
The doorbell rang and Dylan opened the door to the caterers and party planners.
An army of people made their way into the house.
Food, decorations, flowers and serving trays made their way from the front door to the kitchen in the arms of the catering staff.
The DJ arrived and set himself up out on the back patio by the pool and the people who would be serving food were getting instructions from the caterer.
“We should probably get out of their way and let them do their thing.” Jenna suggested. “Dylan, why don’t you show MacBayne around.”
“Jenna, ye can call me Cormac,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
She ignored him, “Dylan?”
“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m going to go upstairs and try to take a nap. My head still hurts after last night.”
“No worries. I’ll handle everything down here,” Dylan assured her.
***
Cormac watched as Jenna made her way up the stairs.
He wished there was something he could do to win her trust. He knew she had just been through a terrible experience with her ex-husband and he could see the pain on her face whenever Jonathan’s name came up.
More than capable of protecting her, Cormac could tell she wasn’t one to let anyone else take care of her.
He would have to work on that. She needed him even if she was unaware of it.
“Cormac, let’s go check out the pool,” Dylan suggested
“Aye.”
They went out the floor to ceiling doors, which folded open, exposing the entire back of the house. Cormac couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the pool. “What is this?”