Chapter Eight #2
Elspeth stepped over the threshold and looked around in amazement.
The villa was tastefully decorated in a French Provincial style with lots of white and grey and exposed woodwork.
It didn’t have the grand ostentatiousness of Mack’s Scottish estate and she wondered if that was why he liked it.
She turned to face him. ‘How often do you come here?’
‘Four or five times a year, often for only short visits, unfortunately. I have a lot of other business to see to at home.’
‘Do you enjoy it? Your business interests, I mean?’
He closed the solid front door, his expression rueful.
‘Not always. I inherited a lot of debt when my father died. I had no choice but to put my own career aspirations on hold and do what had to be done. It’s taken a long time to get back in the black.
Once you’ve stared down bankruptcy, it’s hard to truly relax, no matter how much money you make.
I have a lot of people depending on me.’ He blew out a sigh and continued, ‘And no doubt Fraser will be one of them now his dream job has been taken away.’
Elspeth placed a hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry things have been so difficult for you. You’ve given up so much for your family.’
He flicked her cheek with a gentle finger. ‘Stop apologising. I’m happy enough.’
But was he? Did worldly possessions and plenty of money in the bank give him the fulfilment most people craved?
He struck her as a loner, a man who stood apart from others.
He kept his relationships short and casual.
The only commitment he was prepared to make was to his career.
A career he hadn’t even chosen for himself but had inherited due to tragic circumstances.
‘What did you want to do?’ Elspeth asked after a moment. ‘I mean, career wise?’
His smile was crooked. ‘Nothing that would’ve made me anywhere near the money I’ve made. Come. Let me show you around before I bring in our luggage.’
Elspeth got the feeling he wasn’t comfortable talking about that aspect of his life.
The hopes and dreams he had left behind in order to protect his family’s assets.
It would have taken great courage and commitment to pull his family’s finances out of the red.
He had done it and done it brilliantly, but at what cost to himself?
After Mack gave her a quick tour of the villa, Elspeth wandered around on her own while he brought in their luggage.
She was eager to explore all of the quaint rooms in more detail but even more eager to wander about the garden.
She walked out of the kitchen door to a paved courtyard where pots of fresh herbs grew as well as a long row of purple lavender.
Bees were busily taking the pollen from the lavender heads; numerous small birds were twittering in the trees and nearby shrubbery.
It was easy to see why Mack loved coming here.
The setting was so serene and restful, especially when the abbey’s bells began to toll in the distance.
She closed her eyes and listened to the rhythmic peels of the ancient bells, a mantle of peace settling over her.
Elspeth turned at the sound of a footfall to see Mack coming out of the villa carrying a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
‘You really know the way to a girl’s heart.
’ She could have bitten her tongue off for the vocal slip.
He wasn’t after her heart. He wanted no emotional commitment from her.
All he wanted was a fling and she was fine with that because she had to be.
There was no other choice.
‘When in France, do as the French do,’ he said with a smile. He popped the cork and poured the bubbles into the two glasses and then handed her one. ‘á votre santé.’ His perfect French accent almost made her swoon. Was there no end to this man’s heart-stopping charms?
Elspeth returned the toast in French. ‘á votre santé.’ The champagne was exquisite, the bubbles exploding in her mouth and tantalising her taste buds.
She couldn’t help thinking it was going to be hard to go back to drinking cheap sparkling wine once their fling was over.
Her old life seemed so staid and boring and uneventful after just a couple of days in Mack MacDiarmid’s company.
‘What are you thinking?’ Mack asked.
Elspeth gave him a self-conscious smile. ‘I was thinking how hard it’s going to be for me to go back to my boring life after this.’
A small frown pulled at his forehead. He put his champagne down. ‘Why do you think your life is boring?’
She gave a one-shoulder shrug. ‘Because it is. I work. I eat, I sleep. Alone.’
‘You have friends though, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but I don’t socialise much.’ Elspeth plucked one of the lavender stalks off and twirled it beneath her nose.
‘Because of your allergy?’
She glanced at him to find him watching her steadily. ‘Not just because of that. My twin is the social butterfly, not me. I’m happy in my own company. As long as I have a good book, I’m content.’
Mack came closer and lifted her chin so her gaze met his. ‘Have you always lived in Elodie’s shadow?’
Elspeth let the lavender stalk drop to the ground. ‘Mostly. She’s way more outgoing than me. I can’t compete so I don’t bother trying.’ She twisted her mouth and added, ‘She’s everything I’m not.’
Mack stroked her chin with the pad of his thumb. ‘But you’re you. And that’s all you ever need to be.’ He bent his head and lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss that stirred a deep longing in her flesh and in her heart. A longing for more than physical connection.
A forbidden longing.
He lifted his mouth off hers and stroked her chin once more. ‘Have you ever switched places with her before?’
Elspeth put her champagne glass down, deciding that the delicious champagne was messing with her head and her heart. ‘A few times when we were kids.’ She gave a little half-laugh and continued, ‘Our mother was never fooled but our father could never tell us apart. Not even when he lived with us.’
‘Your parents are no longer together?’
‘No. They divorced when we were five. We’d stopped being cute by then, so he decided to move on. He had a second family with another woman. A boy and a girl, neither of whom have allergies, for which he is mightily relieved.’
Mack frowned so deeply it formed a trench between his eyes. ‘You think your allergy had something to do with your parents’ divorcing?’
Elspeth wished she’d kept her wayward mouth shut.
What was it with her? A mouthful or two of champagne and she was spilling all.
Spilling things she had told no one, apart from her twin, before.
‘It contributed, certainly. I had almost lost my life three or four times by then. My father doesn’t handle stress too well. ’
‘It’s not your fault he didn’t have the maturity to handle a sick child. That’s on him, not you.’
‘I know but it can’t have been easy, you know?
My mum was a worrier at the best of times.
My allergy diagnosis turned her into a nervous wreck.
She has no life apart from me.’ She grimaced and turned to pick up her champagne again, staring down at the vertical necklaces of bubbles rising.
‘I sometimes feel like I ruined her life.’
His hands came down on the tops of her shoulders from behind. ‘Don’t say that. I’m sure she doesn’t think that at all.’ His voice was deep and low and husky.
Elspeth leaned back against him, drawn to him as an iron filing was drawn to a magnet. ‘You have to stop giving me champagne.’
‘Why?’
She turned in the circle of his arms and handed him her glass. ‘Because I keep telling you things I’ve never told anyone else before.’
He put her glass to one side. ‘Why is that a problem?’
Elspeth gave a rueful smile. ‘Because we’re practically strangers, that’s why.’
He picked up a loose strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear, his touch so gentle it made her heart tighten.
‘You don’t feel like a stranger to me.’ His voice was still as rough as the pockmarked flagstones beneath their feet.
‘And if it’s any comfort to you, I’ve shared things with you I haven’t shared with anyone else. ’
Elspeth looked into his grey-blue eyes, struck by how dark and lustrous they were. ‘Really?’
His smile was crooked. ‘You have a strange effect on me, Elspeth Campbell.’
She moved closer, winding her arms around his neck so her lower body was flush with his. ‘So I can tell. Thing is, what are we going to do about it?’
‘This,’ he said and covered her mouth with his.
Mack wondered if he would ever get tired of kissing her soft mouth.
The sweet taste of her filled his senses, dazzled his senses into overload.
He was supposed to be keeping her at arm’s length but every time he was near her, he wanted her with an ever more pounding ache.
It was like a fever in his blood—a virulent fever that had no other antidote but her.
Her body’s response to him fuelled his desire. Making him burn, boil and blister with the need to get as close as humanly possible. He dragged his hungry mouth off hers only long enough to groan, ‘I want you.’
‘I want you too.’ Her voice was whisper-soft, her beautiful blue eyes shining with desire. The same desire he could feel pummelling through his body. A desire that begged, pleaded, roared to be assuaged as soon as possible.
Mack couldn’t wait for her to walk inside with him. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her indoors.
‘What are you doing?’ she squeaked. ‘You’ll do your back in.’
‘I like holding you in my arms.’
‘I like being held by you but that doesn’t mean I can’t walk on my own.’
‘Indulge me. I’ve never carried a woman up three flights of stairs before. It’ll be good for me.’
She laughed and linked her arms around his neck. ‘Crazy man. You’re a glutton for punishment.’
Glutton was right. Mack was hungry for her in a way he had not been for anyone else.
It shocked him how much he wanted her. How could he have thought he could resist her?
How could he have thought one night was going to quell the hot tight ache of his flesh?
Why else had he brought her away to France?
He wanted more time with her—time to explore the explosive chemistry that flared between them.
The chemistry he had felt the first time he had been in the same room as her.
Was it her inexperience that had so impacted him?
That she had gifted him herself in such a trusting way?
How could he not be honoured and touched by her trust in him?
How could he not be affected by their mutual desire?
He couldn’t explain the deep connection he felt with her.
It was beyond anything he had experienced before.
And all he knew was, he wanted to experience it again. And again. With her.
Only with her.