Chapter 15
Bex wasn’t sure why she was so taken aback by seeing Kieron there.
Perhaps it was the abrupt way he’d turned his back on her at the castle and taken a seat in Fergus’s chair.
Or maybe it was just the unexpectedness of finding him in Lorna’s little cottage when she was now wearing fluffy slippers, ready to make cheese on toast. Or maybe it had been the way he had said her name. Locking his eyes on her as he did.
An unexpected hot flush flashed through her as she cleared her throat.
‘Lorna’s in the shower at the minute. I can go get her. If you want to come in and wait?’
Of course he wanted to come and wait, she thought, cursing the stupidity of her question. It was bloody freezing outside. The only way he wouldn’t want to come in was if he had some strange affinity with frostbite, and she was fairly certain no one in the world had that.
Though, rather than accepting her request, Kieron remained where he was.
‘Actually, I didn’t come here to speak to Lorna. I wanted to speak to you.’
‘Oh.’ Bex felt her jaw drop and hurried to bring it back up to its normal position. ‘Okay, then. Yes, come in. Come in.’ She stepped aside, letting Kieron into the cottage before closing the door behind him.
Kieron remained conspicuously silent as they walked down the hallway towards the living room.
Once there, Bex wasn’t sure if she should sit or stay standing.
She felt too nervous to sit, but standing made her worry she’d shuffle her feet or start pacing, which wouldn’t look good either.
But why was she nervous? She hadn’t been nervous while they had breakfast together this morning, but then maybe that was because she’d known why they were both there.
She couldn’t for the life of her fathom why he would want to speak to her now.
Unless it was to ask what she and Gordon had been doing today.
Yes, that made sense, but it didn’t ease her nervousness.
They had already decided that Gordon would field any questions from the potential future laird, but maybe he had tried that avenue and was now coming to her hoping to prise out more information.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ she asked. ‘Tea? Coffee?’
‘No, no, it’s fine. I won’t be long.’
‘How did you find me?’ she asked. ‘Not that it’s a problem. I just don’t remember telling you I was staying here.’
‘Right, of course. No, you didn’t,’ he said, stuttering slightly, as though he was as nervous as she felt. But why would that be? He was the one who had turned up here, after all. ‘Lorna mentioned it when I bumped into her in the café today. She said you were staying with her.’
‘Right, of course. That makes sense,’ Bex said, nodding. ‘She mentioned she’d seen you. She also said something about Burns Night.’
‘Yes.’ Kieron exhaled sharply before his eyes finally met hers. ‘Look, I wanted to apologise to you about earlier.’
‘Earlier?’ Bex said, feigning innocence. But the quirk of his smile made it obvious he didn’t buy it.
‘I’m a bit of a control freak,’ he admitted.
‘I think it comes with my job. Or maybe I’ve always been that way.
Mummy is somewhat of a wayward spirit. My father is much more measured, thank goodness, but being the only son and all…
’ He shook his head, letting the words fade into the ether.
‘I don’t want to bore you with my history or baggage.
I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I reacted about not being included.
It triggered some things for me, and that’s silly because you were just doing your job.
Gordon was just doing his job. And I was outright rude. I’m really sorry.’
‘Oh.’ Bex blinked, surprised by his openness. Not to mention the fact he called his mother Mummy still. ‘Well, thank you. Apology accepted.’
As she spoke, a memory stirred in the back of her mind; Duncan, apologising after that disastrous night at the pub when his ex-girlfriend had shown up.
She had been surprised then by how easily he’d owned up to his mistake, but it felt even more unexpected now, coming from someone like Kieron.
London men didn’t apologise that easily. At least, not the ones she’d dated.
‘I get it,’ she said. ‘It must be a pretty stressful time for you.’
Kieron let out a light chuckle. ‘That’s one way of putting it.
I’ve got the whole work thing to sort out.
I mean, I should be back in London. It’s the busiest time of the year for me, but…
’ He shook his head. ‘Again, I don’t want to bore you.
I just wanted to apologise. And, since you already know about Burns Night, I wanted to invite you to join me.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to one before? ’
‘No. No, I haven’t,’ she said. His eyes twinkled at her response.
‘Well, you know what they say – you never forget your first.’ As soon as the words left his mouth, he lifted his hand to his head. ‘I’m sorry, that came out very wrong,’ he said, though Bex expected that wasn’t entirely true as the nerves she’d been feeling took a peculiar fluttering turn.
There was something between them – a spark, a moment.
She hadn’t been wrong in thinking he’d been interested in her at the airport, and that instant attraction hadn’t faded.
She was sure of it. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t found him attractive.
He was every bit her go-to type when it came to city men.
For a split second, she was sure he was going to lean towards her, and her body was incredibly tempted to reciprocate the motion.
‘Kieron? Is everything okay?’ Bex turned to find Lorna standing in the doorway, one towel wrapped around her body, with another around her hair. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the door go.’
‘It’s no problem,’ Kieron replied. ‘I just came to see Rebecca.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘I wanted to… Well, it’s about business.’
‘You cannot turn up at her home just to make her do work, Kieron. That’s ridiculous!
’ The indignation on Lorna’s face was enough to cause a flutter of warmth in Bex.
As was the motion of the cottage being her home, when she was in fact sleeping on a pull-out sofa for an undetermined length of time. But it was still very sweet.
‘Don’t worry,’ Bex said quickly, feeling the need to come to his defence. ‘It wasn’t work exactly. Kieron also just invited me to Burns Night.’
‘Oh.’ Lorna’s eyes widened. ‘You’re right, that’s not work.’ A glimmer shone in her eyes. ‘Well, I assume you want to make sure Bex knows plenty of people there? I mean, she needs to be with her friends on her first Burns Night too, obviously.’
Kieron rolled his eyes, though the gesture was good-natured.
‘I’m sure we’ve got room for a couple more,’ he said. ‘Just make sure you all dress appropriately.’
‘As if I’d do anything but,’ Lorna said with a grin.
‘Well, I’d better get going,’ Kieron said, turning back to Bex. ‘Sorry about interrupting.’
‘Honestly, it’s not a problem. I’ll walk you out.’ She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to do so. The front door really wasn’t far away, but she wanted to.
‘Thank you,’ she said quietly. ‘You know, for inviting Lorna and… thanks.’
‘You’re most welcome,’ he replied, his voice soft as he stepped outside and a gust of wind blew in through the house, strong enough to rattle the pictures on the wall.
‘Wow, you’d better get going,’ Bex said. ‘It feels like a storm’s coming in.’
‘Really?’ He frowned. The winter evening had already drawn in, and outside it could have been midnight for all the light there was. ‘It feels like an average winter night in Scotland to me,’ he said with a chuckle.
But Bex recalled a night the year before, when the wind had been just like this, and she and Duncan had holed themselves up in the lodge while the winds howled and the snow fell.
‘Trust me,’ she said. ‘When you’ve been up here enough, you get the feel of when a storm is coming.’