Chapter 4 #2
“I’m not married either. But,” she took a breath and turned her attention to the street, like it was easier to address the bundled-up passersby, “I might choose to be soon. That’s what I meant when I said my life was complicated and why I won’t lead you on.
Why this is just breakfast and not a date. ”
As that sunk in, she rolled her shoulders then met my eye.
“I received a marriage proposal last night. And I’m running out of reasons to turn it down.”
With my hot head occasionally getting the better of me, I sometimes spoke before I thought, but ninety-nine times out of a square hundred, my gut feeling was right.
Which was why, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand what Mathilda was talking about.
“Why did your boyfriend ask if he wasn’t sure you’d say yes? ”
“The man who offered me marriage is not my boyfriend. I hardly know him.”
I had no idea what to do with that information. “The way I see it, you meet someone, do or dinna fall in love, want to stay with them forever if it’s the happier option. Where in that is marrying a near stranger?”
She gave a self-conscious laugh, a hard little ha. “When there’s a reason for saying yes that outweighs the negatives.”
Our coffees arrived, but I could only stare.
“You’ve got to give me more than that.”
Mathilda raised a curved eyebrow. “Do I? I’ve already overshared on an intensely personal problem I have no idea what to do with. How about you share something now. You live in Inverness. What do you do there?”
She picked up her fancy coffee and blew on it, and I could see the topic was closed. For now, lass.
Still flummoxed, I made a rash decision. If you wanted something, you went all in to get it. I wanted to know Mathilda better. I liked the small window into her personality I’d seen, and Christ was she beautiful. Armies of men could die trying to score a kiss from those lips.
“I live near Inverness, not in it. Forty minutes south. I’m an estate owner.”
“What kind of estate?”
Here goes nothing. From my wallet, I took out one of the business cards I’d had made, and I offered it across the table. Mathilda eyed me then took the wee white card, the castle embossed under dark grey type. My full name in a solid font.
“Laird Callum McRae of McRae Castle and Estate. Laird?” She sat back, her mouth open. “Is this for real?”
“Aye.”
“Did you buy a place and name it after yourself?”
I barked a laugh that had heads turning. “Nae. The name was given to me in the same way my birthright was.”
“You’re a laird. A Scottish lord. You’re single, and you live in a castle. With stone towers and crenelated walls? Safe from marauders. Do you swim naked in the loch and fight dragons in the mountains on the weekends?” Mathilda’s voice sounded strained.
“All apart from the dragons, aye. One of my brothers and I go out on the mountain rescue once every month or so, but naked loch swimming is a rarity. The water will freeze your b— Er, well, it’s cold all year round.”
“And I ran into you at random. Jesus.” She tipped her head back and spoke to the ceiling, mouthing something like, “Why couldn’t I have met him last week? What is wrong with the world?”
I suppressed a grin and sat more comfortably in my seat, enjoying her reaction. I’d never before used my title to impress a woman. I’d never had the need.
Mathilda didn’t seem the sort of woman to be easily moved.
“My turn for a personal question, now. The marriage proposal you had… I get that ye dinna want to talk about it, but why the confusion? Can I help you with a reason to say no?” Then, because my mouth had the habit of speaking before I could think, I said something daft.
“Because here I am, waiting on your every word since I first laid eyes on ye. Fate keeps throwing us together. We ought to listen.”
Mathilda returned her attention to me, that same hesitation replacing her mirth. “You know, I thought about fate when I saw you come out of the gym. But you told me you weren’t available either.”
“Because of where I live, and my lack of free time. That doesn’t mean I wouldnae change my world for the right reasons.
” More daft talk, though honest. I’d loved once or twice before, but as a lad.
Testing out the emotion and growing the capacity.
Even then I knew the real deal would floor me and have me on my knees, offering my life up to the lass who’d stolen my heart.
“I considered having a one-night stand with you.” Blooms of colour stained her cheeks. “To see if I could give up on intimacy and focus on the purely physical. The marriage I was offered would include separate beds, of course.”
Some fucker had turned up the heat in the restaurant. I pulled at my collar. “Christ. But you decided against it.”
“Yes. And if it wasn’t for this,” she gesticulated between us, her hand weaving in the air and wafting the steam from the mugs, “I wouldn’t have said anything at all.”
“What do you mean by this?” I made the same hand gesture, but once, and slower. My voice hoarse.
Her cheeks grew darker. “Chemistry. I don’t know.”
Shite. She felt it, too. It wasn’t just me. The impulse that had me wanting to pull her in. “The way I can feel the presence of you across the table though we’re not touching.”
“Something like that.”
My phone buzzed on the wood in front of me. I ignored it, unable to look away from Mathilda.
“You were waiting on a call?” she said faintly, and I relented, dragging my gaze away.
“Patricia. That’s my boys’ mother. Oh fuck, what now?” With a grimace, I answered the phone, unwilling to let the world back in now I had found a reason to leave it.
“Callum!” Patricia’s shrill voice deafened me, capturing my full attention.
I moved the device an inch from my ear but still heard her perfectly when she yelled, “They took Grant’s car.
The wee swines stole my husband’s car right out of our garage.
They are out of control, Callum, and I hold you responsible! ”