Chapter 7 #2
“I’ll come,” I interrupted as I stood, brushing my hands over my figure-hugging plum dress—a smarter choice than usual and worn to chase away the Monday blues. My dove-grey Manolo Blahnik mules were not the thing for a site visit, but they’d have to do. “I’d love to. Just one thing.”
The big man unfolded from the chair. His posture changed from being restrained and tense to practically vibrating with energy. “Anything.”
“You said you intended to play it cool. Try, will you?” My head was turned, but we still needed to take this slow.
The grin on his face turned dangerous. Thrilling. “I fly hundreds of miles to impress a lass, and she wants me to relax. I can try. But I can’t say the same for all other things McRae. Be prepared to be impressed. That’s as much as I can do.”
Two hours later, we rolled through a pair of tall stone pillars which marked an entrance to the McRae estate.
The actual land border lay miles behind us as the place was vast and partially situated in the Cairngorms National Park.
Callum had taken a turning off the main road, and I’d wanted to open the window and taste the air.
It was so pretty. Sweeping dark landscapes held mountains at bay.
Wild, open nature abounded. Melting snow drifts lined the side of the road—the last of the season, Callum hoped.
It was so peaceful I could cry.
He lived here. I could barely comprehend it.
The road took us around a stand of soaring pine trees, Callum pulled over and killed the engine, the quiet sudden and complete. Below us, a loch sprawled, glistening in the pale sun. To the left of it, with a snow-topped mountain rising behind, lay his home. Castle McRae.
His wee house, as he’d called it.
I gravitated forward in my seat and stared.
It was the first moment of silence since we’d met, the short plane journey being filled with conversation like we’d known each other for years.
Callum was easy to talk to, but we’d avoided any difficult topics, and he’d gone to some effort to put me at ease.
He brought his arms forward, copying my pose as he rested on the steering wheel. “Home. Impressed yet?”
Imposing and grand, Castle McRae sat in the most picture-perfect setting.
A mishmash of three individual structures—a big stone hall with a medieval round tower to one side and a large Tudor block to the other—it somehow worked beautifully as a whole.
I wanted to explore every inch from the windows above the hall to the little boat house on the loch.
And then I’d climb the mountain, because my imagination had made me into an outdoorswoman. Who knew?
I managed a faint, “Yes,” and Callum dipped his head and let out a short breath, like my approval meant something to him. He ran a hand over his blond hair then flexed his fingers over the steering wheel again.
“I’ve never looked at this place as… What would ye call it, an asset?
It’s just home, though we throw the doors open to the public now and then.
I meant it when I said I could use your expertise.
There’s a lot on the estate that could generate the income we need to survive.
A salmon farm that’s not been touched in years.
Cattle farming where we’ve recently installed new tenants, but which could be two or three times larger.
But the time it takes to get them up and running is significant.
I’ve only so many hours in the day, and getting my head around tourism is a step too far.
We considered Land Rover tours and tastings at the distillery—”
He stopped talking, and I drew in a breath, because we had to discuss this. The elephant in the room. Callum had booked an appointment with me online, which meant he’d seen my real name. Of course he’d have made the connection to Dad, but being the perfect gentleman, he hadn’t said a word.
An internal battle played out in the tick of his jaw.
I took the initiative, as it was my problem, not his. “Do you understand why I didn’t call you?”
“No. Maybe.”
“My father…” I stopped, because this wasn’t about Dad, it was more about me and what I wanted.
Dad was an element of that which needed to be handled.
I pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and started again.
“I liked you, when we met, but I need my father to be on my side for something specific I have planned, and—”
“And if you were dating me, not his favourite person, he’d be in a spin. Refuse you what you wanted?”
I twisted in my seat, my dress creeping up my leg. “Since when were we talking about dating?”
Callum shifted his massive shoulders so we were facing one another.
Inside the car, he seemed to take up even more space, and a shiver ran through me.
Of delight, and of absolute attraction. I could smell him, over the pine trees and clean air.
Woodsmoke, aftershave, and clean man. He made my mouth water.
In a flash, I pictured him over me. Bare chested and waiting on my word. Holy hell.
Like he knew my thoughts, Callum’s lips drew into a contented smirk. “You’re trembling. Do I make you nervous?”
My mouth dropped open, and he grinned wider. The cheek of him. I couldn’t help my physical reaction, but nervous? No. Magnetically lured into submission, yes.
If anyone, he ought to be nervous of me. In fact…
Reaching out a hand, I touched him gently on the shoulder—the first physical contact between us today.
As we’d waited in the airport, and when our arms had neared each other’s on the plane, Callum had anticipated me, respecting my personal space.
He’d moved when I had, as if we were somehow connected.
I was the last person on Earth to play the seducer, but I could make a point.
However well he thought he knew me, I had a read on him, too.
Under my fingertips, his shoulder was hard, the muscle large and rigid despite the thickness of his sweater. Heck… No, focus!
“Perhaps. Does that work for you?” I trailed my hand down his chest. Purposeful. Adding pressure. “But maybe I make you nervous, too.”
Callum held very still and, slowly, red flushed up his neck. “Christ, lass,” he began, his eyes wide, his gaze held hostage by mine.
The pressure was too much. I drew back my hand and burst out laughing. “Now who’s the nervous one?”
Callum dropped back into his seat and clapped his hands to his thighs in a dramatic fashion. Then he grinned, and the effect was infectious. We smirked at each other like we couldn’t stop.
He raised his eyes and spoke to the roof of the car. “One look from her, one touch of her hand, and I’m toast. Done for.” Heat and humour lit his gaze as it came back on me. “You had me forgetting what I was talking about.”
“That was my intention.”
“Cheeky wench. Oh, dating. I was only being honest. It’s not like you were planning to take me around to your parents’ house for tea as your new best friend.
” He drew his thumb over his bottom lip, his eyebrows raised.
I had two additional inches of thigh showing, but Callum was doing a magnificent job of keeping his eyes on mine.
“I’d say more, but a certain lass tells me I’m supposed to be playing it cool.
The temperature in this car is already high enough to melt the snow. ”
My body warmed even more. He was right. I wasn’t in this car today because I thought Callum would be a friend. “I still don’t know you,” I whispered.
He restarted the engine with a loud rumble. “Aye, you do. I’ve no hidden depths and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’ve got the day to start you on the rest, so why don’t we get going?”