Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
PREPARE FOR A PARTY
Mathilda
My phone had sat on my bedroom dressing table all day, and I returned to a further two missed calls from my father.
With his voicemail received yesterday while I was on the flight, I couldn’t ignore him for much longer.
But one more night wouldn’t make a difference.
Right now, I needed to prepare for a party.
I took my dress from its garment bag and slipped it over brand-new underwear, the cool satin sliding over my limbs.
I’d already curled my hair and applied my makeup, just needing to add the finishing touches of long earrings and my amazing shoes.
They sat by my overnight bag, perched prettily on the floor and just waiting for my happy feet to step into them.
The castle was a haven for tall people. Aside from Callum being a giant of a mountain man, all the men were above six-foot.
The door heights were generous, and I could wear stilts and not bang my head. I’d walk tall tonight.
The floor-length mirror allowed me to evaluate my appearance, and I twisted to check my rear, the dress material shimmering.
I wanted to knock Callum’s socks off.
A hammering shook my door.
There was only one person that could be. I swung it open, and Callum loomed in the frame. His gaze instantly heated as he took me in. He’d showered and shaved, and in a dark suit instead of his customary jeans, he was still rugged but dangerously sharp. I liked it. All of it. The sheer size of him.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” he murmured.
All last night, I’d thought about the man.
Wanting him to come to my room and clamber his weight onto my bed.
Brace himself over me with those strong arms. Continue the hot and heavy kiss we’d shared.
At the end of the hall outside, a set of stone stairs led up to his rooms. His solar, the suite was named.
He’d pointed it out to me but hadn’t taken me up there.
I respected his boundaries, though in my imagination, I’d climbed those stairs to find him reclined on his bed, naked.
His long body heavily muscled, hard, and ready for me.
It had led to a somewhat disturbed sleep. I’d mangled my sheets.
“You’re so handsome.” I skimmed his features with my gaze. Smooth skin over a hard jaw. The curve of his mouth. So gorgeous.
“You’re stunning. I’m the luckiest man alive to be your date tonight.”
Pleased, I bit back my smile. “Aren’t I your date? And I’m glad you like the dress.”
“I liked you in the t-shirt you wore at my dining table, too. Thank you for that, by the way. For the hard work you’ve done.”
“I want this plan to succeed.”
The man of my dreams paused and watched my lips. His gaze turned predatory. “You’ve already done your makeup. Pity I’m about to ruin it.”
“Ruin away,” I replied, entranced. Ready to jump him.
A clattering came from the hall. I peered over Callum’s shoulder. The twins crossed the hall, dragging shirts over their heads and talking excitedly.
Neither of us had moved, yet we jumped apart. Callum shook his head, a wry grin on his face as he shut the door behind him.
“One of the reasons we’re going elsewhere tonight.” He turned the key in the lock, and the room seemed to shrink. “For all the size of this place, there’s no privacy.”
Elsewhere tonight. The idea gave me shivers.
We needed to spend time alone and talk. I’d realised I hadn’t told Callum my decision on Dominic’s marriage proposal and, though he hadn’t asked, it had to be bothering him.
Maybe it was the reason he held back from me.
I had no reason to play coy. Dominic’s distasteful offer had no hope.
Callum had stolen my heart. There was no two ways about it.
Even if I couldn’t yet bring myself to acknowledge the extent of my emotions, Callum needed to know where I stood. For that matter, Dominic did, too. Not that he deserved the same care, but I’d call him this evening and set everything right. Start things with Callum on a clean slate.
The noise of the twins permeated into the room, and the laird stalked to a chair by the desk, the wood creaking under him as he sat. I padded across the room on my bare soles to perch on the desk in front of him. Two feet of the late afternoon’s low light glowed between us.
“That’s why I came to your room—to talk about this evening,” he said.
“Shame that we have to go to the party first.”
He inclined his head, lust still hanging heavy in the air.
“No argument from me. We won’t wait around after the boys have had their race.
There is another objective, though. We need to talk to Lachlan.
” Callum had already mentioned the party was for his father’s cousin, the chief of their clan.
I got the impression they didn’t get along.
“I mean to ask the man for investment. Like Gordain said, money is an issue. No bank will lend us a penny, and Lachlan is an option if we’re going to get this new business idea off the ground. ”
“Is he likely to offer the loan?”
As I spoke, the slit on my dress fell open over my knee, revealing my calf.
Callum swallowed, his attention travelling over my crossed legs. A shiver of delight ran through me at the weight of his stare, at the way he had to drag himself to look at my face.
“He and Da once quarrelled over a competition. Da claimed Lachlan owed him. If all else fails, I’ll ask about that.
” Callum blew out a breath, pushing his shoulders back into his chair.
“Lachlan and I are too similar. I’m my own liability as far as he is concerned.
Last time we spoke, we argued, too. A pair of land agents have been snooping around, and Lachlan was considering selling up a parcel of his estate.
Needless to say, I had an opinion or two I should’ve kept to myself. ”
It pleased me so much to hear him admit to a mistake.
Because, a little devil in the back of my mind told me that Callum had one or two personality traits in common with my dad.
His temper and full-frontal assault nature had given me pause, but overall the two men were so different.
Callum was so open, he could never behave like my father.
“We’ll reason with Lachlan. We can do this.”
Callum’s weighty gaze raised to mine. “You said ‘we’. Do ye ken how my heart jumped to hear it?”
I shifted back on the desk, purposefully, and the slit in the blue satin of my dress opened farther. “I’m good at diplomacy.”
“You could charm the birds from the trees.” Callum reached out to grasp my ankle. He slid his other hand under my foot and drew it into his lap, beginning a slow massage. The room warmed.
“I interrupted you getting ready.”
“You did.”
His thumbs made firm circles into my insoles. Heaven. “Did you pack a bag?”
My eyelids now closed, I gestured to the bag by the door. “Are you taking me somewhere tonight to seduce me?”
His movements didn’t stop. “Aye.”
My eyes flew open.
“Just because I didnae leap on you like a starved wolf the moment I had you alone wasn’t for the want of it.”
With my kiss, I’d invited him to my bed last night. He’d refused. “You told me you were impulsive. Where was that when I wanted it?” I gasped as his massage took in my calf, his hand sliding to my knee before stopping. Retreating. Teasing. I wanted to spread my legs right there on the damn desk.
My lace underwear would be in front of his face.
“With you, I need to restrain myself.” Callum wore a careful expression, though his heavier breathing told me how turned on he was. “If you only knew half the thoughts I’d had about you.”
I wanted to hear his fantasies. I had my own. “Try me.”
“No.” He smiled as he began the same massage on my other leg, starting with my foot and gliding over my tensed calf muscle, stopped from going further by my crossed knees. I wanted his hands on my thighs. Higher. “Later. After the party. When we’re alone and we have the time.”
“We’re alone now.” No noise came from the hall.
I slid my leg to rest next to the other, my knees together.
Boldness infused me.
“Later.” Callum laid a soft kiss on my knee then stood and smiled wickedly. He walked backwards toward the door.
I groaned and rolled my head on my shoulders, desperately needing release from the pressure in my body.
It was going to be a long evening, handling the difficult relative and waiting for our chance to get away.
However invested I was in the wedding project, the heat that washed over my body needed to dissipate, and fast.
I returned my gaze to Callum. He stared over at me. The fire in his eyes could melt the very snow from his mountain.
“Give me promises for later,” I whispered. I wanted a sure thing. My body needed it.
“You want to know how much I’m going to wear you out? I will, and you, my woman, will be begging for mercy. But there is something specific I need to ask you before we go further.”
“What?”
“Are ye mine to want?”
He had been worrying. Beautiful, gentle man. The words were ready on my tongue. “Oh, Callum. I should have told you—” I started.
He raised a hand, halting me. “Don’t go telling me anything now. Wait until later when we’re alone. Get your shoes on and meet me downstairs. I’ve got teenagers to wrangle into cars and a raft to put on the roof. We’ve got the night to sort this out, and I intend to do things right.”
“I’ll be there,” I croaked, but he’d already grabbed my bag and gone.
Leaving one very sexually charged and determined woman in his wake.
Every touch Callum gave me, handing me into the Land Rover, running his thumb over my knuckles while he drove, gave me shivers. On the journey to Castle Braithar, the tension in the car weighed on us so heavily that conversation was impossible.
Callum exhaled hard as we rolled into the floodlit car park, a kilted attendant ushering us into a space. “How am I ever going to get a word out when all I want to say is your name over and over?”
“You better whisk me out of here when we’re done,” was my only reply. In a matter of hours, we could have this conversation and we could leave for Callum’s mystery venue. Finally get our hands on one another.
These would be the longest hours of my life.
My car door swung open. “Welcome,” the young attendant said in a broad Scottish accent.
She beamed at me and I climbed out. “Clan Chief McRae is glad to accept all-comers to his birthday celebrations. He extends open arms and the warmth of his fire. You’ve missed most of the Highland games, but there’s still the raft race to come.
The chief is in the hall, if you’d care to join the greetings line. ”
“Fucking hell, let’s get this over with,” Callum muttered and exited the car.
Alongside our vehicle, Gordain pulled up.
The twins—who’d chosen Gordain’s car after claims that Callum and I were giving off race-affecting pheromones—leapt out before the wheels stopped turning, hauling at the bungee ropes holding the raft on the roof.
They had suits on, and I winced to imagine the state they’d be in by the end of the night.
They’d mentioned wearing wetsuits for the race, but that still didn’t make me feel better about either of the boys going into the water.
For a calm night, it would still be freezing.
The four men manhandled the wooden raft to a lawn leading down to the floodlit riverbank, bunting and lights strung up from a marquee where an afternoon of games had taken place, and I took in Castle Braithar’s four turrets.
It was symmetrical, towers on each corner like a castle from a fairy story.
It might be nicely made, but it wasn’t a patch on the mismatched walls of Callum’s home.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Gordain arrived at my side and gazed up at the castle walls with undisguised awe. “I spent a lot of time here as a lad. Probably more than at home.”
After Callum’s story about the viciousness of their father, I could easily imagine why Gordain would stay away. “It’s impressive, but I’m obliged to say I like Castle McRae better.”
Gordain dragged his attention to me. “That’s the right answer. You’re definitely fitting in. Come see inside. The hall is gorgeous.”
We joined Callum who was giving a list of orders to the twins on how not to drown in the river, but I’d snagged on Gordain’s comment.
If I came back, if Callum and I became a thing, I wanted to manage their wedding business. To belong. I had a feeling that once I’d tasted Callum, taken him to bed, any other option than being his would be out of the question.
Which meant more rode on securing the investment than met the eye.
At the castle’s arched entrance, a woman hollered my name then waved madly. It was Una, Callum’s ex who I’d met on my last visit. “Oh, ye look fab, my lady. What a dress! See ye inside for a catch-up. We’ll grab a wine or three,” she called, like we were old friends.
I waved back and instantly felt a little better. At least I knew one other person here.
“What’s the plan for tackling Lachlan?” Gordain addressed his brother. “I assume you’ll ask him tonight?”
“Aye. I hate this, but it’s our only real option.
Mathilda, our mistress of diplomacy, is going to stamp on my foot if I say anything out of line,” he joked.
In a move that thrilled me, Callum dragged me in front of him and banded me in his arms, resting the side of his face against my temple.
“Whatever he says, I can’t hack Lachlan for that long.
Boys, once we’ve seen him, and after you’re safely to dry land, we’re going.
Obey Gordain, and we’ll see you back at the castle tomorrow. We won’t be home tonight.”
“Sure. Lachlan’s the reason you’re running off,” Ally quipped as we made our way into the grand entrance, blue and white balloons tied up in bunches either side. “Just don’t make me an uncle yet, I’m too young.”
Callum reached out and gently thwacked his brother’s ear then kissed my cheek. I laughed off the awkward comment. Then we were there. Lachlan’s lair. Here to slay the beast.