Chapter 3 #2
“I wanted to ask you something.” A wash of heat prickled me that had nothing to do with my pulse rate. The twins hadn’t been wrong when they’d pointed out my inexperience. I had none, for the record. Not for lack of opportunity, but in my circumstances, it hadn’t seemed right. Not until now.
“Sounds important.”
“I met someone.” Over a month ago, and I was still reeling.
“Whoa, very important. Do I know her?” He added a skip to his step, and his enthusiasm had me smiling.
“No, it’s no one on the estate.” I kept my gaze on the motivational posters on the wall. “I can’t stop thinking about her and it’s driving me crazy.”
He snorted. “Nae good enough. Not by a long shot. Give me details. Just remember how remote it is here. It’s a lonely life being an airman.”
Where Callum was stern, and the twins at best energetic, at worst idiotic, Gordain was a balance.
Cocky but temperate, good-natured, and a year older than me.
From the moment we’d met, he’d pushed me.
He was the reason I’d moved into the castle and had his older brother as my mentor. I owed him everything.
“I’m not sure where to start.”
There came a beep, and I glanced over. Gordain had stopped his machine. I followed suit, breathing hard.
The Highlander dragged his damp shirt over his head, biceps popping and his chest covered in artful tattoos.
“All that stuff you told me, about your life and what you think you have to do…” He trailed off.
“How does that fit with pursuing this lass? Didnae ye tell me your uncle is choosing your bride? I get that you need to be married, but you’re not the sort of man who’d sleep around for the sake of it.
I’m saying this because the only way I can think of to get a lass out of your system is sex. ”
Yeah, my marriage was an issue.
This was the problem with confiding in someone.
Gordain laid it all out in a way I couldn’t deny.
As the tenth Earl Fitzroy, I’d inherit Belvedere—my family home and estate—on meeting the conditions of the centuries-old will.
The one that applied to every eldest son in my line.
I had to be married by my twenty-first birthday or the estate passed to a distant cousin.
Nothing had changed in how I felt about this. I’d do it because I owed it to my family.
Nothing in the plan had me choosing my own bride.
But none of that stopped how I’d felt when I’d returned the hug of a lunatic driver.
“I wouldn’t sleep with someone I didn’t care about.”
“Which brings me back to needing more details. Spill ’em.”
Maybe there was one point I’d be willing to share. “She’s an excellent driver. And beautiful.” Okay, so two points.
Gordain blew out a breath. “Then you’re done for. With your history, you haven’t got a hope.”
That couldn’t be true. I wouldn’t let it.
Acouple of minutes before midnight, I paced my bedroom. I’d left Gordain with as many questions as answers then driven home to the castle through the pitch-black Highlands. The workout and seeing my friend had done me good, but I was still…worked up.
My phone buzzed, and I jumped. Beth. Wasn’t I meant to call her? Then I saw the screen, and my stomach contracted. A video call?
What to say became redundant. I was about to see her face.
I leapt up, swinging my gaze around the room. Tidy, like always. Still, I panicked, hitting Answer. “Hi, Beth. Hello.”
My pulse galloped, and I landed first on my bed then changed my mind and took a chair.
“Well, hello to you, too,” Beth said, peering into the phone, a grin spreading. “I wanted to show you that I’m parked. I stopped in a quiet spot just to talk to you. Did I send you into a panic? We can change back to a voice call.”
“No.” I raked my fingers through my hair then forced myself to remain still. “It’s good to see you again.”
I meant it as a pleasantry, but as I focused on the screen, a bloom of something formed in my chest. And lower. Beth gazed back at me, the car’s interior light illuminating the curls of her hair. Her wide, expressive eyes gleamed. Her lips curved at the corner.
Want. That was what I felt. Instant, hot, and wrong.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. She stared at me, and I watched her.
“Holy shit.” Beth finally opened her mouth. “I forgot how good-looking you are. Honestly, how do you get anything done with that face? You made me lose my train of thought.” Then she barked out a laugh. “I just made this awkward, right? Forget I spoke.”
My lips tweaked, but words failed me.
She waved a hand, adorably flustered. “Shall we start over? You’re getting a new car, lucky you. What about my impressive and/or dangerous skill set can help you choose?”
“Test driving,” I blurted, managing to find my voice. “I’ve been making changes in my life and need to sort out buying my own car. But wait. Where have you stopped? Are you safe?”
She gave me a curious look and panned the camera around to show the dark, empty road, then through the interior of the car to a lit-up engaged door lock symbol. “All good here,” she murmured, then her face reappeared on the screen, and she settled back in the seat. “Thanks for caring.”
“That’s a nice car. Same one you drove in London.”
“Borrowed. Tell me about test driving.”
“I’ve narrowed it down to a few models and am going to contact a dealership. Book a couple of drives. I thought with your dangerous skill set”—I raised my eyebrows so she knew I meant it without censure—“you could advise me on road handling.”
Back home, a garage full of cars waited for me to take ownership. My father’s collection. But I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—touch a single one. I’d buy a car that kept its occupants safe. That could handle a wet road and a sharp turn.
The camera shifted, and Beth’s expression turned speculative. “Don’t you live in a household of men? A castle, right?”
“I do.”
She tilted her head. “Plenty of people there who could go with you on your test drives.”
I chewed my lip. Sure, I was aware of the good feeling she gave me, but I really did want her unique driving perspective. The way she’d handled that car, her precision accuracy, had stuck with me. None of the McRae brothers had the attributes Beth did. In either sense.
“I understand if you don’t want—” I began.
Beth shook her head. “I didn’t mean that. I just wondered why me, you know? I’m a great driver, but so are a lot of people. Shit, I don’t know why I’m trying to talk you out of this. I love the idea.” She paused. “But there is another issue. I’m five hundred miles away. How would we manage that?”
“Come to Scotland,” I breathed, surprising myself with my words, but my blood was fired up, and I didn’t want to stop.
At Beth’s stunned silence, I hurried on. “Your friend Mathilda is coming here next weekend to see Callum. Come with her. I’ll buy your plane ticket, and in exchange you can help me choose a car.”
“Scotland? Oh, yes please.” Then her face fell. “Except I don’t know how I can. I work every day. I’ve got shifts all weekend at one of my jobs.”
My disappointment was inexplicable, considering I knew this was a bad idea.
“We’ll find a way to make this work,” I decided.
“Sheesh, you’re determined. Um, let me sleep on it?”
I agreed, and Beth hung up on me. Then I dropped onto my bed, a mess of broken boundaries and new feelings, and pretty certain I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.