Chapter 21 Lachlan
LACHLAN
Iseethed.
Kelvin Sutherland, a nephew of Morag Sutherland, who lived in Tain and according to Arrochar was newly divorced, slow danced with Robyn.
His hands were too close to her arse.
Jealousy.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt jealous over a woman.
Ever?
But I couldn’t deny the burn in my gut or the agitated way my fingers curled into fists as I watched Kelvin flirt outrageously with Robyn.
The woman had been driving me nuts for weeks, but coming downstairs into reception tonight dressed in that fucking dress, she’d almost unmanned me.
My eyes drifted down her perfect arse to her long, sculpted legs, and I felt the heat building in me, heat that had started to simmer at the top of the evening, now beginning to boil over.
I could kill Lucy for lending that dress to Robyn.
It left little to the imagination but just enough to taunt me into a fever.
The neckline might have been modest in comparison to the hemline, but the material contoured her body, molding breasts that were obviously more than a handful.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
It wasn’t just that Robyn had an amazing body.
It never was about that.
There was something about her.
I’d never wanted inside a woman so badly in my life, to watch and listen and feel her come around me. The need was madness.
And the dress … well, the dress just tipped me over an edge I’d been teetering on for weeks.
“Do I have to intervene?” My brother’s voice sounded at my ear.
Reluctantly, I dragged my gaze off Robyn and Kelvin to find Thane at my side.
My brother smirked.
I scowled. “What?”
Thane nodded toward the dance floor. “You’re making it pretty obvious.”
I clenched my jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact that you’ve been prowling around Mac’s daughter all night and while she might be oblivious to it, the rest of us aren’t. Including your date.”
“What?” I blinked. Shit. Leighanne. I glanced around, searching for her. “Where is she?”
“Last I checked, sitting in the empty reception room, staring sadly out the window.” Thane clapped me on the shoulder.
“Think you might have gotten this one’s hopes up, brother.
I suggest you go apologize for some hurt feelings.
That way we won’t have you brawling with Kelvin Sutherland over Robyn. ”
Feeling defensive, I brushed Thane’s hand off my shoulder without a word and went in search of Leighanne.
It took a lot of self-control not to look back at Robyn, but I was a grown man.
A slightly drunk one, but I had enough of my faculties together to remind myself I didn’t want people gossiping that I was mooning over the woman.
Finding Leighanne exactly where Thane said she was, at the other side of the hotel in the small, empty sitting room off reception, I took a seat beside her on the sofa.
“You okay?”
She picked at an invisible thread on her purse. “I wondered when you’d notice I wasn’t there.”
Despite the fact we both knew this was just a casual thing, it was still bloody rude and hurtful of me to not pay attention to the woman I’d invited as my date. “I’m sorry.”
“You know, I thought she might be lying because she had a thing for you … but then I watched you … and she’s right. It’s not her, it’s you. You can’t keep your eyes off her.”
“What are you talking about?”
Leighanne guffawed. “Oh, come on, Lachlan, it’s so obvious you fancy the pants off Mac’s daughter. It wasn’t to me at first, but then she told me you kissed her, that you propositioned her—”
“What?” I bit out angrily. What the bloody devil was Robyn playing at?
“That’s what she said. Was she lying?”
No. But what right did she have to tell Leighanne?
Unless … she was jealous too?
The thought filled me with satisfaction, just as much as it pissed me off that she’d interfered with me and Leighanne.
“I think we should end this, Lachlan, before my feelings become any more involved.”
I shouldn’t have invited her to the ceilidh. Thane was right. I’d sent the wrong message by doing so, and it was selfish. “I’m sorry, Leighanne. You deserve better.”
She shrugged. “You never made any promises. And it was fun while it lasted. That’s what I’ll take from it.”
“Then you’re a better person than I am.” I pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek. “Thank you.”
She patted my hand and stood. “Do you mind if the driver takes me back to the castle so I can collect my things?”
“Stay.” I stood too. “You can drive back in the morning.”
“No. I’d like to leave,” she said, chin set stubbornly. “I haven’t been drinking.”
I knew that. Leighanne was teetotal. She’d never said why, and I’d never asked. “Then at least let one of my men drive you back to Glasgow. It’ll make me feel better.”
“I’m a big girl, Lachlan. I can drive myself home.”
Sensing I wasn’t going to win the argument, I said, “I’m coming back with you to the castle.”
“No!” She winced and softened her tone. “I just want to be alone. Stay. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
I sighed. “Let me know when you get home safely.”
Leighanne smirked. “Okay, Dad.”
Seconds later, I watched from the hotel’s main entrance as my driver, Dave, pulled away with Leighanne in the back of the Range Rover.
Upon removing my phone from my sporran, I dialed security at the castle.
Explaining the situation, I offered overtime to one of my men to follow Leighanne back to Glasgow to make sure she arrived home safely.
After hanging up, I stared out onto the empty Castle Street, lit only by the old-fashioned streetlamps and the moon above in a clear, starry sky.
Guilt was a feeling I hated. I suffered enough of it on a daily basis because of my brothers; I did not want to feel it over a woman. Especially when my words hadn’t chased off Leighanne.
Robyn’s had.
If left to our own devices, I could’ve had a nice evening with Leighanne and then let her down gently in the morning. Now she would drive all the way back to Glasgow during the bloody night just to get away from me.
The jealousy seething inside me mingled with anger and frustration toward Robyn.
Determined not to make a scene, to wait until morning to tell Robyn off for her interference, it was like the fates had other ideas. When I turned around and strode back into the hotel, Robyn strolled out of the dining room and collided with me.
I steadied her, the feel of her warm and supple in my arms.
And any thought of leaving this confrontation until morning fled my mind.
Robyn startled and opened her mouth to speak when her eyes widened ever so slightly at my expression.
“Come with me,” I demanded, guiding her toward Gordon’s office, down the narrow corridor by the reception desk to the end of the hall to the left.
“Where are we going? I can walk on my own, you know,” Robyn protested.
I didn’t reply. I wasn’t thinking straight. Instead, I reached Gordon’s office, prayed it was open, muttered a cursed thank-you as the door swung inward, and after quickly checking over Robyn’s shoulder to make sure no one was around, I pulled her inside and shut the door.
“Lachlan,” she said hoarsely as dark surrounded us.
I could feel her body heat, smell her perfume.
“Turn on the light, please,” she clipped out.
The edge in her voice had me reaching behind her for the light switch. She sucked in an audible breath as my body brushed against hers, and I couldn’t help my smirk of satisfaction.
Light flooded the room. Gordon’s office was small—just big enough for a desk and some filing cabinets.
Robyn blinked up at me and then looked around. She moved past me to stand near the desk. “Is this Gordon’s office?”
“Yes.” I turned to face her.
“We shouldn’t be in here.” She took a step toward the door, and I stood in her way. “Are you kidding me?”
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About your obvious jealousy over Leighanne.” I was baiting her; I didn’t know how to stop myself.
Just as I knew she would, Robyn guffawed. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
“Did you or did you not tell her about our kiss?”
She scoffed, “Yes, but not for the reason you think.”
“Explain it to me, then.”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“Then I’ll stick to my jealousy theory.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Fine. I didn’t want Leighanne getting hurt, and it was obvious from our conversation that you two were on different pages.”
“What did she say?” I asked curiously.
“I’m not telling you that. It’s her business, and you don’t need to know it.”
“Well, she’s gone.”
“Because of a stupid kiss that didn’t mean anything?”
Agitation flared in my gut. “She thought we were heading somewhere we weren’t.”
Robyn nodded as if she already knew that. I assumed that’s what she meant regarding her conversation with Leighanne.
So it wasn’t jealousy?
Robyn glared. “You didn’t treat her very well. Are you like that with all your women?”
I took offense. “She knew the rules. I would never mislead a woman.”
“Whatever you say.” She began to walk by me to the door, and a sudden panic seized me.
And so I took hold of her upper arm.
Robyn flushed angrily and jerked away. “What are you doing?”
Let her go, let her go, let her go.
But I couldn’t think straight when she was this close, her lush mouth just a bend of my head away. Want. That’s all I could feel and think.
I kissed her.
My nose filled with the scent of her perfume, my tongue the taste of whisky. And Robyn.
Groaning, I released her arm to pull her into me, and it took me a moment to realize her hands were on my chest pressing me away, not toward me.
Fuck.
I released her, panting hard from just a kiss.
Robyn’s cheeks were flushed; her eyes, now a dark blue-gray beneath the harsh ceiling light in Gordon’s office, were bright with confusion. Her lips glistened as they parted. But no words were forthcoming.
Disappointment and rejection ate at me as I removed my hands from her hips.
“Fuck it,” she whispered as she hooked a hand around my nape and pulled me down to crush our mouths together.
Relief and satisfaction flooded me as my mouth explored hers while my hands explored her supple body.
Needing every inch of her wrapped around me, I carried her to the desk until her arse was on it, and then I shoved the hem of her tight dress up her silky thighs so she could spread them.
“You know the rules?” I broke our kiss as I insinuated myself between her legs. I throbbed against her. “You know what this is?”
Robyn nodded, eyes low-lidded with desire, hips arching off the desk to push into me. “Just sex.”
Just sex, I thought as I kissed her harder, deeper, as I caressed her body, frustrated by the material of her dress that kept me from bare skin. Not just sex. Mindless, exciting fucking.
Want.
Need.
Robyn.
I cupped her breasts in my hands, massaging them through her dress, rocking into her body with my desire to see her naked. There wasn’t time. Not here.
Naked could come later.
For now, I just needed to be surrounded by her.
Fumbling in my sporran for the condom I’d half-jokingly put in there, I realized the sporran was in the way and unbelted it. Dropping it to the floor, I ripped at the condom packet with my teeth, staring into Robyn’s lust-filled eyes.
A little smirk played around her lips as I rolled the condom on under my kilt.
“Not a true Scotsman, then?” she teased a little breathlessly, having caught sight of my underwear.
I grinned. “No one needs to see balls and cock flying everywhere during a ceilidh.”
She laughed, and the sound pleased me more than I’d expected.
The sound abruptly changed to an excited gasp when I slid my hands under her arse and jerked her to the edge of the desk.
Curling my fingers around her silky underwear, I removed them quickly, dropping them to the floor on top of my sporran.
Then I checked her readiness, fingers searching gently, slipping inside her with ease at finding her hot and wet.
I groaned against her mouth before kissing her, licking at her tongue with mine, desperate to deepen the kiss until she was breathless with need.
Robyn’s fingers clawed at my back, trying to hold me closer, and I answered her silent request, guiding myself to her.
Nudging.
Then pushing in.
I grunted as her tight heat surrounded my tip, and the urge to see her face as I moved inside her overtook all else. I broke our kiss to watch her.
Robyn fisted my waistcoat in her hands, her inner thighs drawing up tight against my hips. Unfortunately, my kilt covered us as I thrust the rest of the way into her so I couldn’t watch, but the feel of her was enough to satisfy any man.
Her lips parted on a cry, her head falling back, and my hungry ardor became a desperate craving.
Anchoring her hips in my hands, I began to thrust. Hard, deep drives punctuated by Robyn’s growing cries.
Every sound of pleasure that fell from her lips drove me quicker toward climax.
I imagined fucking her naked in my bed, watching myself move inside her, her breasts shaking with every pump into her body.
“I’m close, I’m close,” Robyn panted.
Satisfaction, and not a little smugness, thrummed through me, and I increased the power of my strokes, each one pushing me closer to orgasm.
Then Robyn stiffened, her eyes grew round, and her back arched.
She throbbed around me in powerful waves of climax that along with her loud yell of pleasure was the equivalent of a tight-fisted tug.
My climax hit me with unexpected force, and I shuddered almost violently as I came.
Chest heaving with the strength of it, I came down from the orgasm to realize I leaned on Robyn, my forehead resting on her shoulder.
It took me a minute to gather my thoughts.
We’d just had sex on Gordon’s desk.
In a public place.
It was a quick fuck.
Fantastic.
And not nearly enough.
At the slight pressure of Robyn’s hands on my chest, I reluctantly withdrew from her.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
I watched her warily as I dealt with the condom, finding tissues on Gordon’s desk so I could wrap and flush it. I wasn’t going to leave the thing in the man’s bloody rubbish bin.
Goddamn it. I’d had sex in Gordon’s office like an irresponsible teenager.
And yet I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Would she?
Still not looking at me, Robyn found her underwear and shimmied into them.
I was amazed to find the blood rushing south again at the sight of her long, gorgeous legs.
I wanted to kiss every inch of them, make my way upward to her inner thighs to bury my head there and lick and suck until she begged for more.
Definitely not enough.
“Come back to the castle with me.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
To my shock, Robyn shook her head.
This bloody woman … “We both know that wasn’t enough.”
“I know.” She surprised me. “But no overnight stays. Just sex. Remember.”
And before I could say anything else, she strutted out of the office as if we’d merely had a little chat.
I grinned at her power play.
Christ, she was fun.