Chapter 30 Lachlan
LACHLAN
It was unlike me to feel nervous about anything, but as I stood outside Mac’s office, I hesitated a moment to take a deep bloody breath.
The truth was, since my affair with Robyn had begun, I’d been avoiding my friend. Not just because it was complicated but because I wasn’t sure I could give her up if that’s what Mac wanted. And that seemed ungrateful at best, perfidious at worst, considering Mac’s loyalty over the years.
Sucking it up, I knocked on Mac’s door.
“Come in.”
I strode in with purpose, ignored Mac’s raised eyebrow, and decided to just come out with it. I closed the door and turned to him. “I know I should never have touched Robyn in the first place … but I care about her and have long before I could even admit it to myself.”
Mac relaxed back in his chair, hands over his stomach, contemplating me. “Christ, Lachlan, do you not think I know that? You would never have touched my daughter if it was just an attraction.”
There it was. The truth I had denied for too long.
“I want to try something real with her,” I promised my friend but was honest enough to add, “I can’t promise it will work out, but I want to try.”
“No one can promise that.” Mac stood and rounded the desk. “I know you. I know you’re a good man. And if you give Robyn another reason to stay, then I’m grateful.”
I shook my head, feeling ashamed. “You’re a better man than me, Mac.”
The unspoken hung in the air between us.
Mac swallowed and looked away. “Does Robyn know?”
I nodded, studying her father. “Does that mean we’re okay?”
My friend clapped me on the shoulder, smirking. “I’m happy for you.”
“I don’t deserve her.”
“No, you don’t.” Mac chuckled. “But what man does? She’s one of a kind … but if it has to be someone, then I’m all right with it being you.”
It was the tepid blessing of a father who recognized how special his daughter was. I was okay with that. It was better than the opposite. “Thanks, Mac.”
He nodded.
Awkward tension filled the space between us. I sought to break it. “Arrochar is insisting on hosting a dinner for us all. I told her the timing couldn’t be worse.”
“Maybe it’s what we all need,” Mac disagreed. “And the paparazzi have gotten bored and fled Ardnoch for scandal elsewhere.”
Unfortunately, my members hadn’t come back.
I was in the midst of a PR nightmare on top of everything else.
Truthfully, however, I felt less stressed about it than people might imagine.
When someone had been murdered and the people you cared about were in danger, the material stuff didn’t matter so much.
And I was certain, me and my PR team could turn things around once we caught the killer.
“You’re right,” I found myself agreeing. “I’ll tell Arrochar to arrange it.”
“You okay?” I asked as Robyn and I strode toward the dining table.
Arrochar’s house was filled with the noise of my family chattering over one another.
“Mom was an only child,” Robyn said. “She doesn’t talk to her parents. Seth’s parents live in Florida, his brother in Texas.”
I raised an eyebrow in question.
She grinned. “Not used to big family dinners.”
“Oh, this is nothing,” I said, holding out a chair for her so she was between me and Mac. “When Brodan and Arran are here, usually with their flavor of the month, it’s even noisier.”
Seated around Arrochar’s large dining table was my sister, Thane, the kids, Lucy, Eredine, and Mac. The table was overlaid with food because Arro loved to cook and was good at it. I wasn’t too bad either. I’d had to be because our dad couldn’t cook, and my brothers didn’t want to try.
“This smells amazing, Arro,” Mac offered.
My sister beamed affectionately at him. “Everyone dig in.”
The next five minutes were filled with food talk. “Pass the potatoes.” “Do you want the mac and cheese?” “Try to leave some beef for the rest of us, Lewis.” “Someone put some salad on their plate, please, it’s not just there as decoration.” And so forth.
“You got enough?” I asked Robyn as I spooned more mac and cheese onto her plate.
She laughed, holding up a hand to ward me off. “More than. You trying to fatten me up?”
“I’ll take you whatever way I can get you.”
Robyn rolled her eyes, but I could tell she liked it. It made me smile harder and impulsively lean forward to kiss her, even though she was eating.
She laughed against my mouth, and I loved it.
When I pulled back, I caught Eredine’s eyes; they twinkled with joy for me.
Feeling a strange heat rise on my neck, I turned back to my plate to eat.
This was my happy place. Surrounded by family, the sound of their conversation filling my ears. With Robyn by my side, it felt more poignant.
It would only have been more perfect if Brodan and Arran were there.
“Uncle Lachlan?” a sweet, high-pitched voice asked.
Swallowing my bite, I looked down the table at Eilidh who insisted on being seated next to her favorite person in the world—Aunt Arrochar. “Yes, sweetheart?”
Eilidh bit her lip against a mischievous smile as her gaze moved to Robyn. “Is that lady your girlfriend?”
Robyn choked, and I covered my laughter with a quick cough. I glanced at Robyn as she took a drink of water. Patting her on the back, I asked, “All right there?”
At my teasing tone, she flicked me a dark look that only made me grin harder.
Turning back to Eilidh, I said, “This lady is Robyn. Remember?”
My niece nodded. “Is Robyn your girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
Out of my peripheral, I saw water spray across the table.
Eyes wide, I stared down at Robyn as she spluttered and coughed.
Strangled laughter came at us from all sides.
“Did I say something wrong?” I caressed Robyn’s back as she pulled herself together.
Even Mac chuckled at her side.
“No.” She blinked up at me as she wiped tears from her eyes. “That bit of mac and cheese just went down the wrong way.”
“Right.”
Her gorgeous eyes narrowed. “I swear if there weren’t children at this table, I would fork you.” She pointed said fork at me.
I leaned in, my lips brushing her ear as I whispered, “It’s pronounced fuck.”
I felt her shiver and smiled smugly. Easing back, I watched her struggle to contain a smile and pressed another kiss to her lips to feel it.
“This is weird,” Thane said, breaking our locked gazes.
I looked at my brother. “What is?”
“You?” But Thane was openly delighted. “Lachlan Adair … it only took him thirty-eight years, but he’s finally someone’s boyfriend. Can you be a boyfriend in your advanced years?”
“Fu—” I caught myself, glancing at the kids. “Shut up.”
Thane snorted.
“Aw, leave him alone.” Lucy nudged Thane playfully. “It’s nice.”
“Can we stop talking about it like we’re teenagers and I’m his prom date?” Robyn pressed the back of her knuckles to her cheeks.
“Oh, do we have to?” Arrochar pouted. “We’ve been waiting on a woman taking him down forever, so we have years of gentle mockery stored up.”
“Take me down? How do you know she likes to practice her wrestling skills on me?”
“Shut up.” Robyn shoved me and I snorted, enjoying her discomfort. “My dad is right there.”
“Yes, please shut up.” Mac cut me an only semi-mocking dark look.
I pressed my lips together.
“What’s wrong with that?” Lewis asked. “I like wrestling too.”
Thane threw me a “will you watch what you’re saying?” look, and I was sufficiently chastened. I nodded in apology but couldn’t stop the smile prodding my lips.
Conversation resumed to subjects other than my and Robyn’s relationship, and I enjoyed the way she easily fell into discussion with my family.
She was curious about Arrochar’s job as a forest engineer and what it entailed and genuinely interested in Thane’s work as an architect.
“I’ll take you out to our homes,” I said to her as we finished dinner and moved to the lounge to relax with drinks. “Thane designed his home and mine.”
“I’d love to see them.”
I slid my arm around her, pulling her down beside me on the couch as my family and friends surrounded us.
The kids had gone off to play in the garden; Lucy settled on the arm of Thane’s chair, the two of them lost in conversation. I ignored the twinge of concern their closeness caused, knowing Lucy was just being friendly.
As Robyn continued to chat with my sister, Eredine, and Mac, I was content to just listen, pressed to her side while my hand rested on her opposite hip.
It was a compulsion to keep her close, to touch her, to breathe her in as she laughed and teased and swapped stories of growing up in Boston with Arrochar’s stories of growing up in a tiny village.
She didn’t seem to mind my caresses, her own hand curled possessively around my knee.
Now and then, Arrochar would meet my gaze, and her genuine emotion and joy in what she observed made my chest expand with feeling.
In that moment, I knew I’d found something I hadn’t even known I’d been looking for.
I just hoped to fuck I didn’t ruin it.