Chapter 31 Regan
REGAN
The Tuesday before Christmas, I got my first taste of what living in Ardnoch would be like during the summer.
While I’d caught only a few glimpses of famous actors in the village over the past few months (and it was never not weird!), Robyn had warned me that summer and Christmastime were when the paparazzi arrived because that was when a lot of members descended upon the club.
And the paps were particularly interested in one of Hollywood’s current golden boys, Brodan Adair. That he was spotted at Inverness Airport had signaled he was returning home, and the vultures chased after him.
Brodan and Lachlan had to set up security at the bottom of the country lane into our homes to deter the paparazzi from coming near the houses. They camped outside the castle to catch glimpses of celebrities coming and going. Very few guests ventured into the village, however, when the paps swarmed.
It was crazy, though. I didn’t like it at all.
The village took on a tense vibe. Everyone was in guarded, protective mode, and I wished the assholes would just leave.
Thankfully, school finished up the day after Brodan arrived, so we only had one morning where the paparazzi surrounded the SUV and had to be pushed back by the security team.
Still, the flash of camera lights into the car was blinding, and I told Eilidh and Lewis to cover their eyes.
The kids handled it better than I did, having grown up with this and understanding (Lewis more so than Eilidh) that their uncles were famous.
They were too young to see any of their movies, though, so I think it was still an abstract idea for them.
That Wednesday night, the whole crew congregated at Thane’s for dinner—Thane, the kids, Robyn, Lachlan, Arro, Mac, Eredine, and Brodan.
I noted throughout dinner that Eredine was even more monosyllabic than usual, and Thane’s younger brother’s gaze was drawn to her more than a few times as he answered questions about his latest movie.
I studied them, but Eredine never once looked over at him.
When she insisted on leaving right after dinner, claiming a headache, Lachlan shot his brother a frustrated look before seeing her to the door.
Now I was intrigued. While Ery was reserved, she still liked to be around us and usually left when everyone else did.
What about Brodan discomfited her so much?
“So … you’re the nanny.”
I turned from my spot in the kitchen where I’d been making hot cocoa for Eilidh and Lewis (a task that multiplied when all the adults decided they wanted their own, with a dash of whisky), to find Brodan sauntering toward me.
A quick glance across the large room told me everyone was on the sectional with the children, laughing and chatting. Thane’s attention, however, was on us in the kitchen.
Looking at Brodan, I quirked an eyebrow. “I am indeed. And you’re the wayward brother.”
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “I am? I thought that was Arran.”
“I think it’s both of you now.”
He frowned and lowered his gaze toward the mugs. “Can I help?”
“You can grab the whipped cream out of the fridge.”
Those pale-blue eyes of his, the same shade as Arro’s, rose to meet mine. His lips twitched, reminding me of Thane. “If I had a penny for every time a woman has said that to me.”
I tried not to smile, but he made it difficult. It was already proven that I was not immune to a charming Scotsman. “Just get the cream.”
“At your service,” he teased as he went to do so.
I looked over my shoulder as he moved across the room to the refrigerator, and I couldn’t help but notice him.
Brodan was as tall as Lachlan but even broader in the shoulders, his biceps sculpted and movie-star impressive beneath his formfitting cashmere sweater.
His waist tapered dramatically in a perfect Captain America V, and I couldn’t look too long at his ass because it made me guilty for appreciating it.
You could crack a rock, never mind an egg, on that thing.
Like all the brothers, Brodan had sandy-blond hair and, like Lachlan, he sported designer stubble.
Focusing on the hot cocoa, I was a little startled to feel the heat of him at my back as I worked.
“Whipped cream, my lady,” Brodan overpronounced the words, making them sound dirty as he placed the can down in front of me. His body brushed my back with the movement.
I stiffened. “Thanks.” I tried to move away, but there was little space. He had me sandwiched between him and the counter. If Thane was still watching us, this did not look good.
“Do I make you nervous?” Brodan asked softly.
I turned my head to meet his gaze. “No, but you are in my personal space.”
He smirked. “Your personal space smells very nice.”
This close to him, I saw something in his eyes that I recognized. Something weary and a little desperate, pushed back under charm and cheekiness. It was like looking in a freaking mirror.
What had happened to him?
At whatever he saw on my face, his expression fell. Wariness settled over him, and he eased back. “So, you’re really the nanny?” he asked, and I wondered if it was to distract me from what I’d just seen.
“I think we’ve established I am in fact the nanny.”
Brodan grinned, and it was so much like his brothers’, I couldn’t help it; fondness crept over me despite him trying to flirt. “You’re just wandering around my big brother’s house? Day in and day out.”
I narrowed my eyes at the insinuation in his voice. “Meaning?”
“You’re very beautiful.”
“I’m also good at my job.” I grabbed the whipped cream, expertly swirled it over the top of two mugs, and then sprinkled them both with chocolate curls.
Shoving the cocoas at Brodan, I said through clenched teeth, “Why don’t you take these to the niece and nephew you never see?
They could do with your attention more than I could. ”
A flash of anger made his eyes seem bluer, but he took the mugs, gave me an abrupt nod, and marched out of the kitchen.
“Hey, kids! Look what Uncle Bro made you!”
I grimaced and caught Thane’s gaze across the room. His expression was unreadable, but when I rolled my eyes at Brodan’s audacity, Thane smiled and got up from the couch.
“Need help?” he asked as he strolled into the kitchen.
“Yes, please.” I pushed mugs toward him.
Then he touched on my lower back and I looked at him in surprise before glancing over at our guests. No one was looking.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. Your brother is harmless.”
The muscle in his jaw ticked, but he just nodded and took the mugs I’d passed him and carried them over to Robyn and Lachlan.
I hoped Thane wasn’t jealous of that brief moment in the kitchen.
His brother probably flirted with everything in a skirt.
And while I could notice how good-looking he was and what an amazing body he had, he didn’t inspire a visceral reaction in me.
Sometimes I got turned on just from Thane’s smile.
He did it for me in a way no man ever had.
And I wished I could tell him without scaring him off.
THANE
Brodan’s arrival home for the Christmas holidays filled me with a strange mix of relief and agitation. His visits were becoming few and far between, and he didn’t know his niece and nephew very well anymore.
Watching him with them made me long for the days when we were all together.
Natural-born flirts, Brodan and Eilidh gravitated toward one another, and I witnessed something wash away from my brother as Eilidh bewitched him.
Listening to Brodan’s loud, deep laughter at Eilidh’s too-quick quips and adorable mischievousness, I rubbed my chest where I felt a slight ache.
I missed Brodan. I missed Arran. Arran, who’d called Brodan to let him know he couldn’t make it back for Christmas but to send along his best wishes. His fucking best wishes.
I watched as Regan and Robyn returned from the kitchen with more cocoa, the last for Eilidh and Lewis, before they went to bed, and my eyes narrowed as Brodan looked up to watch Regan.
My brother’s gaze moved down her body, and I curled my hands into fists, resisting the urge to bark at him to take his bloody eyes off her.
The jealousy that surged in me when I saw Brodan press Regan into the counter was unbearable. I’d wanted to punch my brother. I hadn’t felt that urge since we were kids and Brodan crashed a football into the 3-D model of Edinburgh Castle I had spent months building out of Popsicle sticks.
I’d also noticed Regan checking out my brother.
And I hadn’t liked it.
I didn’t like it one bit.
That was how easy it would be, I’d thought to myself, for her head to be turned once she grew bored playing house with me.
Quietly stewing over the jealousy I hated she inspired, I was quiet as my siblings told Robyn, Regan, and the children funny stories from our childhood.
“Uh, how about the time you and Arran crashed my first date?” Arrochar glowered at Brodan.
“They did not?” Regan gaped at her in horror.
“Oh, aye, they did. Blake Burnside asked me out in third year. I was so happy because all my other friends had already been on dates, and I worried no one fancied me. His mum drove us to the cinema in Inverness and was going to pick us up after. And we’re sitting in the cinema and Blake had just got up the nerve to take my hand when there’s all this scuffling around us.
I look to the empty seat next to Blake, and it’s not empty anymore.
Brodan’s in it. And suddenly Arran is in the seat next to me. They mortified me!”
“Where were you?” Robyn tried not to laugh as she addressed her fiancé.
Lachlan grinned. “On a movie set somewhere.”
“And you?” Regan asked me.
I found myself smiling, despite my unhappy thoughts. “At uni.”
“At uni?” Brodan scoffed. “It was his bloody plan! We were just his foot soldiers!”
I cut my brother an annoyed look as Arrochar turned on me. “You did not!”