He gave me a soft, tender smile that caused an ache deep in my chest.
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Like you didn’t already ask Arro?”
I chuckled, sliding into the seat she’d vacated. “Okay, I did.”
“I’m fine.” He assured me. “Feeling much better and ready to get the hell out of here. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. You have no idea how awful it is to be in here this long.”
“Actually, I do,” I blurted out.
Mac’s eyes sharpened, his face clouding over. “Robyn?”
I hadn’t come here that morning with the intention of telling him the truth. That conversation was supposed to happen later. But after talking to Lucy about how cowardly I’d felt ever since I’d arrived in Scotland, the words just spilled out before I could stop them. “I’m not a cop anymore because last year, I was shot in the line of duty. I almost died.”
My father turned a worrying shade of chalk.
12
Lachlan
The Cromarty Bridge sat low on the firth, and on a cold, dreich spring day where the water reflected the weariness in the clouds, it felt almost as though the wheels of his SUV were touching distance from it. The softly rolling farmland on the opposite side of the water was a lush green or hay gold on a warm summer’s day, yet today, Lachlan could barely make out the land through the constant misty haze that hovered over the banks of the Cromarty Firth.
Mac was finally being discharged from hospital, and Lachlan was on his way to collect him. He wanted to bring Mac to the estate where his staff could look after him, including the security team. But, as always, his friend was a stubborn bastard, and he wanted to be taken to his cottage, where he had no help while he recuperated.
Lachlan hadn’t given up trying to convince him otherwise. He’d give it another go once he reached the hospital. Part of him just wanted to drive the mule to the castle despite his inevitable protests.
The drive from Ardnoch to the hospital in Inverness was a straightforward journey following the A9 road almost the entire way. Still, Lachlan would be glad to have Mac back at Ardnoch. Not just for the convenience of it but because it unsettled him to have the man so far away with no protection. Mac would chafe if he knew Lachlan worried about him. Until now, Lachlan thought sourly, he’d never had any cause. Part of him had almost believed his ex-bodyguard was invincible.
A little under twenty minutes from the hospital, Lachlan’s phone rang through the car system. The screen in the middle of the dash told him it was Leighanne. For a second, he considered not answering because he was so distracted. Then it occurred to him that he’d been distracted for weeks, and if he was abiding by that rule, he’d never answer the phone again.
He hit the answer button. “Leighanne.”
“Hi, you. I haven’t caught you at a bad time, have I?” She had a light, high voice that always sounded on the verge of laughter.
“I wouldn’t have answered if you had,” he replied honestly.
“True. I was just calling to see if you had time to visit this weekend? It’s been awhile, and I … well, I’m horny as hell.” She laughed.
Lachlan smiled. “As much as I’d like to help you with that, I can’t leave the estate anytime soon.”
“Oh? Problems?”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel. Their relationship was casual. Sex only. They’d both gone into it knowing that. And Lachlan barely trusted anyone with the personal details of his business, or his life, for that matter, let alone a woman he only met up with to fuck in a five-star hotel on weekends. “No. Just busy.”
“Too busy to get off with something other than your right hand?”
“Who said I’m not?” He wasn’t, but that wasn’t the point.
Leighanne hesitated and then chuckled. It sounded fake. “Right.”
Irritation and guilt filled him. The guilt only made him feel more irritated. Why did women do this? They agreed to the rules and then got hurt when he stuck to them.
“I’ll just go out on the prowl,” Leighanne said with forced levity. He knew it was forced because her voice rose an octave. “Find someone else to keep me company this weekend.”
Tone friendly, reflecting that he had no issue with her doing so, he replied, “You should do that. Be safe, though. Go with some friends.”
Her burst of laughter sounded disbelieving. “Right. Of course. I guess … I guess I’ll call you later, then?”
“Have a good weekend. Bye.”
“Bye, babe.” She hesitated again.
Lachlan frowned at the awkward silence and then tapped the button on his wheel to hang up.
He could do with some stress relief, and sex was his favorite tension reliever. Wasn’t it for most men? There was no one he could fuck at Ardnoch except Lucy, and he would never go back down that road. Her friendship meant too much. Every other option was too close to home, and a liability. Especially now.
Robyn’s face flashed in his mind, and Lachlan tensed. The woman had been on the estate every other day for the past week, either working out with Eredine and Lucy or touring the place. Everywhere he turned, he caught glimpses of a defiant chin and hair of indiscriminate color. It bothered the fuck out of him that he was being chased around his own castle, hiding from a mere slip of a woman.
But he was doing it for Mac’s sake. Robyn agitated Lachlan, and he was likely to say something to upset her that would get back to Mac and cause problems between him and his friend.
The woman wasn’t worth that.
However, she was worth something to Mac. So Lachlan would continue to avoid her, even in his own home, if it meant playing nice for his friend. No one could blame him for finding her abrasive. She was cocky and superior and looked down her nose at him.
He sighed. Heavily. Okay, so sometimes she wasn’t all that. She could be funny. And the last time they’d spoken, she showed a side of herself Lachlan wasn’t expecting.
A vulnerability.
If he was honest with himself, that’s when he’d decided to avoid her.
So lost in his thoughts, Lachlan realized he was already on the Kessock Bridge and a mere ten minutes from the hospital. Shoving thoughts of large, hazel eyes (Were they even hazel? Why was everything about the woman so bloody contradictory and changing?) out of his mind, Lachlan considered the best way to convince Mac to stay at the castle.
By the time he arrived, he’d still thought of nothing that might persuade Mac. All he had left was brute force and the fact that he was the one driving the damn vehicle.
A woman strode out of the main entrance and gave him a double glance, her lips parting in surprise. Used to people recognizing him, Lachlan offered her a tight-lipped nod of acknowledgment while her cheeks flushed with the thrill some people seemed to get at crossing paths with a famous person. Before she could whip out her phone and ask for a selfie, Lachlan marched inside the hospital. He was lucky to call Ardnoch home. It was a place where people thought of him as an Adair rather than an ex-Hollywood actor.
Venturing farther afield wasn’t so bad these days. Not like it was at the height of his career. Back then, he couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized. Now he could. But the fame still lingered like a vulture he couldn’t shake off.