The Adairs seemed to have a way of getting under a person’s skin, I thought somewhat morosely as I made my way through the hotel’s ground floor to the restrooms.
There was a line outside the ladies’, of course.
So much for a moment to myself.
I wasn’t waiting long when a voice said behind me, “Oh good, someone I know.”
The Glaswegian accent made me tense, but I refused to show any outward discomfort as I turned to Leighanne. “Hey. Enjoying your night?”
She slumped against the wall at her back, fanning herself. “Aye, but it’s so warm in here.”
“Yeah.”
“You?”
“Yeah. My first ceilidh.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you think?”
“It’s great fun,” I said truthfully.
She leaned into me conspiratorially. “It’s amazing how all the locals treat Lachlan and Lucy like they’re not famous.”
“It is. I know Lucy appreciates it.”
Leighanne wrinkled her nose. “Hmm, she’s hard to get a read on. I think she’s jealous of me and Lachlan.”
“Lucy’s my friend,” I warned her.
“Oh, I mean no disrespect. I like her … but I think she definitely has a thing for Lachlan.”
“No, I can assure you she doesn’t.”
Leighanne seemed to want to argue but dropped it. “Not that I have anything to worry about.”
“Because you’re just casual?”
She shrugged, a secretive, intimate smile on her face. “I think we might be more than that. I mean, it’s obvious he’s not interested in anyone else. He called me up here because he’s had a long dry spell. So even though we don’t see each other for weeks, I now know he hasn’t even thought about touching someone else. I can just … tell”—she grinned giddily—“that it’s me he wants. Not just sex.”
Oh dear God.
Guilt and concern niggled me. “Um …” I couldn’t let her go on thinking that. Lachlan would break her heart. “I … maybe you should discuss this with Lachlan. Like … right away.”
Leighanne narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“I think you might have your wires crossed.”
“What do you know?”
Why did I feel so guilty? I shrugged, apologetic. “That he and I have made out a few times, and he’s made it clear he’d like”—there was no other way but to be blunt—“to have sex … if the situation weren’t so complicated with Mac. I’m not interested,” I hurried to assure her with an outright lie, “but I thought you should know so he doesn’t hurt you. I’m sorry.”
She reared back like a wounded animal.
“I am sorry.”
Leighanne gave me a sad, bitter smile. “Better coming from you than mortifying myself in front of him.” She turned on her heel and marched away.
I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath, wondering if I’d done the right thing.
And if I’d done it for the right reasons.
21
Lachlan
Lachlan seethed.
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.
Lachlan couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt jealous over a woman.
Ever?
But he couldn’t deny the burn in his gut or the agitated way his fingers curled into fists as he watched Kelvin flirt outrageously with Robyn.
The woman had been driving him nuts for weeks, but coming downstairs into reception tonight dressed in that fucking dress, she’d almost unmanned him.
His eyes drifted down her perfect ass to her long, sculpted legs, and Lachlan felt the heat building in him, heat that had started to simmer at the top of the evening, now beginning to boil over. He could kill Lucy for lending that dress to Robyn. It left little to the imagination but just enough to taunt him 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.
He’d never wanted inside a woman so badly in his life, to watch and listen and feel her come around him. The need was madness.
And the dress … well, the dress just tipped him over an edge he’d been teetering on for weeks.
“Do I have to intervene?” His brother’s voice sounded at his ear.
Reluctantly, Lachlan dragged his gaze off Robyn and Kelvin to find Thane at his side.
His brother smirked at him.
He scowled. “What?”
Thane nodded toward the dance floor. “You’re making it pretty obvious.”
Lachlan clenched his 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?” Lachlan blinked. Shit. Leighanne. He glanced around, searching for her. “Where is she?”
“Last I checked, sitting in the empty reception room, staring sadly out the window.” Thane clapped him 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, Lachlan brushed Thane’s hand off his shoulder without a word and went in search of Leighanne. It took a lot of self-control not to look back at Robyn, but he was a grown man. A slightly drunk one, but he had enough of his faculties together to remind himself he didn’t want people gossiping that he 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, Lachlan 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 they both knew this was just a casual thing, it was still bloody rude and hurtful of him to not pay attention to the woman he’d invited as his 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?” he 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 Lachlan with satisfaction, just as much as it pissed him off that she’d interfered with him and Leighanne.