Prologue
Every love story has a beginning, a middle, and an end—but sometimes the cycle repeats, over and over, until the two idiots finally come to their senses. For Alex Thorne and Catriona MacTaggart, the cycle has a little bit of help with those repeats. That help comes from Cat's three brothers, their American wives, her two sisters, and a large cast of meddling cousins. The entire MacTaggart clan wants to see Cat and Alex's love story unfold to a final conclusion, but what will that conclusion be?
Maybe they'll realize they belong together.
Or maybe they'll kill each other.
Either way, the epic tale of their road to that end starts at their second beginning—the day they saw each other again for the first time in more than eleven years. It happened at the castle owned by Rory MacTaggart, Catriona's brother, on a green lawn with the sun shining and every MacTaggart in attendance for the Highland games. Cat's cousin Logan brought Alex here, knowing full well she would blow her top when she saw the man who broke her heart.
After she punched him in the gut, things should have settled down. But Cat is a MacTaggart, and their clan is the most stubborn bunch of Scots in the world. Logan and his wife, Serena, witnessed the argument between Cat and Alex right after their reunion, but only the two idiots themselves know exactly what was said.
Them and you. As you're about to discover.
Dùndubhan Castle
Scotland
Catriona dragged Alex off the green, through the door in the castle wall—slamming it shut, for dramatic effect and to keep her meddling relatives away—and towed him into the center of the garden. A beautiful arbor stood nearby, overflowing with rose vines. The scent of the flowers made no impression on either of them. Neither did the flowering bushes or the stunning blue sky above their heads. No, they were too busy glaring at each other.
Well, she was glaring. Alex was affecting an air of amused disinterest, his favorite expression.
"How dare you be here," she said. "In my country. I should call the Home Office and report an ersehole is in the country illegally."
"I'm not here illegally. If you'll calm down and try to behave like a rational adult, I'll explain."
"Rational? How was it rational for you to invade my world again?"
"Yes, of course," he said with immense sarcasm, "it's your world. The entirety of Scotland belongs to Catriona MacTaggart. I suppose you've made sure every citizen knows about the dangerous British Bastard. Better lock up all the Scots lasses before I defile and devour them."
He opened his mouth like a ravening beast.
She scowled at him. "I was arrested because of you, Alex. You cannae stop yourself, can ye? Being a lying scunner is your true nature, and I wish I'd realized that before we ever had a poke, much less moved in together." She jabbed a finger into his chest repeatedly, once for every syllable when she said, "You are the worst human being on earth."
"Worse than Hitler? How about Jack the Ripper? Or Charles Manson? Does the Limey Louse outdo all of them?"
Repeating all the nasty names Cat had invented for him over the years, without his knowledge until a few days ago, seemed like the best way to knock sense into her thick Scottish skull. Not that it worked. She was much too stubborn to give in so easily.
Cat bowed her head, pulling in a ragged breath, and looked up at him with tears shimmering in her eyes. "I loved you, Alex. Didn't that matter to you at all? Using me in one of your bloody schemes to— What were you doing, anyway? Why was I arrested for smuggling antiquities?"
"It was a misunderstanding."
"Bollocks. You always know exactly what you're doing."
"The police had the wrong information, that's all. I got you out of jail later that day. The charges were dropped."
"You think that makes everything all right?" She jabbed her finger into his chest again, harder than before. "Stop lying. For once in your life, tell the truth."
"I have told you the truth." He fisted his hands at his sides, fisted them so hard his shoulders bunched. "Why don't you try believing me?"
She threw her head back and growled. "Why in the world should I?"
Deep down, in a part of himself he'd tried very hard to suppress, he wanted to tell her believe me because you love me. But he didn't say that. He couldn't. She had no reason to love him anymore, not after all the years they'd been apart and the things that happened to split them in two.
Cat did not love him. He didn't love her anymore either. Absolutely not.
"Not going to answer?" she demanded, sounding wildly sarcastic even while tears rolled down her cheeks. "You are a bastard, Alex Thorne. You might as well be dead because I will never forgive you."
He flung his arms up, then spread them wide as he bent to level their gazes. "Go on and kill me, then. Grab a rock and beat me to death. But you haven't got the nerve for that, have you? Acting like a spoiled child is the best you can manage. Grow up, Catriona. But no, you won't do that because you've got your sainted brothers to do your dirty work for you."
She squeezed her eyes shut but couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face faster and hotter, their saltiness seeping between her lips to poison her tongue.
"What the fuck do you want from me?" he shouted loud enough that his voice echoed off the walls of the castle compound.
She raised her head and shouted, "Nothing!"
He shoved both hands into his hair, head bowed, shoulders caving in.
Catriona stared at him, but she couldn't see his face, his expression, to know if their argument had affected him in any way other than anger. Had he ever cared about her at all? Or had it been an act, some sort of horrible con? To what end? She didn't know, and Alex would never tell her.
She swiped at her eyes with the hem of her shirt. "I can't ever have anything to do with you again."
He grunted, like he didn't care a whit about what she'd said, but he couldn't quite reassert his disinterested expression.
"Maybe one day," she said, "you'll sort yourself and stop seeing everyone as a pawn in your never-ending games. But you won't, will you? I feel sorry for you, Alex, because you've cursed yourself to be miserable for the rest of your life."
He lifted his head to scowl at her but said nothing.
Tears burned in her eyes anew, and she hurried out of the garden so he wouldn't see her crying anymore. She had to escape him. But could she ever really do that? He'd stayed buried in her heart, deep in a hidden place, for more than eleven years.
Alex stayed in the garden and endured the well-meaning but bloody annoying attempt by Logan and Serena to make him feel better. They'd sneaked in through the garden without Alex or Cat noticing, but then, they'd been rather absorbed in their shouting match. Logan and Serena were terrible at consoling him, but he appreciated their effort. Cat was right about one thing. He was cursed. Damned, actually. Salvation had been too much to hope for, of course. Not that he wanted or needed Cat to forgive him. Not that he still loved her.