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 Thane 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 Thane long for the days when they were all together. Natural-born flirts, Brodan and Eilidh gravitated toward one another, and Thane witnessed something wash away from his brother as Eilidh bewitched him. Listening to Brodan’s loud, deep laughter at Eilidh’s too-quick quips and adorable mischievousness, Thane rubbed his chest where he felt a slight ache.
He missed Brodan. He 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.
Thane watched as Regan and Robyn returned from the kitchen with more cocoa, the last for Eilidh and Lewis, before they went to bed, and his eyes narrowed as Brodan looked up to watch Regan. His brother’s gaze moved down her body, and Thane curled his hands into fists, resisting the urge to bark at him to take his bloody eyes off her.
The jealousy that surged in him when he saw Brodan press Regan into the counter was unbearable. He’d wanted to punch his brother. He hadn’t felt that urge since they were kids and Brodan crashed a football into the 3-D model of Edinburgh Castle Thane had spent months building out of Popsicle sticks.
&nb
sp; He’d also noticed Regan checking out his brother.
And he hadn’t liked it.
He didn’t like it one bit.
That was how easy it would be, he’d thought to himself, for her head to be turned once she grew bored playing house with him.
Quietly stewing over the jealousy he hated she inspired, Thane was quiet as his siblings told Robyn, Regan, and the children funny stories from their 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 Thane.
Thane found himself smiling, despite his unhappy thoughts. “At uni.”
“At uni?” Brodan scoffed. “It was his bloody plan! We were just his foot soldiers!”
Thane cut his brother an annoyed look as Arrochar turned on him. “You did not!”
Rubbing his neck sheepishly, he shrugged. “I couldn’t be there to make sure you were all right. And anyway”—he shot Lachlan a warning look—“I was only following orders.”
“No!” Arro turned on Lachlan, making them all laugh.
Lachlan grinned unrepentantly. “You were fourteen. If boys were going to date you, they needed to know what they’d be facing if they hurt you.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t get asked out again for two years!”
“Well, that was just an accidental bonus.”
Robyn shoved Lachlan playfully on Arro’s behalf, and he roared with laughter, setting them all off. Thane caught Brodan watching Regan again as she fell against Arro giggling, her dimples so damn appealing. Any amusement Thane felt died at the definite interest in Brodan’s eyes.
Not long later, when Regan announced it was bedtime for Eilidh and Lewis, Thane took them up and settled them in as he always did. Eilidh was more hyper than she’d ever been, and he regretted allowing her that final hot cocoa.
“I don’t wanna sleep, Daddy,” she growled at him in the monster voice.
“You have to, Eilidh-Bug. It’s past your bedtime.”
“But I wanna be downstairs!”
“Come on.” He lifted her into bed, pulled up the covers, and settled down beside her in one swift move. “I’ll read The Night Before Christmas to you.”
She harrumphed like an eighty-year-old but couldn’t resist snuggling into him as he slowly made his way through the Christmas book. Thankfully, despite her excitement, she was also an energetic five-year-old who needed her sleep. Her eyes closed, lashes thick and casting shadows across her chubby cheeks. Thane squeezed her closer, just watching her for a bit, preferring to feel the utter relief of knowing no one could ever take his daughter from him rather than dwell on the panic that one day soon, another female who had become precious to him would slip through his fingers like sand.
A while later, Thane came downstairs to find the adults—except for Arro, who was driving Mac home—had moved on to a glass of whisky. Brodan had somehow insinuated himself into a seat next to Regan. He had his arm stretched along the back of the couch behind her. Thane tried not to let it bother him, considering Regan was engaged in conversation with Robyn, but as he sat down at the end of the sectional, he couldn’t stop his eyes from moving to them.
Brodan was chatting with Lachlan but Thane’s eagle eyes caught his subtle movement. His brother started drawing circles on Regan’s shoulder.
His gut tightened with anger, and he was about to snap at Brodan when Regan suddenly launched herself off the sofa. “Sorry, have an itch behind my shoulder blades. Robbie, can you get it?” She crouched, and while her sister frowned at Regan’s randomness, she reached up to scratch her back.
“Got it?” Robyn asked.
“Yeah, thanks. I hate those awkward itches.” Regan grinned breezily but Thane recognized it for what it was—a fake smile. When she returned to the couch, she sat down next to him instead.
His gut unknotted.
He wanted to lay his hand on her thigh in an obnoxious, claiming gesture.
Not long later, Brodan’s cell rang.
“Damn.” He looked at the caller ID. “I need to take this.”
“At this hour?” Lachlan scowled.
“It’s my agent. He’s on LA time. I’ll just be a second.” Brodan got up and strode toward the bifolds that led outside. “Hey, what’s happening?” he asked as he opened the door.
Ice-cold air immediately encased them, and they all shivered. The door closed behind Brodan and the air warmed again.
Five minutes later, when he still hadn’t come back, Thane’s annoyance grew. It wasn’t just about his flirting with Regan; it was the fact that he hadn’t seen his family in half a year, and he couldn’t go one night without shoptalk? Aggravated, Thane got up and strode toward the bifolds.
“Thane,” Lachlan called in warning.
Thane waved him off and slipped outside onto the deck.
His breath puffed in the air as soon as he shut the doors behind him. It was fucking baltic. Shivering, he turned to find Brodan sitting on the stairs at the bottom of the deck. No phone in hand. Just staring out at the blackness beyond. While he could smell the sea and hear it lapping at the rocks below, he couldn’t see a damn thing, which was why the kids were never allowed out here in the pitch-black.
“What are you doing?” Thane sat down beside his brother, the icy wood seeping into the arse of his trousers. “It’s bloody freezing.”
Brodan shrugged. “I like it. I’ve been filming in a desert for months. This is refreshing. It’s home.”
The sound of longing in his voice made Thane frown. “Then why are you never here?”
“Because I have a life, a career.”
Thane made a huffing sound but didn’t reply.
“Anyway, you’re all doing well without me. I’ve never seen Lachlan so happy.”
“Aye, Robyn is good for him.”
“She’s pretty great.” He flicked Thane a smirk. “Her sister is tasty. Can’t imagine it’s a hardship having her around.”
That jealousy and anger flared inside him again. “You’ll stay away from Regan.”
Brodan snorted. “It’s just harmless flirting.”
“It’ll stop. You’re making her uncomfortable.”
“I’m making her uncomfortable, brother, or I’m making you uncomfortable?” All amusement fled Brodan’s expression as he stared into Thane’s eyes. “I’m not an idiot. Our family might not have noticed, but I certainly have. You watch her like a hawk. And she watches you back. A man doesn’t look at his brother like he wants to rip off his head for staring at a woman, unless he himself is fucking said woman.”
“Brodan,” he warned.
His brother held up a hand to cut him off. “I won’t tell anyone.” He stood and stared down at Thane. “But have you really thought this through, Thane? She’s a lot younger than you, she’s gorgeous, and she’s barely experienced life. I just …” he sighed heavily. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Watch yourself there.” He patted Thane’s shoulder and strode back up onto the deck to disappear inside.
Thane bowed his head, fighting a million emotions, few of them pretty. Finally, knowing they’d all wonder where he was, he took a deep, calming breath before he forced himself to return inside.
32
Regan
While our mom expec
ted way too much from Robyn in all things, she expected very little from me. I didn’t know what was worse—the pressure, or the lack of faith?
What had started out as a joyous reunion at Inverness Airport, a giddy drive to Ardnoch, and a lovely dinner with our mom and dad had changed somewhat the next day. It was Christmas Eve, and while Mac would attend Christmas dinner with us, he’d decided to not be there on the evening of the twenty-fourth. He’d offered to not attend Christmas Day, too, because he didn’t want to make Mom and Dad feel weird, but Robyn put her foot down. It was her first Christmas with her father in years, and she wasn’t missing out.
Ery and Arrochar had also forgone Christmas Eve dinner with us.
Mom and Dad were, like almost everyone on the planet, charmed by Eilidh’s effervescent personality and Lewis’s reserved adorableness. At the dinner table, I sat next to Dad. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed his big, solid presence in my life. You only had to take one look at us to know where I got most of my genes. Dad was a good man. His work got to him more than I liked, but that was because he was honorable, and unfortunately, sometimes the justice system wasn’t. I know he often felt helpless, but he made up for it by being the best goddamn detective he could be.
I was proud of him.
Dad squeezed me into his side, telling me he missed me too. “You seem happy.” He grinned with those dimples he’d bestowed upon me.
“I am.”
“Good.” He kissed my temple and returned to his plate.
I knew that my being happy in Scotland must’ve been a scary prospect for Dad, but I believed he wanted the best for me, even if that meant there was an ocean between us.
“You’ll come stay the night with us at Robyn’s,” Mom said as we discussed plans for the next day, “after Santa’s arrival.”
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