Scotland or Bust

by Kira Archer

  “Oh my, no. I’ve got guests to serve.” She waved a hand at the other patrons of the shop. “I had to come and see my favorite customer.”

  “Ah, you know I just come to see you.”

  She gave a delicate snort at that. “You come for my lemon tarts. I’ve got a box of them ready to go when you leave.”

  “Ruby, you truly are an angel.” He took her hand and kissed it, and she giggled and fondly ruffled his hair. “You old flatterer you.”

  She turned to Nikki who sat staring at them in apparent speechless wonder.

  “What?” he asked.

  She blinked. “Nothing. I’ve just…never seen you quite so…relaxed.”

  Ruby laughed. “You’ve probably only seen him around his family then. He’s quite a rascal when left to his own devices.”

  “Is he now?” Nikki asked. Harrison scowled at her, which just made her grin at him.

  “Oh yes,” Ruby said. “I seem to remember quite a few practical jokes that landed him in hot water. And then there’s this place.”

  “Your tea shop?”

  Ruby nodded. “After I was no longer needed as a nanny I wasn’t quite sure what I should do. I’d been with them so long. So I decide to retire. But between you and me, it didn’t suit me. I prefer to have my days full and busy. And then one day my boy hands me the deed to this place. Says it’s a retirement present. That came fully furnished with everything I’d need to start this business.”

  She smiled at him with suspiciously wet eyes. He gave her hand a squeeze. “I gave you the building. You’ve made it into a wonderful business.”

  She looked at Nikki. “See what I mean?” She grabbed his face in his hands and gave his cheeks a squeeze. “I’ll throw a few extra tarts in the box for you.”

  She headed back to the kitchen. His laugh cut short when he looked back at Nikki and her half-amused, half-confused expression.

  “What?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing.” She wiped her mouth and stood up. “Just didn’t know you had such a gooey center.”

  He scowled at her again until Ruby came back out and handed him a box tied with twine. The heavenly lemon scent of the tarts wafted toward him. Those babies weren’t going to make it back to the castle.

  He thanked her, kissed her on both cheeks, and escorted Nikki back out to the car.

  “All right,” she said, leaning against the car. She pulled her clipboard out of her bag. “We seem to be all set. The sites in England are ready to go, then a night in Edinburgh, two in Inverness, a trip to the stone circle they used as a model for the ones in…” Her gaze flickered to him, her lips pulling into a quick smile before she looked back down. “The thing. And then over to your family’s estate for two nights where we’ll do the whole wedding bit.”

  Again, her gaze met his, though this time it lingered. He didn’t say anything, though the word wedding used to instigate a near panic attack. Now, with those deep brown eyes of hers staring into his, all he could really think about was how much he wanted to recreate the wedding night scene. And if the blush stealing across her cheeks was any indication, she was thinking the same thing.

  Saints preserve him, it was going to be a long trip.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Harrison opened the driver side door but Nikki stopped him. “Can I drive?”

  His eyes flared wide. Probably in surprise. Though it looked suspiciously like panic.

  “Why do you want to drive?”

  “Well, first of all, because this thing is adorable,” she said, patting the roof of the Mini Cooper. “And second, because I’ve always wanted to drive on the wrong side of the street and since the wrong side is the right side here, it seems like a great time to try it. Plus, it’s not like we’re in a roaring metropolis here. If I suck at it, the damage potential is much less.”

  He cocked an eyebrow, and she really thought he’d shoot her down. But after a second’s hesitation, he sighed. “Fine.” He tossed the keys to her. “Just try not to kill us, okay.”

  “Can’t make any promises!”

  She jumped in the driver’s side. And then got back out and ran around to the real driver’s side. “Sorry. Habit.”

  “I’ve got a spectacularly bad feeling about this,” he muttered.

  “Oh hush.” She got in and stretched out her legs. Harrison had moved the seat back so far it was pretty much in the back seat.

  He moved the passenger seat back before he folded his long legs inside, and she found the mechanism to move her seat up. “Just out of curiosity, why does someone your height drive something so tiny?”

  “It’s my sister’s.”

  Nikki turned to look at him. “You stole your sister’s car?”

  His face cracked into a mischievous grin so wide she burst out laughing.

  “I did,” he said.

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  “Won’t she be pissed?”

  He grinned again. “Yes.”

  Nikki shook her head and turned the car on. “Okay, here we go!”

  She pulled out into the lane, cutting off a farm truck and earning her first honk of the day. Less than two seconds into the ride. That was a record.

  Five minutes, three more honks, and one obscene gesture later, and she was no more comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road as she’d been when they’d started.

  “This might not have been a great idea,” she said, flinching a little as they neared a car coming from the other direction.

  “You think? Just stay on this side. I said this side!” Harrison grabbed the oh shit bar and held on for dear life.

  “I am on this side! Stop yelling, you’re making me nervous.”

  “I’m making you nervous?” he said, his voice raising an octave or two.

  “Oh crap,” she said, ignoring him. “We’re coming up to a turn.”

  “So turn. Carefully.”

  “Yes, but do I turn in the lane closest me or the one farthest?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Before she could say anything else the turn was upon them. She made the right lane choice.

  “Hey, look at that. I’m getting better.”

  “Watch out!” Harrison shouted, about a millisecond before she also spotted the sheep wandering down the lane.

  She gasped and slammed on the brakes, which locked up and slid in the muddy trenches of the lane. They skidded, mud flying, finally coming to a stop in a muddy hole directly across from the pub.

  They both sat in silence for a second, no sound in the car but their rapid breathing.

  Harrison, still gripping the doorframe, turned to her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. She was shaking but… “Am I crazy or was that kind of fun?”

  Harrison just stared at her. Then shook his head. “You’re crazy.”

  “But…”

  He held up a finger.

  “Come o—”

  He held the finger up again.

  Then he pulled out his phone.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Calling someone to get us out of this mess.”

  “Oh my God, is that your answer to everything?”

  He frowned at her, and she laughed and pushed at his shoulder. “Get behind the car and push. We can get this thing out of here ourselves.”

  He cocked that eyebrow of his. “You do realize we are in a foot of mud.”

  “Yes.”

  “If I get out of this car, I’m going to get filthy.”

  “You’re going to get filthy no matter what. Even if you called someone, we’d have to get out of the car before they could tow it. Might as well try and save everyone the trouble and get the car unstuck on our own.”

  He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine.”

  He opened the door—after two unsuccessful tries at grabbing the handle—and glanced down at the ground.

  “Why don’t I stay in the car and you get out and push?”

  H
er turn to cock an eyebrow. “While I have no doubt that I could, I’m already on the driver’s side, this car isn’t made for interior driver changes, and while I could push us out of here it’ll be a lot easier for you. Now go.”

  “Next time, I drive.”

  She just grinned at him, and he sighed and hefted himself out of the car. And, from the sounds coming from him, right into the mud.

  She slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud and opened her own door.

  “Stay in there,” Harrison said. “It’s up to my ankles. You’ll probably be swallowed whole.”

  “Oh ha ha. I’m not that short.”

  She heard what might have been laughter and twisted around to get a glimpse of him, but all she could see was his broad back as he checked out the rear of the car.

  “Ye’ll never get that out of there,” a voice said from the direction of the pub.

  Nikki looked over to see half the clientele spilling out of the doorway.

  Harrison grumbled and ignored them.

  “Okay, I’m going to push. When I say go, you give it some gas,” he said.

  She stuck her arm out the window and gave him a thumbs-up.

  Money started changing hands over at the pub. “Ten quid he ends up face down in the muck!”

  “Naw, he’s a big strong guy. That bittie car just needs a nudge and the girlie will get it out all right.”

  Nikki shook her head. They would bet on literally anything apparently. Harrison swore and then slapped his hands on the back of the car. “Ready?”

  “Yep!”

  “Okay…” He bent down to get some leverage, and she felt it budge a bit. “Go!”

  She gunned it. The wheels spun. Mud flew. They went nowhere. She let off the gas.

  And Harrison…

  She looked in the rearview mirror and burst out laughing.

  He stood behind the car, though much farther back than he just was. The only thing still visible beneath the thick layer of mud that still covered him were his eyeballs.

  She opened the door again, but he’d been right. The mud would easily reach to her mid calves.

  “You know,” Harrison said, appearing by her door. “It really is far too muddy to try and get the car out ourselves. We’ll have to call someone after all. But we can’t leave you in there, all pristine and pretty, now, can we?”

  “What do you mea—?”

  His arms shot out and grabbed a hold of her, and she shrieked and tried to scramble away. But one, there wasn’t really anywhere she could go and two, she was laughing far too hard for any escape plan to be effective.

  Harrison scooped her up in his arms and held her tightly to his chest. His very, very muddy chest.

  “There, there,” he said, rubbing his face all over her face like some giant dripping-mud cat. “I’ll make sure your feet never touch the ground.”

  She laughed again and wrapped her arms around his neck, hiking herself up farther in his arms to try and escape the muddy nuzzling.

  “Don’t struggle,” he said, twisting his own body so he rubbed as much mud as possible on her. “You’re awful slippery at the moment. And if you fall, you’ll be ass-deep in mud.”

  She was laughing so hard she almost wheezed. “I think that’s kind of moot at this point.”

  “I have no idea what you mean.” He shook his head, raining more drops of mud onto her.

  “Payback, baby. I know where you sleep.”

  He grinned, his teeth shockingly white against the mud caked on his face. “Promises, promises.”

  She tried not to squirm as he carefully picked his way through the muck since, all kidding aside, they both really were very slippery and she had no desire to get up close and personal with the mud pit. But cold mud sliding into her bra aside, being held against him did all kinds of wicked things to her. Add the fact that their clothing was now plastered to their bodies creating a distinctly slick surface, like they’d both been rubbed down with oil, and her libido kicked into overdrive.

  Harrison marched up to the pub, straight through the door, and deposited her on a barstool. She was both relieved to be on solid ground again and sad she was no longer in his arms.

  He leaned around her, moving between her legs to reach over and grab a towel from behind the counter. But instead of wiping off his own face, he gently cleaned the mud from her cheeks. Her forehead. Her chin. Then he gently swiped the towel across her lips.

  He stood nearly pressed against her, so close she had to crane her neck to keep eye contact. The towel passed over her lips again, and she sucked in a trembling breath, holding onto his hips to keep from toppling off the barstool in a boneless heap.

  “Change my bet to fifty pounds, Gerry!” someone called out. “This one isn’t going anywhere!”

  Harrison scowled, and Nikki let her breath out in a long sigh. She slumped against him for a second, almost resting her forehead against his chest until she remembered he was covered in mud. She looked up at him with a half grin, and he smiled back, handing her the towel and stepping back to grab another for himself.

  Nikki excused herself to go to the restroom to clean up as best she could. And take a minute to compose herself. Who’d have thought being rubbed down with mud would be one of the most erotic experiences of her life?

  Trying to stay away from good ol’ Harry was proving more and more difficult.

  …

  Nikki nearly bounced in her seat, her face plastered to the window. They were finally on their way to the Troy’s Scottish estate and while Nikki loved staying at the English castle, she couldn’t wait to see the beauties of Scotland.

  “You’d better sit back down,” Harrison said, his attention on a file of papers in his lap. “Someone might think you’re excited.”

  “How can you sit there ignoring all this?” she asked him, waving at the window and the Scottish landscape outside.

  “I’ve seen it before. Many times.”

  She shook her head and went back to staring. “I don’t care how many times I’d seen this. It would never get old.”

  “Never say never.”

  “All right, that’s it. Spill it,” she said, sitting back against the seats.

  “Spill what?”

  “What is your deal with Scotland? It’s breathtakingly beautiful. Everyone I’ve met so far has been interesting and absolutely lovely. This place is amazing. I mean, their national animal is a friggin unicorn. You don’t get better than that! But you are acting like you’re being dragged to the middle of Siberia to be left for dead. So what is your deal with this place? Your grandmother is Scottish, for crying out loud.”

  “Right. She is,” he said, looking up with an exasperated sigh. “And my grandfather died because she insisted on coming back to this miserable place as often as possible.”

  Nikki froze, mortified she’d goaded him into such an admission. “Oh. Harrison. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  He waved her off. “It’s no matter. Happened years ago.”

  She put her hand on his knee. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt.”

  He didn’t say anything for a second, just stared at her hand. Then he shook his head a little. “Granny dragged my grandfather back here every chance she got. She never wanted to leave here, even when he started getting sick. She insisted the clean, Scottish air would make him strong.” He shook his head again. “I loved this place, too, once. Before the damp, cold air seeped into his lungs.”

  His jaw clenched, and Nikki scooted a little closer, rubbing her hand on his arm. He didn’t seem to notice.

  He shrugged, like he was flinging off the weight of his sorrow. “He was the best thing about my childhood, and this miserable place took him from me.”

  Nikki squeezed his hand, wishing she could chase that haunted look from his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  For a brief moment, he squeezed her hand back. Then he pulled away and went back to his paperwork.

  “Don’t let me get in the
way of your enjoyment.” His eyes flickered up to her with a small smile. “But don’t expect me to join in.”

  She held up her hands. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to enjoy yourself.”

  His lips twitched again, and he rubbed his finger over them.

  She leaned a little closer. “You can smile, you know. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

  He leaned in as well. “Glad to know I can count on you.”

  And for the first time in his life, he actually believed those words. He tried not to count on anyone. Safer that way, less disappointment. But when it came to Nicole…well, she seemed to be the exception to the rule.

  …

  “All right,” Harrison said, draining his tea cup. “What’s next on our list?”

  Nikki pulled out her clipboard and began to go over the hundred items that were still waiting for their attention. So far, the English leg of the trip had gone well. Everyone had made it to Alberth Castle. No one had been hit with flying skeletons or bathroom fixtures. And everyone seemed to be having a great time.

  Excitement was high with the move to the Scottish locations. Edinburgh and Inverness had been more amazing than she’d ever dreamed. The stone circle had been nothing short of incredible, although she wasn’t sucked back in time into the arms of the world’s sexiest Scot. However, since she was currently sitting at a table across from the world’s sexiest Brit, in a “hunting lodge” that was really more of a stately manor house, she had zero complaints.

  All they needed now was to get through the rest of the day and the wedding re-enactment that would happen that evening, which was giving her nervous jitters as if it were a real wedding. Whether those stemmed from her desire to pull off a good show for their guests or because she’d be standing in front of a priest—albeit a fake one—with said sexy Brit, she didn’t want to examine too closely. She knew the whole thing was nothing but an exhibition as part of the tour, but that didn’t stop the chorus from “Going to the Chapel” from playing in her head.

  She gave herself a good mental smack down and tried to focus on the task at hand. Which was pulling off the best show ever, and getting their hopefully happy guests back to England in one piece.

  Granny, who had insisted on accompanying them, had been strangely well behaved. It made Nikki nervous.