It was quiet inside. Warm, too. No air conditioning in yet. Eventually, she made her way out back where the land rose into a steep hill covered in dense woods. A waterfall streamed down from the hillside and into a pool before continuing on.
Hildie was on a rock by the pool, resting next to a towel and a pile of discarded clothes.
Devin was in the water.
And all Kate could think about was payback is a bitch.
As she moved closer, Hildie raised her head and looked her way. Immediately, the dog stood and her tail started wagging. It was the most animated Kate had seen her so far. Terry shot forward. The two dogs met as though they were long lost friends. And it was clear to Kate, they'd met before. And that they'd bonded.
After watching them a moment, she turned back toward the water, taking a few steps but stopping dead in her tracks as Dev rose from the water. Water slid down his shoulders. He ran his hands back over his wet head. Kate's eyes widened. Her mouth went dry. Oh, momma. All that hard muscle, moving and flexing, those bad-ass military tattoos on his biceps… She felt a little dumbstruck. And a whole lot interested.
He so wasn't her type. She went for refined city boys, not this blatant, in-your-face display of maleness.
He dropped his hands back into the water, his attention fixed on Hildie and Terry playing. A confused frown knit his features, and Kate wondered if he'd ever seen Hildie play like that with another dog, or maybe it had just been a while since he'd seen her so happy.
Then, his quiet focus shifted to her, causing warmth to surge in. Her feet became rooted to the spot. The way her body responded to him was nothing short of ridiculous. And annoying. Kate gritted her teeth and forced herself to move forward. His I'm-a-wet-Celtic-god routine wouldn't work on her. No. She didn't have the time or inclination… Okay, she had an inclination and some free time on her hands. But she wasn't going to act on it.
She stopped by the rock Hildie had vacated. "Brought a friend."
"I see." He stared at the dogs some more, a range of emotion crossing his face.
"Seems like they've already met though," she added, watching him, not the dogs. "You know… Maybe that's part of her issue."
He moved closer. Kate held her breath, watching the water recede to his stomach.
"What do you mean?"
She cleared her throat and decided looking at the dogs was a better choice. "She's loyal to you. I'm just wondering if she thinks she's supposed to stay by your side at all times, ready for any command. But maybe once she met Terry—I don't know . . . maybe they met when you were working or mowing a hay field or something. Anyway, she obviously wants to play, to run, to be with other dogs. But she's conflicted you know? Not sure what to do. If it's okay to not worry about you."
Devin seemed to chew that over. The frown on his face remained. "You think she's worried about me?"
Kate shrugged. Honestly, she wasn't sure of anything. "Just a thought. I tend to talk things out…" She turned back to the rock, eyes going to his clothes, thoughts moving to something else, something daring.
"Payback's a bitch," Devin said at length. "Is that it?"
Her gaze flew to his. Heat filled her cheeks. She was so terrible at hiding her thoughts. "Fair's fair," she said slowly, heart pounding as they locked eyes. A long, heated moment passed. Then Dev moved through the water, never taking his attention off her. The look he was giving her lit a fire in her belly. The water made it to just above his hips. He really was fit. Perfect, really. As he made it to the rock, her hand slowly pulled his clothes back, out of his reach.
A dark eyebrow lifted at that. His mouth twitched. "Might want to give those back, lass."
"Mmm. Why's that?" she asked, entranced by the attraction zinging between them and not really sure if she was in control of her actions.
"Water's cold. Freezing." He glanced down the length of his body and Kate's gaze followed. She swallowed. And then she understood. When she lifted her gaze, Dev was smiling openly at her. The smile went all the way to his eyes, crinkling their corners. It was a lop-sided, bad boy grin that made her knees weak.
She was already pushing his clothes back toward him before she could gather a coherent thought.
What was she doing? Going crazy. Losing her goddamn mind. She blinked, turned around, and tried to shake the carnal cobwebs from her brain. Water splashed and she attempted to block the mental image of Devin wrapping that towel around his naked waist.
Then, he padded by her. His back was just as nice as the front.
"Hey," she croaked. "What about your clothes?"
"Been working all day. I brought clean ones." Dev stopped at the back door. "While I get dressed, there's food in the cooler in the kitchen, and a blanket if you want to set it out."
He didn't wait for her reply, just disappeared into the lodge.
Chapter 6
Dev dressed quickly in the bathroom. Normally, he'd drop towel and pull on shorts in the main room and then have a bite to eat before driving back to the farm house. Sometimes, if he worked late, he'd just spend the night here.
As he zipped his fly and pulled on a clean T-shirt, he thought about Kate's suspicions about Hildie and the way Hildie behaved when she saw the terrier. She was happy. And it made him feel strangely inadequate. He couldn't shake the feeling he was losing her. And maybe that was the problem. Maybe they'd grown too attached. Kate might be right. His need to cling to Hildie, to not let go of the past, could be a huge burden on the dog, one he hadn't meant to create. God knew she was a sensitive creature. Very tuned into his emotions...
"Now you're losing it," he muttered to his reflection in the old mirror. Psychobabble wasn't his thing. He shoved the worries aside. Everything would be fine.
Fine, damn it. Just fine.
He swiped his fingers through his wet hair, and decided to focus on the present. On a pretty girl wound up so tight, he wanted to unwind her one hot inch at a time. The attraction between them was undeniable. Powerful and potent. The way her eyes followed him, hungry and thoughtful. The way she licked and then bit her lip and didn't even realize she was doing it.
He walked out of the bathroom with his blood pounding through his ears. Christ. He had it bad. So bad, he was considering putting her in his truck and driving her back to the cottage before things got out of hand. Because things would get out of hand.
"You've got a pretty nice spread here," Kate commented on the food as he entered the kitchen.
She was sitting on the plaid quilt by the windows, cross legged. The sides of her black hair were pinned behind her head, the rest falling over her shoulder in waves. Her blue eyes were big and welcoming. He wished they weren't. From the window, he saw the dogs were laying flat out on the patio outside, their bodies heaving, tongues lolling. The slight pang in his chest made him grit his teeth and refocus. He sat on the blanket.
"You make all this yourself?" she asked.
Dev eyed the cold smoked salmon, roast beef, fresh bread and cheese. "Fran makes it. I stock up in the morning. Made the bread, though."
She looked surprised. "Really? You bake?"
He wanted to squirm. He shouldn't have said anything. Of course, the first thing she did was break off a chunk and shove it into her mouth, smiling at his discomfort as she chewed. "Very good. You're an interesting guy."
Dev filled a paper plate.
"Military man, carpenter, farmer, baker…" she went on.
"Just carpenter," he said. "Farming is Jamie's thing. I'm just doing what I can until he gets home."
She digested that and then asked, "So what else can you bake?"
Her challenging look and the small smile on her lips made him turn the tables. "What can you bake?"
Her smile went wider. "Not a damn thing."
Dev laughed. "We all have our strengths I guess."
"True," she said, continuing to eat. She wasn't shy about it either, and he liked that about her. If he had to guess Kate did everything wholeheartedly. She spoke her mind. And wasn'
t put off by the fact that he wasn't much of a talker. Probably because she was just as good at reading people as she was at reading dogs.
"You always been interested in dogs?"
She nodded. "Pretty much. Always was drawn to them. Always felt like I—" she glanced down.
"What?"
"I don't know. It's kind of weird-sounding." She drew in a deep breath, rolling her eyes. "I always felt like I could communicate with them. Not like telepathy or anything. Just that I could sense their mood better than most is all."
It embarrassed her to admit it, and it made Dev curious. "So you went into dog walking and grooming. Why not training?"
"Everyone asks me that. That was going to be the next step. I don't have any formal training. I'm not qualified."
"I don't have a degree in carpentry. Yet," he glanced around the room.
"Your work speaks for itself," she finished his thought.
"So train a few dogs. Train a few more. Word gets out. And presto, you've got work that speaks for itself."
She thought it over, eyeing him straight on with a slightly bemused tilt to her mouth. Not a lot of people looked at him head on like that, like they weren't afraid to see into the darkest parts of his soul. "Suppose now that I'm broke and starting over," she said, "I'll have to do just that."
He offered her the last chunk of bread, but she gestured for him to take it. He chewed, wanting to change the subject and redirect his thoughts. "Where'd you find the terrier?"
"He found me. A stray, I think. You haven't seen him before?"
"No. Apparently Hildie has…"
"She likes him." Kate smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"I wouldn't go that far," he muttered.
She laughed. "You sound like a protective father. He's not going to run away with her and knock her up."
Dev rolled his eyes. Kate leaned across the food and placed her hand on his bare knee. Her palm was warm and soft. "I'm serious, though. You're not going to lose her. But there is room in her life for a canine friend."
His blood pressure rose. He knew he wasn't going to lose her. He didn't need some know-it-all coming in and butting her nose into his life and acting like she knew all about it.
But . . . what if he did lose Hildie? What if she got hurt? Lost? Oh God. What if he couldn't do a damn thing about it.
"Hey. Devin…"
He was dimly aware Kate was speaking. He could hear the concern, even understand that she'd shoved the food away from them and had scooted closer to kneel in front of him. He heard Hildie scratch at the door and bark. No. He wasn't going to do this now. Not in front of her.
Goddamn it. Not in front of her.
He squeezed his eyelids closed and then blinked a few times, trying to clear the haze of anxiety.
Kate's soft hands cupped his cheeks. She was muttering words. She didn't know what to do; he could hear it in the slight panic in her voice. In the "fuck," she uttered right before she kissed him.
Time stopped.
It all just stopped, like someone hit the pause button.
Then, slowly, the anxiety ebbed. His senses returned. Her hair smelled like apples. Apples. He loved apples. Her lips, soft. Her breath softer as she eased away from him. "No," he whispered immediately. "Please." Part of him winced at that, how desperate and weak it sounded.
Her arms came around him and she was in his lap, pressing her lips against his, her hands still cupping his face. Lust detonated, wiping out every last trace of darkness inside of him and replacing it with the best kind of ache. A hard, hot ache. Dev was lost. He grabbed the sides of her face, angled his head, and took her mouth in a slow, blistering kiss that magnified his ache by a thousand.
When they broke apart, he could barely breathe, his heart hammering so fast, he felt dizzy.
Finally his sight cleared. Kate was kneeling back, a shell-shocked look in her wide eyes, her lips swollen and parted. Breathing heavy, too.
Claws hit the floor as Hildie raced in from the main hall. She'd gone to the front of the house in order to get to him. She slid to a stop in the kitchen. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. She was confused. This wasn't normally how his anxiety attacks went. She must be sensing the difference in him. No doubt, Kate was putting off the same vibes as he was.
"I'm so sorry," Kate said, eyes on Hildie and then back on him. His chest went tight. They were glassy, her eyes.
Damn it.
She backed away from him, not wanting to upset Hildie. "She's confused," Kate said, her voice thick. "I'm just. I'm sorry…" She fled out the back door.
Still reeling, Dev fell onto his back. He rubbed both hands down his face and groaned. Hildie jumped him, licking his hands and face, tail wagging, whining. Dev sat up and hugged her, giving her coat a good rubbing, and telling her what a good girl she was.
Just him and Hildie. The way it usually was.
For months he'd told himself it was enough, being alone. Him and Hildie, dealing with being veterans together. But as he stared at the open door, he knew it wasn't enough. For neither one of them. He was beginning to understand that now.
Knowing he needed to calm his heart rate and make sure he was good to go before he went after Kate, Dev remained on the blanket for a few minutes. Once he was up, he headed outside, looked around for Kate and then went for his truck. He was pretty sure she was on the road back to the cottage.
Only problem, the truck wouldn't start.
Undeterred, he lifted the hood and found the spark plugs gone.
Hamish.
Dev was sure that wily ole matchmaker had stolen his spark plugs in an effort to strand him and Kate together. Devin shut the hood and stood there a moment, amazed at the lengths Hamish would go. Ever since Ian had found Lucy, Hamish and Fran had turned their attention on him. Mostly, he ignored their efforts to set him up with whatever girl in the village or someone's daughter or niece, or have someone conveniently over for dinner.
Shaking his head, he returned to the lodge with a smile on his face. He loved that old man and couldn't fault him for trying. While Dev and his brothers loved their Scottish grandparents and spending their summers here on estate, it was the Grahams who cared for them. Fran filled them with food, made sure they were bathed, and had clean sheets on the bed. Hamish taught them things they hadn't learned from their father back on their North Carolina farm, like how to fly fish, smoke salmon, wear a kilt, and jump buck ass naked into the loch—a rite of summer passage Hamish called it.
When their grandfather had died and left the boys the estate, Devin had jumped at the opportunity. He loved it back home in the States where he was raised by his Scottish father and American mother. But he loved Scotland even more. Loved his roots. Even their mother had roots that originated in the Highlands.
Finding his boots, he pulled them on and tied the laces. "They're gonna get way ahead of us girl," he told Hildie as she waited with expectation. "Yeah, I know. Piece of cake." Going for a run in the Scottish summer in shorts was nothing compared to the lengths he'd traveled in war.
Chapter 7
Terry followed Kate down the road and away from the lodge. She was glad he chose to come because if he hadn't, she might have sat right there in the dirt and gravel and cried like a baby.
What a disaster.
What the hell was wrong with her? She'd kissed a man in a full blown anxiety attack. Maybe she should just tattoo IDIOT across her forehead.
She might be good with dogs, but obviously, once again, she sucked with people. When Devin's eyes glazed over… She hadn't known how to help him, how to get him to focus and breathe. Even now, she could taste the panic, the helplessness. She'd considered slapping him, like in the movies, but he was a soldier; there was no telling how he would've reacted to that—she might have been out of her element, but she wasn't stupid.
So she kissed him, thinking gentle was the way to go. Thinking distraction was the way to go.
Truth was, she hadn't been thinking at all.
&nb
sp; She'd been terrified and desperate to help him. The look in his eyes had scared the hell out of her. And now she wept for him. She couldn't help it.
And Hildie… Oh, she understood the dog better than ever now and her heart expanded. What an amazing dog. Smart. Loyal. Brave. Hildie had assumed a new role all on her own, sensing Devin's attacks, alerting him, and staying with him through them. Kate could still hear the scratching and barking ringing in her head. Hildie had desperately wanted to get to Devin. And when she had, Kate was in the way. Hildie had no reason to trust her. None at all. Kate wasn't sure she trusted herself.
Eventually, the woods thinned, and the sky grew purple and orange with the setting sun. As her anger cooled, her steps slowed. Terry stopped on the ridge ahead and waited. He was a good boy. One that probably had a loving home, a family who was missing him. When she got back, she'd ask Lucy to help make a flyer in hopes someone would claim him.
Too bad she couldn't keep him. He was smart boy. He might even make a great service dog. Just the touch of an animal could calm a person, lower their fear, their blood pressure... It was incredible the difference an animal could make.
Working dogs amazed her. Always had. And today they made her wonder why she never pursued that side of her canine love affair. Thanks to Holdenmort she had to start over. Maybe it was time to switch gears, to work in the training field after all, training service dogs, making her own kind of difference.
Once the idea sparked, Kate couldn't seem to think of anything else.
Until Terry barked and zipped past her going the wrong way.
Turning, Kate eyed the road behind her. There was nothing there. Then she heard another bark.
A few seconds later, she saw a broad-shouldered figure appear, cresting the hill, jogging slowly, methodically toward her. Her nerves went chaotic. She couldn't deal with him right now.
A Scot Like You (The MacLarens of Balmorie, 2) Page 4