Hot for the Scot

by Janice Maynard

  I was high on the adrenaline rush of sexual power. I put my hands on his shoulders, bracing myself so I could ride up and down. Inside me he was hot and large and amazing. The more I leaned forward, the deeper he went.

  “Hayley…lass…” His voice was hoarse. Pleading.

  I gave him a squeeze with my inner muscles. He seemed to like it.

  Carefully, I tugged away the scarf. With his eyes closed, his forceful personality was veiled. I studied his face, feature by feature. I had never noticed how long his eyelashes were.

  His entire body was rigid.

  “You can open your eyes now, Angus.”

  When he looked at me, I felt woozy. This was a man at the edge of restraint…a man barely bound by a promise to me.

  Though he didn’t say a word, I got the message. He wanted me. Only me.

  “I don’t need to be in charge anymore,” I whispered. “You take it from here.”

  His face softened as he reached for me, one hand securing my chin while the other corralled my hair and tucked it behind my shoulder. “Aye, my Hayley. I’ll take it all and give it back and we’ll do this together, ye ken?”

  His accent was thick, the words ragged. I gasped when he flipped us and pressed me into the mattress. “Yes…” It was the only thing I could say…the only answer I wanted to give. Yes to this moment. Yes to loving him. Yes to watching my world turn upside down.

  Angus nuzzled my neck. “Ye’re a miracle, my sweet Hayley. Put your legs around my waist. Let me take you so hard and deep there’s no tellin’ where one ends and the other begins.”

  I had pushed him to the limit. Yet instead of racing to the finish, he gave me tenderness…intimacy. “I want that. I want you.” And I want this night never to end.

  He was as good as his word. With every forceful thrust, he bound me to him. I inhaled his scent. My skin and his warmed and mated. The air around us was thick with unspoken dreams.

  I closed my eyes and canted my hips. I felt my climax spiraling upward and wanted to sob. It was too soon. I needed to hang on to this shining moment. I bit his neck. “Don’t stop,” I cried. “Don’t stop.”

  Angus went wild. We rolled and twisted and mated with the savagery of animals. I was trying to climb inside his skin and he in mine. If there had been a way for each of us to occupy the same space, even then it might not have been enough.

  His right hand was buried in my hair, pulling painfully at times. His beard-roughened chin marked my breasts, my face.

  He shuddered violently as he shouted my name. “Hayley…”

  I followed him blindly into the abyss, acknowledging in the midst of bittersweet pain and pleasure that if this were all he ever wanted from me, I would gladly give it… and more.

  I didn’t think he fell asleep again after he came back from the bathroom. I could hear his harsh breathing. And I sensed that he was awake.

  “What time is it?” I asked groggily.

  He reached for his phone. “Four A.M.”

  “Ah…”

  “I put out the Do Not Disturb sign,” he said. “We can sleep all day if we want.”

  “Good.” I curled into his side. “They’re gonna make us pay for that lamp, you know.”

  He chuckled, the sound rumbling beneath my cheek. “Aye. But it was worth it.”

  The next time I surfaced, bright light filled the room. Bleary-eyed, I searched for a clock and spotted the digital readout on the TV. It was after eleven. No wonder I was starving.

  Angus was dead to the world. I debated waking him, but I decided to take my shower first. If I were clean and dressed, I might be able to handle the morning after with more panache.

  I wasn’t expecting a breakdown of the physical and emotional goalposts we had crossed last night. That was for me to decipher in the privacy of my own thoughts. If I was lucky and Angus was like most of his sex, we would simply go forward with our day.

  As it happened, I made the right call. By the time I exited the bathroom, Angus was out of bed and scrolling through messages on his phone. He smiled when he saw me. But as he passed me on the way to take his own shower, all I got was a quick kiss.

  I told myself I was glad. No need to make this into a big deal. We were two people who cared about each other. We had enjoyed an amazing night together. End of story.

  I knew that I was feeling self-conscious. What I didn’t know was whether or not Angus was second-guessing last night as well. Outwardly, he seemed as charming and friendly as ever.

  We ended up on the waterfront again, this time at a small café that was more traditional and less trendy. But the food was equally wonderful.

  “What would you like to do this afternoon?” he asked over lunch.

  I wanted to go back up to our room and close the drapes, but I didn’t have the guts to say it. “I might pick up a few souvenirs and gifts to take home.”

  I referenced my leaving on purpose to see if it would get a reaction. He never batted an eyelash. “Of course.”

  As we left the restaurant, we ran into a boisterous group of young men. One of them spotted Angus. “Munro! We were on our way to see you tomorrow. How the hell have you been?”

  I lingered on the sidelines as my Angus was swept into a round of greetings and backslapping.

  At last he remembered me. He reached for my hand and drew me close. “Hayley…These are some of my old teammates. Lads—this is Hayley Smith.”

  “Hello,” I said. “Very nice to meet you.”

  “You’re an American,” one of them said. “Angus always did have a taste for the exotic.”

  I wasn’t offended. But I hardly fell into the exotic category.

  As the men talked and laughed together, I studied the water. The breeze lifted my hair. I was both happy and content, and I yearned suddenly to call Willow or McKenzie or both and tell them I was considering not going back to the States when our month was up.

  Was I hoping for validation? Or did I need a voice of reason to balance out the wild excitement that swelled in my chest?

  Pulling Angus aside, I whispered in his ear, “Go have a drink with your buddies. I’ll be fine. Honestly. And I know you’d rather do that than shopping.”

  He studied my face. “This is our weekend,” he said.

  “And there’s plenty of it left. I’ll entertain myself and meet you back here around four.”

  “Why don’t you call me and I’ll pick you up?”

  “Can’t use my phone—remember?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Four o’clock it is.”

  I watched as the half dozen men headed down the waterfront. Angus was the oldest of the lot. I wondered if he had mentored some of the younger players, even if unofficially. He was the kind of man who commanded respect and admiration. They must have been very sad to see him go.

  Despite what I had said to Angus, I wasn’t really much of a shopper. I hated trying on clothes and didn’t have the patience to look through sale racks. Oban, however, did seem like the kind of place I might find gifts for my parents.

  Mostly, I had wanted to get Angus out of the way so I could call my friends. My hand actually trembled as I pulled the phone from my pocket and took it off of airplane mode. Just a quick chat, I told myself. These were extraordinary circumstances.

  But even as I rationalized my need to break our agreement, I saw the flaws. Willow and McKenzie were in the midst of their own adventures. Obviously, they would want to help me make a decision. They were my best friends. But was I being fair to interrupt their vacations?

  We had agreed to go back in time, to immerse ourselves in the local culture. That didn’t include me calling or texting to tell them about Angus and my quandary.

  Thumping the phone against my forehead, I took a deep breath and put it back in my pocket before temptation overwhelmed me.

  Now what? I had plenty of time. Maybe I would hit a few tourist spots before I scavenged for gifts to take home.


  Instead of perusing a guidebook, I decided to set out on foot and be spontaneous. My first destination was the church I could see from where I stood. Its steeple peeked over rooftops.

  Slowly, I climbed the hill, pausing now and again to browse in a shop window. But at last I found what I was looking for. I was surprised to find that the lovely chapel was Catholic. Protestants held a majority in Scotland. With the well-known St. Columba’s Cathedral a significant Catholic presence down at the waterfront, I wouldn’t have thought there would be another chapel so close at hand.

  This small building seemed far older, though. The doors were open, so I went inside, charmed immediately by the way small stained-glass windows cast a patchwork of light across the wooden pews.

  An older man, thin and tall, wearing a cassock and a clerical collar, greeted me. “Welcome to St. Elizabeth’s,” he said.

  I was startled, given that my middle name was Elizabeth. Had I come in search of my namesake, or was this mere coincidence? “I hope it’s okay for me to drop by. I’m Hayley Smith. From the United States. I saw your steeple while I was down at the waterfront, and I was curious.”

  “By all means. We don’t get a lot of visitors here.”

  I stared at him, analyzing his accent. “You’re not Scottish at all, are you?”

  His gray eyes twinkled, their color matching his hair. “No. No, I’m not. Italian by birth. But I go where I’m sent, and at the moment, this is my parish.”

  He gave me a tour of the small worship space. I asked questions, not to be polite, but because I loved history. Father Bennedetti had learned the story of his parish well.

  At last, he clasped his hands at his waist and gave me a kindly smile. “What may I do for you, young lady? Would you like me to hear your confession?”

  Chapter 32

  Immediately, my mind flashed back to the night before, and I blushed. “No. I’m not Catholic, Father.”

  His quick grin was rueful and charming. “Neither was our Lord.”

  When I laughed, he waved a hand. “In that case, perhaps you’d join me in the garden for a glass of lemonade. It can get lonely here on this hill.”

  The tiny walled garden was something out of a fairy tale, the city held at bay. Here in this secluded spot it was easy to step back into time.

  My host ushered me to a small metal table flanked by two chairs. He disappeared for not more than five minutes and returned with a pitcher and glasses. The cut glass decanter beaded with moisture. Suddenly, I realized I was parched.

  We shared a quiet moment with our drinks. Then the old cleric pressed again. “I fancy you’ve come for more than lemonade, Hayley. What’s on your mind?”

  Did I really want to spill my guts to a stranger, even one with training in counseling? Apparently, I did. Willow and McKenzie were off-limits, and everyone else I knew and trusted was too far away. I set my glass on the table and sighed. “I met a man.”

  Father Bennedetti chuckled, which made me cross. Weren’t men of the cloth supposed to be compassionate?

  “What’s so funny about that?” I demanded.

  He held out his hands. “All good stories begin with four familiar words. Either ‘once upon a time’ or ‘I met a man.’”

  “True,” I muttered.

  “Why don’t you start at the beginning?” he said. “I’ve nowhere I need to be.”

  So I told him. I explained about the Outlander books and the TV show. I described my two best friends and told him about the bequest from McKenzie’s grandmother.

  “So you all came together, but you split up?”

  Why did people find that so hard to understand? “Yes,” I said. “I ended up in Drumnadrochit, and that’s where I met Angus Munro.”

  His bushy eyebrows shot up. “The football star?”

  In retrospect, I should have changed the names to protect the innocent. “Um, yes.”

  “Well, Miss Hayley. I perceive the problem now. Angus lives here, and you’re headed home very shortly.”

  Hearing it said out loud sent my mood into a tailspin. “Yes. That’s the sum of it.”

  “Do you know what you want?”

  It seemed an odd question. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know what you want as the outcome of this relationship?”

  I was stunned. In one instant, Father Bennedetti had nailed it. No wonder I was so confused. I told myself I wanted Angus, but that wasn’t entirely true. I’d been looking only at the here and now. Did I want him for the long haul? Did I want him if it meant giving up my confortable life in Georgia and everything I had ever known?

  “I think I’m falling in love with him,” I said. The certainty seeped into my heart and warmed it.

  “But the clock is ticking.”

  “Yes. It is.”

  “So what do you plan to do about your situation?”

  I frowned at him. “I thought you would tell me what to do. Isn’t that kind of your gig?”

  He shook his head. “You’re thinking of a fortune teller, my dear. My role is to listen and to pray for you.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted a Catholic priest come to Scotland by way of Italy to pray for my relationship with Angus, much less my immortal soul. Surely I needed a bishop at least. My life had so many knots in it I might never untangle things.

  For a moment, I rested my head on my arms. All around me I could hear birds singing, bees buzzing, the faraway honk of car horns. I sat back and shrugged. “I want to stay for a little longer and see what happens. But it would mean taking a leave from my job. That seems crazy and illogical and impulsive.”

  “And you are none of those things.”

  “Bingo.”

  “Love, any kind of love, requires risk…whether romantic love or the love of one human being for another. In loving, we open ourselves to the possibility of hurt.”

  “That’s what scares me the most.”

  “Well, then…What will you do?”

  It was really not a hard decision after all. I had only needed someone to talk it through with me. “I suppose I’m going to ask for a leave.”

  Suddenly I was breathless and panicked and wildly excited. There was a chance that Angus would not appreciate my gesture. But either way, I had to do this for me.

  Father Bennedetti smiled. “One suggestion, my dear.”

  “Yes?”

  “Do it now before you lose your nerve.”

  Fortunately, the old priest was as practical as he was philosophical. Before bidding me goodbye, he pressed a business card into my hand. “There’s an Internet café three streets over. Tell them I sent you and they’ll give you a deal.”

  I hugged him, and we said our farewells. Soon I was sitting in front of a blank computer screen. Technically, this was breaking my no-technology pact with the girls. But the other side of it was we had also pledged to look for romance. This was my best shot. I couldn’t wait any longer to contact my boss.

  When I hit send, I immediately felt like throwing up. I had never done anything so rash in my whole life.

  I grabbed up my backpack and ran outside, lifting my face to the sky and feeling the hot sun on my eyes. For better or worse, I was linking myself to Scotland. Maybe for only a little while, but who knew?

  The outcome would depend upon Angus.

  I forced myself to do some shopping and ended up with several nice gifts. Then I made my way back to the waterfront with ten minutes to spare. Angus was already there…pacing.

  “Did you have a good time?” I asked.

  “I did. But Mum called half an hour ago. She fainted and had to go to hospital. They didn’t keep her, but I think she’s feeling vulnerable and wanted to know if I would come home.”

  “I see.” My expression was noncommittal, but inside, I worried. My relationship with Angus was tentative enough without adding a controlling mother into the mix.

  Angus rubbed his temple, the one without the bandage. “I know this c
uts our weekend short, but I swear we’ll come back. She’s all I have, Hayley.”

  My skin chilled, but I managed a smile. “Of course we’ll go back. I’m sorry I held you up.”

  We hurried to the hotel, packed up our few belongings, and checked out. With no excursions or side trips to slow us down, we could make the return drive in less than two hours.

  The radio filled the silence in the car. We spoke occasionally, but for the most part, we were each lost in our own thoughts. Though I couldn’t say why, I wondered if Angus had seized on this opportunity to put some distance between us. Last night had been pretty intense. Maybe he was having second thoughts. Maybe he didn’t want me to get any ideas.

  As the miles passed, my mood deflated even more. By the time we reached the village, I was sad but resigned.

  I thought we would go straight to Màiri’s house, but Angus headed through town and climbed the hill toward his place.

  “Isn’t your mother at home now?” I asked.

  He shook his head, his eyes on the road. “She said things were in disarray. She thought she would be more comfortable in her room up here.”

  “Ah…”

  I kept my thoughts to myself. I would feel bad if Angus’s mother were really ill.

  He parked, and we went inside, not even bothering to get our bags. Màiri held court in the kitchen with Reverend McKinnon. Angus’s mother was pink-cheeked and, by all indications, perfectly healthy.

  She actually squealed when her son appeared. “Oh, my laddie. I’ve missed you.”

  Angus’s grin was tired and wry. “It’s only been a day and a half. I’m sure the good reverend took care of you.”

  Màiri clung to his arm. “Well, of course he did, but at a time like this a person needs family around.”

  “What did the doctor say?”

  Fergus stepped into the awkward silence. “It seems your mum forgot to take her blood pressure medicine. Her numbers went too low and she passed out. But she’ll be right as rain in no time.”

  I hung back near the door during all of this exchange. I suspected, though I couldn’t prove it, that Angus’s mother had neglected her medicine for the express purpose of forcing her son to make a choice. Her or me. It was a battle I was not going to win. Nor did I want to.