by Anna Durand
She was going home with me. It wasn't as if we were getting married, but when she'd agreed to go with me, I had felt like she'd offered herself to me in a commitment almost as strong and meaningful as marriage vows.
"Thank you," I said, kissing her cheek, her mouth, her chin, her nose.
"You don't have to thank me. I'm getting a free vacation with the sexiest tour guide on the planet."
"Is there any chance you'll let me spoil you? Or should I rent a dilapidated car to drive you around in?"
Biting her lip, she pretended to consider the problem. After a brief length of time I didn't bother to count, she tickled my cheek with her fingers. "You can spoil me. I will not complain even if you buy an entire town for me."
"Good." I squeezed her bottom. "I sort of do own a town, or at least a large part of it."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Does that bother you?"
"No." She smiled. "It doesn't fash me at all."
"I'm glad." I set her down on her feet. "But I can't promise not to buy the whole Highlands for you."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take."
I pretended to be shocked. "Keely O'Shea taking a risk?"
"Tease me all you want, I don't mind."
"You know what this means." I smacked her erse. "I've tamed you."
She leaned in, tilting her head back to expose her throat, and placed her hand over my cock. "I've tamed you too."
The heat of her hand penetrated my trousers, and things started to rouse down there.
She removed her hand. "I should get back to work. Got an employee to replace."
"I suppose it was too much to hope I'm irreplaceable."
"You are." She drew a heart on my chest with her finger. "To me, anyway."
Anything I might have thought about saying was trapped in my throat. I took several steps toward the door but stopped halfway there. "You're irreplaceable to me too, leannan."
"You keep calling me that. What does it mean?"
"It's Gaelic for sweetheart."
"You've been calling me that all this time?"
I shrugged one shoulder and shuffled to the door, grasping the knob.
"I love you, Evan."
Her words stopped me. Everything inside me froze like someone had punched the pause button on a video recording. I couldn't move, not even to take my hand off the doorknob or to turn my head to look at her. Had she said what I'd thought I heard her say? Had I imagined it? I had to know for sure.
"What did you say?" I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder.
She laughed softly, sweetly. "I love you."
With her emerald eyes locked on me, I lost my breath. She meant it. Keely loved me. I took two deep breaths before I could speak again. "I love you too."
She ran toward me and threw her body at mine. We collided, our arms lashing around each other and our hands groping for skin-to-skin contact. My lips found hers, and though I kissed her, I didn't deepen it. Just her lips on mine, that was all I needed.
"Have I ever told you," she said against my lips, "what an amazing man you are?"
"You're the amazing one, a dirty lass disguised as a proper businesswoman."
"What you said earlier is true. You've tamed my fears and freed me." She loosened her grip on me, sliding down my body until her feet hit the floor. "I love you for that and so much more."
And that was all I'd wanted since the night we'd met, for this woman to want me and need me the way I wanted and needed her. She had changed me too, but I didn't know how to tell her that. No words I could think of seemed like enough.
"Your holiday starts now," I said. "Let's get you home. You'll need to pack."
She looked at the papers on her desk.
"Forget work," I said. "If I can do it, so can you."
"Oh, what the hell." She threw her arms up. "I'm taking a vacation."
"About bloody time."
I hooked my arm around her waist, leading her toward the door. We made it out into the main store area and almost to the sliding doors before she stopped us.
"Forgot my purse," she said. "Wait here while I go grab it."
She jogged off before I could say anything, so I did as she'd commanded. I loitered by the doors waiting for her to come back to me.
My phone chimed.
I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the screen. A chill whispered over my skin like a ghost had walked right through me. It was a ghost, in a way. The message came from my invisible masters.
We have another job for you, it said.
A pain stabbed through my jaw. I was grinding my teeth, of course. Messages from these villains always made my body tighten as if I'd been hit with a jolt of electricity. I typed my response: I'm done.
Not until we say so.
The last time I'd denied them, they threatened my mother. I shouldn't say no, but I could no longer say yes, not with Keely in my life. Duncan's men were watching over my mother. I would watch over Keely.
Another text appeared: Do the job.
My finger hovered over the screen, and a reckless impulse pushed me to type one word: No.
I waited for a response, but several seconds ticked by with no new messages. Maybe they'd accepted my answer. Right, and maybe I'd grow a pair of wings.
Had I just made the worst decision of my life?
Keely trotted up to me, smiling, her purse slung over one shoulder. "Ready to go. You can follow me in your car."
"Ride with me. We can pick up your car later."
She gave me a look I knew well, the one that meant she was not giving in this time.
I waved for her to go. "I'll follow."
By the time I started up my car, Keely was already pulling out onto the road. I drove a bit too fast to catch up to her, but she waved at me when she spotted my car behind hers. I waved too. Soon, she would be with me in Scotland. My family would meet her. We had crossed a new threshold. This woman was in my life for good—forever, I hoped—and whatever happened, I would never let her go without a fight.
My phone chimed again.
I held the wheel with one hand while I picked up the phone. A new text glared at me from the screen.
You will regret this.
Muttering an oath, I tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. I couldn't do what they wanted, not anymore, but I was risking more than my own safety. My invisible masters didn't know about Keely. How could they? Unless they'd been watching me. Watching us.
The minute we got to her house I would make the call to arrange for security for Keely.
And I would pray it was enough.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Keely
The next morning, I reclined on the sofa inside the Gulfstream jet exactly the way I had a few weeks ago when I flew home from Scotland. This time, though, I wasn't missing Evan and wondering what to do about him. No need for that. He was sitting at the end of the sofa with my feet on his lap, massaging my soles with deft strokes of his fingers. My lids partly closed, I watched him through my lashes.
"That feels good," I said. "You should've been a masseur."
"How would you feel about a full-body massage?"
"Yes, please."
Evan patted my leg. "You will have to get up for that, so we can go to the bedroom. Not stripping you here where the pilots might see you."
"We had sex in front of a window."
"No one saw us, though." He threw a sharp glance at the door to the cockpit. "Those pilots were a little too attentive when you came on board."
"They were not hitting on me." I nudged him with my foot. "Besides, I'm not interested in anyone but you."
"I feel the same way about you." He pushed my feet off his lap. "Get up. We're going to the bedroom so I can rub you all over and then do filthy things to that body."
"Sounds good." I yawned and stretched. "But I'm too comfy to move."
"Not a problem." He surged up from the so
fa, swept me up, and strode down the short hallway to the open bedroom door. "Here we are."
He walked inside and kicked the door shut.
"You can put me down," I said.
"All right." He tossed me onto the bed, making me bounce and yelp. "How's that?"
"You have fetishes for kicking doors shut and tossing me onto beds along with your fetish for carrying me." I scooted forward so my feet hung off the bed. "Guess we're skipping the foreplay this time, hey?"
"Never." He knelt at my feet and tickled the soles. "I took care of your socks and shoes. You get the rest off."
"You'll need to be more specific. I might think you mean I should get myself off without you."
"Maybe I'd like to watch you do that." He sat on the bed next to me. "Undress, Keely."
"I let you be the boss earlier today. It's my turn."
He considered me for a moment, probably thinking about how to negotiate this deal with me. "You'll do as I say until after the massage, then I will follow your commands."
"I can accept those terms."
"Get up and strip for me."
The very idea made me wet. I rose and turned to face him.
A knock rattled the door.
"Mr. MacTaggart?" the man said in his Scottish brogue. "You left your mobile out here and it keeps ringing. Thought I should let you know."
"Thank you, Martin," Evan said. "I'll take care of it."
"Must be Tamsen," I said. "The poor woman has been trying to get you on the phone for days."
"Aye, it's probably her." He moved to the door but hesitated with his hand on the knob. "Wait here. This shouldn't take long."
"I'll get naked while you're gone."
"No, you will not. Wait for me." He narrowed his eyes with feigned annoyance. "That's an order, Miss O'Shea."
His commands never failed to make me hot in all the right ways.
"Okay, I'll stay dressed." I stroked my sex through my pants. "Can't promise I won't slip a hand inside my panties, though."
"Guess I'd better hurry."
He rushed out the door, shutting it behind him.
I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Though I was aroused, I didn't want to get off without him. We enjoyed teasing each other, and he knew that's what I'd been doing. No other man I'd been with liked to play. Evan excelled at it. He'd opened me up in ways I'd never imagined possible. Back in the store yesterday, I hadn't meant to say I loved him. The words would not be contained any longer, especially after he'd told me I was irreplaceable and that leannan meant sweetheart. So often he gazed at me like I was the answer to his prayers, like he cherished me more than anything in the world, like he loved me as much as I loved him.
How could I not say the words?
And he'd said them back to me.
The joy I had experienced at that moment made my heart swell and my spirits soar straight into outer space, spinning and spinning with the life-altering realization I loved a man who loved me in return. He didn't expect me to change to please him. Evan wanted me as-is. Of course I loved him. How could I help it? Despite our age difference, he was the most mature man I'd ever known. My husbands might have been closer to my age, but Evan was the first real man in my life.
The door opened.
I sprang up into a sitting position.
Evan shut the door but wouldn't look at me. "Afraid I'm not in the mood anymore. We'll have to delay the massage until later."
The tension in his body matched the tension on his face. He seemed like a string stretched to its limit, being pulled even tauter until it might snap at any second.
I went to him, taking his hands in mine. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
"Bullshit. Anything that worries you is my concern too." I laid a hand on his cheek and made him turn his face toward me. "We're in a relationship, Evan. The L word has come into the picture which means this is a serious thing between us. Tell me what's going on."
His features twisted into an expression somewhere between pain and anger.
I knew he wasn't angry with me. Whatever that phone call had been about, it was the trigger.
"Talk to me," I said. "Please."
He peeled my hand away from his face and stalked to the bed, dropping onto it with a whump. "It's better if you don't know."
"Did you not hear a word I said?" I stomped to the bed and sat next to him, turning sideways to see his profile. "Serious relationship. That means you don't get to keep secrets from me anymore."
"I know." He braced his elbows on his thighs and let his head fall into his raised hands. "I shouldn't drag you any deeper into my mess."
"Too late for that. I'm already in it with you."
"I've been selfish and reckless." He took his phone out of his pocket and turned it over in his hand once, twice, three times. "My phone wasn't ringing. It was chiming because I've received three texts in the last five minutes." He pushed a hand into his hair, head bowed. "It's the blackmailers."
That word made me shut my mouth when I'd been about to speak.
He winced and thumped his phone against his forehead. "I did a very stupid thing."
"What did you do?"
"I told them no."
His words came out harsher than ever before, much sterner than my schoolteacher voice that he loved. This time, I spoke with a conviction that if he didn't tell me the truth right now, everything we'd built together might crumble into dust around us.
"Tell me what's going on," I said. "Tell me everything. You gave in to the blackmail before, so what's changed?"
"You." He kept his head down, the phone clutched in his hand. "I can't go on being an accessory to their crimes, whatever those crimes might be. How can we have a life together unless I stop giving in to them? Yesterday, I told them no. They said I'd regret it."
"It's time you told me what hold they have on you."
He stuffed the phone in his pocket. "After the first time they contacted me, I ignored it because I thought it was a mistake. I told you that bit. A few days later, I was visiting my mother when I received a text telling me if I wanted to keep her safe I'd better do what they say. I couldn't believe it was a serious threat, but I went to the police station in Loch Fairbairn to report their harassment."
I didn't speak or touch him. I waited for him to tell me more, knowing he needed to do this in his own time. Had I made the right choice by waiting for him to explain everything? Maybe I should've broken things off with him when I first heard about the blackmail, but I'd gotten in too deep by that point. I loved him, and I had to find out what all of this meant for him and for us.
"While I was waiting for a constable to speak to me," he continued, "I got a call from my Uncle Angus. My mother had nearly been struck by a car while walking down the main street in the village. The driver had swerved onto the pavement, clearly aiming for her, but missed. She tripped and fell trying to get out of the way. She wasn't injured, only frightened, but I got the message. My anonymous masters texted me a picture of my mother lying on the ground."
"Oh God, Evan." I gripped the edge of the mattress. "I can't imagine how terrifying that must've been."
"I should've stayed in the police station and filed a report, but instead, I did what the blackmailers wanted. I became a criminal like them." He got up and paced the width of the room in front of me. "That's not the worst thing I've done."
"What else did you do?"
"My mother's near miss happened two blocks from the police station where I was when I received the picture of her. I rushed to the scene." He grasped the back of his neck with both hands. "My mother swore she was fine and didn't need to go to the hospital. I wanted to call for an ambulance, but she wouldn't hear of it. My Uncle Angus was with her, so he drove her home. I said I'd follow in my car, but then a bystander came up to me and said he'd seen the car that nearly hit my mother. It had sped off down the main street. The witness described t
he car in detail including the make and model and part of the registration plate number. I saw a chance to catch up to the car and…I don't know what I thought I'd do."
I wanted to get up and wrap my arms around him, but I didn't think he would want that.
"At the time," he said, "I was driving a Jaguar F-Type I'd borrowed from my cousin Rory—from his wife, actually. I drove as fast as the car would go, as fast as the terrain allowed, and I caught up to the swine who'd aimed for my mother. I ran him off the road to make him stop."
"That's not so bad," I said cautiously.
"I did more than that," he said. "I hauled the man out of his car and tried to make him tell me who he worked for. He had an English accent, that's all I found out. He wouldn't tell me his name or whether he was working for someone else. All he would say was that he'd missed on purpose and next time he would kill my mother."
"Jesus, Evan, that's awful. But that's a horrible thing he did, not something you did."
"At first, I was shaking him and shouting. When he stopped talking…" He halted directly in front of me, wincing. "I beat him."
No matter how hard I concentrated on him I couldn't get a read on his state of mind. He seemed agitated and ashamed, based on his movements.
"When I finished with him," Evan said, "his lip was split, his nose was bleeding, and he had bruises forming all over his face. I don't think I cracked his teeth, but his nose might've been broken. I realized what I'd done, the brutality of it, and I let him go with a warning for his cohorts. If they touched my mother or anyone I cared for ever again, I would hunt them down and kill them."
I clamped my teeth over my upper lip, restlessly moving my hands because I didn't know what to do with them. Didn't know what to do with him either. "I'm sure anyone would've said that in the same situation."
"I meant it. If they hurt anyone I love, I will murder them."
"You don't know who or where they are. Why didn't you tell the police about the man you caught? You knew his license plate number, or part of it."
"How could I report him? I doubt he was the one in charge of the blackmail scheme, and I didn't know whether he would follow through on his threat to kill my mother. I couldn't risk anyone getting hurt." He shook his head. "I have hurt you, though. I've lied to you and brought you into a dangerous situation. I'm a bastard, Keely."