Page 8

Bex’s eyes narrowed. He was winding her up, wasn’t he? He hadn’t really bought her breakfast. Not after she had insisted on ignoring the advice he had given her.

‘I guess this is your way of apologising for walking in on me?’ she said, placing her hands on her hips. His smirk widened.

‘No, the apology I gave you outside your room was my way of apologising for that,’ he replied smoothly. ‘This is breakfast. Food. I do believe you still have that “south of the border”, don’t you?’

He clearly thought he was amusing, but he didn’t seem to understand the concept of hangry. That cute little smirk might work on other women, but she had dated hundreds of men just like him. And that wasn’t an exaggeration. One night she had done a two-hundred-person speed dating event, with a hundred men and a hundred women, and she had left with one firm conclusion: the ones who believed they were attractive were the ones you needed to be most wary of. And there was no way Duncan didn’t know how attractive he was, with those massive eyes of his that she inadvertently found herself looking in to.

With a slight shift, she cleared her throat. ‘Well, whatever the reason, I’m perfectly capable of getting my own food, and if you don’t mind, that’s what I’m going to do.’

She had hoped that her words, matched with her tone, would have been enough to make Duncan move out of the way so she could get into the café, but he continued to stand there, looking at her. Although rather than smirking, a single frown line had formed between his brows.

‘Look, I’m sorry for the rough introduction,’ he said. ‘We clearly got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we can start over? I’m Duncan. I hear you’re working up at the castle.’

He stretched out his hand and raised an eyebrow, signifying the ball was now in her court. Bex felt the muscles in her jaw twitch. There was no way she couldn’t take it. Not without looking like she was being petulant. And that wasn’t who she was at all. With a slight sigh, she lifted her arm, ready to shake his hand, yet as his fingertips brushed against her palm, a static jolt shot through her skin, strong enough to make her heart stutter. Her eyes snapped up and met his gaze, and from the way his pupils had grown, she was certain he had felt it too.

‘I… I…’ She wanted to say something, wanted to step back, but her mouth had grown uncharacteristically dry, and her feet refused to respond. As for her hand, rather than moving away, it had remained there and was now enclosed in his grip. Was all his skin this warm? she wondered. What would it feel like if he moved his hand to the back of her neck, or…

‘Right!’ Bex jumped back, pulling her hand from his grip and putting as much distance between them as she could in one leap. ‘I… Food. Need food,’ she stammered, pointing at the café door, wishing words would leave her mouth in more than single syllables. She half expected Duncan to respond with some quip, or at least that smirk he had shown her before, but he remained standing there, his hand frozen mid-air, as if he hadn’t been able to move either.

‘Right. Sure… food,’ he said, his eyes still locked on hers. Somehow, it was even more unnerving than when he’d seen her naked, and she wouldn’t have thought that was possible.

Unable to take it any longer, she pushed open the café door, not even checking if anyone was behind it, and rushed inside. All she needed was to get away from Duncan, his electric handshake and that penetrating gaze.

As she heard the door click shut behind her, a gasp of relief escaped her lungs. What the heck was that? Lightning in a bottle? A spark? All those things romance novels tried to make you believe were real, just to sell more copies. That was all she’d ever thought it was. And yet, for the first time in her life, she had felt it.

No, she told herself. She hadn’t. It was just tiredness and stress. Either that or it was static, caused by the weather. That happened, didn’t it? Of course it did. Lightning happened because of the atmosphere, and they were up in the Highlands. Yes, it was just a weather effect.

Slowly taking in her surroundings of white tables and the aroma of freshly baked goods, Bex took a deep breath. She was fine. Whatever had happened, she was completely fine. She was here to do a job, and Duncan would not interfere with that. Actually, if she had it her way, she wouldn’t see him again at all.

Feeling like she’d once again gathered some composure, she headed over to the counter.

There were two women behind it. One was an elderly lady who looked frail enough to be knocked over by a strong gust of wind yet somehow was managing to carry several trays of baked goods, and the other, who was around Bex’s age, had auburn hair and perfectly winged eyeliner.

‘Hi,’ Bex said, her voice coming out more breathily than she’d expected. ‘Can I have a large cappuccino, please? Double shot. And a food menu.’

The younger woman tilted her head to the side, her gaze fixed on Bex. ‘Sure you can,’ she said. ‘But first you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on between you and my stepbrother.’

10

Bex wanted to think she had misheard the woman. After all, she had barely recovered from the static shock spark thing, but she knew she hadn’t, just like she knew there was only one person the woman could have been talking about. Once again, her throat felt strangely tight, and she struggled to get out any sound.

‘Duncan?’ she managed finally. ‘Duncan’s your brother?’

The woman’s smile was wide and mischievous. ‘Stepbrother. Which I believe gives me extra right to stick my nose in, even when he definitely doesn’t want me to.’

‘Oh, well, he and I only just met this morning. Not that there’s anything going on with us. At all. Like I said, we just met. Well, not just then, but sort of just then. I mean, we obviously just saw each other then.’ Bex wanted to scream at herself. Why the hell had she lost all ability to speak? She was the person the bosses brought out when they needed someone to nail a presentation. Someone who could talk with absolute clarity and conviction regardless of the situation. Maybe the air was just thinner up here. Maybe that was why her thoughts were so confused.

‘Okay…’ The woman spoke slowly, as if she was needing time to process what Bex had just said. Not that Bex could even make any sense of it herself. ‘Right, well, regardless of when you met, I’m gonna need to lay some ground rules. I know he might come across as all charming and like he’s up for a good time, but that’s not the type of guy he is. He’s dealing with a serious broken heart.’

‘Oh,’ Bex said. She wasn’t sure what else she was meant to say, although the woman didn’t seem too bothered by her minimal answers. Instead, she picked up a jug of milk and went over to the coffee machine, where she carried on talking.

‘Yup. Bad broken heart. And I’m guessing from the accent that you’re not from around here.’

‘No, I’m from London.’

The girl gave a little laugh. ‘Of course you are. Trust me, there is no way Duncan can deal with some rebound fling with a high-flying businesswoman who’s here for a holiday. So can you do me a favour and just steer clear of him? Please?’

As she placed the cup of coffee down in front of Bex, the woman’s eyes, filled with pain and worry for her stepbrother, met hers. Bex felt a sudden warmth towards the young woman. She got what it was like to be protective of the people you loved, and this woman clearly thought the world of her stepbrother. It took guts to stand up for people like that – even though Bex suspected Duncan would hate to know she was doing it. Still, there was one thing that Bex needed to correct her on.