Page 19

His expression cleared. “Och, probably so. Come now. Coffee and food will put you right.”

I had serious doubts anything could put me right at this point, but I managed a weak smile as I let him lead me again. Maybe I really was jet lagged, because my head was so hazy I had trouble focusing. Fortunately, he didn’t seem bothered when I leaned hard on his arm, my fingers curling around his bicep.

“The kitchen’s not far,” he said in a bright voice. “It actually used to be a library, but we— Ah, the previous owners gutted it over a century ago.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Well, the castle already had two, but the old kitchen was in a separate building. People used to build them that way to keep from burnin’ the whole place down if a grease fire got out of hand.”

“Did it work?”

“Aye, and I assume that’s why you never see any fat people depicted in medieval art. It’s cold in the Highlands. You think twice about fetching a midnight snack if you have to freeze your bawbag off to get it.”

I couldn’t help laughing at his use of bawbag—one of the more colorful slang words I’d picked up while working for him over the past three months.

He grinned down at me, his eyes dancing with mischief.

“No,” I said, “that’s definitely not worth it.”

“Too right, lass. Ah, here we are.”

Like the rest of the castle, the kitchen was a mix of old and new. Modern cabinetry and stainless steel appliances blended with stone walls and arched, wooden ceilings. Alec steered me toward a spacious island next to the oven. “You sit. I’ll cook.”

“Oh no, I can help.”

“Arse in chair, Chloe. That’s an order.” The command was delivered in a teasing tone, but it still made desire flutter low in my belly.

“Okay,” I said meekly, grateful for the marble countertop that hid my lower half as I squeezed my thighs together.

He worked quickly, pulling out ingredients and turning on the stove’s burners. In no time, he had a pan of bacon frying and a coffee pot brewing in the background. There was something insanely sexy about a man who knew his way around a kitchen, and it didn’t take long for the flutters of desire to bloom into something stronger and more persistent. My heart sped up as he stood whisking eggs with his back to me, his perfect ass lovingly hugged by his faded jeans.

He hadn’t worn any underwear in the dream.

“Scrambled or omelet?” he asked, turning around with the bowl in hand.

I jerked my gaze to his. “Um, scrambled, please.” My throat went dry. There was no way he hadn’t noticed me ogling his ass, but he was too polite to say anything. I lowered my eyes, pretending to be suddenly fascinated by the veining in the marble.

“I have something of yours,” he said as he poured the eggs into a skillet.

I looked up. “Oh?”

He pulled my phone from his pocket and handed it over. “It was dead when we landed last night. I put it on the adapter to charge.”

“I’m kind of afraid to see my messages,” I murmured, powering it on. Knowing Josh, he’d already contacted my family and our mutual friends in a bid to control the narrative about what happened. He was a stickler for managing his reputation, so he’d probably come up with some lame story for canceling the wedding.

My heart raced as the screen lit up. Sure enough, there was a long list of missed calls—half of them from my mother. I also had over a hundred unread text messages and just as many emails. And not one of them was from Josh.

Blood pounded in my ears. He couldn’t even be bothered to make sure I landed in Scotland okay? Then again, he was probably busy with Clarissa. Maybe he even took her back to our apartment.

Jesus, were they sleeping together in my bed?

I flipped the phone facedown on the counter.

Alec slid bacon and eggs onto plates. “That bad, huh?”

There was genuine sympathy in his voice, which meant he cared more about me than the man that, up until twenty-four hours ago, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

“You know,” I said slowly, “it probably sounds weird, but I’m glad it happened. Josh couldn’t even wait for me to leave town before he cheated. He would have been unfaithful during our marriage.” A shiver shot down my spine. “God, imagine if I’d had kids with him.”