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She offers me a curt nod in return. “Good. Then that’s all settled.”

“Rhona,” a new voice says from behind us. “Where do I take these pies?”

I can’t pin what it is about Brodie MacKay that makes my mouth turn down in a frown anytime he’s near; sure, we’ve never really got on, but before coming back here, I hadn’t seen the man in nary a decade, and yet still he acts like I kicked his puppy every time we’re in the same room together. Even when we were kids, and I would try to include him, he’d always acted like he was just a bit better than everyone else. I remember his father being funny, if not a wee bit too loud at times—but Brodie has always been the opposite. Always quiet, always out of the way. Maybe that’s why we never clicked.

Brodie notices me watching him, his face cool and expressionless as he tips up his chin. “Lachlan.”

“Brodie,” I offer back.

“You can take the pies to the fridge in the back of the pub,” Rhona tells him. “Just make sure to hide them under the heads of lettuce so Fergus doesn’t get into them before this weekend.”

He nods at his aunt, eyeing me again for another moment before stalking off toward the pub. I see him stop to say hello to Finlay and Key, and Key smiling brightly at her cousin makes my stomach twist. Not in any sort of misguided jealous way, because I’m all too aware that they’re family—but there’s something about seeing them together that still doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t hide the fact that he doesn’t care for me. Maybe it’s just that my mistrust of her family and their threat to my future seems to extend to Key now as well. Which, I’m more than aware, makes no sense, because they areherfamily.

It seems Keyanna MacKay is the exception to all of my rules.

Rhona barks something at Blair from across the field and stalks off toward her, seeming to have forgotten that she was threatening me. I find myself standing by Malcolm’s truck, catching Key’s eye as Malcolm and Finlay guffaw over something one of them has just said. I nod toward the other side of the building once before turning and walking that way, not checking to see if she’s following.

This side of the pub faces the woods, nothing back here as I lean against the wall, waiting. It doesn’t take her more than a minute to round the corner, and I take her by surprise by throwing my arms around her waist and pulling her against me.

“Someone could see us,” she laughs.

I’m distracted by her mouth, but I manage, “Let them.”

“Wow, we have sex one time and suddenly you’re going all caveman on me.”

I arch a brow. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant—”

Her hand over my mouth followed by her wide grin gives me pause.

“I’m kidding,” she says. She pulls her hand away, pressing a kiss to my mouth, which immediately makes me lean in to taste more of her. “I kind of like the idea of you going all caveman.”

“That so?”

I hoist her up a wee bit higher by the waist, forcing her up on her toes as I cover my mouth with hers. I take all I can as quickly as I can, trying to memorize the feel and taste of her before I’m forced to leave her for the night.

My lips linger for another second before I pull away, letting my head thump back against the wall. “Things seem to be going better with your family.”

“I think so,” she says with a small quirk of her lips. “Things have been…a lot easier recently.”

“Seems even your dear cousin has brought you around.”

She barks out a laugh. “What did Brodie ever do to you?”

“Nothing.” I sniff indignantly. “Just don’t trust him is all.”

“You know he works for the historical society,” she tells me. “He could probably be a real help. I actually asked him about your family records.” She frowns then. “You didn’t tell me they were lost in a fire.”

“I did tell you they’d been lost,” I remind her.

“But I didn’t know that they literally burnt up!”

“Does it matter how they went? They’re gone. That’s all that matters.”

“But maybe Brodie could—”

“I don’t want his help,” I say firmly, more firmly than I intend to.

She presses her palms to my chest, her brow knitting. “I don’t think you have the luxury of being stubborn. We don’t know how much time you have.”