Page 32 of Love’s a Witch (The Scottish Charms #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Knox

Help her.” Henry’s voice sounded at my back.

I turned from where I stared out the window in the library to see Henry holding Oswald in his arms. A plaintive moo sounded, and Haggis clattered in behind him, shaking his horns.

“What’s got you in a huff?” I asked Haggis, ignoring Henry’s statement.

Oswald swiped my nose. His claws hurt.

“Oswald, was that really necessary?” I asked, bending to examine the wee scratch on Haggis’s snout.

He ran me over! Oswald flipped his head backward over Henry’s arm, the picture of a dramatic, fainting damsel in distress. Except he was no damsel, and I suspected he’d caused his own accident on this one.

“You know he doesn’t corner well. Did you cut it too close?” I asked him, scratching the scruff at Haggis’s neck.

Of course not. I’m blind, remember? How am I supposed to know where the big oaf is?

The cat had a point, and I sighed. Crouching, I kissed Haggis on the forehead.

“Try to be more careful of the cat, will you? And Oswald, next time you swipe Haggis with your claws, you’re sleeping in the barn for a night.”

Oswald hissed at me, jumping from Henry’s arms and onto my desk. There he settled down, his eyes slits, and I knew I was in for it.

“We’ll get it sorted and have ourselves a nice evening while you’re off to the pub,” Henry promised.

Oswald reached out a paw until it connected with my pen and he swiped it from my desk.

Rolling my eyes, I took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“See that you do. I’d like to not have every last pen of mine lost under the couch.

” I stomped over to the desk when Oswald swiped another pen off and picked him up, carrying him with me to a lounge chair.

There, I sat and scratched behind his ears until he gave up his mad and began to purr in my lap.

“What are you going to do about the lass?” Henry stopped at the mini fridge hidden behind wood paneling in a bookshelf and opened a bottle of beer. Settling across from me, he took a sip, waiting to hear what I had to say.

“Och, Henry. I don’t know. I truly don’t. She’s got me all twisted up.” I pointed at my head.

“And in here?” Henry tapped a finger against his chest.

“I don’t know,” I repeated, noncommittal.

“It’s nice, you know, to see you challenged. To have to put some work in. Women have always come easily to you.”

“Excuse me?” I glared at Henry. “You’re enjoying this?”

“I’m just saying—she matters. Which means none of this is going to be comfortable for you.

But that’s where the good stuff happens, you ken?

Outside your comfort zone. You need to have a long, hard look at what you want, Knox.

Not what is best for Briarhaven, not what is best for your family.

You. You’ve done a good job here, but it’s time you put yourself first. What do you want? ”

“Her.” My mouth went dry when I admitted it, and Oswald turned, slanting me a look.

And yet you try to make her leave?

“Her curse is bad for the town,” I protested, defending myself to the cat.

Pretty Sloane! Haggis wheeled himself to Henry for a pet.

“There’s a lot of magick in this town, boyo.

It might do you some good to realize that folks can well take care of themselves, and have been for centuries.

The snow is annoying, that’s the truth of it, but we’re a resilient and resourceful bunch.

We’ll find our ways around it. We always do.

Might be time for a change in your stance when it comes to the MacGregors, don’t you reckon? ”

With that, Henry lifted his bottle to me in a salute, clucked his lips, and left the room, Haggis at his heels.

If the opinion had come from my parents, I would have ignored it.

But Henry had acted as a de facto father to me for years, and I took his musings much more seriously.

A forest ogre, Henry had started work in our gardens, quickly working himself up to helping with the magickal creatures in the stables, before finally settling in the house as one of our family.

He seemed to enjoy the airs of being a butler, even though there was really no need for such pomp and circumstance with me.

Once a month he disappeared for a deep mud bath somewhere on the shores of the loch and returned rejuvenated and ready to dispense all advice—asked for or not.

It had been Henry who’d consoled me when my family had ordered me back to work, while they’d taken a holiday together.

I still remembered it, being left at home to watch the keep, while they’d all gone to the Cayman Islands together.

I’d been told that one Douglas family member must always remain at the castle, ostensibly to protect Briarhaven, but really, we weren’t in a time of war anymore.

Why couldn’t I have gone with them to parade around on sunny beaches and dive in azure waters?

Instead, Henry and I had taken our meal by the fire every night, playing brutal games of chess, while my family had regaled me with tales of their holiday.

I reminded myself I should be grateful. At least I had a somewhat functional family. Unlike Sloane, who’d grown up where screaming matches were the baseline of her existence.

I wished I’d done something. That day I’d run into her in the alley.

I wished I’d established a connection then, to show her that I could be there for her. I’d been too tongue-tied, full of teenage attraction, to do much more than mumble a few words.

I was beginning to see she’d always been it for me.

My heart stumbled every time I saw her. It always had.

And now that I was a man, and had tasted her kisses, I was ready to overthrow centuries of Douglas leadership simply to keep Sloane by my side.

After many a sleepless night, where I battled with my responsibility to my town and my responsibility to my heart, I realized that I couldn’t bear it if she left.

You’ll find a way. Oswald stood, arching his back, before hopping off my lap and sauntering out the door.

He was right. I’d find a way. I was a fixer, and Sloane’s curse was one big, fat problem that I was going to solve.

It had been a busy few days since I’d kissed Sloane in the closet of Mystic Munchies, and it aggravated me just how much I missed her in the time since I’d last had her in my arms. Calmly, I had listened to stories left and right about the MacGregor sisters and did my best to reassure Briarhaven that we’d sort this out.

All while constantly looking around to see if I could catch a glimpse of Sloane on the street.

She’d been lying relatively low, from what I’d heard, and I wondered if the bakery incident had freaked her out.

I could still taste her kiss.

It surprised me just how much real estate this woman had taken up in my brain.

I wasn’t usually one for soft yearnings or angsty pining, but I couldn’t believe just how many times I’d picked up my phone to call her on one excuse or the other and then put it down.

And frankly, I was surprised by my own rapidly growing feelings for Sloane.

I don’t exactly know when the change from wanting to make her leave to wanting to make her love me happened, but here we were.

Thoughts of how to help Sloane consumed me on the walk into town, but by the time I arrived at the pub I was no closer to a solution. Only half-frozen, covered in snow, and distracted by remembering the heat of Sloane’s mouth on mine.

“Hi ya, mate. Sorry I’m late.” Rabbie Barclay, a good friend of mine, stopped at where I stood on the sidewalk outside the pub, having lost myself in a train of thought.

“No worries, mate.” I shook my head and brushed the snow from my face, and we stopped to ogle the veritable army of snow sculptures that had now expanded to both sides of the walkway in front of the Rune & Rose.

A snow fairy held hands with a witch, a tiger kissed a snow frog, and there was even a wee snow ladybug. Things were getting out of hand here.

On Tuesday nights the pub closed early, and I usually stopped in for a round of darts with Liam and Rab. We stepped inside from the cold to find Liam behind the bar.

“What’ll it be tonight, lads?” Liam asked, from where he stocked beer cans in a cooler.

I loved the pub like this, when the main lights were off, and it was highlighted just by the fire and a few lamps in the corners.

The ambiance made it easy to chat about our lives while we played darts, and I was lucky to have Liam and Rab as my mates.

“Common Gin and tonic for me,” Rab ordered.

“Sure, same. I heard Munroe’s building a distillery in Loren Brae,” I said, settling onto a stool.

Common Gin was owned by Munroe Curaigh, a respected businessman who had thumbed his nose at his posh parents and gone into making gin for the working class instead of working for the fancy whisky brand his parents owned.

“Aye, that’s the way of it. Heard good things too. He’s engaged.” Liam placed three glasses on the bar and bent to building our drinks.

“Another one bites the dust,” Rab said grimly. I glanced at him. He wasn’t usually so bitter when it came to the likes of love, having dated far and wide. It wasn’t surprising, as he basically was a stand-in for David Beckham, but with a bit more muscle.

“Hopefully, he’s happy.” Liam slid us our drinks.

“Doubtful,” Rab murmured into his drink.

“What’s up with you?” I asked, taking a sip and angling myself toward Rab. He was a fairly cheerful sort, and usually wished others well.

“The same thing that’s up with you.” Liam snorted and put the darts on the bar.

“Me? I’m fine.” I pointed a finger at my chest. “This one over here seems a bit tetchy.”

“It’s the MacGregor sisters. Got you both tied in knots.” Liam grinned when both Rab and I stilled. “Uh-huh. See that? That right there. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Which sister?” I turned on Rab, ready to fight.

“None of them.” Rab glowered at me.

“Lyra,” Liam said, smirking when Rab swore under his breath.

“Och, no, that’s right.” I’d honestly forgotten that Rab and Lyra had been an item for a moment back in the day. We were all so young, and relationships were fleeting in high school. But judging from the look on Rab’s face, maybe not so fleeting.

“It’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t seem nothing. Your face looks like Wolverine’s,” Liam said.

“If he sat on one of his claws.” I outright laughed when Rab’s expression soured even more.

“Like you’re one to talk. Sniffing around Sloane.”

I took a sip of my drink, steadying myself. I wasn’t sniffing around her, exactly, and I knew that Rab had used that term to get me angry. Which would deflect from any discussion of him and Lyra.

“She does smell good. Like a sangria on a sunny beach.” I beamed at him when he swore, downing his drink.

“What’s going on with you two anyway?” Liam asked, pulling Rab’s glass over to make him another.

“I don’t know,” I said, because these were some of my oldest mates, and if I couldn’t be honest with them, then I wasn’t sure who I could be honest with. “She’s dug into my brain somehow. All I can do is think about her.”

Rab snorted, tapping his fingers on the bar, nodding in agreement. I took that to mean he felt the same about Lyra.

“But?” Liam asked, sliding a fresh drink to Rab.

“I’m meant to get her to leave town. This snow is too much. Bloody hell, mate. Scotland has unpredictable weather, but this is beyond anything we’ve dealt with before. My job would be to make sure they leave. It’s what my parents want as well.”

Rab snorted again, taking a sip. He well knew how domineering my parents were.

“I’m sure they’ve offered an opinion?”

“Naturally. The official decree is to run the MacGregors out of town. Like, yesterday.”

“Is that your plan, then?” Rab looked down at the bar.

“Aye. And no.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t reckon I can do it. There has to be another way.”

“You want to help solve the curse,” Liam said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I do at that. The issue is, I’m just not sure how long it will take. I may have a revolt on my hands here soon enough if I don’t enforce their leave.”

“I’ll help.” Liam met my eyes. “I talk to everyone here. I’ll put in a good word for them.”

“You will?” Some of the tension that banded my chest eased. “That might make a bit of a difference.”

“Aye, nae bother, lad.” Liam shrugged. “It’s easy enough to remind people that it’s not their fault they were cursed. I know I moan about the snow and whatnot, but still. They’ve been dealt a bad hand. Would be good to remind a few people of that.”

“I can help too.” Rab tapped his fingers against his glass. “Unofficially.”

“Does that mean you want Lyra to stay?” I asked.

“Don’t go there.” Rab shook his head, and I eased off. He’d talk when he wanted to talk, and that was the way of it.

“Does your mum know you fancy Sloane?” Liam asked, picking up the darts and motioning toward the board.

“It’s none of her business.” It wasn’t, that was the truth of it, but Briarhaven was a very small town, and I didn’t care to hear my mother’s complaints about the gossip.

“And when has that ever stopped her before?” Liam asked, hitting a bull’s-eye for his warm-up shot.

“Never,” I admitted, wincing as I hit a three.