Page 24

In which there is girl talk and excessive energy drinks.

Arabella…

Logan slipped out of bed in the middle of the night, kissing my shoulder before my half-conscious self could ask where he was going. He dinnae send me a text with any information, and I’m not feeling like sending him one because of it.

So, when he wasn’t back by mid-morning, I went in search of Hamish. Nothing more humbling than having to ask my bodyguard where my husband is.

“Hey, Hamish. Would ye happen to know the whereabouts of your boss right now?”

He’s in another dark suit looking suitably stern and bodyguard-ish. “I must admit that I dinnae know, Mrs. MacTavish, but he did ask me to tell ye that you’re having a visitor around noon.”

“This dinnae seem like a lifestyle that encourages surprises,” I say sourly. Ah, there’s the slightest bit of a twinkle in his eye.

“Traditionally ye would be correct, Ma’am.”

My mysterious visitor turns out to be Xenia. I’d seen and met her briefly on the jet heading back from Copenhagen, but she seemed buried under a pile of laptops and not really in a mental space for a ‘get to know ye’ conversation. She looks like she should be at a country club meeting, planning one of the interminable galas I used to work at as a server. She’s even wearing a sweater set and pearls.

“Nice to see you again, Arabella. I can call you Arabella, correct?” She holds out her hand to shake mine in a well-bred way.

“Oh, please call me Arabella. Since the insta-wedding with Logan, I’m getting nothing but Mrs. MacTavish this, and Ma’am that.”

“This does not surprise me,” she chuckles, “however, I’m about to make your day so much better.” Hamish and another dark-suited minion are carrying in a pile of boxes, and she leads the way upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms.

Part of me is wrestling with a fierce bout of jealousy. How does she know the layout of my husband’s house so well? And why am I getting so crabbit about it? I’ve been married to the man for… what. Four days?

This is a temporary thing, I remind myself.

It dinnae make me feel any better.

“I’m pretty familiar with all four of these houses in the Square,” she says with a bit of a knowing smile. “My partner Georges and I installed all their security features.”

“I see.” I’m embarrassed to be so transparent.

“So, Logan says you’ll be doing some remote tutoring so you’d need a good system for that. And since you’re starting your postgraduate program next fall, you’ll need a few security upgrades to-”

“I beg your pardon?”

Xenia’s pulling all manner of computer equipment from the pile of boxes, but she continues to face me, rolling her eyes as she speaks. “This comes as a surprise? Jesus Christ, these men … I’d like to tell you that this is the first time a MacTavish man has autocratically ordered big life changes for their new wife without her knowledge, but that would be a lie. You did know about the remote tutoring plans for your students at the Wallace School?”

“Aye, that I knew about,” I say wryly.

“Well, I noted in your background report that you were intending to return to school for your postgraduate degree in special education?”

“Has everyone in Scotland read every personal detail of my life? Because it’s really beginning to feel that way.” I feel exposed, extremely uncomfortable and veering towards furious.

I must look unhinged, because she stops everything and nods at Hamish and the other man. “Guys, I’ve got this. Give us a moment, huh?” Once it’s just the two of us, she brushes back the tidy lines of her blonde bob.

“Trust me, I know some seriously weird shit about this family. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but your background is one of the nicest, tidiest lives I’ve ever had to construct from public and private data. Your extremely detailed report was how Logan got to you in time before those fuckheads murdered you in front of your own apartment house. They must have followed you from the gala, but we got Logan your address in time. I promise you, other than your husband, no one has your full report. I only read it because that’s my job. But I’m a vault.” She makes the lock and key gesture with a grin.

This makes me laugh, which I suspect was her intention. “Thank ye. Can I help set all this up?”

I almost immediately lose track of what I’m plugging into where, as Xenia rapidly builds my computer system, but she’s patient as she explains all the security features and shows me how the cameras and remote connections work. “I also need to input your information on the biometric scanner here in the house,” she says, yawning hugely.

“Can I make ye some coffee?” I offer. “Caffeine is the precious and life-saving source of my very existence.”

“Would you happen to have any Celsius or Red Bull? If we were at Kai’s place, I know the answer would be ‘hell, no!’ I’m sure there’s nothing in his fridge but kale and chicken breasts, unless his new wife Luna has added some culinary sanity to his life.”

“Ach, all that macrobiotic shite? Glad I dinnae marry that MacTavish, then.” I make a face. “Let me go check in the pantry.”

Xenia is finished with my computer and already hovering by the kitchen by the time I find a six pack of Monster Zero Ultra. “This is the closest thing I could find.” I hold it up for her inspection.

“It’ll do, and maybe some of those salt and vinegar crisps?”

“Ye know, this is the most normal moment I’ve had since this whole thing started.”

We’re in the great room, lying in a rubble of Monster cans, crisps and the ice cream I found in the freezer.

“You’re not going to feel normal once that drink gets into your system,” she snickers. “I told you not to drink two!”

I eye her curiously. “You’re not really what I expected, to be honest.”

“Ah.” She sits up, brushing the crisp crumbs off her sweater set. “You thought I’d be covered in tattoos, with purple spiky hair?”

“Well… aye.”

“Appearances should be deceiving,” she says with a wicked little smile. “Why make it easy for the enemy? Though I do have an insane number of piercings.”

“Really?” My gaze instantly darts to her chest.

“Yep. Those…” she points to her nipples, “a couple of dermal piercings at the base of my spine, and then a few on my-”

“Aye, I get it! I feel so boring by comparison.” My thoughts instantly go to Logan’s delightfully effective adornments. “Is there a favorite piercing studio where ye all go? Never mind. Forget I asked!”

Xenia’s laughing uncontrollably and I’m sure my face is on fire. “Well yes, there is. And yes, I know about Logan’s and Kai’s piercings.”

“Logan’s brother has them, too?” I yelp. Kai seemed so stern and serious.

“Oh, yes. Their cousins never stop giving them crap about their piercings. Though I suspect that’s because they all want to get one, but they’re too chicken shit.” She eyes me speculatively. “Have you thought about getting one? I’m telling you, a clit piercing ramps up your orgasms like you can’t believe.”

“I’d rather kickbox a bear,” I blurt.

She’s still howling with laughter when Logan steps into the room, eyeing the desecrated remains of our junk food binge. “I see you’ve made yourself at home, Xenia.”

“You should be grateful.” Standing up and stretching, she straightens her pearls. “You got home before I could tell her all the insane, reckless things you’ve done through the years, like the time you thought it would be more expedient to blow out the back of the vault at that drug warehouse in Rotterdam instead of dismantling the lockset on the door.”

“We shaved fifteen minutes off the mission, ye Bessie. Now stop weaponizing my past and tell me how the computer setup went.”

Xenia launches into an extremely complicated explanation that ends with inputting my retinal and fingerprint scan into the biometric security system. I have a feeling that she’s lost Logan at some point as his eyes glaze over. When she’s finished, she beams up at him expectantly.

“Your need for praise is radiating off ye like a fever,” he says sourly.

“You did say if I could get this all taken care of within twenty-four hours that you would give it to me.” Xenia holds out her hand, wiggling her fingers expectantly.

With a sigh, Logan heads over to a table in the entry hall and sorts through the keys he keeps in a carved dish. “Here.” He holds out a set. “My Maserati GranCabrio for one month. And aye, a dent in the bumper is still a dent!”

“It just means you’ve used the bumper, like it was intended!” She snatches the keys from him with a grin. “Arabella, it was a pleasure getting to know you, give me a call if you run into any problems with the new setup, okay?”

“It was a grand afternoon,” I agree. “Thank ye so much.”

“I’m off to find Georges before he breaks into NASA’s website again,” she says, waving goodbye. A few moments later, Logan’s expression is deeply pained.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just heard Xenia make her exit. She peeled out of the garage in my Maserati, likely testing the zero to eighty feature,” he groans.

“Sorry.”

“Ye dinnae look sorry. Ye look like ye might be enjoying my suffering. Is that correct, my bride?” He’s stalking me around the center table as I collect the pile of drink cans.

“Not in the slightest,” I say primly, “though perhaps I might be a wee bit more sympathetic if you’d bothered to message me today. Ye know, a little, ‘How’s your day? Did ye sleep well? Xenia’s going to come over and set up a computer system more suited to the National Defense Agency.’ Things like that.”

His hands are already sliding around my waist and it’s very distracting.

“I’m sorry, Bella. There are parts of my work that tend to make it difficult to focus on anything else at the time. I’m not used to checking in with anyone, I see that needs to change.” His big hands are heading toward my arse and my desire to scold him is rapidly disappearing.

“Um… well. Thank ye for the computer system. It’s amazing. It’ll make remote tutoring so easy.”

“Georges installed two study booths at the school.” He’s squeezing my arse, pulling me closer. “They’ll connect to your system here, but they can be utilized for other teachers as well.”

“That’s…” What the hell was I talking about? “Oh, the booths. That’s nice.” It’s his damn eyes. That hazel, mesmerizing gaze and when he’s intent on something, his entire expression sharpens, like a falcon ready to dive on its prey.

“Xenia, she was- was-” He’s rubbing his rapidly hardening dick against my stomach. “She was telling me about the piercings.”

He pulls back to look at me, an action I note with some regret. “Whose piercings?”

“Her’s. She mentioned that ye use the same piercing studio and that ye and your brother both have… Actually, never mind. I dinnae want to talk about your brother’s piercings.”

“Thank god,” he says fervently. “Neither do I. I do have to tell ye something.”

“Aye?” I follow him into the kitchen, it looks like he brought home takeaway and the scent of fish and chips is divine.

“I have to leave tomorrow. I’m not sure how long this is going to take. A few days at least.” Logan looks so handsome in his tight black t-shirt, his biceps bulging as he dishes out the food. He hands me a plate and I see another mark on the side of his hand, next to the five from before. His skin is red and slightly swollen.

“Are ye going to be safe?” My appetite disappears.

“This is more of a fact-finding mission,” he says cryptically. “Just making certain some intel is correct.”

Looking back down at his hand and the new mark, I notice that even though it looks like he recently scrubbed his hands, there’s traces of red under his fingernails. “Was that intel taken from an unwilling source?”

“Do ye want that answer?”

Do I?

I’ve already seen and experienced so many terrible things. People that were capable of more evil deeds than I could imagine. But if I’m going to be a MacTavish - even if it’s just for a short time - I need to be able to handle this. I’ve never been one to hide from the truth, and this is not the time to start.

“Aye, I do.” I meet his gaze squarely. “I want to know.”

“Head Bastard in Charge finally broke. He gave us valuable information about the movements of the other people running the organ trafficking business.”

“I see. I dinnae need the details, but…” I swallow hard, trying to push away the thought of how Logan got that blood under his nails. “Do ye think we can stop them now? Can ye catch them?”

“Our chances are much better. They’re canny, these bastards, and it’s clear they dinnae dispense all the information to anyone in the organization, just bits and pieces, even though that man was close to the top of the food chain. But there’s a lot to work with.”

“Was…” My fingers tighten on my plate. I’ve got to be tougher than this. “He was alive, then. Not now.”

“Aye. He’s gone.” He’s watching my expression carefully. Lifting his fist, he shows me the six tattoo marks on his hand, including the new one he must have gotten today.

“Are those marks for people you’ve, ye know, that you’ve killed?”

He chuckles, but not like it’s really funny. “These are for you, my wife. These are the men who hurt ye, who tried to kill ye.”

The two men in the alley…

The two men who kidnapped me…

Anselm.

Head Bastard in Charge.

Sucking in a deep breath, I nod. “I hope ye dinnae need to make any more marks for me, then. But ye saved me. Ye protected me from so much worse. It’s… it means so much. I dinnae expect to feel this.”

He smiles gently, which seems so odd while having this conversation about murder and tattoos. “Do ye want me to go run a nail brush over my hands again? I’m thinking I missed a spot or two.”

For the first time, I take the initiative, going up on tiptoe and kissing him. His mouth is warm and soft, and I take a moment before I pull back. “That is a good idea.”

Crabbit - Scottish slang for cranky or pissy.

Bessie - Scottish slang for a saucy or ill-tempered woman