Page 8 of Wild Scottish Gold (The Enchanted Highlands #7)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kaia

T he last thing I needed was to go to dinner with Thane. Not only was I still trying to come to terms with this whole Order of Caledonia indoctrination, but I also had mixed feelings about working with him on the Common Gin project. His presence was larger than life, in all things, from painting his nails with his niece to leading his employees at the shop.

But holy hell.

I hadn’t expected the punch of seeing him—with a tiny girl in pink sparkles wrapped in his arms—and how that made my heart melt on the spot. Thane was just so physically strong, with a personality to match, so when he’d picked Audrey up to give her a massive hug, I’d had to look away before I told him that I wanted that too.

Not just a hug.

But that .

A family. A unit. A belonging.

Which was absolutely the wrong way I needed to be thinking about things. I’d been down this road before. I had to work with this man on potentially one of the biggest projects of my life. Despite Willow’s insistence that work and pleasure were a fun mix, I really did try to learn lessons from my previous experiences.

Yet here I was, walking into The Tipsy Thistle pub, wearing a slinky silk top draping my curves that I’d almost taken off ten times before I’d forced myself out the door. It wasn’t like the man hadn’t already seen everything that I had, right?

The Tipsy Thistle reminded me of the Scottish pub you’d see in the movies—complete with the hot Scottish bartender wearing a waistcoat, and his sleeves rolled up to reveal intricate tattoos. His name was Graham, and I’d met him briefly when I’d come in with a few lads from work. Now, seeing me alone, his smile widened, and he nodded to an empty seat at the bar while he filled a pint.

Glancing around, I saw the pub was about half full, not as busy as I’d expect for a Saturday night, but Thane hadn’t arrived yet. The pub was hodgepodge in the way of rooms added on through the years, with low doorways to duck through, and stone walls showcasing vintage Guinness posters and various art pieces from the area. A stone fireplace dominated one area, though it wasn’t lit now, but I could imagine it would be cozy in the winter months.

“How’s it going then?” Graham asked, leaning forward and giving me a slow smile that I’m sure melted the bras right off many a woman. “Kaia, right?”

“That’s right.” I smiled right back, because, well, it was almost impossible not to. Did Scotland just grow their men handsome, tall, and strong?

“I always remember the names of beautiful women that frequent my pub.” Graham propped an elbow on the bar and leaned forward. A woman next to me sighed and turned, shaking her head.

“Please tell me you’re smart enough not to fall for this.” The slender woman with stunning eyes and a swingy crop of curls gestured to Graham.

“I mean, the view’s nice.” I grinned as Graham’s smile widened.

“See, Agnes? I’m just giving people what they want.”

“Och, I’ll admit you’ve a pretty face, lad, but you need to work on your lines. They’re getting tired.” Agnes sniffed and Graham brought a hand to his chest, wounded.

“Tired? Was that line tired? I thought it was a nice compliment.” Graham looked to me for confirmation.

“Mmm. So-so.” I wiggled my hand back and forth in the air before finally giving it a thumbs down.

Graham gasped, bringing the back of his hand to his forehead as though he was going to faint, and Agnes and I both laughed.

“It’s just a line that I’ve heard before.” I tried to soften the blow.

“See? You’re unoriginal.” Agnes tapped a finger on the bar.

“What have you heard before?” Thane’s voice at my shoulder sent a shiver rippling across my skin and I turned. He was in dark denim, a simple white button-down shirt, and a gray tweed waistcoat. He’d pulled a newsboy cap over his head, and his eyes glittered beneath as he looked between me and Graham.

“Graham was just informing Kaia here that he remembers all the names of the beautiful women that visit his pub.”

“Is that right?” Thane’s voice went dangerously low, and Agnes’s eyebrows shot up in amusement. A look passed between the two men.

“I’m not sure how to respond here, mate,” Graham admitted. “If I take it back then I’d be implying Kaia isn’t beautiful, as she is, but then if I admit to saying it, it seems I’ll be stepping on some toes.”

“No toes to step on,” I promised to Graham just as Thane wrapped his arm around my shoulders and growled—yes, growled —at Graham.

“Hoooo, lassie.” Agnes fanned her face, her eyes lighting in appreciation. “You’ve got yourself a fierce one here.”

“No, I don’t. Nobody has anything and nothing is happening.” I waved my hands in the air, trying to dispel the implications bouncing around between us.

“Shall we take a table?” Thane asked, stiffly, his eyes still on Graham.

“Kaia, can I have a quick chat with you before you do?” Agnes leaned forward and I grabbed on to the lifeline.

“I’ll get our drinks?” Thane looked down at me. “Guinness?”

“Please, thanks.” I slid off the stool, happy to be out from under his arm. His touch was driving me crazy, my body singing with excitement from being close to him again, and I was already kicking myself for going on this date with him. It was too easy for me to remember how good we’d been together.

Agnes directed me to a quiet spot in a back room of the pub, with a few cozy tables tucked in a nook lined with shelves of vintage whisky bottles.

“I just wanted to properly introduce myself. I’m Agnes, owner of Bonnie Books, and also sort of your unofficial historian when it comes to the Order of Caledonia.”

My eyes widened. “Oh! Oh . Hello then, nice to meet you. So you know about all this magick and Kelpies and Order and whatnot?”

“Very much so. Sophie told me you’d taken quickly to learning about the history of the Clach na Fìrrin.” The Gaelic words for Stone of Truth sounded lyrical on her tongue. “She said you were pretty stoked about doing the ritual and jumping in to help.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged, sheepish. “I tend to jump headfirst into things at times. It’s kind of had me a bit worried now that I’ve gone and joined so quickly.”

“That’s fair. I mean, it’s not the easiest thing to explain to people, particularly if you’re new to the area. I will say that we appreciate you joining as the sooner we have a full Order, the sooner we can banish the Kelpies that threaten Loren Brae.”

My eyes flew to the window, where I could just see moonlight trailing across the dark surface of Loch Mirren.

“I’m still having a hard time believing they’re real. But at the same time, I swear I’ve heard things in my dreams.”

“Aye. They’re real. Very much so, I’m afraid. We’re all doing our best to keep them at bay, but we need to finish this up and do a closing ritual to banish them once and for all. The Stone needs to know it’s protected.”

“And somehow I’m meant to just have magick, pass a few challenges, and help with this all?” I laughed, shaking my head, and looked down at my hands. “Magick.”

“It’s a lot, I’ll agree. Living here, I’m used to it. Not all is as it seems in Loren Brae. It’s not just the Kelpies that are magickal, my new friend. It’s everywhere.”

“Are you magick?”

“No, not that I’m aware.” Resignation passed across Agnes’s pretty face.

“How do I start?” This was the question that had been bugging me all along.

“I’m not rightly sure, to be honest. Our past members have all discovered it on their own, and it’s often intertwined with their own passions or hobbies. For example, Shona, our garden witch, was able to help heal a grieving heart with her tinctures.”

“Ah.” At that, I nodded. Finally, some sort of direction. “So for me it might be connected to being a metalsmith?”

“Potentially. I’d see if you can spend some time while you work and see if you feel any different? Maybe infuse some magick into your metal?” Anges shrugged. “Hard to say. It’s going to be a personal thing to you.”

“I’d love to get together, to talk about this more, sometime. I’m feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed.” Likely because you uprooted your whole life, jumped in headfirst to a new place, joined a magickal Order, and basically slept with your boss again. Mentally, I rolled my eyes at myself. I should get impulsive tattooed on my wrist.

“Naturally. I’d love to. And I’m sure a few of the other women would like to meet you as well. I’ll speak to Orla and see what Lia’s schedule?—”

“Orla?” I grabbed Agnes’s arm in surprise.

“Och, aye. She’s part of the Order too.”

“I didn’t get the rundown on who else was part of it.” My heart hammered in my chest. If Orla was a member, like me, would my designs get the advantage? Was it an unfair advantage? Was this something I should disclose to Thane? Uncertainty warred with excitement in my gut.

“Then we’ll definitely have to chat. Tomorrow’s Sunday. Meet at the castle? We’ll talk shop.” Agnes grinned at me when I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief.

Shop.

Like magick was just another skill to be acquired.

I supposed it was, even though it didn’t make much sense to me.

Yet.

But I was a fast learner and certainly had no issue with picking up new skills, so if I just gave myself time to learn, I was certain I could master this new and intriguing aspect of myself.

“Yes, let’s.” I glanced over my shoulder at where Thane sat at a table in the corner, glowering toward the bar.

“Tall, dark, and grumpy is waiting for you,” Agnes said, an amused smile on her face.

“It’s not like that.” I was beginning to sound like an echo chamber, even if just to myself. Maybe I thought if I repeated it enough, I’d believe it?

“You keep telling yourself that.” Agnes patted my shoulder and brushed past me. “Trust me, I know the feeling.” Her last words were low, and I almost missed them, but it had me tilting my head at her in question. What did that mean?

Crossing the room, I joined Thane at the table, and if anything, his glower deepened at my arrival.

“We can’t do this,” Thane and I said at the exact same time.

“ I’m not doing anything,” we again echoed each other’s words.

My mouth fell open and he held a finger in the air, commanding me to wait.

“I don’t like lying to Audrey, and I don’t like disappointing her, which is why I agreed to this date.”

“Gee, thanks.” I bit my lower lip and took a sip of my Guinness, trying to stifle the annoyance that rose inside me. “I’m sure there’s a way to phrase that so you sound less of an asshole.”

Graham materialized at the table just as I spoke, and a slow grin spread across his face.

“This one bothering you, darling? I’m happy to toss him out if need be.”

“Och, piss off, Graham.” Thane leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, his brow furrowing.

“Let’s just see what the lass wants, shall we?”

“It’s fine.” I shook my head, not ready to deal with this pissing match between the two men. “Nobody needs to get thrown out. Yet.”

Graham laughed. “Or you’ll do it yourself?”

“I just might.” I grinned, appreciating him, and maybe I enjoyed Thane’s scowl deepening just a bit too much.

“Can I take your order?”

“Mac and cheese,” I said, cheerfully.

“Guinness stew,” Thane ordered, and we handed our menus over.

“I’m sorry,” Thane said, before I could speak, and I paused, surprised to hear an apology from him. “You’re right. I was being a right arsehole when I said that. You … bother … me.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. This was intriguing.

“I’m still struggling to see where this is less asshole-ish.”

Thane huffed and rubbed his hand over the short beard at his jawline. I tried not to stare. When I’d first met him, I’d been convinced he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in real life, and that feeling had not changed. Granted, I was far more annoyed with him now than I’d been before, but that didn’t change that just looking at him made my mouth water. His sheer size hulked the bistro table between us, and I swear I could feel the warmth radiating off him when he looked at me with those soul-searching blue eyes.

Yup, dinner had been a bad idea. I couldn’t be this close to him, like we’d been in Edinburgh, tucked over a small table, attraction ramping up between us. It felt much the same, being here, like this, together again.

And all I wanted to do was ask him if he lived far from the pub.

No, bad Kaia . Intrusive thoughts. This man owns your business lease. You’re competing with him on designs for your client.

“You’re right. That is my problem, not yours.” Thane took a sip of his Irn Bru, his eyes stormy, and God help me, but I wanted to be a boat riding the waves of his turmoil. The man’s gravitational force was impossible to ignore, and my body tingled with awareness in his presence. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“On that, we’re agreed.” I couldn’t help but raise my glass to his, and he tapped his against mine, a light dawning in his eyes.

“Bad experience?” Thane asked, leaning back in his seat.

“You could say that. I was naive. My first, and well, only real boss out of school. Stars in my eyes. Thought everything was falling into place. Turns out he was married with a baby on the way.” I shrugged one shoulder, taking a swallow of Guinness to soothe the shame that burned at my throat. “I’ve mostly worked for myself ever since.”

“Mine was a client.” Thane shook his head, and I glanced up, surprised to see understanding on his face, and his eyes free of judgment. “She used me to make her businessman boyfriend jealous. He traveled a lot for work, so he was never around, and I assumed she was single. Until he walked in on us, and I saw the delight on her face. She got what she wanted and a hell of a deal on a beautiful new wrought iron dining table.”

“That’s shitty,” I said, meaning it, and pressed my lips together. People could really be awful. And it surprised me that Thane was being so honest about it too. He was a good man. What was done to him was cruel.

“Aye, it was. But I guess lessons learned don’t come cheap, do they?”

“Which is why?—”

“We don’t mix business and pleasure,” Thane finished for me just as our food arrived, brought by a lad with a dishtowel tucked at his waist.

“So, it’s decided then.” I breathed out a sigh of relief, some of the anxiety banding my chest easing, and inhaled the scent of gooey mac and cheese. Comfort food at its finest.

“Aye, lass. Not that I don’t think of you. And our night together.”

My eyes flashed to his, desire coiling low, and my breath caught at the ragged look of yearning on his face.

“You do?” My heart hammered, and a thread of happiness wound through me. It hadn’t been just me. He’d been just as into it as I had.

“Aye, lass. Every damn night.” With that, Thane stabbed a fork in his pie, his expression disgruntled.

“Oh.” What was a woman supposed to say to that? Particularly when we’d just agreed not to act on any attraction we had for each other.

“You’re not an easy woman to forget, Kaia.”

“I’m not?” Damn it, but I shouldn’t be pleased by his words, but I was positively glowing under his terse compliments.

“You left. Without a note. A number. Anything. Bloody hell, but that bothered me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, softly, reaching out to touch his arm, but then dropping my hand before I did. There was to be no touching. “If it makes you feel better …” I hesitated. “I thought it was best to just start my new life fresh. With no?—”

“Complications?” Thane huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “Well, looks like you landed yourself smack dab in the middle of one hell of a complication.”

“But we can do this, right?” I straightened my shoulders, lifting my chin at him. “We can work on this project together and not step on each other’s toes?”

“When she chooses my designs, I’ll be delighted to let you work on them.” Thane positively beamed when I curled my lip in disgust at him.

“There’s nothing I love more than taking down an overly confident man,” I said, smiling brightly.

“May the best man win, then.” Thane laughed again when I let out a low growl, and then focused on my mac and cheese. I refused to let him ruin my comfort food.

His knee bumped mine under the table and a shiver danced down my spine. We’d sat just like this in Edinburgh, both of us crowding over a tiny table, our legs and elbows bumping as we’d laughed and talked and had ended the night with pure bliss.

Damn it, but I wanted that again.

I shouldn’t.

And I couldn’t.

But still.

The thoughts lingered and refused to go away. What was it about wanting something you couldn’t have that made it much hotter? I was an adult. I was in control of my actions and my emotions. There was no reason I couldn’t carry on a normal conversation with Thane and learn more about his business and life in Loren Brae. And talk we did. He was such an interesting man, but he also asked me questions about my work and family. The time went quickly, especially while devouring delicious food with excellent company.

By the time he’d paid the bill and we were walking out, I was thrumming with desire, like a guitar string plucked, and I hastily waved goodbye to get the hell away from one Thane Blackwood as fast as I could.

“Hey, where are you going?” Thane called from where he stood in the cool night air in front of the pub.

“Walking home.”

“Och, lass. I can’t let you do that on your own.” Footsteps sounded and I picked up speed, needing some space from him, lest I do something crazy like ask him to recite the alphabet with his tongue. Down there.

“It’s not far.” I trained my eyes ahead, the cool night air a slap to my heated face.

“I’ll be seeing you home safe then, Kaia.” His tone brooked no argument, and I only then remembered the threat of the Kelpies. Even though we were walking away from the loch, I glanced over my shoulder to see moonlight shimmering across the surface. Were they large? Or were they small and fast—like zombies? Should I even be turning my back on the loch? A million thoughts darted through my mind, but they all stalled when Thane brushed his hand at the base of my back, nudging me forward when I’d stopped.

“Best to get on home.”

I wanted to ask him if he knew about the Kelpies. But I hadn’t been able to bring myself to tell him about the ghost coo the other day, so what made me think I could casually drop the Kelpies on him now? Instead, I focused on thinking pure thoughts as we walked to my “wee” cottage tucked at the end of a sparsely populated lane on the edge of Loren Brae.

Puppies.

A bold red poppy flower in a green field.

My delicious mac and cheese.

Paint colors for the little bathroom I wanted to freshen up.

Relief filled me when we arrived at my cottage, and I hurried forward. I’d left a lamp on, and cheerful light spilled from the front window, highlighting the shifting branches of two trees that arched in front of the house. It still didn’t feel real, this tiny house of mine, but it pleased me to no end to have a place to call my own.

A Stan-free place to call my own. Initially, he’d called me repeatedly after I’d left the States, but finally, the calls had tapered off. I hoped he finally got the picture that we were nothing more than friends. And barely friends at that. Certainly not someone I wanted to be intimate with.

Damn it. The moment my brain landed on the word intimate, desire caused my body to flush with heat. I fumbled at the door, trying to work the old key in the lock, refusing to look over my shoulder at Thane.

“Kaia.” His voice was a rasp in the darkness, and I swallowed against my suddenly dry throat.

“Lock sticks a bit,” I murmured. How could I be so warm in this cool night? Thane shifted behind me, his body cocooning me, as he reached around me to take the key from my hand to slide it effortlessly in the lock. I squirmed, caught between him and the door, desperately trying to pretend I was anything but interested.

The door swung open.

“Bloody hell.” Thane’s breath drifted across my neck, and I shivered.

I should have stepped forward.

But I didn’t.

I waited.

And when his hand came up, brushing the hair back from my ear, his mouth warm at my neck, my breath caught.

“We shouldn’t.”

“I know.” I did. I truly did.

However .

There was some invisible thread tying us together, pulling me to inch closer to him, to lean back just enough until his lips met my ear, and my shoulders touched his chest.

“Kaia.” His lips brushed the lobe of my ear, and I rubbed my thighs together, needing his touch.

“Maybe … maybe we just need to get it out of our system?” I suggested, hopeful. Bad girl, Kaia. You know better. I shoved those thoughts aside and instead focused on the way my body tensed as he leaned close.

His forehead pressed against the side of my head, his breath ragged.

Something about the sound of him physically trying to get himself under control emboldened me.

I’d never had a man want me like this before.

Maybe I barely knew Thane, but what I did know about him, well, mostly , I liked. If we ignored the whole trying to take my client away from me thing. But everybody had their faults, and he was trying to protect his own career. I could hardly blame him. Or could I?

The moment stretched out and my heart hammered in my chest.

My God, I want this man. Right now. Right here.

“Och, just to get it out of our system then.”

Every nerve ending in my body cheered, and I squealed as Thane scooped me up like I weighed nothing more than a bouquet of flowers, and kicked the door closed behind him.

“Thank God,” I breathed, and Thane took me to the floor.