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‘Are you going to be my prince tonight, Callan?’ She held out her shaking hand towards him.
He gave a little smile. ‘Aren’t I supposed to be your Rolfe?’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘He turned out to be a traitor. I’d rather go with the prince theme.’
He took her hand in his. ‘Does this mean I have to dance and sing? Because, I warn you. This might not work out the way you imagined it.’
Her voice was low and husky. ‘You’ve no idea what I’ve imagined, Callan.’ His eyes widened as his smile spread across his face. He gave a mock bow.
‘Ms Jenkins, can I have this dance?’
She gave a little curtsey as he took her hand and her steps quickened around the circular bench. Callan laughed, keeping pace with her as she started to run, letting the rainbow-coloured reflections of light dance across the pale chiffon of her dress. Her gold shoes sparkled in the dim lights but the one thing that stood out for her was the green of Callan’s eyes. They didn’t leave her. Not for a second.
‘You’re planning on making me dizzy, aren’t you?’ he quipped as she started around the circle for the fourth time.
‘I might never get to do this again,’ came her instant response.
He stopped dead. As if the realisation had just hit him.
Her breath caught in her throat, her heart beating rapidly against her chest. Did she really want this to be the last time for her and Callan?
She could see his quick breaths, see the glimmer of uncertainty across his eyes followed by a look of firm decision.
His hands swept around her waist, lifting her up and spinning her around as if she were as light as a feather. Her arms caught around his neck and she laughed as he continued to spin her round, her dress billowing out around them. He stopped slowly, holding her in place for a few seconds before gradually beginning to lower her down. Her face was just inches above his. She didn’t want him to stop touching her; she didn’t want him to stop holding her.
‘Are you going to kiss me again, Callan?’ she whispered. ‘Do I get a little warning this time?’
‘How much warning do you need?’
‘About this much.’
She started to kiss him before he’d completely lowered her to the floor. This time she was ready. This time she initiated it. This time there were no spectators.
There was just her and Callan. A perfect combination.
It wasn’t a light kiss. She wasn’t gentle. She knew exactly what she was doing. This was happening because she wanted it to happen. This wasn’t about her job. This wasn’t about Angus McLean. This wasn’t about Annick Castle.
This was just about her and Callan.
And it felt so right.
Their kiss was intensifying; the stubble on his chin scraped her skin. His hands ran through her curls, locking into place at the back of her head as he tried to pull her even closer.
The chiffon material on her dress was so thin, all she could feel was the compressed heat from his body against hers.
Her hands ran across the expanse of his back; she could feel his muscles rippling under his shirt. One of these days she’d ask him how he got those.
Or maybe he could show her...
He pulled his head back from hers, still holding her head in place. With slow sensuous movement he slid his hands down her back, around her hips, and stroked upwards with his palms towards her breasts.
She wasn’t in a fairy tale any more. She was in a positively adult dream. One where she only dared imagine the outcome.
‘Laurie,’ he murmured as he rested his forehead against hers.
‘Yes.’ She could hardly breathe. She would scream if he stopped touching her. This was meant to happen. They were meant to be together.
She’d never felt a connection like this. Her one-track mind knew exactly where this would go. And she couldn’t think of a single reason to stop it happening.
She didn’t want to have regrets in life. She had too many of those already. And Callan could never be regret. Not when he made her feel like this.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his nose. She ran her fingers through his dark hair as she looked into his eyes. He didn’t need to ask the question out loud.
She already knew her answer. Her hands cupped either side of his face. ‘Yes, Callan,’ she breathed.
And he took her hand in his and led her back to the castle.
CHAPTER TEN
HE DIDN’T WANT to wake up. He didn’t want this day to begin.
This was the day where two things he loved could slip through his fingertips.
All of a sudden he was instantly awake, his eyes fixating on the rain battering on the windowpane. Love. Where had that come from?
With the exception of Angus, Callan couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever had a thought like this. Callan ‘cared’ about people. He didn’t love them.
He’d ‘cared’ about some women in the past. He’d worried about them. He hadn’t wanted to hurt their feelings. He’d wanted to take care of them.
None of these things applied to Laurie. He’d have to multiply everything by a thousand to get even close.
From the first second he’d glanced her through the steam on the train platform she’d started to burrow her way under his skin and into his heart.
Her reactions had been totally different from everyone else who could inherit the castle. She’d walked the estate, she’d asked questions, she’d shown an interest that was above and beyond the monetary value. She’d seemed invested in the place.
Her connection with Marion had taken him by surprise. He
suspected it had taken Marion by surprise too. She wasn’t known for sharing her domain. But apparently Laurie had sneaked under her radar too. She’d done nothing but sing Laurie’s praises to him—all with a twinkle in her eyes.
What sat heaviest on his chest was his loyalty to Angus. He knew instantly that if Angus had met Laurie he would have loved her. He would have loved her spark, her inquisitiveness, her cheek and her ability to run rings around Callan.
He just couldn’t understand why Angus hadn’t met his children. Hadn’t loved his children the way he’d loved him. Nothing about it seemed right. And until he could sort that out in his head he would never be able to move forward.
And today was a day for moving forward.
He turned on his side. Laurie currently had her back to him, the cotton sheet had slipped from her shoulders and his eyes carried along the curves of her skin. She was sleeping peacefully and his hands were itching to touch her again.
He wanted to ask her to stay. He wanted to ask her to stay here with him. To stay anywhere with him.
But what could he offer her?
Her words had almost broken his heart last night when she’d told him how she hated her job. It would be so easy for him to tell her just to pack it all in, forget about everything and move up to Edinburgh with him. Money wasn’t an object for Callan.
But he knew in his heart that Laurie wasn’t that kind of girl.
And the outcome of Annick Castle was still hanging over his head like a black thunder cloud. Until that was resolved his stomach would constantly churn.
He slid his feet to the floor as something flickered into his brain. Laurie had told him she knew who the murderer was. How on earth could she know? He was embarrassed to say that he hadn’t been paying enough attention to even hazard a guess.
Was there even a tiny chance that Laurie could inherit the castle?
A shiver crept down his spine. How would that make him feel? He didn’t even want to consider that for a second. What was developing between him and Laurie could be destroyed by something like that.
He took a deep breath as he watched her sleeping form. She had a one in twelve chance of inheriting the castle. He watched her gentle breathing, in and out, in and out, her hair framing her face and her tongue running along her rose-pink lips.
