“I’ve got an idea.”
* * *
I park my Land Rover in a quiet spot a few miles outside of a village an hour away from James’ castle. His SUV is big and sleek and black and I feel small and ridiculous until James pulls me into his lap. Tucked up with my old Land Rover just in sight, we wait.
While we’d run around making preparations, and driving here, I didn’t have time to think. But in the watery light of the cloudy day filtering in through the windows, sat with my head on James’ shoulder, I allow myself to consider.
Is this really the best thing to do? It’s not a question of where I want to be, that is by James’ side. The more thorny issue is my Land Rover. Everything I own is in that vehicle and I’m wearing his clothes rolled up, and with a makeshift belt, just in case we’re wrong about where the tracker is.
“What I don’t understand is why he wants me to marry anyone?” I say into James’ throat, then breathe him in and sigh. “Uncle Logan totally ignored me. He told me, on the few occasions our paths crossed, that I was a financial drain and a pest.” A burden. But James doesn’t seem to mind my weight, either on his thighs or in his life.
James shrugs and his gaze flickers briefly from the Land Rover, to me, then to the tablet on the dashboard that shows the movements of cars in the vicinity. He tightens his hold on my waist. “Same old motivation.”
“I guess he really wants whatever pitiful amount of power would come from selling me as Duncan’s daughter.”
He barks out a laugh. “Not that.”
Admittedly it did sound unlikely to me too. “What then?”
“Did you not know that you’re wealthy? Duncan left you enough money and more.”
I gape.
“Hmm. We’ll sort that out as soon as we’re finished here and I’ve bought you some new clothes.”
“You’re kidding me.” I had wealth all this time? I could have… Maybe not done that much before I was eighteen, and that realisation causes things to slip into place. It was my birthday only last month. No one makes a fuss about the day anymore, so it came and went without any fanfare, so I assumed I was just going to continue to, as my uncle put it, sponge off the family business. If I’d thought I had my own funds, I would have done things very differently.
James leans in and rubs his nose to mine. “Why would I lie to you about this? I have plenty of money for both of us. The only reason you should claim it is because it’s yours, and Duncan would have wanted you to have it.”
“My dad did plan for my future,” I whisper. I had no idea.
James goes stiff.
I turn and there, by my Land Rover, is a figure in a smart dark coat. With him are two goons in similarly bleak attire. I shiver.
Call it instinct, or intuition, but I’m sure James is right about everything. Attempting to sell me off like a chunk of steak is the least of Uncle Logan’s crimes. I pick up the remote from the passenger seat.
“Mo chridhe,” James says, voice low. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll quietly dispose of him if you prefer.”
“What does it mean? Mo chridhe.”
He cups my cheek and looks into my eyes. His irises look like the promise of spring and new life. Green in the depths of winter. I lean into his warmth.
“It meansmy heart,” he says with soft urgency. And it’s my heart that expands like a balloon. Yes. He’s my heart, and I’m his. “I love you.”
“Good, because this is the real commitment.” He shoots me a wry smile.
“It’s true, I’m more-or-less sacrificing my dog here.” I glance over to where one of the goons has unlocked the Land Rover and my uncle is rooting through my rucksack. They’re all right beside it. The ideal moment. Presumably not finding what he’s looking for, he looks up and I swear that even over the distance our eyes meet.
“This is for the kids,” I whisper, and press the button.
The fireball is twice the size of the vehicle and probably I ought to be shocked or faint in some girly way. But I don’t. There’s just the satisfaction of having done the right thing.
James presses a kiss to my temple. “I’m proud of you.”
“It was your skills that made it happen,” I reply, and slip into the passenger seat. My deadly lover. “Now, you promised me clothes, breakfast, marriage, pet animals, and babies, in that order, Mr McQuoid. You see what I’m capable of if crossed.”
“Sexy, demanding, and dangerous,” James laughs as he starts the engine. “Mia, you’re perfect.”
