AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I finished cleaning up, I heard the front door of the cottage open and close, along with Cinnamon’s excited barking. Clearly, Finley was taking her out. Perhaps it was my imagination, but from the vantage point of the tiny window high on the wall over the tub, it seemed as if the rain might be slowing down. I hoped so. Not only was the extreme weather endangering lives, it was making things impossibly awkward for Finley and me.
When I was fully clothed and had pulled myself together, I felt marginally calmer. I found Finley in the kitchen scrambling eggs on the propane stove. “Have a seat,” he said. “These are almost ready.”
I loved scrambled eggs usually. Right now, the thought of it made my stomach heave. Nevertheless, I forced them down. We had tea, but no toast. Leftover scones were a stale substitute that served the purpose of keeping our hunger at bay.
We ate our meal without saying a word. I was a relative novice at this type of situation. I had counted on Finley’s sophistication to handle the small talk. Maybe he was always like this in the mornings.
Finally, I couldn’t stand the tension any longer. “What are you thinking about?” I asked, cringing inwardly as the needy question left my lips.
He shrugged, stirring his tea with far more attention than the task warranted. “The storm seems to be waning. I want to get back to town and assess the damage. Without phone and internet, Cedric’s house might as well be on the moon.”
“A bit of an overstatement,” I said, “though I think you’re right. You and Cinnamon should go while you can.”
His head jerked up, dark red staining his cheekbones. Narrowed eyes glittered with displeasure. “If you think I’m letting you stay here, you’re insane. You’ll move into my house,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.
“Don’t be daft,” I said. Sometimes the Scots’ expressions were the best. “I’ve paid the rent here for an entire month. Obviously the cottage didn’t cave in overnight. I’ll be fine.”
“Duchess…”
The warning note in his voice didn’t faze me. I was fighting for my life, scared to the bone. Twice in my life, I’d let sex cloud my judgment about men. You might argue that both those times had been a product of immaturity. I was much older now. Wiser.
I could see from his implacable expression that he would drag me out of here over his shoulder if need be. “Fine,” I conceded. “The music festival is over. I’ll make a reservation at one of the hotels. Will you handle contacting Cedric’s relatives to tell them about the damage to his house, or do I need to do that?”
Leaning his chair back on two legs, he studied my face. “What are you afraid of, McKenzie?” Whenever he dropped the Duchess and called me by my real name, I knew he had gone from teasing to being straight with me.
“I can’t move in with you, Finley. It doesn’t make sense.”
“You may be loaded, Duchess, but it also doesn’t make sense to pay for a hotel room for several weeks when I have a perfectly good guest room going empty.”
“Are you offering to accommodate a tourist, or asking me to share your bed?” I had nothing to lose at this point. And I needed to know.
“I’d say that’s up to you. Can’t we play this by ear?” He examined my face as if he were trying to see inside my head. It was messy in there. No visitors allowed.
“If I move to your house, will you let me hang out with you in your workshop?” I asked. I hadn’t known I was going to say that. The subject had been rolling around in the back of my brain from the beginning.
His walls went up. I saw the moment it happened. His face lost all emotion. “I offered you a guest room, Duchess, not free reign.”
I wasn’t deterred by his brusque tone, because I was beginning to see that his bark was worse than his bite. “Don’t you know that when a man is mysterious, a woman invents all kinds of implausible stories about him?”
He stared at me for a long moment. “You should concentrate on your original plan. You’re here to see the island. You can do that using my place as a base.”
“Would you be interested in playing tour guide?” I goaded him, looking for a response, though I wasn’t exactly sure what it was I wanted.
“No, Duchess. You pointed out early on that you’ve traveled the world over. I think you’ll be fine on your own when it comes to exploring Skye.”
If I had been a different kind of woman, I could have lured him back into bed in front of the fire. Not only did I lack the necessary skills for that kind of light, sexy invitation, I sensed that Finley was impatient to leave the cottage. I didn’t know if it was the situation with me that was causing his restlessness or if he was truly concerned about his house and his adopted hometown.
Either way, I knew he was right. I couldn’t stay here. For one thing, I had a severe case of cabin fever. Though Portree was not exactly the big city, at least there would be distractions from the storm.
As for my relationship with Finley—I was in too deep to walk away, even if I had wanted to. In the days to come, I would play tourist while the sun was up. And when darkness fell, I had a pretty good idea of where I would spend my nights.
