AllFreeNovel
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The slight smile tilting his lips told her he was kidding. “Fine,” she said, moving out of the throng of tourists and plopping down on a concrete bench in front of a secondhand bookstore. “Let me know when you’re finished pitching a hissy fit.”
He joined her on the bench. “Hissy fit?”
“What? Don’t they say that in Scottish?”
“We speak the Queen’s English same as you,” he said wryly, tucking a stray hair behind her ear so casually it took her breath away. “But no, I haven’t heard that one, though I can guess from the context that you were impugning my manhood.”
The brush of his fingers against her cheek shook her to the core. She was falling in love with him. The realization stunned her. Ian was a loner and very happy with his life, at least once this temporary unpleasantness over the magazine article faded. He didn’t show any indication of wanting a wife or kids or anything else so ordinary.
She had told herself she could enjoy his company for what it was. Superficial. Enjoyable. Temporary. For a smart woman, she had been lamentably short-sighted. Simply because Ian was a bit clueless about some things, she had made the naïve assumption she could “manage” him… or at the very least, manage their relationship on her terms.
When had she lost control of the situation?
Ian cocked his head and smiled at her quizzically. “Cat got your tongue?”
Apparently, the unwelcome bolt of clarity had shocked her into a long silence. “Um, no. I was thinking about what you said. We do speak the same language. But it sounds really different over here.”
“Different bad or different good?”
She punched his arm. “Don’t fish for compliments, Bachelor number two. You know how women react when you roll your Rs.”
“I’ve never noticed,” he said soberly. His eyes danced with humor, so she didn’t put much stock in his pseudo humility.
“Will you answer a question for me?” she said suddenly.
He froze… like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. “What kind of question?”
“Oh, relax. I’m not going to ask you to have my babies.”
“Very funny. Go ahead. I’m an open book.”
“What happened to your mother?”
Every bit of expression fled his face instantly, leaving him stoic and visibly closed off to her prodding. “Why is that important?”
“I don’t know. Most people talk about their parents. You mentioned your father, but never said much about your mother. I’m curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“In any language,” she quipped. The fact that he actually chuckled loosened the knot in her stomach.
“My mother left us,” he said. “When I was four. She said my father was too wrapped up in his work to pay any attention to her. She wanted to be with a man who put her first. Dad never even contested the divorce papers she filed. I think it crushed him.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Ian shrugged, his gaze trained on a young boy across the way playing a miniature set of bagpipes to entertain the crowd. “My father is a complicated man. I do believe he feels things deeply, but he’s not really able to express his emotions. I can’t imagine how he snagged my mother in the first place.”
“If he looks like you, I can make an educated guess.”
Ian turned so their knees touched. He took her face in his hands. “Why, Bella Craig. Was that a compliment? I’m speechless.”
Without warning, he kissed her. In the middle of the Royal Mile. With tourists from around the world milling about. The sun was shining, music played in the distance. Ian’s lips were firm and warm and coaxing.
It was like something out of a romantic comedy where the theme song plays and the audience knows everything is falling into place. Bella leaned closer, her hands on his shoulders, their breath mingling. His sweater beneath her fingertips was warm from the sun.
She pulled away momentarily and rested her forehead against his collarbone, trying to catch her breath. “You know you’re a hunk,” she said. “Don’t try to be coy.”
“I’m not a hunk. I’m a scientist. I’m pretty sure the two are mutually exclusive.”
The deep timbre of his voice held something elusive. Reassurance perhaps? Did he know how she felt? That would be the ultimate humiliation. She could see the headlines now: Naïve American tourist left heartbroken and alone after Highland fling with Bachelor #2.
Shoring up her defenses, she broke away from him and pretended an intense interest in the couple arguing loudly a few steps away. “I really am hungry,” she said. “What about fish and chips?
