AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Questions. So many questions. He had heard Finley mention his sister on one occasion or another, but Ian had never paid too much attention. All he remembered was that she was supposed to be very smart and that she was obsessed with European History, Great Britain’s in particular.
At last, he settled into his routine. But he’d only been at it an hour when he heard a crash in the kitchen accompanied by loud barking. After lurching to his feet, he stumbled down the stairs and came to a halt in the doorway. The urge to laugh was almost uncontrollable, but he squelched it.
“Need a hand?” he asked, his question utterly uninflected.
Bella stared up at him. She was kneeling on the floor cleaning up broken glass. Cinnamon had apparently jumped up on the table and sent crockery flying. “Do you even have to ask?” The unrepentant dog sat at her hip, tongue lolling happily. An expensive leather leash lay abandoned nearby.
Ian crouched to pet the beautiful animal. “What’s all the commotion about, big fella?”
“She’s a girl. So there’s that. And apparently, she thinks I’m going to be a pushover and let her run around outside without a leash.”
Cinnamon flirted shamelessly, not even making a pretense of protecting her mistress from the big, bad stranger. “Such a sweet baby,” Ian crooned as he tickled the dog behind her ears.
“Oh, good grief…”
Ian extended a hand to help Bella to her feet and watched as she emptied the dustpan into the waste basket. Though her fingers were small and delicate in his much larger palm, nothing about her indicated a lack of strength. Quite the opposite.
He released her immediately, though it went against the grain. “I wondered if you might be up for a drive,” he said.
Bella seemed shocked. “I thought you had work to do.”
“I always have work to do,” he said with a laugh that held little humor. “But it’s a beautiful day and you’re…” He stopped abruptly, wary of coming on too strong.
“I’m what?”
Still the suspicious frown.
He’d almost said you’re a beautiful woman. Instead, he took a less volatile conversational path. “You’re here to see Scotland. Shouldn’t you be out and about?”
“A fair point,” she conceded, as if in the midst of a Supreme Court battle, “but what about your paparazzi?”
“They’re not mine,” he protested.
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ll wear a hat. And sunglasses. We’ll take back roads.”
“Everything here is a back road,” she said wryly.
“C’mon, woman. Say yes.” He halted abruptly and felt his ears get hot.
Bella, always prickly, noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “I just realized I don’t actually have a car up here. You’d have to drive.”
“Is that a problem for you? A woman behind the wheel?”
Her indignant question made him roll his eyes. “I’m as much of a feminist as the next guy… or woman, for that matter. So how about not assuming the worst about me every time I open my mouth?”
His retort was sharper than he had intended.
Bella blinked. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s sort of a knee-jerk reaction because of my dad and a couple of other chauvinist specimens. Perhaps we could agree to a détente while we get to know each other.”
“I’m not the one who’s tossing around allegations of misogyny.”
“Okay, okay. You’ve made your point. Shall we take food with us, or shall we be spontaneous?”
“I suggest a compromise. Apples and crackers for a snack with the option of stopping at the other end of the island for dinner if we’re in the mood.”
