AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re being paid to be here,” I shot back over my shoulder, still watching April as she led Ewan around the room, indicating for him to begin filling the water jugs.
A wad of napkins bounced off the side of my head and I finally looked at her, giving her a playful grin.“Can I do anything to help?” She did a double take, staring at me in surprise.“What?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged and tipped packets of cubed ice into a metallic cooler before unscrewing a bottle of whisky, pouring two fingers in each glass. She was dressed similarly to Ewan, short blond strands pinned back, a thin black tie neatly fastened around her neck.“You just seem different, that’s all.” Her eyes flicked over my shoulder and I knew she was pinpointing April as the reason.
“Just trying to be supportive.”
“I wonder why that is.”
Shyness crept back in. I might have been ready to win April over, but I didn’t feel ready to discuss my feelings with anyone but her yet. I straightened, arms crossing over my chest.“Do you need my help or not?”
“I think I’ve got it covered.”
“Then I’ll be over there.” Stealing one of the tumblers of whisky she’d just poured, I nodded to the darkest corner and slunk away.
22
APRIL
Feel Me – Aeris Roves
“Another forty-seven?” Heather asked, slightly wide-eyed as she pulled another of the extremely pricey aged blends from the shelf behind her.“That’s the fifth bottle you’ve sold in an hour.”
“I know!” My arms landed on the bar top, my toes doing an excited little dance in my shoes.“I have no idea what’s happening.” When I asked Mal to open one of the old casks, I’d known it was a risk. The payoff was turning out better than I’d anticipated. I ran the back of my hand over my forehead. The night was sticky and while we’d pushed the large double doors wide open to catch even the slightest breeze coming off the water, it was still sweltering in here.
Heather laughed above the energetic thrum of the folk band, pushing her own sweat-slicked hair behind her ear. She slid the bottle of whisky into one of the expensive-looking wooden boxes she’d helped me source at the last minute and handed it to me over the bar.“What’s happening is you’re the best sales woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Old Murray couldn’t have pressed his cash into your hand any faster if he’d tried.”
“He’s sweet,” I argued, gulping down the glass of water she handed me. I hadn’t stopped talking for even a minute. Almost half the village had shown up, everyone eager to say hello and congratulate me on the event and tell me how proud Kier would be. Many asked for photos and I signed a few autographs, it felt strange but I’d happily complied. I’d smile for a thousand photos if it helped get Kinleith Whisky on the map.
“Sweet?” She laughed even louder, setting out fresh glasses on a tray and adding a few ice cubes.“We are talking about the same Gordon Murray, right? The old man didn’t lift his eyes from your chest once.”
Squealing, I covered my chest with both of my hands.“Don’t tell me that, I still have to go back over there.” Not that there was much to see. The baby-blue dress didn’t offer a whole lot of cleavage as this was a family friendly event, after all. I was also massively overdressed. Most of the men had opted to dress in clan colours—purple, brown, and green with a touch of grey—needing little excuse to hark back to their roots. The women, though, had dressed far more casually in floaty summer dresses. Mine was formal, appearing both sweet and expensive with tiny floral details stitched into the full skirt. A trick I’d learnt early on in my career: it was always an advantage to have all eyes in the room on you. And I wanted all eyes on me tonight. Fashion had a way of attracting attention like nothing else.
“Better you than me,” she said, handing the tray to Ewan who bustled off with an enthusiastic smile.“I’m sure if you need any help, one of my brothers would be more than happy to step in.” Her barb was said with humour and her teeth flashed, like she’d peeked into my brain.
My fingers fluttered with the soft tulle of my skirt as I fought to keep my eyes from straying.
Amazed he’d even shown at all, Mal was still here and sitting in the corner, looking as unapproachable as ever. Few people had spoken to him other than his siblings and mum who had popped down briefly to show her support. He’d had a short and seemingly friendly exchange with Jasmine, the pretty pet store owner I had lunch with last week, and gone right back to sipping whisky from a glass that never appeared to empty.
I’d been trying all evening to ignore him and focus on the event, but like we were tied with an unbreakable cord, my attention kept drifting back to that corner. Even with the scowl he wore, he looked mouthwatering in his kilt and suit jacket. I wanted to burrow my hands beneath the jacket to his chest and press my nose against his neck. The temptation only worsened when I caught the wayhewas looking atme, with a longing so acute it made my bodice feel too tight and my hands tremble. So, like a coward, I pretended not to notice him. It was childish, but his sudden one-eighty had me on edge.
I asked him for time and he was giving it to me. He hadn’t pushed me for an answer or brought up our conversation in the manor kitchen almost a week ago. It would be petty of me to drag this on any longer out of spite. He’d apologised for his harsh words, which I now had to either accept or draw a line in the sand and move past these feelings. The second option didn’t seem like a choice at all; my attraction hadn’t lessened—we wanted each other. It wasn’t going away.
Heather had joked about her brother Callum too, yet other than the single dance he’d dragged me into the moment he arrived, he’d long since abandoned me to work the room in that boyish way of his. He’d snuck in a few kisses on the cheek here and there, which I’d playfully batted away. We both knew there was nothing more in it. I was talking zero chemistry between us. Not even a crackle. He’d danced with Jessica Brown three times, perhaps he was interested in her. Glancing over my shoulder now, I spotted Callum beside the food table, pulling a handful of grapes off the stems and popping them into his mouth. He said something to Juniper that had him grinning, and her scowling and flipping her middle finger.Weird.If anything, Callum’s smile only grew at her reaction. He stepped closer and she drew back, bumping into the man behind her. Apparently her grudge extended to all the Macabe men.
I snapped out of my thoughts and tried to remember what Heather had said.Right, her brothers.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I finally answered her.
“Please.” She snorted and I stuck my tongue out as I backed away.
“Did I say thank you?” I said loudly to Juniper above thepound of music, pausing my rounds to inhale the plate of food she’d hidden for me behind the bar. She and her mum had taken care of the catering, charging me only for the cost of ingredients.
Juniper looked beautiful and sophisticated in a tight black dress that hinted at the gothic fashion she’d favoured as a teenager. She waved my words away, black nails glinting.“Only like a hundred times.”
“Well, thank you another hundred. I couldn’t have pulled all this off without you. You and Heather have been life savers these past few weeks and your mum looks like she’s having a good time.” I nodded to Fiona—an exact replica of what I imagined June would look like in thirty years—laughing with a group of women I recognised from the village.
June sounded strained but her eyes softened as they landed on her mum.“I think getting her away from the B&B for a few hours is a good reminder that there’s more to life than those seven rooms.”
“Perhaps she needs to go on one of those singles’holidays,” I joked.“She could meet a man.”
