AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turned, and he lifted my hair, brushing his fingers over my neck to clip the locket into place. Then he took my shoulders and rotated me back, checking it was in place.
“Pretty. Is it special? I know ye said your ma didn’t leave ye jewellery.”
“Daisy sent it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. It’s empty, though. I never put a picture in there.”
Again, we stood close together. Enough for me to catch the fresh aftershave he’d applied.
I wondered if he’d taken care in dressing, like I had. Would a guy wear aftershave to work normally? It didn’t seem likely, but what did I know?
“Hungry?” he asked softly.
“Actually, no. Not at all.”
“Then let’s get out into the snow, little fox.”
My jaw dropped, but Jackson was already walking away. He’d nicknamed me. I…liked it.
Bundled in coats and thick hats, we left Castle McRae through the back exit. Callum and his wife, Mathilda, were in the great hall with their daughter, Skye. She lived on an island out in the Western Highlands so she wasn’t here that much, but her husband, Artair, was Effie’s other brother, Brodie being the younger, so I’d been to stay with them a few times. Her son, a tall almost-teenager named Mathe was at her side, and he jogged over to say hi.
I got a hug and lingered for a minute to chat, introducing Jackson.
Instantly, Mathe’s eyes lit. “You’re a bodyguard? Do ye really get to smash people out of the way for Leo?”
Jackson grinned. “Smashing is frowned upon, but we do have a special rugby tackle for the worst offenders.”
“Can ye show me?”
He obliged, demonstrating to the boy.
Skye sidled over to me. She cast a meaningful look at Jackson and raised her eyebrows at me.
“Effie has a big mouth,” I griped in a whisper.
“What? I didn’t say anything,” Skye replied. “But it’s true, then.”
“No comment. Are ye going to see my brother and Mrs Gossip today?”
This earned me a smile from the beautiful blonde woman. “We are, after we’ve visited with Viola and baby Torran. Effie said they had news. I can’t wait for there to be another new bairn in the family.”
I giggled, amused by how bad secret-keeping was in the close-knit family I’d happily found myself in.
A few minutes on and we got away, with me huddled down in the back of Jackson’s car. For most of the journey, both of us were quiet.
“It must be nice, having so many people looking out for ye,” Jackson said out of the blue.
“We crash-landed in this place, and it was the best thing that ever happened to us.”
“Same for me with meeting your brother,” he mused. “By the way, I have something to show ye. Finally got a shot of Larson. Do ye want to see?”
“God. No, except also yes, I guess so.”
He passed back his phone, open on a photo.
I gazed at the face of the man I hadn’t seen since he was a boy.
His face had thinned and hardened, losing its youthfulness. The image had come from an overhead camera, but the angle was good.
I’d never have mistaken him, but seeing him was something else.
