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“No,” she said quickly. “It will feel good to move and stretch my legs.”
“It is a long flight,” he agreed.
She fell into step walking next to him as he led them through the crowd to the airport exit. She felt his gaze as they stepped outside and wished she could think of something to say, something to fill the silence. She needed to speak.
“This is a surprise,” she said at length. “You picking me up,” she added, mouth dry, voice low. “Because after the kiss they’d never spoken again.”
“Alec is trapped in London and is hoping to sort it all out so he can come home for Christmas. Mr. Trimble, who does a lot of the driving for the family, has a touch of a bug, and is keeping away from everyone to keep others from coming down sick.”
“And Cara? She’d said she’d get me.”
He glanced at her as they crossed the parking lot. “She hasn’t told you?”
Ella frowned. “Told me what?”
“Nothing,” he said, unlocking the trunk of his car and placing her luggage in it.
Ella wasn’t deterred. Once in the car, she buckled her seatbelt and waited for Baird to get settled. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing’s wrong. She’s just…” His voice faded and he sighed. “You’ll find out when you get there.”
*
Ella took aslow breath, trying to calm herself. There was no reason she should feel so shaken. It was not as if she’d tumbled into bed with Baird at the wedding. They didn’t get naked. There was nothing shameful about what happened. They’d kissed. Big deal. There shouldn’t have been drama, either.
But after he’d walked away from her, he’d completely disappeared, and she’d looked for him now and then, confused, wondering how something so lovely had left her feeling so awful. As the evening came to an end, and she went to her hotel room, her heart felt battered, and her self-esteem was definitely bruised.
Why had she liked him? Why had she been so drawn to him? He wasn’t as sophisticated as Cara’s husband, nor was he dashing, but Baird was handsome in a rugged sort of way. His features were that of a man who had been in a fight or two. His nose, had a strong bump in the bridge, making her think it had been broken more than once—which she found very sexy. She liked a man that looked like a man.
Baird was most definitely a man.
His features went with his very broad shoulders and his height and his long legs. His smile was crooked, and barely there, but it still made her insides do a little curl of pleasure. Whenever he was near her, she felt a little bit lightheaded and breathless. Ella wasn’t sure if he felt the sparks, but she found him watching her, almost as often as she watched him.
*
Baird had mostdefinitely not volunteered to pick up Ella Roberts from the Manchester airport.
He’d actually done everything possible to get out of the favor his best friend Alec Sherbourne had asked of him—short of offending Alec. Having been friends for twenty years now, Baird didn’t mind doing favors for his best friend as Alec was quick to help him whenever Baird needed something. But chauffeuring beautiful Ella Roberts from one place to another wasn’t something Baird could do. She’d proven to be seriously problematic in August and she wasn’t good for his sanity.
When they’d been introduced at the wedding last August, there had been immediate sparks between them, an awareness he rarely felt with anyone. He hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of the attraction, or the insistent desire, which only became stronger as the days passed. Baird didn’t want or need temptation. His life was complicated at the moment, and he’d flown to the United States for Alec’s wedding in need of some quiet and calm. But stunning Ella with her long red hair, sea blue eyes, and expressive face did not exert a calming influence on him.
If she’d been simply gorgeous, he could have dismissed her, but she was a brilliant scholar, one entering her final year of her PhD program with dozens of published papers already part of her resume.
Baird liked smart women. He loved smart, strong women. But he’d just come out of a long relationship, and he wasn’t looking to start anything new. He certainly didn’t need a one-stand affair with his best friend’s young sister-in-law, a woman Alec was already calling his sister.
So no, Ella was not for him. She was as off limits as they came. Which is why he went to great lengths to avoid her. He’d never been rude. He knew better than that. Instead, he played the role of the charming, chivalrous guest from Scotland, kind to all, but cordially distant with Ella. He’d walk her down the aisle, pose for the requisite photos, check to see if she needed a drink before slipping away. That had been the goal—slip away. Move away. Stay away. And it had worked until Saturday night’s reception when his discipline failed.
It would have been convenient to lay the blame on the glass of champagne he’d had for the toast, but he hadn’t been drunk, not even buzzed.
It wasn’t champagne, it wasn’t the warm breezy evening with the moon reflecting off the water. It wasn’t the music or the scent of roses and lilies. It was her, red curls spilling down her back, her lips curving, her smile tugging at his heart, making his body warm, making him crave a taste of the life that shone so brightly in her eyes. She was so expressive, so passionate, so alive. He wanted that, wanted her. His infamous control snapped, and taking her hand he drew her into the shadows down by the dock and kissed her as if his life depended on it. And for those few heady moments, it had.
Ella cleared her throat. “Do you know why my sister isn’t the one picking me up?
Ella’s question pulled Baird back to the present. “Why don’t you ask her when you see her?” he asked, barely glancing in her direction. He would not be drawn back into her sphere. He was not going to be attracted to her again. August was months ago. He was a changed man.
Ella’s laugh was mocking. “Do you not know the answer? Or do you just not want to tell me?”
“I just don’t think it’s my business to tell you.”
