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"When did I become a cool mom?"
"Uh...not sure."
I cluck my tongue. "You naughty girl. You've been trying to butter me up, haven't you? Okay, it's time to tell me why you really called."
"Because I love you, Mom," Courtney says in a saccharine tone. Then she laughs. "Okay, fine. My friends want to go to a concert, but I don't have enough discretionary funds to pay for my ticket."
I'm so grateful that I have smart children who use words like "discretionary funds." Maybe I should cut her a little slack. "How much does a ticket cost?"
"You'll give me the money?" Her excited tone is cute and genuine.
"Maybe. But tell me how much it costs."
Courtney hums tunelessly for a moment. "One fifty."
"A hundred and fifty dollars? What, are you having tea with the royal family?"
"It's not a hundred and fifty dollars, Mom. It's a hundred and fifty pounds."
"Ohhh, well that makes all the difference." I slump in my chair and rub my forehead. "All right. I'll send you the money."
Courtney has a job---entry level, but that's how everyone starts---and she's a very responsible young woman. I know she won't be going to a kegger, or whatever British young people call a booze-a-thon.
I chat with my daughter for a few more minutes, but then it's time for her to get back to work. She'd been on a break during our phone call. As soon as we've said goodbye, someone knocks on my office door.
Without thinking, I shout, "Come in."
The door swings open, and Thane saunters into the room. He stops just behind the two chairs that face my desk. His gaze roves over me, from my bare feet to my slumped posture. "Settling in well, I see. Perhaps a little too well."
I jerk upright. "Sorry. I shouldn't slouch at the office."
"Dinnae mind if you do." He rakes his gaze over me one more time, then wipes a hand over his mouth before he finally looks me in the eye. "It's lunchtime. May I escort you to the cafeteria?"
Since I first met Thane earlier this morning, I've wondered if all Scotsmen talk the way he does. Probably not. He has a strange name to go with his unusual behavior. A strangely sexy name.
He lifts his brows. "Well, may I escort you?"
"What? Oh, sure." I hop out of my chair and slip my feet into my outrageously expensive shoes, the ones I'd been wearing before Thane gave me wellies. "Let's go. I'm starving."
Just as we exit my office, Fiona comes jogging down the hall. She halts when she sees Thane, and her brows wrinkle. "I thought we agreed I would show Rebecca the cafeteria."
"Aye, we did," Thane says. "But plans changed."
"Did they?" Fiona smirks at me, then at her boss. "Aye, you should escort her and have lunch with her."
"I only meant to take her there. She must want to socialize with the other employees."
When he spoke the phrase take her there, I flashed back to our interlude in the woods.
Thane touches my arm. "Are ye feeling all right, lass? Your cheeks are a bit pink."
"I'm fine, thanks."
Fiona is smirking again.
She can't know what I did with the big boss in the woods, can she? I pray no one could see us. But here on the top floor of the distillery, I have a spectacular view of the mountain. What if somebody in another office can see the river path?
"Are ye sure you aren't unwell?" Thane asks. He lays the back of his hand on my cheek. "You feel warm."
