AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Only a worthless bastard would do what I've done.
For the remainder of the week, I focus on whisky. Though I see Rebecca in the cafeteria every day, I do not speak to her or acknowledge that I see her. This is not the adult way to handle the situation, but I can't think of anything else to do to keep Rebecca safe. Holden can't possibly find out who she is or where she lives. He was never a computer wizard or that good of a spy. That's how he wound up in prison.
I try to relax over the weekend, but I only make it until two o'clock on Saturday before I can't stand it anymore. I need to distract myself. That means I go back to the distillery and let myself in with the master key.
On Monday morning, I bump into Rebecca as I'm heading for the dunnage warehouse, though I haven't stepped out of the main building yet. I've just turned the knob on the door when Rebecca rushes up from outside and yanks it open. When she sees me, her eyes fly wide open.
"Thane, hello, how are you?"
Aye, she seems a wee bit confused or perhaps anxious about seeing me. I haven't given her any reason to believe I'll be anything but curt with her. I am a bastard, for dead certain.
"I'm well enough," I tell her. I'm bloody awful at lying, and I feel bloody awful overall, but she doesn't need to know that. The lass is too kindhearted to understand why I'm behaving in this way. "Shouldn't you be working on the marketing plan?"
"I am doing that. But I'll need to visit a few local businesses to put the finishing touches on the campaign." She stares at me for a moment as if she's sizing me up. "Would you like to come with me?"
"No, I'm far too busy."
She twists her mouth into an expression I've seen a fair bit lately. It means she's disappointed and slightly irritated. "Okay. See you later, then."
I feel oddly uncomfortable as I watch her walking away. Once the door shuts behind her, I turn round to watch her shapely figure receding down the main hallway. I scratch my arm vigorously. Why? I haven't a clue. Aye, I'm in denial about the fact that I've hurt a woman I care about more than I expected I would. I should run after her. Beg the lass to forgive me.
But instead, I jog to the dunnage warehouse.
And I spend the remainder of the day trying to banish all thoughts of Rebecca from my mind. It doesn't work. By the end of the afternoon, as the other employees are leaving, I go to Rebecca's office to see if she's there. She isn't, of course. The lass had said she wanted to visit some local businesses.
What had I meant to do if I found her in this office? I have no bloody clue.
I'm shuffling across the car park toward my truck when a familiar figure steps in front of me. His bulk blocks my path. When I try to sidestep around him, he seizes me by the shirt and hoists me off the ground.
Now, I'm staring directly into his squinted gaze. "Put me down, Cormac. Ahmno in the mood to wrestle with you."
"Ye think I mean to wrestle?" My cousin laughs, and his deep, rough voice always reminds me of how I imagine a giant from folklore might sound. He looks the part too. And now, he gives me a hard shake. "Everyone has heard about your barnie on West Cameron Brae."
"Aye, I was on that street. How did you know? Must have seen me with Rebecca, walking down the high street. Eh?"
Cormac shakes his head slowly. "We know because a man called Holden De Boer walked into the Loch Fairbairn Police Station and started shouting about how you need to be arrested for false imprisonment."
What the sodding hell? I never imprisoned anyone, not even Holden, who deserved it. A jury decided his fate.
"Let me down, Cormac. Dinnae care what Holden said. It's no one's business but my own."
My cousin is twenty-eight, younger and stronger than I am, not to mention much larger and heftier thanks to an abundance of muscles. But I have my ways of getting around him.
Cormac hoists me higher, so that now my head lies above his. "How could ye hurt that sweet lass, Thane? Rebecca is a good woman, but ye tossed her away like rubbish."
How does he know about that? Rebecca wouldn't tell anyone.
My cousin smirks. "I met the lass this afternoon in Kirsty MacTaggart's metaphysical shop. Rebecca never said a word about what you did, but after she left the shop, Kirsty told me. Her dà-shealladh showed her."
"Ye dinnae believe in that second-sight rubbish."
He shrugs, making me sway in his hold. "Why shouldn't I believe it? Kirsty is clever and sweet. She wouldn't lie."
I do not believe a word of that psychic bollocks. Cormac is only trying to convince me I'm a heel for pushing Rebecca away. Dinnae need him to tell me that. But if Cormac and Kirsty know what happened on West Cameron Brae, then everyone else will know by now too. The MacTaggarts have a grapevine vast enough that it could choke the whole Highlands.
Cormac shakes me again. "Last chance. Will ye make it right with Rebecca? Or should I toss you into the river?"
"Let me down. I promise I will speak to the lass."
