She grabbed her stuff out of her room, then went downstairs to find Nathaniel trying to switch the SIM card out of her phone into a new one. She put her hand over his before he dropped everything.
“I could do that while we’re driving,” she said easily, “and I’ll pay you for this.”
He shot her a look that made her smile.
“All right, I won’t. I’ll cook you something, though I’m not sure how that’s any more appealing.”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything. He simply handed her both phones without comment. She thought that was equally odd, but he was a man and they were an inscrutable race. Perhaps that post-lunch snack of attorney hadn’t been as tasty as he’d tried to make it out to be. He looked like he had a headache, and she had to admit that she couldn’t blame him. All she wanted to do was close her eyes for approximately a week.
Maybe when she woke up, she would have an answer for what had happened to her back in that shop.
•••
Itwas dark by the time they reached the village. Nathaniel slowed, then pulled over. Emma looked at him in surprise.
“What is it?”
He took a deep breath, then looked at her. “I’m going to buy you a car.”
She blinked. “Of course you aren’t.”
“I think it would be best.”
She started to answer, but was interrupted by a text. She looked at Nathaniel. “Do you mind?”
He waved her on, then closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat rest. Emma saw it was a message from Patrick, wondering when she was coming back and reminding her that a car was waiting for her. He extended an invitation for dinner if she happened to be in the area.
“Patrick invited us to dinner.”
“You, more than likely. He doesn’t know me.”
She was a little surprised by the brusqueness of his tone. She frowned thoughtfully. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she thought she might want to have a set of wheels while she found out. “Would you mind dropping me there?”
He shook his head, put his car back in gear, and pulled out onto the road. It was only then that she realized he was still driving his red extravagance and wondered if he knew it. She thought it was probably best not to mention it. He looked distracted enough as it was.
Fifteen minutes later, he was pulling into Patrick and Madelyn’s courtyard. He turned the car off, put his hands on the wheel, then looked at her.
“I think you should move.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Move? You mean right now?”
“I mean from the cottage,” he said seriously. “I think you should find another place in Scotland to stay.”
She felt as if she’d been slapped. In the past, her first reaction would have been to blink, then maybe tear up. Scotland must have done something to her, because all she wanted to do at the moment was punch him.
“Who,” she said as crisply as possible, “the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do?”
He tightened his jaw. “I am someone who doesn’t want to see you get hurt and, as such, I think you should be very far away from me—”
Her door opened, making her jump. She looked up to find the good lord of Benmore himself standing there, smiling pleasantly.
“Mistress Emma,” he said, holding her door open. “Just in time. And I see you’ve brought a friend.”
“I was just leaving,” Nathaniel said grimly.
“And I think you should stay,” Patrick said. “Highland hospitality, you know. Wouldn’t want to offend the local young Himself, now would you? In you come, laddie, and have a meal with us.”
Emma watched Nathaniel peel his fingers off the steering wheel rather reluctantly. He turned off his car and got out. She crawled out as well, not because she cared what he did but because she wanted to make sure he—
