Was the woman he’d married in a moment of mostly lust (and some alcohol) induced madness really here on his family estate?
Yes. He could smell that distinctive scent he remembered. Something light and flowery but with earthy undertones. Like her.
Wearing a silk shirt that had turned practically transparent in the snow, giving him an eyeful of perfectly formed breasts encased in lace that had haunted him for three years.
And just thinking of that, his dick started to stiffen. Mere minutes with this woman again and Jamie’s libido was surging back to hot life after laying dormant for a long time.Since her.Well, that answered the variations on a question he’d put to himself on more occasions than he’d like to admit. Would she still affect him? And, surely it had just been an aberration?
Apparently not.
He didn’t have to look at her to know the exact shade of green her eyes were. Soft and mossy but they could also be fiery and....full of an emotion he didn’t want to see,like they had been on that last morning he’d seen her.No. Not going there. They’d both agreed to walk away. That it had been a mistake.
‘I thought I’d be coming to a house. You never mentioned that you had a castle on a lough.’ She sounded slightly accusing.
Hence the reason he had got in contact with her now. He just hadn’t expected to see her within days of that letter being sent.
‘We didn’t do a whole lot of talking as far as I recall.’ His dick twitched again atthatmemory.
Unable to help himself, Jamie slid her a quick glance and she was facing forward, cheeks pink, mouth clamped shut. Maybe she was remembering the same thing. Her nose was straight and her mouth – when not clamped shut – was plump. A firm little chin. Eyebrows a little darker than her hair that had a thousand shades of blonde and darker blonde.
She also had freckles across her nose and cheeks. She looked sweet and blonde and preppy but there was also something about her that had drawn him in the first moment he’d seen her. A kind of knowingness. A cynicism that he’d recognised.
It wasn’t that he’d never expected to see her again, but just nothere. Right now. He’d thought he would see her on her turf.Neutral turf. This was way too close to home. Literally. It was an onslaught on the senses he hadn’t prepared for.
He told himself to get a grip. She’d actually done them a favour by coming here - they did have overdue business to attend to, which hehadinitiated.
CHAPTER 3
Lucy
Jamie stopped the Jeep at a low wall to the side of the castle. He got out and George jumped into the driver’s seat, looked at me as if to say,come on!and followed Jamie. At least someone was pleased to see me even if he did have four legs and a tail.
I opened the door and stepped out, and the icy wind cut right through me in spite of his jacket. Jamie looked so tall and solid. Serious. I pushed down the vulnerability. What had I expected after three years?
His less than welcoming reaction was only making me more eager to get this thing over with now. I shouldn’t have been waiting for a sign from him, or his people. I should have done this ages ago.
He said, ‘Come on, this way.’
He went under the arch and I followed him into what looked like an old stable-yard. There were stables but they looked as if they’d been empty for some time. Jamie was shouldering his way into a door that led into a boot room. I closed the door behind me. It was still cold in the house –castle– but at least it wasn’t as cold.
He put down my bag and took off his hat and I could see that his hair was as thick and messy as I remembered with that tendency to curl. It looked longer. He kicked off his boots and then I fully noticed the worn jeans hugging his muscular buttocks and a woollen jumper that did little to hide his broad chest and powerful arms.
He looked at me and frowned, ‘You’re shivering.’
I was? I noticed it then, the tremors running through me. It wasn’t the cold, because I had his jacket, it was the shock that I was actually face-to-face with my husband again, three years after we’d got married in a haze of amazing-sex pheromones and giddy recklessness and maybe a smidge too much of alcohol.
He’d been at a wedding that I was working at as part of the events team. We’d bonded over our mutual lack of faith in the whole weddingthing. And Happy Ever Afters. A bit ironic as that was literally my job but as I said – I liked to think it gave me an edge. An edge that Jamie had ultimately seen right through, shining a forensic light on everything I’d believed about myself.
The connection we’d made had been instant and visceral. I’d never felt anything like it. The fact that he’d been wearing a kilt the first time we’d met may have had some influence on the overall impression.
When the wedding was over we’d both had a couple of days free and we’d spent them together, mostly holed up in the hotel bedroom, either his or mine, coming out for food or to throw some money in the slot machines.
He’d said to me on the street, when we’d gone out at one point to breathe actual fresh air, and to remind ourselves if it was day or night, ‘You’re so full of it, Collins, I bet that underneath all that snark about weddings that you’d secretly love to get married.’
I could still remember the way I’d felt that like a punch to a raw nerve because in spite of my avowed aversion to marriageIhadharboured a little shameful fantasy of an idyllic wedding day and finding that one true love forever. I’d spluttered at him, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Last thing I want. I’m going to have my own business and that’s what’s important.’
He’d looked at me and I could remember thinking how gorgeous he was against the backdrop of the fountains of the Bellagio. Then he’d said, ‘Prove it. Marry me now.’
I’d gaped at him. ‘How does that prove anything?’
