His eyes raked over her, head to toe. Assessing male eyes had never ruffled Aila. Wolf whistles or suggestive comments were countered by crisp sarcasm, a sweeping glance punctuated with clear dismissal meant to wither the male bravado. She never lost her composure.
Visibly, at least.
This was one of those rare moments when she could only hope she maintained poise enough to disguise the clamor of lust within. Need such as she hadn’t known in years — if ever — pulsed through her. Forget the mission, the treasure. Hell, forget anything Donell had said except that last bit about having fun. For the first time in a long while, pure excitement coursed through her veins. The thrill of feeling alive zinged through her. That alone was an adventure she should embrace.
Ergo, she needed to stay. For the time being, at least.
“I can assure ye, I’m perfectly capable of doing whatever the job entails.” She sold the lie with hands on her hips, chin jutted out. He groaned low in his throat and turned his face to the sky. His Adam’s apple bobbed and she could see the veins on his neck pulsing. Rapidly. The sight left her breathless, so much so that she nearly lost her train of thought. “I’m clever. Quick. It willnae take long to bring me up to speed.”
“Up to speed?” His chin dipped until his stare met hers once more and she hoped to see it there. Know if he felt the pull she did or if she was projecting her own lust upon him. She saw only confusion…and frustration, though not the sort she wished to see. “I’ve a decidedly motley bunch to supervise already. I dinnae time to deal with ye.”
Aila glanced around the construction site. To the last, the workers had stopped their labor to watch her interaction with Finn. Even off to the side where a rag-tag encampment was arranged — to house them all, she assumed — men stood outside the tents or by their fires in silent observation. Curiosity was the word of the day, it seemed.
“Let me be plain,” he added. “I have nae need a woman in this worksite. Our progress has been slow enough as it is.”
“Ye think because I’m a woman I cannae do the work?”
Her heart sank. Why had she thought he would be any different from the majority of men she knew? Men like Kyle might live in a bygone era in their beliefs, but this man lived in a true era gone by. Given the response her fictional position of architectural assistant had garnered from the castle guards, servants, and Derne, as well as Finn’s friend Ian, it only made sense that Finn, too, would suffer the same mentality when it came to a woman’s proper place in this time. Even knowing that, she was disappointed in the discovery.
She turned back to Finn with pursed lips. “Regardless, I was hired to do a job and I intend to do it.”
“Listen, lass.” Running a hand through his already tousled tawny hair, he shook his head. “I’m sure ye’re well-educated and capable. With a reputation to maintain now that their father has passed, neither of the Adam brothers would have dared send ye otherwise. Alas, these men here dinnae need the sort of distraction ye represent.”
“I hardly think that my presence…” Her words trailed off and she did a head count of their audience. Not a woman among them. Not one.
Oh,thatkind of distraction. Offense in the name of all womankind suffused her. Aila stifled the urge to lecture each one of them on twenty-first century standards of workplace harassment. She could want a man with the force of a thousand suns and never hint at it while on the job. It would be a trial to maintain that perfect record if she were acting as Finn’s assistant, nevertheless she was willing to put her willpower to the test. And so should they. It would hardly help her chances of staying if she insisted that men were perfectly capable of keeping their dicks in their pants.
“Aye, now ye understand the problem.”
Aila turned back to him in time to see his gaze snap back up to her face from whatever level it had drifted downward to. A few moments ago, that look would have satisfied a measure of her curiosity, now it pricked with annoyance. “Is the problem truly yer men, Mr. Keeley? Or is the problem thatye’rethe one who would be distracted?”
Finn drew a sharp breath, his eyes darkening beneath heavy lids before they fell to her mouth. Taken aback by the sudden pool of heat between her thighs, Aila’s inhale was far more shaky. She ran her tongue over her tingling lips and swore she heard a low growl in response. It may very well have been the dog. Whatever prompted it — his anger, frustration — he’d been caught in the vortex of lust, too.
Reckless, indeed.
“Can I pet yer doggie?”
The sweetly piped inquiry barely registered, but the tug at Aila’s skirt was more effective. She wrenched her gaze away from Finn, doing her best to regulate her breathing as she turned her attention to the little girl tentatively stroking Rab’s ear. The dog was loving it. Eyes closed in bliss, he leaned toward her.
“His name is Rab.” Aila squatted down on her haunches until she was eye level with them both. She stroked a hand over the dog’s head with an encouraging smile for the girl, ignoring as best she could the hot eyes still watching her. “He likes ye.”
A shy smile showed the child had the same gaps in her teeth as her brother. “I like him, too.”
“Yer name is Effie, aye?”
The girl nodded, following Aila’s lead to pet Rab. “How did ye ken?”
“I heard yer Da say it earlier.”
Da.
Aila closed her eyes at the regretful reminder. This incredibly sexy man had children. Children who would have a mother. She had no place lusting after a married man.
Awash with regret, she climbed to her feet. This wasn’t the right place for her in any sense of the word. Logic said leave, and Aila knew she should listen to that voice, faint though it was. She flicked a quick glance to Finn, knowing it would be foolish to stare at him for long lest logic suffer defeat to sentiment.
“Ye’re correct, Mister Keeley. Ye clearly dinnae need any help here,” she forced the words to form. She turned to leave on wobbly knees knowing she would miss out on perhaps the most devastating physical experience of her life when she left this place.
“Where are ye going?”
