That he didn’t want to embarrass her was also noble. Alicia examined again the bottle: thirty-year-old sherry-matured Scotch whisky.
‘This is quality Scotch,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’ And for some reason, as she said these words, she lifted her sunglasses up to her forehead. Jamie’s full disclosure had given her confidence to make her own. Whatever came after this, she would live with.
But as he locked onto her gaze, there was no dawning of light. No,Oh!I used to watch you in that sitcom when I was youngerorYou’re Chad Bradbury’s girlfriend, aren’t you?Rather, he said, with a sparkle that Alicia sensed was borne of mutual attraction rather than her celebrity, ‘I don’t drink bad whisky. And neither should you.’
And neither should you?What in the world could she say to that? Alicia’s sentience ground to a halt and she managed a small nod of gratitude to this disarmingly alluring Scotsman. She was turning towards her lodge when a thought hit her and she swung back.
‘I’m Alicia, by the way.’ His reaction to her name would be telling.
‘That’s a bonnie name. And nice to meet you, Alicia.’Jamie smiled and leaned on the door frame as if he’d built this lodge and lived here all his life. ‘Hopefully see you about the place.’
Oh, what was the use? Alicia gave up fighting and managed a cautious smile despite a wider one dying to jump onto her lips. Apart from being cute, Jamie Butler almost certainly had no idea who she was and the combination of those two things made her feel as free as the mountain air.
Chapter 5
Alicia
Alicia returned to her lodge fully intent on preparing for a sauna. But something was on her mind. Or someone. She placed the bottle of whisky on the table next to her phone. He’d said his name was Jamie Butler and he worked for a whisky company. She could do a little identity check. There might be a business profile. Because the pretending to be a porter thing was a bit weird, and some journalists would go to all sorts of lengths to get a story.
The first result when Alicia searched ‘Jamie Butler Butler’s whisky’ was a business profile of Jamie Butler, Chief Operations Officer, Butler’s Distilleries Limited. Well, that was interesting. He’d said he worked for the company but hadn’t mentioned being an exec, although his name was the same as the whisky. She cross checked the photo in case he was stealing this Jamie Butler’s identity. Nope, it was definitely the same guy. Well, at least he wasn’t arrogant enough to boast of his standing. Chad was the sort of guy who shook hands and introduced himself as ‘Chad Bradbury,Hollywood actor’.
Alicia should have left it there, but she scrolled further. Near the foot of the page there was a newspaper article: ‘The Butlers: Scotland’s Most Spirited Dynasty?’
Dynasty. That word made Alicia’s skin crawl. Men from big successful families who assumed they owned the world. Ugh!
Clicking into the article, Alicia was greeted with a posed family photograph. An older man and woman in smart attire and seven younger people – five male and two female – also smartly dressed. The caption explained that this was Jimmy and Amanda Butler and their seven children, one of whom was Jamie. So, he came from a large family – a whisky dynasty as the title had intimated. Alicia recoiled at the idea. To her mind, large, high-profile families were trouble. Yes, she came from one herself, but even her own brothers weren’t immune to the ego inflation that came with being a movie star. Her father was an anomaly in the respect that he’d made his children learn the value of hard work, but so often, as with Chad, there was a sense of entitlement that came with the offspring of the ultra-successful. In Alicia’s experience, at least.
Oh well, it didn’t matter because there was nothing on the cards between her and this dynastic Jamie Butler. But it was good she’d run the background check, because otherwise she might have been tempted.
Alicia turned her mind to one of the huge drawcards of this hotel. The individual saunas that were attached to the private lodges. Being of Norwegian heritage, Alicia loved to relax in the warmth of a sauna, but if she had to share with unfamiliar men, then it was a hard pass.
In her sauna, she would be alone, so she could ditch the wig and any other form of disguise or cover up. Donning her shimmery gold bikini, Alicia pulled her platinum blondehair into a high bun and slipped into a robe and pink flip flops. Outside, it was freezing so she hurried to the nearest wooden hut and closed the door, ready for bliss to envelop her.
After switching the sauna on, Alicia leaned her head against the wall and exhaled. Circling her ankles, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the scent of spruce and eucalyptus and the dry heat filling the space. It was thousands of miles away from all the scandal and stress and she was free to be herself without the worry of who was watching or thinking lascivious thoughts. Into this warmth, the real Alicia could emerge from her chrysalis.
An image of Jamie Butler crossed her mind. What would it be like to sauna with him? She bet he looked good in a towel.For God’s sake.Alicia pushed the thought away. Jamie Butler had no place in this sauna.
How long Alicia had been drifting and daydreaming, she had no idea, but when the sauna door opened and a fresh gust of air blew in, it put an abrupt end to her reverie. She sat bolt upright and shot her sights to the door. And there he was: Jamie Butler. Broad shoulders filling the door frame, only a towel around his trim waist and abs that women of yore could launder clothes on – if they’d been able to concentrate enough to think about laundering clothes. This was basically Alicia’s fantasy of earlier, but in this hemmed in context, it was, unfortunately, enough to thunder fear through her whole body.
Oh my God! Alicia yanked her towel from under her butt and held it to her chest.
‘You’ve got the wrong sauna,’ she snapped.
‘Oh, hey.’ In some ways Jamie looked intimidating due to his strapping build, yet he also appeared embarrassed. ‘Sorry to interrupt, but this is the Whisky Lodge sauna. Says so on the plaque outside.’
‘It is?’ Alicia looked around as if the answer was somewhere inside. No, this was her sauna. It was next to her accommodation.
‘Aye, the Thistle Lodge one is behind your lodge,’ Jamie explained. ‘But not to worry. I’ll come back another time. Sorry for interrupting.’
‘No, it’s fine,’ Alicia mumbled, shifting on the bench. ‘I’ve, um…been in here too long.’ She needed an excuse to leave. ‘Please, stay and I’ll go. I’m sorry for the confusion.’ Hastily, she pulled her towel around her body, trying not to reveal more than necessary, and waited for him to move. Courteously, he backed out of the space and she noted as she passed, mere inches away, that her body’s response to Jamie Butler, whose skin was radiating warmth and the scent of fresh bergamot,had shifted rapidly from fear to a frisson of excitement, a pulsating heart rate and a delicious spreading heat definitely not caused by the sauna.
Chapter 6
Alicia
Alicia skipped a cooling shower under the outdoor faucet in favour of throwing on her robe and hurrying to her lodge. Damn! What an idiot she’d been not noticing the obvious plaque outside the sauna. Could she blame jet lag?
On the doorstep of her lodge, she stopped, arrested by the outstanding view across to the mountain. Ben Corrin, Jamie had called it. The sheer power of that rugged rock was mesmerising, especially when you considered its existence over millions of years compared to the miniscule human life span.
