She frowns, wrapping her arms around her torso. I pull her over to me, and rest my hand on her lower back. “What is it?”
“I don’t feel safe here after what happened with Michail. And now that my father’s given me permission to see you…” her voice trails off, and it pings my curiosity that she won’t meet my eyes.
It seems too easy. Too fucking easy. Why would her father give in that easily?
“Yes?”
“I think I felt better back up in the mountains,” she says in a rush. “Wedding’s in a week, and in only a few more hours I’ll have this dress finished. Maybe we could go back up for now?”
“Of course. And then when we need to get away and have some privacy, when it’s safe, we can come back to my flat in the city.”
She smiles, and releases a breath, her shoulders dropping. “Aye, Mac. Yes, please. I’d like that.”
I tangle my fingers in the back of her hair, at the nape of her neck, that sweet, vulnerable spot that always makes her sigh. I kiss her, loving the way her breath hitches, the way her hand comes to my shoulder to hold herself. I wrap my arm around her, holding her, and I know then something that fills me both with hope and dread.
I could fall in love with this woman.
I probably already have.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bryn
The conversationwith my father haunts me, even after Mac’s done everything in his power to eviscerate it from my memory. He’s kissed me, he's held me, he drove me back to his chalet in the mountains. We weren't followed. In a strange twist of irony, my father ensured that. But I'm a little nervous that the Cowen Clan won't buy my story. Hell, I’m not sure I believe it myself.
My father doesn’t know that I’ll betray him. He doesn’t know that I can’t bear to hurt anyone, especially someone I’ve feelings for, like… Mac.
I don’t know how I’ll get away. I don’t know how I’ll get out of this.
After the surprise attack from Michail, I called my father. There was a reason why I asked Mac to wait in the other room.
I told my father exactly what he wanted to hear and exactly what I needed to.
“I’ve got Mac Cowen in the palm of my hand. He’s fallen for it, for everything, and your henchman almost ruined it.”
“You’ve got him?” my father asked, and I could hear the glee in his voice.
“Aye. He’s brought me back to his family. They trust me. I need time to do this right.”
Time. So much time. I need a plan for how I’ll get away from it all, how I’ll do it without betraying Mac.
“What did Michail do?”
I told him as much as I dared. Michail will either face the music or be excused from my father’s staff. Maybe both.
Now I’ll have Mac alone, without interference from anyone… anyone on my side of the family, anyway.
I finish my work and put it away. We join his family for dinner, and it’s as enjoyable as breakfast. They’re smart and witty, and Ilovehis sisters and mum. I’m damn near green with envy they’ve a family like this, but grateful they’ve welcomed me.
I don’t eat much, though. My nerves are fraught.
But that night, Mac erases the worry from me. I can’t think of my father, or my family, or anything at all, when he fucks me so hard and masterfully my legs are made of jelly when he’s through.
We lie by the fire, completely spent. He's got a soft, wool blanket wrapped around both of us. We lie there in the silence, skin to skin, my head on his chest, as he gently rubs my back.
“You had a long day,” he says, wrapping his leg around mine as he gently strokes his fingers through my hair.
“Aye,” I say on a yawn. My eyes feel so heavy, I’m going to close them for a minute. Just a minute. “So did you.”
