Callum (24 page)

“We have to go to the gala.”

Her face seemed to lose all color. “The gala?”

He frowned over her reaction. “We need to go, make an appearance. I need a date.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He rubbed her back, trying to ease her worry. “I think it is a wonderful idea.”

The moment he said it, he knew it to be true. While he didn’t want her within ten kilometers of that bastard McWalton, he wanted Phoebe by his side. He wanted all of Edinburgh to know that she was his.

“I’ve nothing to wear.”

“I’m sure Anice can offer you something.”

She snorted and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “I doubt your cousin and I are the same size.”

“I’ll send someone out for a dress. That’s not that important.”

“Says the man who probably has a closet full of tuxes.”

He shook his head. “But, I won’t be wearing a tux tonight, love.”

That gave her pause. “What will you be wearing?”

He smiled at her. “Most of us will be wearing our colors.”

The pulse in the side of her neck fluttered. “Colors? You’ll be wearing your kilt?”

He nodded. Her face was flushed with excitement, and it took all of his control not to take her again. She looked so adorable and so aroused it was hard to ignore, but they had other things they had to get done.

There was a knock at the door, and Anice opened it without waiting. Phoebe tried to pop up off his lap, but he held her still. She would just have to get used to being with him this way, and so would his family.

“Come in, Anice,” he said with a touch of sarcasm.

“I thought I would help Phoebe get ready for tonight. I’m assuming you have nothing to wear?”

Phoebe shook her head, and when she moved off his lap this time, he let her go. “I only came with work things. Do you think we can get something in Edinburgh?”

“Possibly. We’ll figure something out.”

She started to follow his cousin out of the room, but he grabbed her hand to stop her. She turned and frowned at him.

“Don’t worry about tonight. It will all work out.”

Phoebe nodded, but he knew that she didn’t completely believe him. He kissed her quickly, and by the time he pulled away, she didn’t look so worried.

When he was alone, he started working out what he had to do that night. They had little time to achieve their goal. It was worrisome that they had no chance to prepare. Callum didn’t take for granted that the bastard was a liar and a cheat. He could definitely give them problems, so Callum didn’t underestimate him as an adversary.

He needed to talk to his cousins, but Callum wanted a moment to compose himself. Since he’d realized his true feelings for Phoebe, he hadn’t had a moment to think. Callum was accustomed to having a lot of time to contemplate, but since Phoebe had popped into their lives, he had been overwhelmed. He walked around the room and over to her desk. He noticed her notes, and he fingered her writing. Neat, as if she were worried she would be graded on her penmanship. He smiled.

Then he read the passage she had translated and felt something brush against his heart.

The McLennan will confront his enemy not only with his might, but he must trust in his heart over his mind or lose his other soul for eternity.

Before he could figure out just what that meant, his door opened again. This time Angus stepped inside, followed by Fletcher and Logan.

“We need to plan,” Angus said. “We only have a few hours, and it’s going to be a bloody mess if we aren’t careful.”

Callum nodded and closed Phoebe’s notebook, trying to forget the passage and the way it sent a cold child down to the soles of his feet.

“Let’s get down to business.”

Phoebe frowned at herself in the mirror. “I think I should wear my hair up. I look horrible with it down.”

“Ooch, will you trust me. I would kill for this body. My hair is so flat.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “And you’re mental if you think people don’t want hair like that. It is as smooth as a loch. I just think I look better with it up and controlled.”

Anice shook her head. “You’re nervous.”

Of course she was. She was about to be in the same room as the man who had been working for years to keep the Lennons from succeeding. And she had been in collusion with him. Granted, she hadn’t known it at the time, but she hadn’t been forthcoming with the information. She should have told Callum. Lying wasn’t something she had ever been very good at. She was guilty of omission and it wasn’t right. How was she going to explain it to Callum? She had been trying to come up with a way to tell him for days.

“Phoebe?” Anice asked.

Phoebe shook herself. “Oh, yes, I’m nervous. I’m not very good at these things. I hate to get dressed up, and I hate social gatherings like this. Add in the element of danger, and well, there is a good chance I might have a breakdown.”

Anice laughed and patted her shoulder as she picked up a brush and started to comb out Phoebe’s hair.

“Doona worry, my cousin will take good care of you.”

“I know that.” She sighed. “You don’t mind that I’m involved with Callum?”

Anice shook her head. “No. Callum’s needed someone like you for a very long time. He’s definitely smitten. I’ve never known Callum to spend the afternoon in his office tupping one of his lady loves.”

Phoebe’s face burned. “I cannot believe we did that. Worse, we were caught.”

Anice laughed and leaned down to give her a hug. “No, it’s wonderful. He’s freer with you, able to be himself. He’s never had that, not in all these years. There’s been women, don’t get me wrong. But he has always had to watch himself. We all do.”

Anice’s smile faded as she picked up a jeweled hair clip.

“It must be very hard,” Phoebe said quietly.

Anice shrugged and put down the clip. “Not that hard. Well, not until recently. Maybe we are on the right track, though. If we can get the ball rolling with this one, we might just be able to break the curse completely. Then I can have a real life.”

Phoebe didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like all these years, yearning to have a real relationship and not being able to. It was horrible.

Before Phoebe could say anything, Anice shook herself and smiled. “Let’s get your dress on you. Callum is going to die when he sees you.”

“Anice?”

She glanced down at Phoebe.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Anice gave her another quick hug. “We better hurry. My cousin isna what you would call a very patient man.”

* * * *

Callum paced the foyer, waiting for Phoebe. She was late, but he should have guessed that was going to happen. After a couple of centuries with Anice, Callum knew women took forever to get ready.

“You’re starting to make me nervous,” Fletcher said.

“Then go away.” He paced away again. “Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this with Phoebe.”

“You know that this is the best way. Unless you want to go in alone. You know she can’t help with the actual stealing of the diamond. We need Anice.”

He wanted to growl, but something at the top of the stairs caught his attention. When he saw Phoebe, his brain stopped working.

Phoebe was dressed in his plaid. Anice must have had to pull a lot of people together to get the garb ready, but she was in traditional dress. The full skirt was pulled tight at the waist. The plain ivory blouse she wore beneath her corset was a little low-cut in his opinion. All that glorious blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, a riot of curls that he ached to touch.

“She looks good in our plaid,” Fletcher said. His cousins grunted their approval, but Callum couldn’t say a word. He watched her as she walked down the stairs to him.

By the time she reached the bottom, she looked very nervous.

He leaned closer so that only she could hear. “What has you worried, lass?”

“I’m not used to so much attention.”

“Get used to it dressed like that.”

He gave her a quick kiss that he wanted to deepen, but he couldn’t.

“Ready for a little wine and deception, love?”

She looked up at him seriously and nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

Anice helped Phoebe with her cloak. Callum ushered her out into the cold night, hoping that everything went as planned.

Phoebe felt her heart trip as they walked up the stairs of the Edinburgh Castle. It was set ablaze, lights everywhere, and people milling around. It was as if she were attending a ball from centuries earlier, a laird by her side. She thought she might pass out.

“Let me take your cloak, Phoebe.”

Callum’s deep voice broke her out of her trance. He brushed his mouth against her cheek then pulled off the heavy fabric. She felt the interest in them increase tenfold. She watched him walk to the coat check. What planet was she on that she had a man like that at her beck and call? When she’d walked down the stairs and saw him dressed in his plaid, with his crisp white shirt, she had almost lost it. For a woman who loved history, it was a sight to see. Everything in her had yearned to return upstairs and just forget all their problems. First and foremost, she had to tell him of her deception.

“What has you worried, love?”

She shook her head. “Worries.”

He gave her a quick buss on the mouth. Her entire body tingled even though his touch had been light. She glanced around and noticed they had gained the attention of most of the people in the area.

She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Why are they staring?”

He chuckled and nuzzled her cheek. “Love, you're wearing my colors."

It was then that she realized why Anice had insisted she wear the outfit. Phoebe was going to kill the woman when she got back to the house.

They moved through the crowd. Without probably realizing it, people moved out of their way. Callum commanded that they did. Not in voice, but his presence was enough to cause them to move.

They walked through the crowd, looking at the different antiquities. Her gut churned, and she knew she had to tell him now. At that instant. When she caught sight of a small alcove away from everyone else, she steered Callum there. He gave her a sexy smile and started to bend his head.

"Good lord, I didn't come over here for that."

He shook his head. "Then what are you thinking about, lass?"

"I need to tell you something, something that will probably make you hate me."

"There's nothing you can say that would make that happen." He tried to kiss her again as he slipped his hands around her waist.

"No. Callum, seriously, do you only have one thing on your mind? I have something very important to tell you. I should have told you earlier, but I was scared to."

He stopped and stared down at her with a frown. "What's the problem, Phoebe?"

"What she didn't tell you, Lennon, was that she was working for me."

Both of them turned, and she saw McWalton standing there. The pictures of him had not been great, and the reality was even worse. He was a big man, but more of a brute than a strong man. The nasty smile he gave her told her he was going to pay her back for leaving him in the wind. Her heart sank as she glanced at Callum, who was also looking at McWalton.

"What do you want, McWalton?"

"I wanted to have a word with Dr. Chilton about the grant she was trying to gain from studying some documents from your family."

Callum shook his head, trying to keep from hearing what he had. His first instinct was to punch the wanker and then get Phoebe out of there. But when he looked at Phoebe, he knew that McWalton wasn't lying. She looked guilty, and she looked like she was going to pass out.

"Oh, I see that your lover didn't tell you what was going on. See, I was the head of a committee that was offering a grant. Your Dr. Chilton was trying to gain it by looking over your documents."

He watched Phoebe, and his heart started sinking.

"Phoebe?"

"Only when I first showed up."

Then she sliced his heart to shreds. Right there in front of most of Scotland, she had ripped it apart and stomped on it.

"I wondered what you were doing when you didn't answer my calls," McWalton said. “Of course, I should have asked
whom
you were doing.”

She shot a look at McWalton that had the bastard taking a step back. "I told you I wasn't going to go after the grant. I contacted you, left a message. Besides, let's be honest. There never was a grant."

Callum grabbed her by the arms and shook her until she looked at him.

"Is what he’s saying the truth?"

She sighed and glanced around. He knew they had an audience, but he didn't give a damn if she was embarrassed.