The Great Scot (24 page)

“Good, then you won't mind going to Inverness for two days and scouting guys in kilts for me.”

Dana opened her mouth to retort, then snapped it shut again. A moment later her lips curved and she clasped her hands together under her chin. “You wouldn't tease a jet-lagged, seriously stressed out woman now would you, boss? Because, that would just be cruel.”

Erin smiled despite the emotions still roiling around inside of her. This is why she loved Dana. “No, I'm serious. Tommy is having orgasms over Dylan and—”

“Who wouldn't?” Dana sighed. “Oh right. Not you!” She laughed, then immediately stopped when she saw something in Erin's expression. She sobered immediately. “Uh-oh.”

“I don't want to talk about it. Not now.” And she'd apparently put enough flatness into her voice that, for once, her assistant complied. “And now that Tommy has seen the women react to him, he's probably already calling L.A. I need to find a new Prince Charming like yesterday.”

“One better than him? With his own castle?”

“Glenshire isn't a castle, it's—never mind. Yes, that's your mission, Jane Bond. I'm sure you're up to the task. Unless you really have your heart set on Barbie wrangling.”

She saluted Erin. “When do I leave?”

“Just as soon as you dive into that mob and keep Tommy away from Dylan. We were swarmed on arrival and I didn't get the chance to instruct Dylan on what to say to our wonderful boss if confronted about the whole contract thing.”

“So…you arrived together? Just this morning?” She beamed like a proud parent and touched Erin's arm. “My little girl is growing up.”

Erin knew better than to think she was going to stifle Dana's enthusiasm for something like this, and only because there was absolute sincere affection lacing her every word, did she not strangle her assistant on the spot. Dana couldn't possibly understand the tangle of raw emotions Erin was going through at the moment.

“Just go do that for me, okay? We'll meet up while your Barbies are getting their first grilling and by then I should have things worked out. I'd like you to leave tomorrow morning, back Sunday nightfall. That gives you two-and-a-half days to find Mr. Perfect. Oh, and you'll be staying in a hotel I want to use for an overnight, so you'll have to do a little meeting with their coordinator.”

“Will do.” Dana leaned in. “You want I should casually knee him or something? Was he mean to you?”

That was the other reason Erin loved her assistant. She was truly loyal and would defend and protect without question. “No, he was fine. There's nothing to—just keep him away from Tommy until he can get out of here. He'll be heading back to Glenshire just as soon as Tommy gets the women sequestered inside and away from him, I'm sure.”

Dana held her gaze for another second and looked like she was going to ask another question. Erin was sure she had at least a couple dozen already on the tip of her tongue.

“Please?” Erin added. “Now?”

“Right. We'll talk later then?”

Erin nodded, though she had no intention of talking about any of it, and scooted her assistant back around the van, then took off the other way, ducking into the kitchen entrance of the hotel, and taking a back flight of service steps up to her floor. She whispered a heartfelt thank you to the merciful gods who allowed her to get all the way upstairs and into her room with the door shut and locked behind her without being seen or stopped by a single soul.

She slumped against the door and let out a long, heartfelt sigh. By her calculations, she had at least ten minutes to take a shower, change clothes, get her entire emotional state in order, and be back downstairs in time for Tommy to be screaming for her when he remembered he hadn't finished dictating his latest set of orders.

“You look like you've been chased by the hounds of hell.”

Erin let out a yelp and leapt away from the door, spinning around with her hand pressed to her chest. Only to discover Dylan's rangy body sprawled in one of the stuffed chairs by the window. “What the—how did you get in here?”

“A very nice hotel employee by the name of Amelia, I think it was, was kind enough to let me in.”

“You can't be in here. You—you should head back to Glenshire—”

“And hide out there instead?” His grin was lazy and far too cocky. “I'd much rather hide here.”

“Are you kidding? There is no hiding here.”

“Aye, I know.” He raked his hand through his hair and let out a weary sigh. “Are all American women so aggressive? I was lucky to get out of there with my clothes intact.”

“All the more reason to head back to Glenshire. You've created enough stir around here for one day. All we need is for there to be buzz that you're in my room.”

“Dinna ye think us turning up just past dawn in my car might have lifted a few brows already?”

It was chaos enough in the courtyard when they arrived. She was hoping no one was really paying attention. Tommy had noticed, but obviously if he thought she was signing Dylan to be his next Prince Charming, he'd give her all the overnights she wanted. An idea immediately popped in her head, and she just as immediately shoved it right back out again. Because as much as she wanted to get out of town for a few days, a trip to Inverness with Dylan would be far more complicated than staying here. The very notion of a few days alone with him made her heart ache. Yep. Very bad idea.

No, she'd let Dana take care of that trip and focus on keeping the peace here for the time being. Which wasn't going to happen if everyone was gossiping about a certain Scot being stashed away in her room.

“If it'll ease yer mind any, I asked Amelia to keep mum about my whereabouts. She seemed more than willing to comply.”

Erin silently thanked fate for delivering the one hotel employee who was loyal to her and Dylan in his time of need. If there was a hope of keeping the rumor mill down to a dull roar, Amelia was her only one. “I've got five minutes, maybe ten, then I have to meet Tommy downstairs.” And likely deflect a barrage of questions about her progress with Dylan.

Dylan stretched his long legs out and smiled at her. “I thought perhaps I'd avoid the entire mess and camp out here for a bit. I'll be out of the way at Glenshire and out of the way here.”

For a man she'd thought entirely too taciturn upon first meeting him, he'd turned into quite the cocky charmer. The very idea of trying to get anything done, knowing he was up here, tangled in her sheets, slumbering the morning away…Yeah. She'd be a total loss.

“Why don't I run lookout for you and we'll find a way to sneak you down to your car. I'm sure the women are all tucked away by now, doing their interviews and being briefed on the first day of filming. Tommy really doesn't want to have you in eyesight of them anyway. So you'll be doing us all a favor by heading home. You'd much rather camp out in your own wing anyway, I'm sure. Or you could let me book you in somewhere else entirely as I wanted to do all along.”

He rose with panther-like grace and intent that had her all caught up in staring at him, thereby giving him an edge she couldn't afford. He was standing in front of her before she realized she was cornered. He lifted a finger and traced the line of her jaw. She wanted to think the energetic night they'd shared had dulled her reaction time, but it was more that he had her mesmerized with the look she saw in his eyes.

Desire, yes. But she'd seen that before. Quite clearly, in fact, even with nothing more than moonlight to illuminate him. There was something else there now, something almost…playful, and affectionate. And confident. All but proclaiming that now that he'd staked his claim, he wasn't planning on shying away from it. Which robbed her of any hope she had of finding the strength to resist him.

“Dinna make me go, Erin,” he said quietly. “You've booted me from my own home, ye've taken over my world. The least ye could do is let me stay in yours for a wee bit.” He moved a step closer, let his fingers trace up along her cheek, along the outer shell of her ear, then down along the line of her neck, before slipping slowly along her collar bone. Never did he take his gaze from hers. She couldn't have moved if her life depended on it. And while it might not be her life at stake, her livelihood most certainly was. Considering that was her life, she was in a wee bit of trouble here.

“Dylan, I thought we agreed—”

“That we weren't finished yet.” He moved in close now, and her defenses were rattled to the core. He slid his hands down her arms until he covered her hands, tugging them up and placing them on his chest. “I know it's complicated, Erin. And no' convenient or easy. But let me ask you this. When I kissed you in the car…did we feel finished to you?”

There was no breaking his gaze. The intensity, the sheer force of his will, was too demanding. There was no subterfuge possible. “It doesn't matter what is or isn't finished,” she finally managed, her own voice dropping to a quiet murmur. “This…I don't even know what you'd call it, but I told you before, I'm not good at juggling.”

“I won't keep you from your work.”

“Are you kidding? I'm already too distracted by you.”

That was a serious miscalculation on her part, as it brought the most wicked, satisfied grin to his face.

“And I wasn't talking about juggling my job, though that's a major concern. I was talking about…” And suddenly she couldn't finish. She'd made herself vulnerable enough to him already. Too vulnerable and far outside her safety zone.

His smile faded and his expression turned quite serious. “I know what you were talking about,” he said quietly. “'Tis no' a simple matter for me, either. This is no game for me. If that was all I needed or wanted, I would spend far more time in the village, taking advantage of all the matchmaking schemes being dreamed up on my sorry behalf.”

That he wasn't playing around, that he actually thought of this, of her, as something he could be serious about…? Erin shut down that highly terrifying train of thought. But the message didn't reach her mouth in time. “What is this, then? Because you're here, with a world of burden on your shoulders. And I—my world is wherever my job takes me. Here for now, but not for long. I appreciate that we're attracted to each other, and I do wish—”

He suddenly framed her face, more serious than she could ever remember seeing him. “What do ye wish, Erin? That it were simple, easy? Nothing is. We, more than most, understand and appreciate that.”

“I know. I just…” She covered his hands and pulled them from her face, holding them tightly for a second, then dropping them and stepping back. It took every scrap of willpower she had. But it was now or never. If he'd pulled her closer, kissed her, she'd be lost with no hope of surfacing in time to save herself. “I want to. I want you. More of you. Maybe all of you. But I have to be realistic.”

His lips twisted into a smile, but there was nothing warm in it this time. “Says the woman who makes a living creating fantasy.”

“Which is why I understand the difference between the two,” she said softly, sadly.

“You said yourself, that despite all the odds, your Prince Charming manages to find the rose amongst the thorns. In a situation that is structured fantasy, it allows the two people to discover the core of what is real between them. You told me this.” He took up her hands again, held them between him. “So why don't you believe in what you see happen time and again when it comes to yourself?”

She'd never thought of it that way. But then she'd never had a reason to. So when she answered him, it was with the same blunt honesty she'd given him since the beginning. “Maybe because I don't know how.” Her lips curved softly. “You're a lucky man, that you still hold on to that, after all you've been through. Who'd have thought, of the two of us, that I'd be the one with the cynical heart, huh?”

“Erin—”

“Maybe you should reconsider. Maybe you should be the next Prince Charming after all. You're in the perfect place in your life, and you're open to the idea of letting someone in.” The idea of hanging around while they set him up with twelve other women, forced to watch while he looked at someone else the way he was looking at her right now stabbed at her heart. Which only cemented her decision. After all, at best, she was temporary anyway.

“Not really,” he told her. “I'm overwhelmed by my life almost all the time. These past few weeks of insanity notwithstanding. I didn't want to let anyone in then, and I'm definitely not interested in entertaining a harem now.”

“Then why—”

“Why you?” He smiled again, and the twinkle was there, the honest and open affection. Damn him. “I have no idea. I wasn't ready for a woman like you, Erin MacGregor. I would have never been ready. But maybe that's the point. It's not about being ready, but just being willing. Now that you've invaded my hearth and home…I'm rather liking you there.”

Her heart was pounding. She was dreaming, that was it. She'd come upstairs and lay down for ten minutes instead of showering and she'd obviously fallen asleep and she was dreaming. Dreaming that this gorgeous, complex, fascinating man was standing there proclaiming that she was the one who'd captured his attention. Erin MacGregor.