Pepper, the Highlander & the Dead Guy

“You would make a gorgeous cover model, Amy. Wouldn’t she, Ian?”

I had enough or was I jealous? No, I long ago accepted that Amy was more attractive than me, though that didn’t mean I couldn’t bust her about it.

“Another time, Beau,” I said, “Amy and I have to go.”

“You shouldn’t rush off after that fall you took,” Beau said his eyes still on Amy.

“He’s right,” Ian said. “Rest for a bit, have some coffee or tea, and I’ll drive you home.”

“Coffee, tea, water, I’ll get you whatever you want,” Beau said with a sexy gleam in his eyes directed at Amy.

“Tea,” Amy said and turned to me and mouthed. I’ve died and gone to heaven.

Ian didn’t see it, having walked away for a moment.

“Tea or coffee?” he asked when he returned to my side.

Resigned that I was stuck there for now, I said, “Tea no sugar.” Though, I could have used a glass of wine.

He handed me my binoculars. “Bird watching?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He walked off to get me tea. Though not before I caught his quick grin, that told me he knew darn well what I was doing with the binoculars... spying on him. If he thought his playful smile was going to have me blushing and making excuses, he was about to find out differently.

I sat on the sofa and waited for him to return.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to know about your new neighbor,” he said, returning with a mug of tea that he handed to me, “especially after finding that body in the woods today.”

I pounced on the chance to see what he knew about the dead guy. “Do you have any idea what that guy wanted with you?”

“Me?” Ian asked, pointing to himself.

“Yes, you,” I said, tapping his chest and he smiled. Which I wished he didn’t do, since it just added to his good looks, though I don’t know how that could be since he was such a hottie to begin with.

“Like I told your da, I never met the man.”

I wrinkled my brow briefly, my mom’s constant warning about getting premature wrinkles if I kept that up echoing in my head. “That’s so odd that he turned down my road looking for your place since you can’t miss my house numbers or the fact that the name is emblazoned, Skunk Hollow, with the numbers.”

“He didn’t say why he was looking for me?”

I feared I was going to have to accept premature wrinkles since my brow instinctively creased. “Come to think of it, the guy didn’t ask for you by name. He asked about Willow Lake Lodge. He also had a brogue like yours.”

“That’s peculiar,” Ian said with a tilt of his head.

“Then you never spoke with him?” I sipped at the tea. It was chamomile and I wondered if he thought I needed calming.

“No, but I’ve been busy with shoots.”

“I see, military earlier, though I detected barely a brogue that I recall,” I said curious as to why he had hidden his strong brogue.

“Character,” Ian said. “It was a shoot for contemporary American Military romance, and I like to stay true to character, so it just came out that way.” He spread his arms wide. “Now, though, I’m true to character—a Highlander.”

As if he said a magic word, Amy’s head turned toward us.

“I love Highlanders,” she gushed.

“And I love blonde, beautiful lassies,” Beau said in a perfect Scottish brogue.

Was Amy blushing again?

Beau slipped his arm around Amy’s waist and kept the brogue going as he said, “Let me take you on a tour of the manor, lass.”

I’m protective of my best friend and didn’t want her wandering off to who knew where with a Highlander. There was no telling what he would do with his sword. “Amy, we better—”

“I won’t be long,” she called over her shoulder.

“Beau is harmless,” Ian said. “He loves to flirt with women and play the part, but your friend his safe with him.” He chuckled. “For now.”

“What does that mean?”

“They’re two consenting adults. What they do is up to them.”

“Is this going to be a place of ill repute?”

Ian let loose with a hardy laugh. “Ill repute? What century do you come from, lass?”

I blamed Amy for that one, since she had recently used that phrase so often when telling me about one of the historical romances, she’d been reading that I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Ian’s laughter finally died away. “No ill reputing going on, though what the models, men and women, do on their own time is their own business.”

“And curiosity seekers, what about them? You’re going to have plenty just locally when people find out what you’re up to here.”

“I’m going to have security surveillance around the property and a guard at the entrance,” he explained, taking the empty mug from her hand. “More tea?”