Always You (Adair Family 3)

“Excuse me,” I snapped at him, and he scowled at me. “Never accost a member of my team in that manner again. Kelly is our feller and has a right to survey the area. Who are you to intercept her?”

He shifted in agitation. “I thought she was a member of the public.”

“In a safety helmet?”

Duncan huffed. “How was I to know she was a feller?”

I heard the emphasis on the word she and felt weary. “Because she’s a woman? Kelly is one of the most highly skilled fellers in this country. She also knows the safety protocols on site, and you never cross this line”—I indicated where the live site began—“without a safety helmet.” I pointed to his helmet-free head. “Now get off my site without one, and never get in my team’s way again.”

Looking as if he’d like to waste me, he marched off, and I turned back to Kelly with an exasperated shake of my head.

“I’d watch that one, boss,” she warned. “I don’t think he likes taking orders from a woman.”

“You get them.” I shrugged. “They’re usually of a certain generation, though.”

“Sexist morons come in all ages, everywhere. You and I know that better than anyone.” She flicked a look over my shoulder and joked, “Funny thing is, I can already tell that one would piss his pants if I revved my chainsaw at him.”

I threw my head back in laughter at the imagery. “Don’t you dare.”

“It would be funny, though, right?” She grinned wickedly.

My delighted cackle said it all.

A while later, as the team worked around Kelly while she felled the trees by the river, I told Marcello what happened with Duncan. He promised to give his assistant a stern warning and hopefully, that would be the end of it.

I didn’t know what was going on with this upcoming generation, but so many of them seemed to have this unearned confidence and disdain for authority. Maybe I was generalizing too much. Maybe that’s what the generation before me thought of mine.

All I knew was that I wouldn’t take many more days of a babe fresh out of college questioning me on my own site, or any other woman who crossed his path, before kicking him off the project entirely.

Satisfied with the day’s progress, though wearied by Duncan’s attitude, I was at least glad for the distraction. That night, I got home late, ate, then fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next day, the adrenaline of the project wore off, but Duncan’s attitude did not abate. It wasn’t as overt, but he still kept going to Marcello with questions instead of dealing with me. The project itself was going well. In fact, I got home on time, in the late afternoon.

Problem with that was, I had time to think. As I returned home, punching in the security code that disarmed the system Lachlan installed last year, I felt melancholy.

It covered me like a scratchy blanket, and already I planned to call Thane later and ask if I could take the kids somewhere this weekend. The thought of two whole days of having nothing but my own thoughts and emotions to deal with frightened me.

That realization struck hard.

“I know when someone is in pain and bottling it up. If you won’t talk to me … please, please talk to someone.”

Maybe Regan was right. I couldn’t go on like this. I thought of Eredine and how much I trusted her. If there was anyone in my life who could keep a secret … I just hadn’t wanted to burden her with my Mac relationship stuff for fear she’d feel put in the middle by having to keep it from Lachlan. But maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe I should ask her first.

Grabbing my mail, I opened each envelope, thinking about calling Ery. I absentmindedly laid bills aside on one pile and junk mail on the other. Then I opened a plain white envelope and pulled out a single piece of paper.

My blood chilled at the message typed across it:

* * *

You’re everything to me

I have to be everything to you

* * *

Adrenaline burst through me, my heart raced, and my hands trembled as I checked the envelope to see if there was anything else inside it.

Nothing but this note.