Here With Me (Adair Family 1)

I huffed and pulled open my driver’s side door.

“Wait!”

I stiffened, recognizing that voice.

Taking a deep breath at the sound of gravel crunching behind me, I turned to face Lachlan Adair as he drew to a stop.

He seemed bigger, more intimidating in the bright daylight. His eyes, a striking azure blue, were steely upon me. No sign of that famous wicked twinkle.

“Can I help you?” I asked coldly.

“What are you doing here?”

A hot aggravation came over me as fast as a flame on the strike of a match. My voice softened with it. “I don’t know if you got the memo, but I’m Mac’s daughter.”

Adair studied me impassively. “If you’re here to cause trouble for Mac, I’d advise against it. He has a lot on his plate, and the last thing he needs right now is you coming along and fucking with his head.”

Who was this asshole? The audacity was unbelievable. “Me, fuck with his head? He abandoned me, not the other way around.”

“Aye, I know that’s the story your mother likes to tell.”

Furious, I slammed my car door and faced him. An uncharacteristic desire to yell at him came over me, and it took all my self-control to modulate my tone. “Who the hell do you think you are? Don’t you dare talk about my mother. You know shit.”

Adair cast me a pitying look that begged to be smacked off his face. “I dare say I know more about it than you do.” He took a step closer, forcing me back against my car. A chill entered his eyes. “Mac is like a brother to me. Family. I won’t let anyone, not even you, screw him over, so I’m politely suggesting you put your arse back on a plane and get the hell out of here.”

“You think you scare me?” I pushed off my car, pressing my body into his, forcing him to take a step back. “I’ve faced bigger and badder things in the world than an ex-actor, so I’m not so politely suggesting that you stay out of my business with my father. I think I can say with some certainty that he wouldn’t be too happy to learn of your interference.”

A muscle ticked in Adair’s jaw as he took another step back. It seemed he’d been expecting me to crumble under his intimidation.

“I think we understand each other now.” I smirked and yanked open my car door.

But as I slid into my seat, Adair said in a soft, menacing tone, “You hurt my family, Ms. Penhaligon, and I’ll make sure you pay for it.”

With the hard sincerity of his words ringing in my ears, I watched the big bastard stride into his castle and cursed him for getting in the last word.

3

Lachlan

Still seething from the encounter with Mac’s so-called daughter, Lachlan decided he was no company for his club members. It was better to hide in his real office than his stage office until he got his irritation under control. Hearing laughter from one of the social rooms off the entrance, he skirted past and strode toward the door that led into the staff-only area of the castle.

Robyn Penhaligon’s face floated across Lachlan’s vision. Smug, conniving witch, threatening to tell Mac on him. Like they were five-year-olds on the goddamn playground.

Still, a niggle of unease gnawed at him.

Perhaps he had stepped over the line.

As much as he wanted to protect Mac from a woman who might be just as unforgiving as her mother, it was her father’s place to decide whether Robyn stayed at Ardnoch.

But Mac had a lot on his mind. They all did. The last thing they needed was an estranged and resentful daughter getting in their way.

To be fair, Lachlan was already in a shitty mood that morning before Robyn surprised Mac. His publicist had called him; she also happened to be his brother’s publicist. Gwen shared a link to a US tabloid that had published photographs last night of his brother, Brodan, in a drunken brawl with doormen at a Los Angeles nightclub.

Lachlan didn’t know what to do with him. When he’d warned Brodan about following his big brother to Hollywood, Brodan promised he could handle the pressure and notoriety.

Lately, his antics suggested otherwise.

On top of their other situation, Lachlan felt like he was failing. That feeling of powerlessness may have contributed to his behavior toward Robyn Penhaligon. That, and something about the arrogant tilt of her chin, had set him off.

Lachlan’s phone rang in his back pocket, and when he pulled it out, Mac’s name lit up the screen. Christ, had she made good on her promise already? “Mac,” he answered, drawing to a stop in the narrow hallway that led to their offices.

“Delivery entrance. Now.”

Dread filled him. “Not another?”

“Just get here.” Mac hung up.

Case in point.

He ground his teeth. And then hurried down the corridors that led through their busy kitchen and into the hallway to the delivery entrance. Staff hovered in the kitchen doorway, murmuring to one another. Worry and tension hung heavily in the air.