Here With Me (Adair Family 1)

My last words took the shadows from Mac’s eyes, and we’d shared a soft, affectionate smile.

Then I’d pushed. “Do you want to meet someone, Mac? Have a family with her?”

Mac guffawed. “I’m a little old for that now.”

“In what reality? You’re forty-four. There’s still time for all that.”

“I’m happy as I am. Bachelor for life.” He nudged me with his elbow. “And I already have a family.”

Sensing he no longer wanted to pursue the subject, I’d let it drop.

But I thought about what I’d said to him, how there was nothing more frightening than fear itself.

Lachlan popped into my head.

Maybe I needed to remind myself of my own philosophy. Maybe I was avoiding him. Not running. Just avoiding. For now. Until I could figure out if our affair was a good idea.

Telling myself to focus as I followed directions on Google Maps to McCulloch’s farm, I missed the entrance and had to wait until I found a passing place on the single-track road to turn back.

The entrance to the farm was another rough, single-track road flanked by fenced-in fields of rolling greenery. Farm buildings sat in the distance, and the closer I got, more animals appeared. There were sheep on either side of me. I knew from Mac that McCulloch owned sheep and cattle, so the cows had to be farther afield.

As I slowed and guided my SUV left into the farmyard, the road changed to packed mud, and I thanked God I’d put on my hiking boots instead of my sneakers.

I didn’t see a farmhouse, so I gathered it was somewhere else on the land. What was here was an L-shaped building made of stone with small windows and doorways that suggested it had been here for a long time. To my left was a large, doorless structure made of corrugated iron walls that curved up and over in a semicircle. A hoop house. Inside were animal pens.

To my right was a massive barn loaded with hay bales and farm equipment, including a tractor. Behind the barn, beyond the buildings that faced onto the farmyard was another barn.

Opening the door of my vehicle, I was assaulted by the smell.

Well, it was a farm.

I’d just closed my door when a young man appeared out of the darkness of the hoop house and sauntered toward me. He looked to be in his early twenties and had a stocky build. Dressed much like Collum McCulloch, including mud-splattered work boots, I guessed the man was a farmhand.

Hadn’t Mac said he wasn’t aware of anyone working with McCulloch that fit the description of his attacker?

And as the young farmer neared me, my suspicions grew. He had the most beautiful, piercing green eyes I’d ever seen.

Eyes that were hard to forget.

Eyes someone might use colored contacts to mask?

“Can I help?” he asked abruptly, coming to a stop just a couple feet from me.

I studied him. He wasn’t overly tall. Perhaps five ten, five eleven. Broad shouldered.

He fit the attacker’s description to a tee.

“I’m Robyn Penhaligon. I just came to ask Mr. McCulloch a few questions. You are?”

The man crossed his arms over his strong chest, eyes narrowed. “Jared McCulloch. What do you want with my grandfather?”

Say what?

“Grandfather?” Sarah had a brother? “You’re Sarah’s brother?”

“Cousin. Now what do you want?”

“What do you do here, Jared?”

“I work—”

“Don’t say another bloody word!” Collum McCulloch’s voice boomed across the farmyard like thunder. I physically jerked with the surprise of it.

Apparently, Jared was used to it because he didn’t flinch. He did, however, shut up.

I braced myself as McCulloch marched across the yard, face red with fury. “You get off my land!”

What had I done? “Excuse me?”

He reached us and jerked his chin at his grandson. Understanding the silent communication, Jared strode away without a backward glance. I glowered at McCulloch. “Hello to you too.”

“Ach, don’t give me that, lass.” He scowled ferociously. “You can’t come onto my land, interrogating my grandson with no right to do so. I know why you’re here, and the police have already interviewed us. We’ve got nothing to do with whatever mess that man has landed himself in. Now get off my land.”

“What have I done to deserve such a welcome?”

“No Adair interlopers are allowed on McCulloch land.”

I flinched. “I’m not an Adair.”

“You’re as good as.”

“Because I’m Mac’s daughter?”

McCulloch curled his upper lip. “No, because you succumbed to that prick like every other bloody woman does.”

My cheeks grew hot. He didn’t mean what I thought he meant.

He nodded knowingly. “Oh aye, everyone watched the two of you at the ceilidh, and you were spotted leaving Gordon’s office seconds before Adair.”

Oh my God.

“And gossip travels fast.”

The thought of Gordon knowing Lachlan and I hooked up in his office was mortifying, but I pushed through it. “You listen to gossip?”

“Sometimes … when it’s true.” He pointed to my car. “Now get gone before I make you get gone.”