He scowled out the window. That wasn’t his intention. Ever. He wouldn’t do that.
He turned to say so, but Lucy was striding through the doorway.
“Oh! Jesus!” He heard her cry. “What are you doing skulking here?”
Hurrying toward the door, he heard Fergus of all people reply, “Sorry, Ms. Wainwright.”
Lachlan stepped through the doorway to see Lucy skirting the mechanic. She glared at him and threw an exasperated look at Lachlan before she strode away toward the main staircase.
“Fergus?” The mechanic rarely came into the main rooms of the castle. “Problem?”
“Computer issue with one of the Rovers, Mr. Adair.”
“Fergus, you can call me Lachlan when it’s just the two of us,” he reminded him. For God’s sake, he’d grown up with the man.
“Right.” Fergus grinned, but it was a preoccupied smile.
“Computer problem?” Lachlan prompted.
“Yes. It’ll need to go in, I’m afraid. Wanted to check with you first.”
The manufacturer always charged a fortune, but if Fergus couldn’t fix the issue, then there was nothing else for it. “Book it.”
“Lachlan.” Fergus tipped an invisible hat to him, a quirk he’d picked up from someone when he was a wee boy, and then sauntered in Lucy’s wake toward the exit.
That restlessness made itself known as soon as he was alone again.
A walk.
A walk along the beach would do him good.
The castle was in order. If he was needed, they’d call his mobile.
And if he stayed there any longer, he would give in to the urge to track down Robyn.
Lachlan had to prove to himself that he could stay away from her. In fact, he wouldn’t go to her tonight.
He dared himself not to.
* * *
Reaching for the phone on his bedside table for the millionth time, Lachlan tapped the screen and the clock lit up.
Three fifteen in the morning.
Sticking to his guns, he’d denied himself Robyn. Ate dinner with Arrochar at her place, stayed late into the night, and returned to the castle at midnight. If he was being honest, he’d hovered outside her door for a good five minutes before calling himself a weak-willed prick and then stormed into his room.
A grown man reduced to an addicted teenager by a woman a decade younger.
But what a woman she was. Lachlan groaned as he imagined from memory Robyn before him on her hands and knees. Never just receiving what he had to give but taking it, demanding it, bucking back into his thrusts with a savage, greedy lust. Just the memory of it made him painfully hard.
“Fuck,” he muttered, throwing the covers off the bed. He sat up, running a hand through his hair, feeling his willpower ebb.
She was mere feet away, across the hall. His if he wanted.
Why the devil was he denying himself?
Rat-a-tat-tat.
Lachlan looked up at the sound of the knock on his door.
Robyn?
He leaned over to switch on a bedside lamp and then strode across the room to unlock the door. To his disappointment, no one was there.
What?
He popped his head out the doorway and looked to the right. The double doors at the end of the hall moved slightly, as if someone had just disappeared through them. An uneasiness settled over him as he finally saw the trail of red rose petals along the corridor floor.
“What the …?” he murmured, retreating with the intention of putting on some clothes to investigate. White flashed against the oak door on his peripheral, and Lachlan jerked back from it to see a printed note pinned to his door.
His disquiet grew as he read it.
Your love is cold. Mine is colder.
Lachlan cursed under his breath and hurried across the hall to check Robyn’s door. It was locked. Good.
He glanced down the corridor at the trail of petals. It was a clear sign that he was to follow it. And wherever it led, he didn’t want Robyn near.
Rushing back into his bedroom, he threw on clothes and called down to security for backup. Within minutes, he heard the knock at the door and found Pete standing outside with Kyle, Xander, and Eccleston. “You were fast.”
Pete wrenched his gaze from the note on the door, his expression grim. “Trail of petals leads all the way downstairs. We haven’t followed it yet. We wanted to make sure you were secure first.”
“Let’s check it out.” Lachlan closed his bedroom door behind him. “How did they get past the cameras?”
“Distraction.” Pete looked pissed. “Sorry, sir. There was a disturbance at the front gate, and we were all focused on that.”
“Disturbance?”
“Someone broke the cameras. McHugh went out to check them, but we haven’t heard back from him yet. The rest of us were checking the perimeter of the castle when you called.”
“Shit.” They picked up the pace, following the petals without speaking so they didn’t wake up the members. The trail led all the way downstairs and into the staff wing.