Can't Tie Me Down! (Sinclair Sisters 1)

“Morning, gorgeous,” Keir said. “I’ll make you coffee in a minute, after I tell you the good news and the bad news. Which do you want first?”

She frowned at him. Why did he have to look so sexy? It was all kinds of wrong. The man didn’t have an inch of fat anywhere on his body. She knew this because he stripped off his shirt every chance he got, then flexed those bloody muscles of his in her direction. She wasn’t a saint. Her fingers itched to touch, and her lips itched to taste. Don’t even get her started on how much she wanted to bite. Her eyes slid down to his tattooed pecs. They were teasing her, daring her to nibble them. Especially the pec with the tattoo he hadn’t had when they were together, that tattoo she’d never gotten to taste, and it mocked her with the loss.

Keir McKenzie was pure temptation. That was why she kept him at arm’s length and why she should never have allowed him to stay in her home. Because the longer she was around him, the more she let herself forget that he’d ripped out her heart and stomped it into the dirt.

“Tell me the good news.” She tore her eyes from his chest. “I already know the bad news—you’re still here.”

“Ouch.” He grinned. “You know, they say antagonism between two people is a sign that one of them wants the other but insists on fighting it.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “You got something you need to share, Rusty?”

“Don’t call me Rusty.” It was the name he’d given her when they were a couple. It brought back memories of the times he’d teased her with a smile, or when he’d whispered it against her ear while he made her gasp for him. It also reminded her that Rusty was gone. She left the night Keir never came back to her. Now she was just plain Mairi.

“I almost forgot how grumpy you are in the morning.” He smiled like it

was cute, which made her frown harder. “So,” he said, “the good news is I’ve shut the garage for the day, to dedicate myself to the role of your bodyguard.”

Mairi pressed her face into her pillow and groaned. “Why is that the good news?”

“Because the bad news is there’s a hot air balloon floating over Arness, with the words Marry Me, Mairi painted on it. The balloon’s attracted quite a crowd, and we now have people outside the building, sitting in deck chairs and eating picnic food. Looks like they’ve settled in for the day, which means when you set foot outside, you’ll be swamped by people. You need a bodyguard.”

“I’m in hell,” Mairi said.

“Only if hell is full of daisies,” Satan said. “You got another flower delivery. Apparently, someone posted on your Facebook page that daisies were your favorite. I thought it was irises, but what do I know?”

“Nothing. You know nothing. And it isn’t my Facebook page. It belongs to the demon who hacked me. Now leave me alone. I’m going back to sleep.” She put her head under her pillow and prayed that when she woke, this whole mess would turn out to be another bad dream. Between listening to the men sing awful love songs over a tinny speaker, and the knowledge that Keir was half-naked and within touching distance, it had been a long, long night.

“I need sleep,” she wailed.

“You need coffee, then you need to deal with your fan club.”

The sheets rustled as he climbed out of bed. She heard two footsteps, and then her bed dipped as he leaned over her. Mairi held her breath, aware of his hands either side of her head and his body caging hers. Even through her duvet, she could feel his warmth along her back. It took all of her self-control, and two fistfuls of sheet, to stop from turning over and pulling him to her.

“I can make this all go away, Rusty,” the devil whispered to her. “Just say the word, and we’ll ride over to Gretna Green and say our vows. You’ll be Mrs. McKenzie by lunchtime.”

Her heart thumped so loudly that she was afraid he could hear it. There had been a time when she dreamed of being Mrs. McKenzie. A time when she’d thought her future lay in Keir’s hands and that it was secure there. But that was before he’d proven her wrong.

“Go away, or I’ll set my fake boyfriends on you.” Her voice was muffled through the pillow.

He laughed, deep and low, the sound going straight through her body. “What are they going to do, gorgeous? Attack me with their plastic lightsabers? Bore me to death?” She heard him pull on his jeans and walk away. “You have ten minutes, and then I’m coming back to drag you out of bed.”

“Wait a minute? What time is it?” Mairi had a sudden panicked feeling she was meant to be somewhere.

“Eight.”

And then it hit her. “Crap. I need to get up. It’s chemo day.”

The air thickened, and she peeked out from under her pillow to see Keir standing beside her bed, looking scarily intense.

“You’re having chemo?” His voice was low and strained, which had the weird effect of melting her heart—a little.

“What? No. Weren’t you listening when I told Agnes?” Men! Did any of them pay attention when the topic didn’t directly involve them? “Not me. Gladys. It’s her last treatment, and I’m going with her to Glasgow. We normally take the bus. Any chance you could give us a lift, seeing as you’re hanging around anyway?” She would have smiled and batted her eyelashes to encourage compliance if she’d been more awake, but Keir wouldn’t have fallen for it anyway.

He let out a sigh. “You drive me crazy. You know that? What time are we picking this Gladys up?”

“Uh, soonish? The bus for Glasgow leaves at ten. But we don’t need to go that early. Can you phone Gladys and tell her to wait for us? And then wake me in an hour?”

The duvet disappeared from her body in a whoosh, leaving her cold.

“Keir!” Mairi tried to burrow under her pillow to escape the chill. “Put the duvet back.”