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

Mairi pressed a kiss to Gladys’ cheek and wandered over to Keir, who was leaning against the nurses’ station counter. By the time she’d reached Keir’s side, Reggie and Albert had pulled up chairs on either side of Gladys, and each man took one of her hands. Mairi watched as they made Gladys smile and blush. The affection they held for each other was plain to see.

“Who knew a rest home was such a den of iniquity?” Keir said.

She glanced up to find him watching the three friends, with the same wonder she felt. Gladys wasn’t going through chemo alone, and when she got back to the rest home, the men would make sure she felt attractive and wanted, just as they had done throughout her treatment.

“Who knew you could use such big words?” Mairi said.

“Pest.” He tugged her wild hair. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch while we wait for the treatment to finish. The nurse said Gladys’ll be here another two hours at least, and she’s got the boys to keep her company.” He looked around the waiting room. “Where’s the Wookiee?”

Jonas had been too shy to walk around Glasgow in his Wookiee outfit, so the rest of the guys had dropped him off at the hospital with Mairi.

“He went to the children’s ward to spend quality time with believers,” Mairi said. “His words, not mine. I think he just wanted to cheer the sick kids up. He does that a lot in his home town. They love him at his local hospital.”

Keir’s eyebrows shot up. “You speak Wookiee?”

Mairi couldn’t help but laugh as she held up a piece of paper. “He wrote me a note.”

Keir rolled his eyes. “Come on.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the door. “I’m starving.”

His touch burned through her shirt and straight into her skin. Tingles ran up and down her body, demanding that she lean in to his touch. It was exactly the same reaction she’d had the first time he’d touched her—and every time after that. And it was the reason she’d kept her distance from him since he’d moved to Arness. One touch from Keir and her girl parts started screaming for attention. Her girl parts didn’t care that Keir had hurt her. All they cared about was getting some action.

The louder her body’s demand for more of Keir’s touch, the quieter her brain became, until all she could hear was the blood rushing through her veins. His touch was gentle but firm. His hands were big on her shoulders, reminding her of just how it felt to have them on the rest of her. When they’d been together, she’d loved that Keir was so much bigger than her. She liked feeling overwhelmed by his size and yet still feeling protected by it. And now, at a time in her life where everything she’d thought was secure was crumbling, it was tempting to turn into his arms and feel his strength around her.

But she couldn’t. She’d learned the hard way that his strength wasn’t to be trusted. He wasn’t someone she could rely on to be there when she needed him.

With gargantuan effort, Mairi shrugged out from under his hold and strode toward the elevators, already missing the warmth of his touch. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” He followed her into the tiny space, smiling at the two nurses who shifted over to make room for them.

Mairi looked up at him as the lift doors closed. “It isn’t Gretna Green, is it? Because I told you, I’m not marrying you.”

The nurses choked as they smothered their laughs.

“No,” Keir said with long suffering, “it isn’t Gretna. It would be a bit hard to get there and back in two hours anyway.”

“You haven’t booked us a slot at the council registry office, have you?”

“No.” He folded his arms. A sure sign he was losing patience.

“No judge waiting somewhere to tie the knot for us?”

“We’re going for lunch. That’s it.”

“Good.” Mairi relaxed back against the wall. “I was worried for a minute.”

The female nurse nudged her male colleague before smiling at Keir. “If you’re looking for a wife, I’m available.”

Now, that was just rude. Mairi might not want Keir, but she was clearly with him, and a woman did not horn in on a man if he was with another woman. It was a universal law. Right up there with never using the last of the toilet paper while in the public loo with your girlfriends. Women had to respect each other, and this flirting nurse was flouting the rules.

“Thanks,” Keir said with a grin, “but I’m not through trying to convince my girl here that I’m a catch.”

“Well”—the blonde gave Mairi a once-over, before dismissing her—“when you are. Call the outpatient department and ask for Debbie.”

That was it. The woman deserved to lose her hair. Mairi took a step toward her just as the lift opened. Keir blocked her path and walked her back until she was up against the wall.

“Easy, tiger,” he said. “She was joking.”

“She was not.” Mairi had seen that look before. Other women often underestimated a short ginger woman, which showed a serious lack of commonsense. Because, hello! Red hair. It wasn’t there to make her look good. It was a warning to all competition that they would go up in flames if they messed with her. “She was being a bitch.”