The Man She Should Have Married

‘We can do it again if you like. I can take you anywhere, Nia. Wherever you want to go.’

She bit into her lip. ‘I’m still trying to work out how you found this place. I mean, how do you stroll back into the country after seven years away and find somewhere so perfect?’

The flicker of curiosity in her soft brown eyes reminded him of the dancing flames at the bothy, and he felt his body stiffen at the memory.

He shrugged. ‘Goes with the territory. When you’re rich and, more importantly, famous people want to know you.’

His stomach clenched. Why didn’t they want to know you when you were poor and young and powerless? You were still the same person.

‘So they send you stuff, invite you to stay in their hotels, eat at their restaurants. I get a free lunch—they get publicity. Everyone gets what they want,’ he said, with no trace of the bitterness he was feeling.

But he could hear the echo of the words he’d spoken earlier—knew too that she’d heard it and that he’d hurt her. He badly wanted to undo his words—to say other words that would explain why the past wouldn’t let go of him and why these ten days were all he could ever give her.

Instead he pulled her closer and kissed her soft mouth, letting the slow heating of his desire blank his mind.

‘In this case, though, the owners are friends of mine.’

She frowned. ‘They are? Why didn’t you say?’

Her expression was suddenly intent—too intent—and he glanced away, nodding at the waitress. ‘Could we have more water please?’ Stretching his face into a careless smile, he went on. ‘What was I saying? Oh, yes. I met Lachlan and Holly in LA, doing the catering at some VIP event. We got chatting, found out we were all Scottish and just hit it off.’

‘So why did they come back to Scotland?’

She seemed genuinely interested. He liked that about her. It was one of the first things that had attracted him to her. His breathing hitched. That and her eyes, and her lips, and her laugh, and the soft curves of her body, and the fact that she was the smartest person he knew…

‘Lachlan was homesick.’ He grinned. ‘He even missed the rain. He’d always planned on coming back, and Holly was sick of LA. Anyway, I texted him and told him I was over, and he said to drop in if I was in the area.’

She smiled. ‘It was lucky for him that you didn’t go and join those monks, then.’

‘Lucky for me,’ he said softly.

He held her gaze and then, reaching out, rested his hand on top of hers. He still couldn’t believe that she was here—that she had given him a second chance. Standing in the garage, he had been so sure that he had messed it up for good. And the more he’d told himself that it didn’t matter even if he had, the more certain he’d become that it did.

He glanced across the table. She had changed before they’d left into a fitted navy dress. It looked expensive, and was cut modestly, and yet it made him want to strip her bare.

But it hadn’t been just sex that had made him do the unthinkable, the impossible, and go after her. Nor had it been about returning her phone.

Remembering her small, stunned face after he’d rejected her had made him feel sick with self-loathing.

Her knowing her own mind was what mattered. That was what he’d told himself. But when she had made it clear what she wanted he’d thrown it back in her face.

He’d been a hypocrite and a coward and a fool.

He was also the luckiest man in the world.

The waitress came to clear the table, and as he watched Nia smile and talk to her he felt a sense of contentment. He watched people all the time as part of his job. As a film director he was paid to do it. But he would watch Nia for free all day…every day.

And now he had ten days and nine glorious nights with her, stretching out ahead of him to a distant, shimmering horizon.

He glanced over at her and found her looking at him. Hidden beneath the tablecloth, he felt his body harden. Was she thinking the same thing?

She smiled. ‘I’ve had a lovely time, so thank you for bringing me.’ Her smile stilled and she began fiddling with her glass. ‘I was wondering if you had any plans for the weekend… For us, I mean.’

Heat rose up over his chest, coiling around his neck so that it was difficult to breathe.

He did have plans.

And all of them involved Nia wearing very few clothes.