The MacTaggart Brothers Trilogy

by Anna Durand

  "He can't be happy with that lifestyle."

  "Clearly not, or he wouldn't have the caber up his erse." Aidan smiled ruefully. "The man needs a good woman to shag some sense into him."

  "An American of his own?"

  He hooked a finger under my chin and brushed a kiss over my lips. "Couldnae hurt, eh?"

  "Don't get any ideas. I'm not your key to happiness."

  "How do you know?"

  "Take my word for it." I slid a hand over his chest, relishing the solidity of him. "Not sure I'd want to meet Rory if he's that much of a jerk."

  "He's not a jerk," Aidan said. "Sometimes he's the old Rory again, smiling and joking, like at Lachlan's wedding. He helps people with their legal problems even if they can't pay him and he donates his money and his time to worthy local causes."

  "All right, he sounds like a good guy in spite of the caber." I gave him a teasing smile. "What about your sisters? How do they feel about marriage?"

  "Not sure about Fiona and Catriona. They don't talk about it. But Jamie…" He rolled his eyes heavenward once more, shaking his head. "Jamie wants to fall in love at every opportunity until she finally meets her Prince Charming. Last night, she announced she plans to come to America, stay at Erica's house in Chicago, and look for an American man."

  "She's younger than you, right?" When he nodded, I frowned. "Not sure a young woman from another country should be alone in Chicago, especially if she's hunting for a man."

  "I agree," he said, "which is why I tried to talk her out of it. She's determined, though, and she'll empty her bank account to pay for the trip. Since she's between jobs, that doesn't seem like a wise choice."

  "What will you do about her?" I asked.

  "Called Lachlan last night. He's going to give it one more go at convincing her this is a bad idea."

  "If he fails?"

  Aidan shrugged one shoulder. "Our only idea is I go back to Chicago to keep an eye on her."

  The thought of Aidan leaving made me a little queasy. There had to be another way, something that wouldn't require him to leave. For some reason, I couldn't stomach the idea. Not yet.

  "What if," I said cautiously, "you didn't have to go away? What if your sister could come here?"

  "Here?" His forehead wrinkled. "There are no rooms available in this area."

  "I know, but…" I hesitated, feeling a bizarre mixture of excitement and trepidation at what I was about to propose. "Jamie could stay here here, in this house. In the guest room."

  Aidan watched me for a moment, confusion warring with something like desire on his face. "If she's in the guest room, where would I be?"

  "On the sofa."

  His lips puckered, he nodded slowly. "Ah, of course. The sofa."

  "Were you hoping I'd invite you to sleep in my bedroom?" I nudged him with my knee. "We're not there yet."

  He looked dejected, but only for a couple seconds. Then his sly smile returned. "Not yet? You're implying we may get there."

  "Don't read too much into everything I say." I rolled onto my back, hands clasped over my belly. Why had I said not yet? I'd meant to say never, but that's not what had come out of my mouth. "I'm trying to keep your sister from getting into trouble."

  "And I appreciate it." He sidled closer, his head inches from mine, still braced on one hand. "Tell me, why do you care so much how my family feels about marriage?"

  "I suffer from an insatiable and inappropriate curiosity."

  "Hmm." He studied me with keen interest, his eyes narrowed. "You say you won't fall in love with me, but you can't marry me. One is a choice, the other implies an impenetrable barrier. Eventually, you will be divorced, which means you could marry me."

  "Yes, I suppose I could." I hesitated, unsure how much to say. "But you're better off without me. I'm bad news."

  He made an irritated noise. "Stop telling me you're bad. I don't believe it and I never will."

  "Stop being so stubborn. Why can't you accept my decision?"

  "Because it's clear that's not what you want. I wouldn't be here if it was." He laid a hand on my arm. "Why don't you want to care for me? Am I so frightening?"

  "No, of course not. I feel safe with you."

  "Donnae understand. Is it your husband who scares you?"

  I shut my eyes, covering my face with my hands, letting them slide back down to rest on my chest. My gaze on the ceiling, I said, "Not him. It's way too soon for me to share my deepest fears with you."

  Silence. Deep and long and nerve-wracking.

  When I could no longer take the silence, I peeked sideways at him.

  He watched me, impassive, reminding me of my brother whenever he got fed up with me for not answering a question. I didn't like that look from Aidan. I wanted him to smile or reassure me or… something. My skin crawled from an unsettling realization that I yearned to tell him everything, because he listened and cared and seemed to understand me better than he had a right to, considering how short a time we'd known each other. I shouldn't say more.

  Five days. That was the extent of our acquaintance. Five days and counting.

  "You're exhausted," he said, caressing my arm with feathery sweeps of his fingers over my skin. "Sleep now, worry later."

  Too tired to argue, I curled up against him with my face on his chest. As I drifted off to sleep ensconced in his warmth and his strong but yielding body, I wondered about my actions so far. I vowed to resist him, but at every turn, I surrendered without hesitation. A small but strengthening voice inside me asked why I was fighting my desires. We were consenting adults. I had no reason to avoid enjoying the full benefits of Aidan's company. Maybe…

  All thoughts spiraled away from me, banished by the blissful emptiness of sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next evening while Aidan was in the shower, I flopped onto the sofa and called Tara. She'd left a message on my phone earlier. I hadn't heard it ringing because I'd forgotten to take it outside with me, too distracted by Aidan and my conflicting desires where he was concerned. Tara's phone rang five times before she answered with a breathless, "Hi, cuz. What's up?"

  "You called me earlier." I noted the way she was breathing hard and winced. "Oh God, please tell me I didn't interrupt you and Blake, uh, enjoying wedded bliss."

  "What?" After a half second of silence, she laughed. "No, nothing like that. We're on the beach and you interrupted us having a splash fight. This is our last day in Hawaii and we plan on getting totally silly in every way possible."

  "Sounds like a plan. How's paradise?"

  "Awesome. Love the sun and sand, but it turns out I suck at surfing." Her voice took on the same knowing tone she'd adopted at the wedding reception. "Have you seen Aidan lately?"

  "Yes." I couldn't bring myself to lie to her about this. I had enough guilt over keeping other secrets from her. "He's, um… staying with me."

  "He moved in?" She almost shouted the words. "Calli Bethany Douglas, are you shacked up with a stranger?"

  I held the phone away from my ear until she'd finished. "No, he's staying in the guest room. His motel room got a burst pipe and there wasn't anywhere else for him to go."

  "Mm-hm. Naturally, you told him 'hey, sleep naked in the room right next to mine.' Makes perfect sense."

  "He — I —"

  Tara snickered. "Take it easy. I'm not judging, just surprised. You've been kind of a hermit for a long time."

  "Aidan's nice and I like spending time with him."

  "Spending time?" Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Is that code for doing the bump and grind?"

  "No, you dirty-minded newlywed. I'm not having sex with him." I twirled a lock of hair around my finger, a sliver of guilt piercing me. "Not exactly."

  "Oooh," she said, and I could almost hear her rubbing her hands together, "this sounds juicy."

  "Let's just say he's a very tempting guy."

  "Maybe he's your one guy out of billions."
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  "If you're implying I'm falling for him, forget it. I don't believe in love at first sight." Or love in six days.

  The distinctive rushing of waves created a lulling background to our call. I pictured my little cousin on the beach in a cute little bikini, soaking up the sunshine amid the tropical glory of Hawaii. Down the hallway, the sound of the shower stopped. My image of Tara transformed into a vision of Aidan on a tropical beach, naked, sprawled beside me on the warm sand as he reached out to caress my nude body.

  I knew firsthand what he looked like in the buff.

  "Are you there?" Tara asked. "Did the hottie Scottie show up or something? I don't think you heard me at all."

  "No, sorry, I zoned out for a minute." I craned my neck backward, straining to see down the hallway. No Aidan yet. I couldn't quite glimpse the bathroom door. Giving up on my spying, I told Tara, "Afraid you'll have to repeat whatever you said."

  "I said I know you were hot for him at first sight. Maybe it's not love yet, but you must like him. Otherwise, you'd never let him stay in your house."

  "Like him? Yeah, I do. It's kind of terrifying."

  "When was the last time you had a date?"

  I'd tried a few times over the years. But how could I date anyone when I had a husband? Marriage of convenience, sure, but still a marriage. If things got serious with a guy, I'd have to explain my situation. My criminal situation. Unwilling to involve anyone else in my crime, I'd given up on dating.

  Until Aidan.

  "Well," I said, "I've had quite a few dates this week."

  "You and Aidan? Woo-hoo! I'm so happy for you."

  "Please don't start planning our wedding." I winced, because only I knew I couldn't marry him or anyone right now. "This may not go anywhere. But yes, I like him and we're — well, I guess we're dating."

  The bathroom door opened with a click.

  "I have to go," I told Tara. "Have a wonderful rest of your honeymoon and give Blake a hug for me."

  "Will do." In a hushed voice, she added, "Give Aidan a kiss for me."

  She hung up before I could respond. Give Aidan a kiss? She didn't have to tell me to do that. I lusted for his mouth every second of every day. That and other parts of his anatomy.

  Aidan sauntered into the living room, around the sofa, and lowered his gorgeous bod onto the sofa beside me. His hair was wet but loose, the waves curling around his face. Beads of moisture drizzled down his temples.

  Why did he have to look so good wet? Or dry. In clothes, out of clothes, in the daytime, at night, anytime and anywhere.

  He stretched an arm across the sofa's back. His fingertips grazed my shoulder. "Thought I heard voices."

  "Talking to my cousin on the phone."

  "How is the wee Tara?"

  "Living it up on her Hawaiian honeymoon." For once, I paused to think about what I might say next, instead of blurting out silly things. I decided what the hell. "Tara asked me to give you a kiss for her."

  His mouth tightened and curved upward in a half-repressed smile, his eyes sparkled in the low light. "Did she now."

  "Mm-hm." I slanted toward him, our mouths almost touching. "Can't let my cousin down, can I?"

  He shook his head, those beautiful eyes trained on mine.

  I touched my lips to his in a chaste kiss. "That was for Tara. The next one's from me."

  Gazing into his slitted eyes, I moistened my lips with two long, slow passes of my tongue. His lips parted, his breathing grew labored. Excitement sizzled over my skin and settled between my thighs, warm and wet and wanting. I laid a hand on his chest and urged him back into the sofa, then I climbed astride him and planted a hand on the sofa's back at either side of his head. He let his head fall back onto the cushions.

  Leaning in, I hovered my mouth so close to his our breaths mingled. "I really want to kiss you, but I'm afraid things might get out of hand."

  "Then maybe you shouldn't have climbed on top of me."

  "Fair point. But I'm already here."

  He settled his hands on my hips. "I promise not to take any liberties. Unless you beg me to."

  "Beg?" I flicked my tongue out to tease his lower lip. "Not going to happen."

  "What if I beg?"

  Aidan begging? If he did that, I'd lose all my inhibitions for sure.

  Like I hadn't already.

  "Please," he said, his voice low and rumbly, "kiss me, ahm begging ye."

  Excitement whirled through me in a weightless sensation of floating outside my body and I burned to kiss him, but a cool thread of trepidation wound through me as well, caught up in the head-spinning need. I'd lost my mind with this man too many times. Right here, right now, I'd take back control.

  I brushed my lips over his, my skin tightening from the softest taste of him. I nipped and licked at his lips, teasing and tempting us both, hungry for more but unwilling to give in to my desires completely, no matter how much my body craved him. His palms coasted up my back to splay over my shoulder blades. The feel of his hands, gentle and yet strong, weakened my will. But his murmured "please" undid me.

  Sinking deeper into his lap, my sex rubbing against his cock through our clothes, I sealed my mouth over his, our parted lips fused as our tongues thrust deep, tangling and questing, hot and silken. The sheer ecstasy of the kiss, of his velvety tongue and the earthy flavor of him, spiked an electric need straight down from my mouth to my clitoris. He explored my mouth with an ardor that stole my breath, yet his tongue moved with surprising languor, as if he took intense pleasure in sampling every inch of me. His hands urged me snugger against him, the hardness of his erection trapped between us. My rigid nipples scraped across his chest as I writhed on his lap, desperate for more, teetering on the edge of succumbing to the need.

  His phone rang and vibrated inside his jeans pocket.

  We both froze, our lips still pressed to each other. I peeled my eyelids open first, watching as his lids fluttered apart and his gaze met mine. I must've looked as dazed as he did. I felt it, for sure, my mind floating on a warm, feathery cloud.

  The phone rang and vibrated again.

  Aidan fumbled to get the phone out of his pocket without dumping me off his lap. He kept one hand on my hip while he answered the call with a gruff hello.

  "Jamie?" he said, brows dipping low over the bridge of his nose. The tinny sound of an indistinct voice emanated from his phone and his brows rose as his eyes widened the tiniest bit. "She what? Called you?"

  Squatting on his lap, I had no choice but to overhear his end of the conversation. I glanced around, shifting my hands here and there, unsure what to do with them. At last, I settled on resting them on my thighs. I hated keeping secrets from him and knowing he kept at least one from me, though I couldn't explain why. He was a stranger I'd known for six days.

  Yet he felt like more than that.

  "Ignore her," Aidan told Jamie. "I'll speak to Seona myself."

  His gaze fell on me and he pulled in a long breath. Those blue eyes darkened and narrowed, focused on my lips.

  "Don't worry," he said into the phone. "I will handle it, but I have to go now."

  The other voice sounded again, and Aidan bid the caller goodbye.

  He dropped the phone on the cushion beside him, reaching for me.

  Just as his hands gripped my lower back and his mouth surged toward mine, I held up a hand between our lips. "Was that your sister?"

  "Aye."

  "Is everything okay? You seemed upset."

  His hands raced up my back to pull me closer, my hand the only barrier preventing him from claiming my mouth. "I'll be fine as soon as I'm kissing you again."

  I hurled my body to the side, tumbling off his lap and righting myself to sit beside him, my body turned toward him. "I think we need to share a little bit of our secrets. Not knowing and not sharing is probably giving me an ulcer."

  He drew his head back, eying me with a strange expression. "You want to tell me your secr
et?"

  "Part of it. The only part I can."

  "If you're doing this because you want to know mine, there's no need. I'll tell you anyway."

  My head braced with one arm on the sofa, I assured him, "That's not why I'm suggesting this. I want to explain what I can to you, but don't ask me why. I have no answer for that one."

  "All right." He turned partway toward me, wriggling a little to get settled. "I'll start. Ask me whatever you like."

  "Who is Seona? Is she the one who keeps calling you?"

  "Yes." He looked down at his lap. "Seona Ross is a former girlfriend, if you can call it that. We dated for a few months, but it was never serious, nothing more than a pleasant distraction. You might call it a casual sort of arrangement. We got on well." He flattened his lips. "Until the accident."

  The tension evidenced on his face tugged at my heart in ways I didn't dare examine. I sneaked a hand out to touch his knee. He aimed a grateful smile at me before turning his gaze down again.

  "Six months ago, Seona was seriously injured and spent a long time in the hospital and in rehabilitation. I haven't seen her in about six months. No contact at all. She was angry with me because she bl —" He scrubbed a hand over his face and lifted his gaze to me. "She told me to stay away from her and I did. Had no wish to fash her when she was unwell."

  "Makes sense."

  "Somehow, she heard I'd come to America and started calling me to ask for money. Ask. No, she's demanding it."

  I lighted a hand on his thigh. "Why would she demand money from you?"

  "She's very bitter. And maybe she has a point about me owing her, but I donnae have money to give her."

  "Why would you owe her?" When he switched his attention to the backyard view, I slumped into the sofa and said, "You don't have to tell me. I'm not going to tell you my whole story either."

  He plowed both hands into his hair. "Seona keeps calling me and now she's called my sister Jamie to enlist her help. Jamie told her no."

  "What will you do?"

  He sighed, his shoulders flagging. "Donnae know."

  "I'm sorry, Aidan." I scooted closer, caressing his cheek. "You don't have to talk about it anymore. I think it's my turn, anyway."